19 of My Creepiest Fiction Stories

[00:00:00]As they pulled up to the haunted lighthouse, his friend told him that anyone who went up never came back down.

[00:00:07]No bodies, no answers, just [music] gone forever. He warned his friend not to go, but curiosity got the better of him. He told him he would call from the top to prove he was okay. Phone in hand, he stepped through the door and disappeared up the stairs. The climb was long, but at the top there was nothing [music] really. Just a quiet room and an ocean view. Not scary at all. He pulled out his phone, but there was no service. And that's when he noticed it. A small room off to the side. In it was an old rotary phone still connected. He picked it up and called his friend and let him know he was speaking from an old phone he found in [music] this cool room. The friend froze. There was no phone or [music] room in this lighthouse. He circled the base, looked up, and saw him standing [music] on an old rotting plank holding his cell phone. A gust of wind came hard off the sea. The call cut out, and only the lighthouse remained. They set up a baby monitor to keep an eye on their daughter because recently they had noticed open drawers and crooked window blinds, things that made them uneasy.

[00:01:21]The camera was a way to make sure nothing odd was happening. Hours later, in the middle of the night, the monitor crackled awake, instantly jolting her from sleep. She glanced at the screen and saw her husband standing over the crib, cradling their baby. She felt relieved [clears throat] until she realized her husband was lying right next to her. Panic surged as she grabbed a [music] baseball bat and bolted into the nursery. She turned on the light and her husband spun around startled, clutching [music] their baby. If this was her husband, then who was in her bed? While he was studying, a hand reached through the window and dropped a velvet case onto his desk. Inside were two glowing contact lenses. He slid one onto each eye and immediately the text on the page moved. Diagrams animated, labels slid in place, and the answers appeared right on the paper. Every problem was solved before he even finished reading it. On the way out of the library, he saw the man who gave him the lenses watching in the distance.

[00:02:32]During labs, the lines [music] he needed to cut appeared as paths. And when taking a test, every question lit up with answers only he could see. He graduated at the top of his class and saw the mysterious man again in the crowd. Years passed by and he became a legend in the [music] industry. While operating, overlays hovered over organs, showing him exactly what to do. And every single one of his patients survived. After years of this, the call came. The president had suffered a stroke live on air. Emergency surgery was needed and he was their best bet.

[00:03:13]His hands were shaking as he scrubbed in, but as he stood over the president, the lenses immediately brightened, drawing neat paths across the failing heart. He began to push the scalpel into the skin, but then everything disappeared.

[00:03:30]There was nothing to guide his hands.

[00:03:33]Shaking, he pushed the scalpel anyway and cut too deep. Blood spurtded up over his arms and it was too late. Monitors were flatlining. The president was dead.

[00:03:46]The crowd was horrified as they looked down at the body except for one man. He was completely unfaced with a faint smile on his face as he turned and walked away.

[00:04:00]He woke up to banging coming from [music] downstairs. The clock read 3:34 a.m. He checked his parents' room, empty. He went downstairs, but as he reached the living room, he saw men stealing the TV. Terrified, he ran upstairs and locked his door. Then the banging started. He woke up believing it was a dream, but the clock still read 3:34 [music] a.m. Scared, he went downstairs to reassure himself. But the men were in the kitchen yelling at his parents. He ran back upstairs just as the banging [music] started. He woke up again. It was 3:34 a.m. This time, he stayed awake for 36 hours, haunted by the endless loop. There was a staircase in the middle of the village that led straight into the sky with no end in sight.

[00:04:51][music] Twice a year, they held Ascension Day where they chose a name out of a barrel. It was a great honor to be chosen. The villagers would beam with pride. His sister fixed his hair and gave him a tearful hug. She would see him again when she [music] was chosen.

[00:05:09]The elder pressed on his chest and studied him for a moment. Then he stepped aside without a word. [music] He climbed as the villagers cheered. But as she watched the cloud swallow him, something felt terribly wrong. Later that night, she snuck through the village and got to the base of the stairs. Climbing them without being chosen meant your name could never be called. [music] If she did this, she might never see her brother again. But she couldn't shake the unease, so she started climbing. As the village disappeared below, the air got thinner and it was cold. She found a door. It opened with a groan. Inside was a long table with two strange figures at either end. One of the figures reached out and lifted the lid from the largest tray.

[00:06:02]She froze in disbelief. It was her brother tied like a roast. An apple jammed in his mouth. His eyes were blinking. He was still alive. She turned to go get help, but the wind slammed the door shut.

[00:06:20]He got into his time machine and set the dial for ancient Rome. It landed with a loud crack. As it opened, he stepped out and as the dust cleared, he realized he was right in the middle of a Roman army.

[00:06:34]A soldier grabbed his arm, but he managed to pull out of his grasp, leaving behind his watch. He ran back as a spear whizzed past his head. He punched his return coordinates. The machine landed in silence. As it opened, he saw nothing but gray skies and dead trees. Behind him was a city in ruins. A massive statue was half buried in the ash. It was an emperor with one arm reaching out of the ground, and on the wrist was a watch. His watch. In the street ahead, he saw a crushed warhead casing with his watch etched into its side. You see, the soldier had kept it that day. Roman engineers took it apart.

[00:07:20]They studied its gears, its strange metals, its hidden power. They cracked the battery. They discovered energy, built machines, and forged weapons far beyond their time. They advanced too far, too fast. He ran to the machine to go retrieve the watch, but the spear had torn a massive hole, meaning he was stuck in a timeline that never should have existed, all because of his watch.

[00:07:48]He would steal the dog and take it home with him. But this wasn't just a random pet. You see, he did his research beforehand, hanging out in dog parks and looking for emotional owners. You know, the ones who loved their pets as if they were kids. Then he would follow them home, stake out the house, and take their dogs. Soon the lost dog posters would appear, and when he offered his help, they always agreed. Money [music] was no object to these people. When he finally staged the reunion, he would live stream it, and it was always a hit.

[00:08:25]Hundreds of thousands tuned in live, and soon his videos even attracted sponsors.

[00:08:31]That's because he had a knack for [music] finding the best targets. Like Ernie, an elderly veteran with PTSD and a support dog as his only companion.

[00:08:42]After stealing his dog, he streamed himself pretending to find him and teased a dramatic live stream of the reunion when he would return the animal.

[00:08:52]But when he stepped inside the veteran's house, the dog stopped dead in its tracks and started whining. He shrugged it off with a smile. There were thousands of viewers watching. With a sharp tug, he managed to get the dog moving until he got to the kitchen and found the man on the floor dead.

[00:09:11]Panicked, he fumbled with the record button, desperate to shut off the stream. "This wasn't supposed to happen," he whispered. "I just steal them. I give them back. I'm [laughter] not a killer." But the stream never actually stopped, and his followers heard [music] everything.

[00:09:54]>> [music] [music] [screaming] [panting] [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat.

[00:12:00]As he tucked his daughter in, she looked scared and asked him to check the closet. The father smiled and walked over, but as he pulled the closet door open, his face went numb. It was his daughter. She was crying, trembling. He completely froze in horror before snapping his head back to [music] the bed. It was empty. He was panicked for a moment, but he shook it off. It must have just been his imagination. He calmed his daughter, tucked her in for real this time, and left the room. The dark room settled for a moment, but then the closet door slowly creaked open.

[00:12:41]They put the device on her grandma's finger because she wasn't feeling well.

[00:12:46]It pricricked her skin, took a drop of blood, and scanned her fingerprint. Then it gave a number 9.8. This was bad. You see, elderly people would take this new test. The lower numbers meant that you would die peacefully, maybe in your sleep years [music] from now. But the high numbers, those meant a long, hard decline. So a pill was offered to those with high numbers. You would take it and pass peacefully in your sleep, skipping the years of anguish. They gave one to her grandma. Every night she'd sit at the kitchen table, pill in one hand, tea in the other. But she couldn't bring herself to take it. She felt okay. And over the next 6 months, [music] her granddaughter noticed that nothing happened. So she started to do some research. She found some hidden files on the AI behind this test. She learned it had been altered. It wasn't predicting suffering. Insurance companies reprogrammed the AI to flag patients who would cost too much money as they aged.

[00:13:54]They weren't treating patients. They were eliminating expenses. She printed off her research and sped to her grandma's house to show her, but she couldn't find her. The gravedigger decided to open the casket just to take a quick peek inside. He was almost done digging the grave and sometimes like to see the face of [music] the person he was about to bury. But what he saw made him fall back in shock. It was his face staring up from inside. [music] Heart racing, he sprinted home to his wife, leaving the grave half dug. But when he got there, his wife looked at him with horror. She backed away, trembling, reaching for a knife [music] behind her. He stepped forward and she screamed. He ran. He didn't know where else [music] to go, so he returned to the graveyard. But now there were figures [music] standing around the open casket. He crept closer. Their skin was gray, their heads swollen, and eyes were black and wide. One of them turned.

[00:14:58][music] It placed a hand on his shoulder. You finished the mission, Zar. Great job. as always. He couldn't [music] move or speak, just frozen in confusion. The figure sighed, "You poor thing. You've been down here too long." She reached up and touched [music] his cheek, slowly peeling, revealing the truth. His skin came away like fabric, and beneath it, he's [music] one of them. He opened the package and pulled out a sleek looking headset with no branding, only a QR code. He scanned it, downloaded the game, and hit launch. He hesitated for a moment, but decided to put on the headset. Immediate bright flashes filled his vision. A loud, deafening tone. Then everything went black. He woke up on his floor, dying of thirst [music] and hopelessly confused. His phone buzzed and he picked it up. 55 missed calls, hundreds of texts. He looked at the date. 2 days had gone by. He scrolled through the messages. Please turn yourself in. How could you? [music] Why?

[00:16:06]His mom's message read, "I still love you, but you have to go to [music] the cops." One message included a video link. He clicked it. It was him lighting a house on fire. He was committing multiple terrible crimes. But when he turned to get the headset, it was gone along with his [music] computer. Sirens approached. Red and blue flooded his room, heart beating out of his chest.

[00:16:33]His eyes caught the back door and he decided to run. His wife was sitting beside him. The kids were sleeping in the back seat. The road stretched quiet and dark. Then headlights cut across the line.

[00:16:53]When he came too, they were gone. His family was dead because of a drunk driver and he was all alone. Now 20 years later, he's retelling [music] the story for the hundth time to his psychiatrist. She had adjusted his [music] medication many times, but nothing seemed to help. He was numb. He just couldn't enjoy life.

[00:17:18]So she suggested an experimental clinic that claimed it could completely erase specific memories. This would be perfect for him. He had been struggling with this [music] weight for too long. He agreed, desperate to forget his trauma, signing all the waiverss without hesitation, anything to make the pain disappear. At the clinic, a nurse [music] prepared him for the procedure, noticing his trembling hands and downcast eyes. Then the lead scientist asked him to recall every detail. The collision, the screaming metal, the silence afterward. He poured it all out so the machine could trace the neural pathways and find his [music] memory.

[00:18:01]They sedated him and the procedure began. It was supposed to be quick, but the system kept failing to lock [music] on to the memory. The screen showed inconsistent data. The scientists grew frustrated. They sedated him deeper, forcing the machine to dig harder.

[00:18:18][music] In the control room, the nurse began to research records of his family to try and help, but she couldn't find anything. There was no marriage record for him, [music] no children, nothing. She found an article about the car crash, and to her horror, she saw the man's face in a mugsh shot. He was the drunk driver that night. He was the one that killed the family.

[00:18:44]>> [screaming] >> and he was about to forget it all. He strapped the shock collar around her neck and pressed the button [music] to test it out. You see, she barked at everything all of the time, and he had had enough. At first, he only shocked her when she barked, and it worked like [music] a charm. But soon, he started shocking her when she just looked like she was about to bark. And one time he even shocked her [music] for no reason.

[00:19:14]She learned quickly and stopped barking, staying silent even when startled. At one night, while the house was quiet, the dog suddenly stiffened. Her ears twitched and she stared down the hall, but she didn't bark. She only stared.

[00:19:30]The man noticed her posture and shook his head while gripping the remote. But a man stepped out from [music] behind the wall, a gun in his hand. The owner's eyes went wide, but it was too late. He was dead, and his dog kept silent, just like he wanted.

[00:19:48]They opened their new cleaning robot, and it picked up its own packaging using AI to predict and detect messes. It vacuumed spills before they even hit the ground. It nagged dad about his socks and chased the kids with a feather duster. It became part of the family until one day it threw their groceries away. Then the dog's bed, then their shoes.

[00:20:15]>> Mess potential eliminated.

[00:20:17]>> It chirped. Then the dog vanished. The kids surged and the parents called until they noticed the robot dragging a trash bag. It jingled and a squeaky toy bounced free.

[00:20:31]>> Mess potential eliminated. Floors secure. A bloody broken broom laid nearby. For a second, they stared, but when the robot grabbed the handle, they ran.

[00:20:43]>> Further potential detergent.

[00:20:45]>> They locked themselves in the bedroom, and Dad pulled a shotgun from the closet. Suddenly, the door exploded inward. In the chaos, shots rang out.

[00:20:55]Everything was a blur.

[00:20:58]The next morning, there was silence. The house gleamed. Not a stain, not a sock, not a sound.

[00:21:08]>> This potential eliminated.

[00:21:12]>> Three friends were exploring the haunted theater, which had been abandoned for years. Locals told stories about unexplained noises and things moving by themselves, claiming the building was haunted, but it was scheduled to be torn down the next day, meaning this was their only chance to explore it. One of them joked about holding a seance. The others laughed until they reached [music] the stage. a bowl of salt, a bird's skull, a blade, and an open book with a drawing of an old woman's twisted face. Then a faint sound came from the rafters. It almost sounded like a woman screaming in fear. Two of the friends laughed and stepped closer, but the third shook his head, saying it felt wrong. They kept urging him, promising that it was just for fun. Finally, he sighed and climbed onto the stage. They stood around the circle and joined hands. The air grew still, but they heard a soft scraping sound. It was the blade. It started to tremble. It scraped across the floor, slowly turning toward them. Then the massive curtain dropped with a heavy crash before the whole stage collapsed. The next morning, the demo crew searched the ruins. No sign of anyone inside, just a crushed skull, a sharp knife, and a book with a drawing.

[00:22:40]It was three terrified teens sketched on [music] the page. When the wrecking ball hit, the workers swore they heard screams coming from inside the walls.

[00:22:50]They rolled him into the nursing home, even though he didn't want to go, and they took his beloved dog with them when they left. Now his days [music] were filled with pills, checkups, and bland meals served on trays. But without his dog, everything felt hollow. He began to notice things. Pills left untouched, piling up on tables. Now he recognized these medications. Drugs that mixed wrong could be deadly. And soon after, people around him started dying one by one. Each loss explained away by staff as just old age. Late one night, he called his daughter and whispered, >> "It isn't safe here."

[00:23:35]>> He begged her to let him move back home, but she just asked if he had been taking his pills. As the days passed, more deaths followed. Then, a nurse collapsed suddenly in the dining hall. This time, there was no explanation. The staff scrambled, ordering cameras to be installed. Weeks later, his daughter was called in for a meeting. The police were there. They pulled up grainy footage of the old man. He was crushing pills, mixing the powder into the communal sugar jar. A nurse stirred the sugar into her coffee, took a sip, and collapsed. It was him. The family turned in horror, but he just smiled while petting his dog. I told you it isn't safe here.

[00:24:23]Claire took the new weight loss pill.

[00:24:25]Excited to finally get rid of her hunger. She celebrated over a pizza dinner with her family, but her plate remained empty. Her appetite had vanished. She finally felt in control.

[00:24:39]Within just a few days, the weight melted off. But then the real change started to hit. Pancakes smelled like vomit. Homemade meals made her gag. Even water tasted rotten. She tried to quit the pills, but even after she stopped, her body still reacted like everything was poison. Just the thought of food made her panic. Doctors told her the medication had connected the thought of food with being poisoned. It couldn't be undone, and it was happening to everyone who had taken it. After months of being on a feeding tube, she finally got the news. A second pill had hit the market, [music] offering 24 hours of relief. She cried as she finally enjoyed dinner with her family, and every bite was better than she ever remembered. But within a day, the pharmacies were out of the new medication. People ended up fighting over the pills in the streets. One night, Claire dragged herself to a pharmacy. It was already filled with others like her. Rumaging through the medications scattered on the floor, she grabbed a handful of mixed pills and swallowed, desperately hoping that something in there would bring her hunger back. Her shovel hit something as she was [music] helping in the garden.

[00:26:05]She thought it was a rock at first, but when she pulled it out, it was cold and heavy. She immediately ran over and handed [music] it to her father. He kept a straight face, but he was just as confused. Later that evening, as he was studying it, something began to move. He stepped back, scared, and knocked over the lantern. Oil and flames began to spread. He stumbled back and knocked the dial onto the floor.

[00:26:37]The flames were gone. The lantern stood upright. The dial was back on the anvil.

[00:26:44]Now, he was a man of God, and this was sorcery. He grabbed a mallet and struck it again and again, but it wouldn't break. So, he carried it deep into the woods. Then, he dug until the hole was deeper than himself. He threw it in, buried it, whispered a prayer, and left.

[00:27:05]And the dial sat there undisturbed for 150 years until one day a different shovel hit it. Click here to continue the story.