Not every scare needs an hour. These are the best short scary stories on Creepypasta.com: quick horror stories and short creepypasta you can finish in a few minutes, on a lunch break or with the lights off before bed. All free to read and ranked by reader votes.
Readers’ Top Short Horror Stories
Mr. Widemouth
During my childhood my family was like a drop of water in a vast river, never remaining in one location for long.…
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Survival Guide
We've all been there. You have just gone to a certain place, at a certain time on a certain date, done a…
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The Russian Sleep Experiment
Overview Widely regarded as one of the most popular and widest spread Creepypastas ever written, The Russian Sleep experiment is notorious as…
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Distorted Warning Signals
When I got the first one, I was literally seconds away from stepping onto the plane when a call from “UNKNOWN” blared…
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Candle Cove
It comes most often at night. That niggling memory, gnawing in some corner of your mind like a rodent chewing the corners…
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Rabbits in the Creek
I'm writing this because my family won't talk about it anymore. I'm the only one who can't seem to forget. I was…
Read NowNever Again
I was seventeen when she came. I'd been living with my abusive mother for seventeen long, painful years. It was around midnight,…
Read NowThe Art Of Jacob Emory
Ghost stories? Nah, we don't have anything like that around here. We DO have the story of Jacob, but that's about as…
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Ickbarr Bigelsteine
When I was a small child, I was terrified of the dark. I still am, but back when I was around six…
Read NowThe Gift Of Mercy
[MESSAGE BEGINS] We made a mistake. That is the simple, undeniable truth of the matter, however painful it might be. The flaw…
Read NowJulia Legare
A few years ago I was spending some time with friends exploring old, supposedly haunted, places. We were at the Edisto First…
Read NowString Theory
Have you ever had an experience that suggested someone else was in your house, and just thought “I don’t wanna know” and…
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Mommy Sleeps in the Basement
“Speak louder, please.” I put my hand up next to my ear from the back of the room, signaling that she would…
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My Grandfather’s Final Invention
My grandfather was an inventor. All his life he’s be tinkering with something, either taking something that existed and changing it, making…
Read NowThe Only Sensible Ritual Pasta
You wake up to find yourself lying flat in an unfamiliar and utterly filthy room. Your head pounds as you sit up…
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Squidward’s Suicide
I just want to start off by saying if you want an answer at the end, prepare to be disappointed. There just…
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The Quiet Sky
It started when we called out to the stars; into the darkness. We felt so small, tumbling through vast emptiness while clinging…
Read NowVery Short Horror Stories
Only got a minute? These micro horror stories are over almost as soon as they start, but they stay with you.
The Wrong Room
You get back to your apartment after a long day's work and you want to get inside and rest. You were about…
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Sarah O’Bannon
Coffins used to be built with holes in them, attached to six feet of copper tubing and a bell. The tubing would…
Read NowLessons From the Shadows of Hiroshima
“Daddy, why do they hate us?” “Oh sweetie, it may seem like they hate us but really it is more like they…
Read NowMy Fear Of Water
I've always had a terrible fear of being submerged completely in water. Not that I can't swim or anything. My dad made…
Read NowThe Boy Who Loved to Read
Once, there was a boy who loved to read. He read everything he could get his hands on, and loved going to…
Read NowThe Portraits (a.k.a. The Cabin in the Woods)
There was a hunter in the woods, who, after a long day hunting, was in the middle of an immense forest. It…
Read NowThe Blind Man’s Favor
In Berlin, after World War II, money was short, supplies were tight, and it seemed like everyone was hungry. At that time,…
Read NowThe Bad Dream
"Daddy, I had a bad dream." You blink your eyes and pull up on your elbows. Your clock glows red in the…
Read NowIn the Kitchen
A young girl is playing in her bedroom when she hears her mother call to her from the kitchen, so she runs…
Read NowWhat makes a good short scary story?
A good short scary story does one thing and does it perfectly: a single image, one wrong detail, or a final line that changes everything you just read. Many of the most famous creepypastas, including Candle Cove, Smile Dog and The Russian Sleep Experiment, are short enough to read in under ten minutes, which is part of why they spread so fast online.
Want even more? Browse every short creepypasta and micro horror story, write your own with the two-sentence horror generator, or see the top ranked creepypasta of all time.