Daily horror writing prompts 

Daily horror writing prompts 

. These daily horror writing prompts range from directional to introductory. We have a little of everything for everyone. We hope you enjoy them. Please leave your writings in the comments below.

If you leave a horror story of 500 words or less written in response to one of the prompts below, and we like it, we will contact you and ask you to publish it on our site. Please use your correct email address. 

Many of these horror writing prompts will be based on a famous horror movie and novel storylines. You may recognize these storylines or scenes when you read them. It’s important to remember every writer’s take on the same story will be different. I’ve found that writing a story, even one I know well, turns out very different than I expect. These are good exercises and will surely get your creative scare churning. 

We have many other writing prompts listed on our site.

02/01/23

Write a story about someone you know being possessed by a spirit or demon suddenly.

02/02/23

The world has ended, and a zombie is chasing you at night. You seem to be the lone human survivor. These zombies, luckily, are slow, but it is very dark in the city now that all the power is out. You can hear the zombie walking and shuffling behind you as you walk quickly down the alley. You turn the corner, hoping to get to your safe house. When you turn, you see a mass of 1000s of zombies surrounding the apartment where you usually hide. Your loved ones are inside.

02/03/23

Write a story about this picture. 

02/04/23

Write a story about throwing away an old doll that keeps coming back. 

02/05/23

Write a story about the person you are in bed with suddenly being attacked by someone in their dreams. You see cuts forming on the person from nowhere. The person is sleeping and being killed by someone in their dream. The police are sure to think it’s you. 

02/06/23

A group of scientists has brought back dinosaurs from their long extinction. Your town won a lottery for displaying these prehistoric nightmares. The collection of dinosaurs is in the middle of your town when they break free and start hunting you.

02/07/23

You are driving on a highway. There is a man in the backseat you don’t know about. He has a knife and is going to kill you.

02/08/23

You hear an ice cream truck late at night. It is 3 am. You look out your window and there is a large ugly clown giving ice cream to children sleep walking to the trucks open window.

02/09/23

You wake just after sunrise. You hear someone banging around your kitchen. When you go to look you see a zombie dumbly fumbling through you fridge. You smell smoke, hear sirens outside and screaming. You know it’s begun.

02/10/23

You wake up as a giant bug in your bed.

02/11/23

You are home alone. You’re watching tv. You look over and a man’s angry face is pressed against your window.

02/12/23

You go for a walk at night. As you walk you see The Smiling Man. At first he is dancing, then he walks over to you. The link goes to a Youtube video of The Smiling Man. Watch it if you have never heard of him.

02/13/23

There is a monster in your room. He is standing over your bed. As long as he thinks you are sleeping, he won’t hurt you.

02/14/23

You are trapped in your 35th floor lavish apartment. Outside people are dying by the 1000s of a deadly virus. Something has happened and you are being overrun by bugs.

02/15/23

You are an assistant to scientists working on a time travel machine. There is an accident in the lab, and when you wake up, you are living in prehistoric times with dinosaurs.

02/16/23

You have found a pill that will make you into a super genius. Taking the pill will make you rich beyond your dreams, but at night you will rage the countryside as a hideous monster.

02/17/23

You wake up to lights outside your windows. In a minute, aliens pass through the walls of your bedroom. You suddenly can’t move. They shine a light on you. You float up into the air and they take you to their ship.

02/18/23

It’s morning. You wake up to a beautiful day. You get ready and drive to work. As you drive there is no traffic. You don’t see any people. When you get to work it is empty. You are are the last person on Earth.

02/19/23

There is a murder after you. You are babysitting 3 children under the age of 10. You can’t call the police. You have to make sure to keep him out of the house.

02/20/23

Aliens are real. The whole world knows it. You work on a team of scientists and realize they are going to attack in 3 days.

02/21/23

A demon keeps appearing to you every night. He sits in a chair by your bed and tells you to do terrible things.

02/22/23

You bring home your newborn baby, and a cult shows up to worship your child. You open the door of your home and 100s of people are standing on your lawn.

02/23/23

You are a friend have the same dream of a witch killing you in your dream. When you wake up your their are leaves in your bed from where you saw the witch in the woods.

02/24/23

A cult promises you wealth and power if you will only join them and become possessed.

02/25/23

Your arm has been itching and you have net felt well. On closer examination you realize there is something moving under your skin.

02/26/23

A new virus is spreading around the world, but this virus kills 90% of the people who get it.

02/27/23

You are eating a meal at a friends house. It’s a fancy dinner, and the noodles begin moving. 

02/28/23

You get a new job! It’s a wonderful place to work. After lots of mysterious things going on, you are asked to come to an after work meeting. There you find your entire workplace worships the devil. 

03/01/23

You answer a want ad that is for house sitting. The house is out far out in the country, and it is an old 1700s mansion. You desperately need the job. Once you take it, you hear people all night in the house. At midnight they appear and want to sacrifice you. 

03/02/23

You were recently bit by a werewolf. You will turn soon. Start your story telling the steps you will take to protect your family from what you will turn into. 

03/03/23

You are on a cruise ship having a great time. Suddenly your ship is attacked by a giant monster. 

03/04/23

People you know are suddenly changing. They are becoming different people though they look the same. You and a few close friends try to figure out what is happening. 

03/05/23

A group of thugs killed your son. You realize if you go to the old witch in the hills you can trade your soul to her so she will raise the monster of the forest to kill the men and get your revenge. It will only cost your soul. 

03/06/23

You move into a new neighborhood, into one of the nieces houses, and suddenly things start happening. Things go missing. You hear whispers. Late at night one of your children go missing in the house. You have to find them and get them back from the demons.

03/07/23

Your plane crashed in the isolated mountain range. No one has come for you in 30 days. Many people have died. With no food they are talking about eating the bodies. 

03/08/23

You are 12 years old. Your mother and father divorced 2 years ago. Now you found out your mom’s new boyfriend is a Vampire!

03/09/23

 The zombies have taken over. You are living in a house by yourself. They don’t know you are there. You have stuck to a route that lets you stay safe, get food, and you feel like you might make it. At a critical moment today, you tripped over a trashcan blown down by the wind. It was a stupid mistake, but now, a 1000 zombies are chasing you back to your house. 

03/10/23

You are trapped at the southpole with a group of people. One of them has been taken over by an alien. You know this won’t stop. They will all be turned soon. You have to do something. 

03/11/23

You fall asleep in a mall. No one sees you and your are locked in! Unfortunately the mall has released a new security system. They are robots, and for some reason they are set to kill. 

03/12/23

You have killed your ex and his/her lover. They have come back to haunt you. 

03/13/23

You have been bitten by a vampire. As you go unconscious, you know you will awaken again. In fact you never fully fall asleep. As the undertaker gets your body ready for the funeral you feel and hear everything.

03/14/23

You stumble upon an abandoned asylum in the woods and explore it. As you walk through the dark, decrepit halls, you hear whispers and footsteps behind you.

03/15/23

You inherit a beautiful old house from your great-grandmother but soon realize it’s haunted by the ghost of a little girl murdered there decades ago.

03/16/23

You start having recurring nightmares about a dark, shadowy figure that seems to be following you everywhere you go. One day, you wake up to find scratches on your arm that you can’t explain.

03/17/23

You move into a new apartment building and notice strange things happening at night. Doors open and close independently, and you hear footsteps and whispers coming from empty rooms.

03/18/23

You and your friends decide to explore an old abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town, but soon realize that the place is cursed and the spirits within will do anything to keep you from leaving.

03/19/23

You inherit a cabin in the woods from a relative but soon discover that the area is infested with flesh-eating monsters that come out at night.

03/20/23

You’re hired to babysit a child who lives in a creepy, old mansion. As the night goes on, you start to notice strange things happening around the house and begin to suspect that the child might not be human.

03/21/23

You wake up in the middle of the night to find a strange woman standing at the foot of your bed. She tells you she’s been watching you for a long time and that you belong to her now.

03/22/23

You move into a new neighborhood and start hearing rumors about a haunted house on the block. One day, you decide to investigate and find the rumors true.

03/23/23

You and your friends decide to play with an ouija board but soon realize that you’ve made a grave mistake when the spirit you contact turns out to be a demon.

03/24/23

You inherit a cursed artifact from a deceased relative and soon discover that the artifact has the power to bring your worst fears to life.

03/25/23

You go camping with your friends but soon realize you’re not alone in the woods. Something is stalking you, and it’s getting closer.

03/26/23

You start having visions of a terrifying monster that seems to be hunting you. As the visions become more frequent, you suspect the monster might be real.

03/27/23

You wake up in a strange place without remembering how you got there. As you try to make your way out, you realize that you’re not alone and that something is hunting you.

03/28/23

You move into a new house but soon realize the previous owner never left. Their ghost haunts the house and is determined to make your life a living hell.

03/29/23

You’re driving home late at night when you encounter a hitchhiker who seems harmless. But as the night goes on, you realize that the hitchhiker is not what they seem.

03/30/23

You and your friends decide to explore an old, abandoned factory. But as you go through the rusted, decrepit machinery, you hear strange noises and see shadows moving in the darkness.

03/31/23

You start receiving anonymous letters that contain disturbing, cryptic messages. As you try to figure out who’s sending them, you realize that they might be coming from something not quit human.

04/01/23

You work as a night watchman at an old museum but soon realize that the exhibits are more than just artifacts. They’re alive, and they’re hungry.

04/02/23

You’re hiking in the woods when encountering a strange, ancient altar. As you investigate, you awaken an ancient evil.

04/03/23

You move into a new apartment and soon realize your neighbor has a strange, unsettling obsession with you.

04/4/23

You start having nightmares about a faceless figure that seems to be haunting you. But when you wake up, you realize that the figure isn’t just a dream.

04/05/23

You find an old, dusty journal in the attic of your family’s home. As you start reading it, you realize it’s a diary of your great-great-grandmother, who was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

04/06/23

You go on a vacation to a remote island but soon realize that the island is more open than you thought. Something is lurking in the shadows, and it’s not friendly.

04/06/23

You find a mysterious box in the basement of an abandoned house and decide to open it. Inside, you find an old, rusted key that seems to be calling to you.

04/07/23

You start hearing strange noises in your house at night and soon realize something is living in the walls.

04/08/23

You and your friends decide to explore an old, abandoned hospital. But as you make your way through the dark, empty corridors, you hear screams and whispers from the shadows.

04/09/23

You’re walking home from work late at night when you realize someone is following you. When you turn around, you see a figure dressed in black with glowing red eyes.

04/10/23

You start seeing strange, ghostly apparitions in your house. But as you investigate, you realize that the ghosts might not be the only things haunting you.

04/11/23

You and your family go on a road trip but soon realize that the backroads you’re taking are leading you to a place you never wanted to go.

04/12/23

You wake up in a strange room without remembering how you got there. As you try to escape, you realize that the room is part of a twisted game, with high stakes.

04/13/23

You start receiving strange phone calls from an unknown number. As you try to block the calls, you realize the caller is someone you know, but they’re not quite themselves.

04/14/23

You and your friends go on a ghost hunt but soon realize the ghosts are hunting you.

04/15/23

You move into a new house but soon realize there’s a secret room no one knows about. As you investigate, you realize the room hides a dark secret.

04/15/23

You start seeing a ghostly figure in your dreams but soon realize that the figure is not just a figment of your imagination.

04/16/23

You start hearing strange whispers in your ear, but when you turn around, there’s no one there.

04/17/23

You and your friends decide to play a game of hide and seek in an old, abandoned house. But as you hide, you realize that you’re not alone.

04/18/23

You wake up in the middle of the night to find a strange, hooded figure standing at the foot of your bed. They say nothing, but their presence is suffocating.

04/19/23

You start having strange, vivid dreams about a cult that’s trying to summon a demon. But as the dreams become more frequent, you wonder if they’re more than just dreams.

04/20/23

You find an old, dusty book in a library containing dark, forbidden knowledge. As you start reading, you realize that the ability comes with a price.

04/21/23

You and your friends decide to spend the night in an old, abandoned mansion. But as the night goes on, you realize the mansion is more full than you thought.

04/22/23

You take a job as a caretaker for a wealthy family’s estate. But as you explore the sprawling mansion, you realize that there’s something very wrong with the family and their dark past.

04/23/23

You move to a small, quiet town to escape the chaos of the city. But as you settle in, you start to realize that the town has a sinister secret that it’s hiding from outsiders.

04/24/23

You discover an old, cursed artifact at a flea market. As you take it home, strange things start happening around you, and you realize that the artifact has a dark power.

04/25/23

You and your friends decide to explore an abandoned, decrepit asylum. But as you go through the dark, decaying halls, you realize that something is still living inside.

04/26/23

You start experiencing vivid, terrifying nightmares every night. But as you try to escape the nightmares, you realize they’re not just in your head.

04/27/23

You find a mysterious, ancient book in the attic of your family’s home. But as you start reading it, you realize that the book is written in a language you can’t understand, and its contents are too horrific to comprehend.

04/28/23

You start receiving strange, cryptic messages from an unknown sender. As you try to decipher the letters, you realize they’re leading you to something terrible.

04/29/23

You and your friends decide to spend the night in a haunted hotel. But as the night goes on, you realize that the hotel’s ghosts are more than restless spirits.

04/30/23

You discover an abandoned laboratory hidden deep in the woods. But as you investigate, you realize that the experiments there were far more sinister than you could have imagined.

05/01/23

You start experiencing strange, unexplainable phenomena in your own home. As you try to understand what’s happening, you realize that something has attached itself to you, and it won’t let go.

05/02/23

You and your friends decide to explore an old, abandoned church. But as you venture deeper into the church, you realize that the building itself is alive, and it’s not happy to have visitors.

05/03/23

You find an old, haunted doll in an antique store. As you take it home, you realize that the doll is not just a creepy toy but a vessel for something far more sinister.