The phone rang at midnight. When I answered, all I heard was heavy breathing and then a whisper of my name from an unknown voice.
The little girl found a doll in the forest. As she picked it up, the doll's eyes started to bleed.
Think of a common fear and describe it in an unusual way. Say, 'The mirror showed my reflection. But it wasn't mine.' Keep it short and intense.
Well, start with a scary setting or a mysterious character. Like, 'The old house creaked. A shadow moved behind the curtains.' Make it short and spine-chilling. Also, use simple but powerful words to build tension quickly.
The forest was thick and dark. I felt like I was being followed. A howl echoed and something grabbed my ankle.
He looked in the mirror. His reflection had a sinister smile that he didn't have.
In the dark forest, I lost my way. Suddenly, branches reached out like arms and a voice growled 'You're trapped now'.
Yes. A young man moved into a new apartment. Paragraph 1: He noticed a strange smell but thought it was just old pipes. In paragraph 2, he heard footsteps above him at odd hours, but there was no one living there. By paragraph 3, things started to move on their own. His keys would disappear and then reappear in odd places. In paragraph 4, the walls began to ooze a black substance. And in paragraph 5, he woke up one day to find himself surrounded by shadowy figures, and then he was never seen again.
The moon was full. I took a shortcut through the cemetery. Shadows started to move towards me.
The moon was full. But the werewolf outside my window wasn't howling at it, but rather staring right at me.
Well, you need to start with a situation that makes the reader uneasy. Let's say 'I woke up in a room I didn't recognize.' Then you add something unexpected, 'There were chains on the bed.' Build up the fear factor, 'I heard screams from outside the room.' Create a sense of helplessness, 'The door was locked and I had no way out.' And finally, a really spooky ending like 'I saw my own face at the window, but I was still in the bed.'