The internet is a crazy place, full of cat memes, avocado on toast and, it seems, excellent scary stories.

Courtesy of Emerald Street‘s latest newsletter,  I came across a Reddit forum called NoSleep where a community of horror writers keep the tradition of ghost stories alive. There are strict rules about what tales can be published: no gore, no comedic horror, must be first person and believable within reason (i.e we can’t get to the end and find the narrator was a rabbit or dead all along).

The point is these stories could happen anywhere, to the author, to you. They don’t have to be set in a graveyard to be unsettling. The website sidebar even reads, ‘Everything is true here, even if it’s not’.

It seems apt timing to discover some scary stories as Halloween is approaching. ‘Missed Connection’ and ‘Orange Cream Soda’ are great places to start.

Sophie, Editor