how to
How-tos for all things horror; tips and tricks to help you write like Stephen King, tell a scary story, keep the monsters at bay and more.
The Hand That Reached From the Grave
The Hand That Reached From the Grave In a quiet village nestled among Pakistan’s ancient hills, there lived an old man named Saeen Murad. Known for his silence and strength, he worked as a grave digger at the local cemetery. For years, he had dug hundreds of graves — without fear, without question. But the day he was asked to prepare a grave beside an old, crumbling wall changed everything. --- The graveyard was older than memory. Some graves had names, others only stones. And in the farthest corner stood a ruined enclosure — once a family tomb, now forgotten. One afternoon, the village cleric asked Saeen Murad to dig a fresh grave for a traveler who had died mysteriously in the mosque. The only space left was near the ruined wall. Murad nodded and began. He struck the earth with his shovel. The soil was unusually hard, dry despite the recent rain. As he dug deeper, he noticed pieces of old bricks mixed with the dirt. Then — the shovel hit something soft. --- He knelt and brushed the dirt away with his hands. It looked like a piece of thick rope at first. But as more soil cleared, it took the shape of a hand — a human hand, decayed but not skeletal, with nails that looked freshly trimmed. Murad froze. The hand wasn’t buried downward — it was reaching outward from inside the grave wall. Before he could think, the fingers twitched. He jumped back, dropping his shovel. His breathing turned sharp. He stared in disbelief as the hand moved again — slow, pained, like waking from a long nightmare. --- He ran to the cleric and gasped, “There’s something alive inside the wall!” Others gathered, skeptical but curious. By the time they returned, the hand was still. Cold. Lifeless again. A younger man dared to touch it. Cold as stone. Yet the hand didn’t look like a relic. It had veins, faint color, and one silver ring on the middle finger — engraved with letters that no one could read. --- The elders whispered. Some said it was a cursed soul, buried alive centuries ago. Others spoke of a sorcerer who had once lived in the village and vanished mysteriously. The cleric decided they would not dig further. “Seal it again,” he ordered. “Some graves are not meant to be disturbed.” Reluctantly, they poured soil back, covering the hand. But Murad couldn’t sleep that night. --- At midnight, he heard knocks — soft but steady — outside his mud-brick home. Three knocks. Silence. Three more. When he opened the door, no one was there. But on the ground… were muddy fingerprints. The same size as the hand in the grave. --- The next day, a boy from the village went missing. Then, a woman claimed to have seen a man with no eyes standing near the cemetery wall at dusk. And then — Murad’s dreams began. Every night, he saw the hand crawling through tunnels underground. It reached toward him, always closer, always hungrier. In the dream, the hand finally gripped his leg. He woke with a bruise on the same spot. --- He returned alone to the grave site. Using a small pick, he quietly chipped at the wall that had hidden the hand. Beneath it, a hollow chamber revealed bones scattered in ritual patterns, symbols etched in ash, and in the center — a corpse sitting upright, its eyes missing, and both hands gone. The corpse's mouth was wide open, as if frozen mid-scream. Murad stumbled back. And the hand… it was no longer in the wall. --- That night, the entire village heard a loud cracking sound from the graveyard. By morning, the ancient wall had collapsed — the chamber exposed. But inside, there were no bones. Just a single note, written in black dust: > “He woke me. You buried me again. Now I walk among you.” --- Murad fell ill. He whispered strange languages in his sleep. He scratched his arms raw, saying “Get the hand off me!” again and again. Then one morning, he disappeared — his bed cold, his footprints leading toward the cemetery. Some say his soul was taken. Others claim he still digs — in a realm between the living and the dead — forever cursed by the hand he should never have uncovered. --- But if you walk near the old wall on moonless nights... you might still see a hand reach out. Waiting for another Murad. Another mistake.
By Noman Afridiabout a year ago in Horror
Voices in the Walls
Voices in the Walls Based on true events When my wife and I first moved into the farmhouse, it felt like a dream. A quiet, two-story home just outside of town, surrounded by wheat fields, thick woods, and silence—real silence, the kind you only get far away from the city. It had an old-world charm: squeaky floorboards, crooked shutters, and the smell of wood and dust that only time can create.
By Ali Asad Ullahabout a year ago in Horror
The Red Eyes at Midnight
“The Red Eyes at Midnight” by Ali Asad Ullah There are moments in life that don’t just haunt your memory—they consume it. For me, it was the red eyes. I saw them when I was sixteen, and I’ve never been the same since. I grew up in a small, remote village surrounded by endless wheat fields and dense forests. Our home was modest, and the nights were so quiet and dark that you could hear your own heartbeat. There were no streetlights, no passing cars, just the thick presence of nature and shadows. And stories. My grandmother, a deeply spiritual woman, used to tell me tales of djinns, cursed places, and the one legend that chilled me the most—the red eyes that appeared at midnight.
By Ali Asad Ullahabout a year ago in Horror
"I Found a Hidden Room in My House"
I Found a Hidden Room in My House I never expected to inherit anything from my great-uncle. He was the kind of relative you heard about only at funerals—quiet, distant, strange. When he passed away in 2022, I received a letter from his lawyer informing me that I’d inherited his house. No explanation, just a key and an address scribbled on thick parchment.
By Ali Asad Ullahabout a year ago in Horror
The 3:17 Visitor” horror story
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a light sleeper. Every sound, every creak, and even the faintest whisper of wind wakes me. So when I moved into my grandfather’s old countryside house after his death, I expected many sleepless nights. What I didn’t expect was what began exactly one week later—at 3:17 a.m.
By Ali Asad Ullahabout a year ago in Horror
My Favorite Short Scary Stories
My Favorite Short Scary Stories By: Zoea Marland, Class 12 There’s nothing I enjoy more than a good scary story—the adrenaline rush, the sudden chill down your spine, and that irresistible suspense that makes your heart race. If you know me, you know that I live for eerie tales, especially the kind you share during a late-night sleepover, flashlight in hand and blankets pulled up to your chin.
By Ali Asad Ullahabout a year ago in Horror
When I Discovered My Father’s Grave Was Empty
I was seventeen when my father died. A sudden heart attack. A closed casket. A quiet funeral on a cold November morning. They buried him in our family plot, beneath an old willow tree. I stood there, numb, watching as the earth swallowed the man I loved more than anything. Life moved on. I didn’t. Three years passed. On the third anniversary of his death, I returned to his grave alone. My mother couldn’t come—too painful, she said. I brought flowers. His favorite—white lilies. As I approached, I noticed something odd. The soil looked… disturbed. It wasn’t fresh, but it wasn’t settled either. Like someone had tampered with it recently. I brushed it off. Maybe animals. Maybe wind. Graveyards are lonely places. I laid the flowers and knelt. “I miss you, Dad.” The air grew colder. A sudden gust bent the trees, sending shivers down my spine. Then I noticed something else. His nameplate. It was slightly crooked. I reached out to fix it—and my fingers felt something underneath the loose stone. A crack. A gap. Curiosity overtook me. I pulled harder, lifting the stone. Beneath it—bare dirt. No concrete seal. No vault. Just soil. I stared, heart pounding. I ran to the caretaker’s office. “Something’s wrong with my father’s grave,” I told him. He frowned, came with me. He examined the site, then said, “Only one way to know.” I expected paperwork, delay—anything but what came next. He called two workers and said, “Dig six feet.” I protested, shaking. “Wait—are you allowed to do this?” He looked at me with eyes that had seen too much. “Son, sometimes graves lie.” The digging began. It took over an hour. As the final shovels lifted, we all leaned forward. Empty. No coffin. No bones. No clothes. No sign of burial. Just… nothing. I felt the world tilt. My legs gave out. “He was buried here,” I said. “I was here. I watched.” The caretaker nodded grimly. “I believe you.” I demanded answers. Was there a mistake? Had the wrong plot been used? He showed me the cemetery records. My father was buried exactly here. But there was one thing that didn’t make sense. No casket delivery was ever signed. No burial photo. No coffin ID. The funeral home had gone out of business a year after my father's death. Something was very wrong. That night, I told my mother. Her face turned pale. She whispered: “I didn’t want to tell you.” “What?” “I saw your father. A month after we buried him.” I stared. “What do you mean?” She trembled. “I was in the kitchen. He stood outside the window. Same clothes. Same look. But... he didn’t blink.” “Why didn’t you say anything?!” “Because he smiled and disappeared.” That night, I couldn’t sleep. I kept seeing the empty grave. Dreamed of it. In the dream, I was standing beside it. A voice whispered, “I never rested.” I woke up with dirt under my nails. I hadn’t left my bed. The next day, I went to our old storage room. I pulled out my father’s things—his coat, his journals. In the inside pocket of his jacket, I found a letter. Sealed. Addressed to me. “Open only if something doesn’t feel right.” My hands shook. I opened it. The letter read: > “If you’re reading this, then my death was not natural. I’ve been hunted. Watched. Followed. Don’t trust what you saw. I made plans to disappear, to protect you. If the grave is empty, it means I succeeded. Or… something else found me first.” That was the last line. No signature. No explanation. Just… silence. Now I return to the grave every year. Sometimes the flowers stay. Sometimes they vanish overnight. But the dirt is always disturbed. And the whisper in the wind always says: “I never rested.”
By Noman Afridiabout a year ago in Horror











