One short creepy story is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a narrator who is haunted by an old man's vulture - like eye and eventually kills him. He then hears the old man's heart still beating under the floorboards. Another is 'The Hitchhiker'. A man keeps seeing the same hitchhiker on a long drive, no matter how far he goes or how many times he tries to leave the hitchhiker behind. And 'The Monkey's Paw' where a family gets a magical paw that grants wishes but with horrible consequences for each wish they make.
One short creepy story is about a haunted doll. A girl found an old doll in the attic. At night, she would hear it giggling and its eyes seemed to follow her around the room.
The combination of dark themes, mysterious settings, and unexpected plot twists makes it creepy. The way the characters are presented and the atmosphere created adds to the overall creepiness.
A young couple moved into a new apartment. Every night, they heard strange noises coming from the basement. One day, they decided to investigate. As they went down the stairs, they smelled a rotten smell. At the bottom, they saw a figure in the corner. It was a person - or what was left of a person - who seemed to be trapped there for a long time, moaning in pain.
A hiker got lost in the woods at night. He saw a faint light in the distance and followed it. As he got closer, he realized it was a figure in white floating above the ground. Terrified, he ran in the opposite direction, but the figure seemed to follow him.
There was a story of a deserted house. A group of friends decided to explore it. As they entered, they felt a chill. Then, they heard strange footsteps. When they turned around, they saw a shadowy figure disappearing around the corner. They ran out of the house in terror.
Good creepy short stories often have an element of the unknown. They keep the reader in suspense, like not knowing exactly what is lurking in the shadows or what will happen next. For example, in many horror short stories, there might be a strange noise in the attic, but the source isn't revealed right away.
Fear of the unknown is likely a common theme. Many of the stories might involve things that are not easily explained, like strange lights in the sky or unexplained disappearances.
One characteristic is the use of suspense. For example, in many new creepy short stories, the author might start with a normal situation and then slowly introduce strange elements that keep the reader on edge, like a small noise in an empty house that gradually becomes more menacing. Another is the exploration of the unknown. New creepy short stories often deal with things like ghosts, curses, or unexplained phenomena. They also tend to have a sense of isolation, either a person alone in a spooky place like an old mansion or a small town cut off from the outside world with a dark secret.