The only thing more satisfying than reading a brilliant, quick, chilling story is sharing it with others and giving them a creeping dread, a sudden chill, or an unspeakable terror.

In this post, we’ll list 13 short stories that may visit your dreams at night – some are well-known, others not so much. We also provide links for you to read or listen to them on YouTube, when available (narrations may be longer than 10 minutes). 

After the list, we’ll give you some tips on how to tell the stories aloud so they grab people’s attention and make them hold their breath.

1.        The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

Read for free on The Poe Museum | Listen to a narration on YouTube

Let’s start with the Master.              

In this iconic tale, Prince Prospero locks himself and his courtiers in a fortified abbey to escape a gruesome plague known as the Red Death. Inside, they throw a lavish, grotesque masquerade ball across seven colored rooms, believing they can outrun suffering through wealth and revelry. The story is a masterclass in atmospheric dread, building to a chilling and inevitable conclusion about the universality of death. Poe, a foundational figure of American Gothic, was a master of the macabre whose work continues to define the genre.

2.   The Painted Skin by Pu Songling

Read for free on Project Gutenberg | Listen to a narration on YouTube

This classic Chinese story from the Qing Dynasty follows a man who becomes infatuated with a beautiful woman he meets, only to discover she is a demon wearing a painted human skin. A blend of horror, morality, and the supernatural, the tale serves as a stark warning against desire and deception. Its imagery is both haunting and vivid, making its climax unforgettable. Pu Songling compiled these “strange tales” in the 17th century, creating a cornerstone of Chinese supernatural literature that remains deeply influential.

3. August Heat by W.F. Harvey

Read for free on 101bananas | Listen to a narration on YouTube

An artist sketches a man on trial for murder, only to meet his living double – a stonemason – hours later. The mason has just finished carving a tombstone bearing the artist’s name and that day’s date. Set during a sweltering heatwave, this story masterfully builds a sense of inescapable, slow-burning dread as the two men ponder their fate. W.F. Harvey was a British writer celebrated for his mastery of the unsettling short story, and “August Heat” remains his most famously chilling work.

4. The Feather Pillow by Horacio Quiroga

Read for free on Project Gutenberg| Listen to a narration on YouTube

A newlywed woman mysteriously weakens, plagued by nightmares and a growing anaemia that doctors cannot explain. The horror of this story lies not in what is seen, but in what is discovered hidden within the most mundane of household objects: her feather pillow. Quiroga, an Uruguayan author often compared to Poe, was a master of suspense and the macabre, specialising in tales where nature and domestic life conceal visceral, unsettling threats.

5.  The Little Angel’s Exhumation by Mariana Enríquez

Read for free on The Short Story Project

In a poverty-stricken neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, a group of children become obsessed with the legend of a ‘little angel’ – a miraculously preserved child – buried in the local cemetery. Their decision to dig it up unleashes a grisly and unsettling reality that blurs the line between superstition and brutal truth. Mariana Enríquez is a contemporary Argentine writer renowned for her chilling blend of gothic horror and sharp social commentary, often set against the backdrop of her country’s troubled history.

6. Hello, Moto byNnedi Okorafor

Read for free on Reactor

In modern-day Nigeria, three women come into possession of powerful, otherworldly wigs that grant them the ability to manipulate reality and influence people’s wills. What begins as a tool for social improvement quickly descends into a corrosive struggle for power, transforming their friendship and corrupting their very identities. Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author celebrated for her distinctive genre of ‘Africanfuturism’, masterfully weaving African culture and mythology with science fiction and fantasy.

7. The Restaurant of Many Orders by Kenji Miyazawa

Read for free on Granta | Listen to a narration on YouTube

Two hunters, lost in the woods, stumble upon a mysterious restaurant that promises a fine meal to well-mannered patrons. They must pass through a series of increasingly peculiar instructions posted on signs before they are allowed to dine. The story builds a uniquely unsettling atmosphere, blending whimsy with a growing sense of dread as the true nature of the establishment becomes horrifyingly clear. Kenji Miyazawa was an early 20th-century Japanese poet and author, famous for his imaginative and often deeply moral children’s stories that contain surprisingly dark and philosophical undercurrents.

8. The October Game by Ray Bradbury

Read for free on Readers Library | Listen to a narration on YouTube

On a dark Halloween night, a bitter man hosts a party for his daughter and her friends, leading them in a classic ‘spooky’ game in the cellar. The story masterfully contrasts the innocent fright of the children with the protagonist’s deep-seated resentment, building towards one of the most infamous and chilling final lines in horror literature. Ray Bradbury was a towering figure in American fantasy and horror, and this story remains a devastating example of his ability to find profound darkness within mundane settings.

9. The Open Window by Saki (H.H. Munro)

Read for free on American Literature| Listen to a narration on YouTube

Framton Nuttel has come to the countryside for his nerves, but a visit to the Sappleton family takes an unexpected turn. He is left in the company of a charming young girl who recounts a tragic family story, explaining why the large French window stands open. The story is a brilliant, swift exercise in misdirection, culminating in a perfectly delivered final line that leaves both the protagonist and the reader reeling. Saki, the pen name for British writer Hector Hugh Munro, was a master of the witty and often darkly surprising short story.

10. The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft

Read for free on The H. P. Lovecraft Archive | Listen to a narration on YouTube

A solitary being, who has known only the darkness of a vast, decaying castle, finally ascends to the world above in a quest for light and companionship. What he discovers upon reaching the surface, however, leads to a shocking revelation about his own monstrous nature. This story stands as one of Lovecraft’s most accessible and poignant tales, exploring themes of isolation and identity with his signature gothic prose. H.P. Lovecraft was an American writer whose cosmic horror and Cthulhu Mythos have left an indelible mark on the genre.

11. The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Bierce

Read for free on American Literature | Listen to a narration on YouTube

Told through three conflicting accounts – from a son, his father, and the ghost of his mother – this story pieces together the brutal murder of a woman on a remote road. Each narrative offers a different perspective on the event, creating a complex puzzle where the full, horrifying truth only emerges from the fragments. Ambrose Bierce was an American writer and journalist, renowned for his cynical wit and his chilling tales of the supernatural and the grim realities of the American Civil War.

12. There Are No Monsters on Rancho Buenavista by Isabel Cañas

Read for free on Nightmare Magazine

A jealous man becomes obsessed with uncovering the happiness of a young woman and her suitor, convinced that her secrets involve her cheating with another man. His relentless spying leads him to a moonlit encounter that reveals far more than he bargained for, challenging the very definition of rationality and culminating in a chilling, poetic justice. Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American author celebrated for her gothic stories that masterfully blend history, folklore, and a sharp, unsettling horror.

13. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

Read for free on The Poe Museum | Listen to a narration on YouTube

An unnamed narrator insists on their own sanity while calmly describing the meticulous murder of an old man, motivated only by a terror of the victim’s pale, clouded eye. The true horror unfolds as the narrator begins to be tormented by the sound of the dead man’s heart, a relentless beating that grows louder from beneath the floorboards. Poe, the American master of the macabre, created in this story a perfect and deeply unsettling exploration of guilt and a descent into madness.

Tips for Telling Scary Stories Aloud

Whether you are around a campfire, sitting at the dinner table(be careful not to cause people indigestion!), or have actually set the stage in your living room for guests, you’ll find these techniques practical and useful.

Study the story

You don’t need to memorise the entire story word-for-word. Instead, learn the story’s core structure and narrate according to this framework.

• State the opening line. You can start by announcing you’re about to tell a spooky tale, or open casually, as if you were recounting a trip to the corner shop.
• Introduce characters, settings, and the normal situation. Be succinct; tell only the essentials, as this part is about information, not emotion.
• Disclose the first strange event. If you haven’t already told the audience it’s a scary story, here is where you start to make them uncomfortable.
• Build the tension slowly (the noises, the feeling of being watched, etc.). Stretch out the suspense by repeating strange events, slowing your pace, and using long, heavy silences to make the audience’s mind do the work.
• Next, deliver the climax – the point of highest fear, the main scare (the monster, the reveal, the twist) – with a sudden, sharp change in your voice, speed, or volume.
• And last, the chilling final outcome or reveal.

Deliver Emotions

Focus on the scene’s feeling – is it fear, dread, confusion?

The tone of the voice is extremely important. It can quiver or the pitch can go higher, depending on what you need to show (fear or confusion, for example). The volume must vary – passages with anger are louder, those with sadness or secrecy are lower. Use the audio links as your personal workshop. Notice where the narrator pauses, whispers, or raises their voice to build tension.

Your facial and body expressions are vital. You don’t need to be an Oscar-winner, but subtle hand-trembling and a slight bend of your back can work wonders. But you must also use other deliberate arm and hand motions to illustrate key moments, and even lean forward to your audience to force them to create intimacy and become more vulnerable.

 Speaking of your audience, don’t forget to observe their reactions to adjust your performance. Drag them into your character’s mindset by mirroring the actions of the character: if someone is peeling their skin through their neck, make the movement; if the character looks up suddenly at a noise, do the same.

Also essential is direct eye contact. Lock eyes with different people in the circle at different moments. Hold eye contact with one person for an entire moment of tension, then snap your head to another as the tension breaks – the more scared person, the better.

Improvise

In case you forget a detail or get nervous, use simple fillers to buy time. You can also take a deep breath or make a longer pause as if it were part of the story – those will help you to remember, or come up with something new, in no time.

The final, chilling line can be punctuated by a loud sound (like a clap) or a sudden jump toward someone for a physical scare, if appropriate. Alternatively, hold a single, wide-eyed stare toward the centre of the group for three to five full seconds. Make them believe the danger is real, present, and lingering.

Try Something Fun

Feel free to make the story your own. Memory can be tricky, so if you want to change characters, settings, and even events (big or small), use the recommended works as inspiration and go for it.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it: 13 chilling stories ready for you to read, memorise the structure of, and share aloud if you want to. By applying a few simple techniques – mastering the art of the long pause, varying your volume, and using direct eye contact – you can deliver a truly memorable performance that leaves your audience unsettled.

In the end, the most important rule of spooky storytelling is to have fun, both in the reading and the telling. If you don’t feel like performing, just enjoy the read and the fact that you know something others may not.