OCTOBER MONTHLY CHALLENGE
Let’s Get Spooked — The Finale
The editors announce their favorite reads
I am very honest with you. Some of these stories I could only read in the daytime. Their level of scariness was a bit over my tolerance level. But we asked for it. We asked for your spooky and scary travel experiences and you delivered.
We were more than impressed with the load and variety of stories you submitted this month. Some stories are spookier than others and some are downright scaring me to this moment still just thinking about them.
We received a total of 22 submissions to the monthly writing prompt of October plus 7 stories written by the editors. This surely made it everything but easy to choose our favorite but read yourself:
JoAnn Ryan
I love reading spooky ghost stories. Does that make me weird? Probably, but whatever.
I do have the utmost respect and reverence for the dearly departed though, seriously, and thus I loved reading Sara Burdick’s story of a haunted cemetery in Bogotá, as well as Lane Henry’s story of a Sicilian crypt, as they both mention the importance of having respect and reverence for the deceased in their stories. After all, these were once living and breathing people, just like you and me.
Osan Fernando knocked it out of the park, as usual, with her stories of visiting Alcatraz, Amityville and her awesome story of visiting Hong Kong. By the way, I’ve always loved to say the name Massapequa, ever since I visited there in 2010. Thanks, Osan!
James Baxter brought us many fab stories as well about such places as White Sands, Area 51 and Queensland, Australia.
I loved the misty and mysterious forest photos provided to us by Serhii Onkov and the ashy volcano photos from Mike Lewis.
I also thoroughly enjoyed stories from KL Simmons, Nella DiCarlo, Araci Almeida, Susie Kearley, Janin Lyndovsky and Shelley Rohm.
A runner-up for my favorite was this interesting tale by Foxtrot:
It reminded me of the many stories of the Soucouyant I keep hearing about here in Trinidad.
However, my clear favorite was this spooky yet fun submission by Brett Jenae Tomlin:
“It could be human — living, undead, or anywhere in between. I could open this to find the beating heart of a lover that could not endure the pain of rejection.”
Thank you everyone for all the wonderful spooky stories!
Jillian Amatt
I really had to think hard about a spooky story for this prompt and was worried that others would have the same difficulty. But based on the great response, I can see that wasn’t the case at all. You all submitted some really great stories, from aliens to ghosts, abandoned towns to just downright scary situations, there were many angles covered in this prompt.
The first story that made my spine tingle was by Foxtrot who spooked me with her tale of the Kuntilanak. I really felt like I was right there in the story and truly felt the terror rip through me when she turned around to see it standing on the roof behind her.
KL Simmons tells of a terrifying experience on the train when her seatmate seems to disappear, leaving her wondering if he even existed at all.
Susie Kearley had me totally freaked out with her tale of touring the Hell Fire Caves. I would certainly not have the courage to go in there on my own! You are very brave Susie!
But my favorite pick certainly goes to James Baxter and his story about thinking that he was about to get abducted by aliens. He describes it so well and I can totally understand how scary and out of the ordinary his experience was. Great job James!
Adrienne Beaumont
Once again, I am stumped to choose an outright winner. The scariest story? I think Luda Zueva’s “Unfinished Business At Amber Beacon” was the one I had the most nightmares about.
The story I can relate to the most? That would have to be James Baxter’s “The Open Road and Fear of Alien Abduction in Queensland, Australia” because I’ve had a similar experience when I lived in North Queensland.
And the most terrifying one that I would never do is Mike Lewis’s “Walking Into An Active Volcano In Indonesia”.
And then there are two ordinary experiences that are written about in such a way that they had me holding my breath while reading them. They are Brett Jenae Tomlin’s “The Dead Man’s…Cooler?” and KL Simmons’ “The Weirdest Thing Happened To Me On The Train”.
Anne Bonfert
Just to begin with, I’m not a person for horror stories. I can’t watch any movies with any level of scariness. It’s just not for me. Therefore you can imagine I wasn’t looking forward to reading scary stories. But I must admit, I enjoyed most of them. Only a few were over my tolerance level.
But almost all of them were well-written, creative articles and I really enjoyed this different topic I usually don’t indulge in. But let’s get to the point.
The one writer that stood out to me was James Baxter with submitting four pieces to our October challenge. While I didn’t know how to come up with a single story spooky enough for this writing prompt, he surely had loads of experiences to share.
And he did not just share any story. His articles are well-written and engaging. They feel authentic and keep the reader interested. And to pick one of the four he submitted, I’d like to highlight “The Open Road and Fear of Alien Abduction in Queensland, Australia”.
This article took a turn I didn’t expect it would…
The second story I’d like to mention is written by KL Simmons. It starts like a normal travel piece. I’m sitting on the train, hanging in my thoughts. Something like that.
The story goes even more personal and almost makes you cry when the other person starts talking and also shares a story.
And then there’s the ending. So unexpected!
Once again, we thank each and every writer who has contributed to this writing prompt. Some stories were scarier than others but they all had their own level of spookiness.
If you missed the deadline and still want to share a spooky story you can do so, the article will just not be part of the challenge. We are always open to travel posts.
I also encourage you to stay tuned for our next writing prompt for the month of November. We will announce it here on Globetrotters on the 1st.
The team of editors also has contributed to the challenge with the following articles. These posts never join the contest.
Adrienne Beaumont with “Ghost Tours at Night”, “The Only Time I’ve Been Truly Terrified While Travelling” and “I Think I Saw a Ghost…”
Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages with “Meet 5 Ghosts That Live In This Haunted Hotel”
JoAnn Ryan with “Visiting the Haunted Plantation of Lopinot Featured on Ghost Hunters”
Anne Bonfert with “Where Fog is More Common Than Sunshine” and “Visiting an Abandoned Village”
And now please give credits to all participating writers and do give a read to these awesome submissions if you haven’t checked them out yet:
Foxtrot | The Travel Writer with “The Sweet (Stench) Of Frangipani — Encountering The Kuntilanak”
Serhii Onkov with “Fanal. Mysterious Forest Not From This World”
Osan Fernando with “The Ghosts Of Alcatraz, The Rock and My Scary Silly Imaginations”, “Hong Kong: August 1992 and 2022” and “The Basements Of Amityville And Massapequa New York”
Sara Burdick with “A Haunted Cemetery in Bogotá, Myths, and Legends Make History More Exciting”
Araci Almeida with “At the Curve, They Gave a Dead Woman a Ride”
James Baxter with “White Sands New Mexico”, “The ExtraTerrestrial Highway”, “The Ghosts of Angkor Wat” and “The Open Road and Fear of Alien Abduction in Queensland, Australia”
Luda Zueva with “Unfinished Business At Amber Beacon”
Janin Lyndovsky with “My Unforgettable St Andrew’s Celebration”
Lane Henry with “The Creepiest Place On Your Next European Travel Itinerary”
KL Simmons with “The Weirdest Thing Happened To Me On The Train”
Susie Kearley with “Are You Brave Enough to Enter the Hell Fire Caves this Halloween?”
Robert Knight with “8 Things About the Day of the Dead in Mexico”
Shelley Rohm with “The Phantom Hitchhiker”
Simon Whaley with “Seven Spooky Spectre Sites”
Brett Jenae Tomlin with “The Dead Man’s…Cooler?”
Mike Lewis with “Walking Into An Active Volcano In Indonesia”
Nella DiCarlo with “Daring To Dine at the Duke of Duckworth”
