Mark Twain often used the unknown to create horror. In 'The Mysterious Stranger', the character Satan is so mysterious and his powers are not fully understood. His ability to manipulate the normal world and the characters' fates creates a sense of dread. We don't know what he'll do next.
He also used real - life fears like in 'Cannibalism in the Cars'. The fear of starvation and the breakdown of society, even if presented in a satirical way, still taps into that primal fear we have of the extreme situations that could make people do unthinkable things. It makes you think about how fragile our civilized norms are.
Poe often created unreliable narrators. In many of his stories, the narrators are either mad or on the verge of madness. Their distorted views of the world and events make the reader feel uneasy. Like in 'The Black Cat', the narrator's actions and his attempts to justify them are quite disturbing.
Poe often used unreliable narrators. For example, in 'The Tell - Tale Heart', the narrator's insistence that he's not mad while clearly showing signs of insanity makes the reader uneasy. His detailed descriptions of grotesque settings, like the decaying House of Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher', also add to the horror.
Through his unique characters. He creates characters that are often on the fringes of society or with extreme psychological issues. These characters bring a sense of unease and horror as we see their abnormal behaviors and thoughts.
Del Toro uses vivid descriptions. For example, he might describe a monster in great detail, from its scaly skin to its glowing eyes. This makes the horror seem more real.
He often used spooky settings. For example, in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', the desolate moors of Dartmoor add to the sense of isolation and danger. The howling of the hound in that vast, empty landscape is really terrifying.
Ray Bradbury often used vivid and detailed descriptions to create horror. For example, in 'The Veldt', he described the lions in the veldt in great detail - their yellow eyes, their menacing growls. This made the threat seem very real. He also used the element of the unknown. In 'The Jar', the unknown contents of the jar create a sense of unease. We don't know what's in it, but we can sense that it's something bad.
The stories use elements like the unknown. When readers don't know what's going to happen next, it creates fear. For example, a sudden noise in an empty room in one of the stories. It also uses things like death and the afterlife, which are often scary topics.
Roald Dahl is great at creating creepy characters. Like the landlady in 'The Landlady'. She seems normal at first but as the story progresses, her odd behaviors and the revelation about her past actions make her really scary. He also uses vivid descriptions of settings. A gloomy, old - fashioned house can set a spooky mood right from the start, which he does in many of his stories to enhance the sense of horror.
The stories often have unexpected twists. Just when you think you know what's going to happen, something completely different and more terrifying occurs. Like a character you thought was safe suddenly getting attacked by an unseen force. Also, they play on our fears of the unknown. Things like strange noises in the dark or shadowy figures that we can't quite make out are very common in these stories, which scares us because we don't know what they are or what they might do.
The use of sound in the stories also adds to the horror. Words that mimic spooky sounds, like 'creak' for a door or 'howl' for the wind. And the way the characters react to these sounds in 'denisdaily scary stories' makes it all the more terrifying. The characters' fear becomes contagious to the reader.