2025 Spooky Story Competition

The crimson ooze slowly dripped through the open carcass, red velvet liquid soaking into the ancient wooden floorboards and the fancy blue carpets like a sponge. The dust of the floor setting into the blood turning it a dry, dark, devilish burgundy. The shear stench was enough to stop any curiosities from arising. Sparks strung throughout the body and made paralysed limbs twitch. Six years ago, five guests checked into an abandoned hotel on the east side of Hollywood, not knowing what type of vacancy they were filling. Without knowing, they became permanent residents of a place they did not want to stay, in a room they did not want to sleep in. The Horse and Arm hotel hadn't been known for its special quality and beside the glitz and the glamor of classic 1934 Hollywood most of the place did not look particularly desirable. The storms and rainfall had settled, and it left time for the water to dry. An electrical power bank about five hundred metres from the hotel had faced some major flooding and because of this the hotel had no electricity for the night. Torches were handed out, one per party, and complimentary drinks were offered. Suddenly, a loud crack echoed through the damp, dark hallways as cobwebs were melted off the walls in lines like dominoes. The wallpaper licked off and the carpets were burnt. The man walking by with a plate of four drinks in his hand, one for him, one for his twenty-two-year-old son, one for his wife and one for his father, spending his last days of life in the hotel after being tragically diagnosed with a fatal lung disease due to a long lifestyle of heavy smoking and nicotine intake. The electricity clustered up into a ball the shape of a scrunched-up line of tin foil and engulfed the man, spilling drinks on the navy-blue carpets and soaking up electricity, the hand of power was enough to split his ribcage and middle to upper chest open, spilling blood onto the floors like coke and mentos. Legend has it his ghost still lies on that floor to this day, taking the form of electricity in the power lines.

BY FELIX HOWARD