Sometimes you can find the best reading material in short stories. They’re perfect for short bursts of enjoyment when you don’t have the time or energy for longer fiction.
Horror, especially, benefits a lot from the short story format. There is tension in how concise the story is. At the same time, it’s ambiguous enough to let readers fill the gaps with their imagination.
Horror Short Stories
Below is a list of horror short stories that tackle the genre from different angles. A lot of these tales are bound within anthologies and collections, which contain stories of a similar vein.
1. Survivor Type by Stephen King
Richard Pine, a disgraced surgeon turned drug smuggler, finds himself marooned on a barren island. No rescue is in sight, and he grows hungrier. He sharpens his knife and looks at the only source of food he can find—his leg.
2. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Once a year, a small town prepares for the lottery to ensure a good harvest and drive away bad omens. Children pile up stones and the adults assemble for the event. Everyone holds their breath, wishing they are not chosen.
3. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
Montresor, angry over an unspecified insult, swears revenge against his friend, Fortunato. He plies him with wine while luring him deep within the catacombs beneath his home. There, a space awaits, as well as stone and mortar to seal Fortunato to his fate.
4. The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman
A traveler journeys to a mysterious island, ignoring the warnings of the locals. As he explores its ruins, he encounters three women who pull him into dark secrets and bizarre events.
5. Hippocampus by Adam Nevill
A modern cargo ship drifts on the sea, the massacre aboard it still fresh. You, the reader, move through the carnage seeking clues about the culprit.
6. The Small Assassin by Ray Bradbury
A woman gives birth to a healthy baby boy only to fear that her child wants to kill her. Everyone dismisses her claims—until disturbing events begin to occur in their household.
7. Technicolor by John Langan
Technicolor takes on the form of a lecture about Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mask of the Red Death”. The lecturer puts forth a new interpretation of the story along with a re-enactment.
8. The Colour Out of Space byH.P. Lovecraft
A surveyor visits a rural area to assess the possibility of building a reservoir there. What he finds is a desolate land that no local wants to be involved with. Slowly, he pieces together the events that corrupted the land and its inhabitants.
9. The Hold by Koji Suzuki
Hiroyuki Inagaki is a fisherman who is bitter about his place in the world. It fuels his anger and brutishness, something he inherited from his father.
After a night of drinking, he awakes to a throbbing headache and his wife missing. His search for her leads him down a path of recollection and regret.
10. The Bingo Master by Joyce Carol Oates
A woman nearing her 40s finally decides to lose her virginity. Her quest takes her to a bingo hall, where the fiendish Bingo Master Joe Pye takes an interest in her.
11. The Birds by Daphne du Maurier
In a sleepy coastal town, a farmhand notices the unusual behavior of the birds in the area. Things take a dark turn when they begin a relentless attack against the town’s residents.
12. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
The city of Omelas shines in its happiness. Everything about it is pleasing, so much so that you might find it hard to believe it exists. And so the narrator elaborates on what makes it so—a secret so atrocious that a few find it better to just walk away.
13. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
In a post-apocalyptic future, the world has been taken over by a self-aware supercomputer. What remains of humanity now live in an underground complex, where they are subjected to endless torture for the computer’s pleasure.
Reading Horror Short Stories
There’s an argument that the best horror stories exist in short fiction. Think about it—some of the genre’s most prominent writers almost always used short stories to deliver their concocted nightmares.
H.P. Lovecraft, who jumpstarted cosmic horror, never wrote a novel. Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous works are his macabre short stories. Even before the rise of modern literature, ghost stories and folk tales only lasted as long as the campfires they were shared around.
Short stories are just perfect for delivering a quick punch to the reader’s state of security. They rapidly tap into your deepest fears and anxieties and suddenly leave you with a lingering sense of horror.
What other horror short stories do you recommend? Share them in the comments below!
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
