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STORIES AFTER DARK. READ THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

LiveLore — Creepy Stories,
Shaped by You

LiveLore is building a home for stories across genres, with readers helping choose where the plot goes. Read free horror stories and Wednesday chapters in Noctur, five campfire tales made to be told aloud, or The Last Collection, our mystery pilot. All use AI-assisted writing, with clearly dated reader ballots for new rounds.

Best read with the lights low.

Featured Creepy Story

Orange campfire flames and drifting embers surrounded by a pitch-dark pine forest
FIVE CAMPFIRE TALES3–4 MIN EACH
NOCTUR · AROUND THE FIRECampfire
Scary Stories.

Five tales. Five unsettling turns.
Choose the one that follows you home.

Read aloud·Five short tales
THE FIRE IS LOW. STAY CLOSE.
“The far shore was never copying her.
It was warning her.”

Five campfire tales turn a lantern, a tent, an echo, a bundle of firewood and a sleepless night into trouble. Read them free. The October 11 ballot received no votes, so The Lantern Across the Lake continues October 14 at 8 p.m. New York time under the announced editorial fallback.

Read the campfire stories
A new chapter every WednesdayNext chapter: Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Explore Noctur stories
nocturREAD AFTER DARK

Noctur — Wednesday Night Horror

Explore Noctur, our collection of unsettling stories for the dark side of the week. Choose a complete story or an opening chapter, then return for a new chapter every Wednesday night.

Every Wednesday at 8 p.m. New York time.
Next chapter: Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

Read the latest chapter of The Lantern Across the Lake.

Creepy stories in Noctur
GOOD STORIES. BAD DREAMS.

Creepy Short Stories to Read Tonight

Scary tales from Noctur

Short enough to finish before you turn the light off — long enough that you'll check the doorway twice. Free to read, no sign-up, with complete stories and clearly labeled chapters.

Or start from our full shelf of scary stories for adults, or the picks of scary stories for teens. In a hurry? Start with ten short scary stories, or read two sentence scary stories, one sentence horror stories or scary urban legends, retold. Planning a night in? Try sleepover scary stories, creepy chat stories, scary riddles, scary poems or Japanese urban legends.

Seasonal reading: Halloween poems and Krampus stories. Love a reveal? Read short horror stories with a twist. Writing your own? Start with scary story ideas and how to write a horror story, with a list of creepy words.

For younger readers, see scary stories for 10 year olds; for the winter, scary Christmas stories and famous ghost stories worth reading.

A campfire glowing beside dark trees at night
NOCTUR
The Lantern Across the Lake

Dana goes back to Fallow Lake with her father, but something has learned to speak in his voice.

11 min Listen · 14 min audio · October 14 Wednesday release
A porcelain doll in a faded blue dress sitting alone in a cardboard donation box with handwritten notes pinned to her dress in a dim thrift-store back room
SHORT STORIES
The Doll in the Donation Bin

Every time the porcelain doll is given away, she comes back to the thrift store with a new note.

11 min Listen · 14 min audio · Complete story
A wet woman in a pale wedding dress sits in the third wooden pew of an abandoned church
NOCTUR
The Woman in the Third Pew

The church is locked at night, yet the janitor keeps finding the same woman in the third pew.

10 min Listen · 12 min audio · Complete story
An old weatherboard family house at blue hour with an amber bedroom window and mist along its foundations
NOCTUR
The House That Breathes

The floors rise and fall on an eleven-second rhythm, and the youngest child has started breathing with them.

11 min Listen · 15 min audio · Ongoing serial
A neatly tucked empty child’s bed in a blue-dark bedroom with an adult woman’s shadow in the doorway
BEDTIME STORIES
She Tucks You In

Bedtime horror for grown-ups: Mia’s mother comes back every night, and staying safe costs something.

12 min Listen · 15 min audio · Ongoing serial
An Appalachian timber lean-to beside a small campfire, with a distant fourth silhouette at the dark tree line
CAMPFIRE STORIES
What We Heard at Mile 9

Three hikers, one mountain shelter, and a voice in the trees that keeps counting them.

9 min Listen · 11 min audio
A fogbound Victorian house at the end of Maple Street on Halloween, lit by a jack-o-lantern and an open amber doorway
HALLOWEEN
The Last House on Maple Street

The new girl on Maple Street promised her sick brother one more piece of candy, and only the last house is left.

9 min Listen · 12 min audio
An isolated timber cabin with one amber window among misty pine trees at night
NOCTUR
The Cabin That Knows Your Name

Her name is already in the guest book, and the polite knock at the door speaks in her mother’s voice.

9 min Listen · 12 min audio · October 7 edition
A dim abandoned motel corridor with a red door under a warm tungsten light
BEDTIME STORIES
Room 309 Is Calling

The motel is empty, the night clerk is alone, and room 309 keeps calling from a floor that is not there.

9 min Listen · 11 min audio

WHY THEY FOLLOW YOU HOME

What Makes Creepy Stories Stay With You

Creepy stories work differently from loud horror. A jump scare is over in a second; a creepy story keeps going after you close the tab. It usually starts somewhere you already trust, such as a church pew, a family tent or a house you have lived in for years, and then changes one small detail. A voice that sounds almost like your mother's. A lantern that answers a signal you never sent. A bundle of firewood with your name on the tag.

That is the kind of story LiveLore publishes: short enough to finish in one sitting, with endings that leave a door slightly open. Start with the campfire scary stories if you want something to tell aloud, follow Noctur for chapters that continue on Wednesdays, or pick from the shelf above by mood. Every story page shows how long it takes to read, whether it is a complete story or an opening chapter, and how it was written.

BEYOND NOCTUR · A MYSTERY PILOT

The Last Collection

A stolen museum letter puts a rescue pledge at risk. Read the opening, then choose between public exposure and a private confrontation. The ballot and continuation are on the story page.

The Last Collection — an interactive mystery
NOT JUST A READER. AN ACCOMPLICE.

How LiveLore Stories Work

These stories use AI-assisted writing and revision, and each page states whether a person has reviewed it. Each page identifies a complete story or a chapter. New ballots have clear deadlines, and revisions identify whether they follow a reader vote.

01
An idea strikes the match

An AI draft or reader-submitted tale gives us a place to begin.

02
A revision gives the story shape

Revision works on pacing, character and continuity. Each page states its review status.

03
Reader ballots record choices

Read the current chapter, choose a direction before its deadline, and return for the published result. Historical votes remain part of the story’s record.

BEFORE YOU TURN OUT THE LIGHT

FAQ

Are the stories on LiveLore AI-generated?+

LiveLore uses AI-assisted writing and revision, including adaptation of reader-supplied material. Each story page discloses its status, including whether a person has reviewed it.

Do I need an account to read or vote?+

No. Read every story in full without an account. Voting in an open round is free; its deadline and choices appear on the story page.

How do I know which ending is winning?+

After you vote, or choose View results, each story page shows the running tally and which choice is leading so far. A leading choice is not a published ending. Current story pages include a revision note distinguishing the new text from the reader vote.

When is the next chapter?+

A new chapter arrives every Wednesday at 8 p.m. New York time. The homepage shows the next date.

When does voting close?+

Each round has its own deadline, displayed before you vote. The homepage links to the current open round when one is available. Each ballot states its tie and no-vote fallback rules. Closed rounds keep their recorded results; a new chapter starts a separate ballot.