To get into the spirit of spooky season, the Evans Library held a two-sentence horror story contest. We had almost 40 blood-curdling entries, and it was a gory task to judge the best entries. Below are the top three gruesome winners, and the haunted honorable mentions are below the eerie image.
First Place – Jorge Granados-Hernandez
I only wanted to feel her heartbeat. I didn’t expect the hospital to let me in, disguised with scrubs, into the operating room.
Second Place— Lorelai (Aero) Draney
I was told to write down everything I remember, something about helping me stay grounded. But so many of these pages are in someone else's handwriting.
Third Place—Andre Colina
As I unlock the door to my new residence I find myself deep in thought. I hope these people give in faster than the last few did.
Honorable Mentions
Natalie Dorfeld
Seeking adventure and danger, I opened the door to the atomic toilet outside of Crawford, only to violently fall to the bottom of its hollowed well. And the only thing down there was cobwebs, a boom box, and one Nickelback CD.
Anjali Kannan
As I lay in bed, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me from the shadows. It was only when I heard my own voice whisper, “Good night” back to me that I realized I wasn’t the one was had fallen asleep.
Sheridan King
“Silly thing, there’s no monsters under your bed.”
But that would be preferable to the shapeless pretender that spoke those words looking over my sleepless form.
Emmalynn Gibbs
The library ghost never harms anyone, but every morning, the staff finds a new book open on the central reading table with every word crossed out, leaving only the pages blank. Today's open book was my diary, and on the final empty page, the ghost had drawn a careful picture of my corpse lying on the floor, with my own new, smiling specter rising from the body.
Bella Engelberg
Lying on the stained carpet was my father, mother, and baby brother with their heads severed and their blood spilling all over the pristine carpet of our pristine house. I was not sorry.
Malia Dreher
When the child awoke from his fevered sleep to the silhouette of a winged angel, he asked, “Are you here to cure me?” The angel replied with a “No” before revealing his fiery, eye-riddled from to the lad and seizing his wrist with chilled talons.