We Said the Same Name at the Same Second
My wife and I were stuck naming our daughter for weeks. Then one quiet night we opened our mouths at the same instant and the same name fell out. I still feel it in my thoughts.
New Scary Stories to Read — True and Fiction Archive — Page 11
The Owl That Sat on the Fence Post for Three Nights
A barn owl came to the same fence post outside my uncle's window three nights running. On the third night it turned its head to look inside. He was gone by dawn.
The Shadow People Wait Until I'm Not Looking Certified True by readers
They gather in my peripheral vision — tall, dark, man-shaped, at the edges of every room. They freeze the instant I turn. For a year I ignored them. Then my new puppy started tracking them too.
My Son Woke Screaming About the Lady, and Then So Did I
My four-year-old kept waking at night pointing at the corner, terrified of a lady only he could see. I told him it was a dream. Then I woke frozen, and she was there.
The Groundskeeper Told Me Which Graves To Walk Past Quickly Certified True by readers
He had done forty years. He was not superstitious. He had a list, and the list was in the back of his diary, in pencil.
My Deskmate Kept a Jar of Teeth and the Boss Loved Him
He sat two feet from me for a year with a jam jar of human teeth on his desk. When I finally reported it, I was the one who got a talking-to about being a team player.
The Third Set of Footsteps Certified True by readers
My brother and I lived alone in our late grandmother's farmhouse for a summer. Every night we counted two people going up the stairs, and every night we heard three.
My Grandmother Confessed on Her Deathbed That I Was Adopted Certified True by readers
At the end, my grandmother gripped my hand and whispered that my mother could never have children, and that I had been "chosen," and to check the blue box in her closet. My mother has never confirmed it.
My Drawing in a Stranger's Frame
At a flea market three hundred kilometres from my childhood, I bought an old frame — and found, used as its backing paper, a crayon drawing signed by six-year-old me.
He Asked For A Lift To A Village That Was Demolished In 1965
I know the name because my grandmother was born there. It is under a reservoir. He gave me directions to it, and they were good directions.
The Previous Owners Left a List of Rules Certified True by readers
At completion, the sellers handed us an envelope: house rules. 'Don't lock the back bedroom.' 'Leave the landing light on.' 'If you hear the piano, say goodnight.' We laughed. We don't laugh now.
The Woman At The Bus Stop Was Wearing My Coat, And I Was Wearing My Coat
Same coat. Same missing second button. Same biro mark on the cuff from a pen that leaked in 2019.
I Babysat the Wrong Family for Half an Hour Certified True by readers
New in town, I took a babysitting gig, walked into the unlocked house at the right address, and looked after two kids for thirty minutes before the actual parents came home.
Every Bride in Our Family Loses Her Ring Before the First Anniversary
Four generations of brides in my family have lost their wedding rings within a year. My mother thought it was carelessness. An old letter suggested it was a promise being kept.
The Taxi Driver Who'd Met Me Before
Making small talk at 4 a.m., my airport taxi driver mentioned his old job and the strangest night of it — the night, it emerged over three red lights, that he had helped deliver me.
The Wrong Number Knew My Shift Pattern
It started as a misdirected delivery text. Then it started telling me when I would be home, and it was always right.
The Poltergeist Only Targets My Brother's Chair Certified True by readers
Cups fly, books drop, doors slam all over the house — but the activity has a favourite: my brother's old armchair, which nothing will keep occupied and nothing will let us throw away.
A Man With My Face Signed For A Parcel At My Address
The courier photo is on the app. It is my porch, my door, my dressing gown — and it is not me, because I was in another city.
Wrong Number, Right Man Jury is out
Furious with a garage, I misdialled and delivered my tirade to a stranger who heard me out and said 'I can fix your gearbox, but I'm in Aberdeen' — I married him anyway.
The Front Desk Handed My Room Key to Someone Else
I came back from dinner to find my things gone, my room reassigned, and a family unpacking in the space I had paid for. The hotel had checked me out without telling me, in a city where I knew no one.
