Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story
Denise is the host.
Thanks and a shoutout to Shirley Jackson (and the 1963 version of the movie based on her) remarkable story, ‘The Haunting of Hill House’. The clip helps the enjoyment of this little Six.
The week’s prompt word is:
NOISE
“What was that?”
It occurred to him that either she was whispering to emphasize the word, ‘What’ or, for some reason, she was afraid of giving away their position.
“I didn’t hear anything,” inside his head, an argument broke out over which word deserved to be italicized: ‘didn’t’ or ‘anything’.
As they inched down the central hall, darkness rose behind them, a negative-universe bridal train dragging unseeable flower girls up the central aisle of a church; the deeper into the structure, the greater the impairment of their senses, vision first, then sound, finally critical thinking.
As with most tragedies, (which is to say all horror stories), the proximate cause for the two being in peril was as common as it is easily ignored: they were both of an age when the distinction between ‘mortal danger’ and ‘excitement’ was apparent to all but the affected.
The noise started just as the flashlight died; cutoff from the daytime-bright world of Facebook, friends-at-school and adults-at-home, the young couple came to appreciate the power of a five-dollar, hardware store portable light, as the sound grew louder than their words and finally, their screams.
About clarkscottroger
Never was a fan of horror, and i wouldn’t have been there for the world. Well told!
in small does, I can enjoy the occasional scary story. (Trouble is, what manifests as ‘scary’ as we get older, is fairly mundane… mostly disease and decrepitude… lol)
Excellent story! Good buildup. Love the imagery. Nicely done :)
Shirley’s book was by far the scariest book I’ve ever read. I enjoyed the movie, (The Haunting 1963) but as is more the case than not, book was better.
thankee
Bone-chilling six! Fantastic!
Thanks, Susan (Not as scary as what your young protagonist is about to encounter…. “The world of capricious power in the hands of arbitrary and, often, emotionally-compromised adults!” ayiiee!
great story. I have a ghost story, but not a horror story. Vincent Price made me laugh but never scared me. This was good however.
Thanks, man. Ghosts are funny, as a kid, I was, like totally traumatized by the banshee in the movie, ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’. (Thanks a lot, Walt!)
Ooooh! Very tense scene in the movie clip. Love the expressions on the faces of the actors. The clip is a good chaser to your perfect chilling story – your third sentence is pure class gothic horror! Bravo for that. Love horror and ghost tales, and loved your six :)
Remember it (the sound effects) from when I saw the movie, eighty-nine years or so, ago. Thanks
A six sentence horror story – well done.
thank you
That was such a great book! And being a fan of black and white old horror and sci fi the movie was good too…as always my own imagination when reading was scarier.
There’s a thing I came across early in the writing adventure about great first lines (in novels)… the line I remember from ‘The Haunting’ was actually the last line, totally great: “and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Great line. . .they were both of an age when the distinction between ‘mortal danger’ and ‘excitement’ was apparent to all but the affected.
Oh, no! And the flashlight died! Glad you just took us to the edge of scariness, and not submerging us in it.
I passed on watching the video clip. I learned a long time ago, that scary movies are not my genre. I like to be able to sleep at night. HaHa
(Wise move.*)
Thanks, the challenge was fun.
The movie was very effective, as a scary movie. And the clip has the essence of what made it so, the inferred (scary) rather than overt.
Well, now you can surely turn your sorry. Horror of the possibly could happen theme definitely is my cuppa. Great job.
TY, LT
Right? From Scooby Doo to that pair in the X Files- why do you go in there and then why do you all separate?
Well done, that last sentence was killer.
Thanks, Miz Avery
Surely that’d be worthy of a further study, why do they do that. My own views of reality hold that, to them it was the best move. What must have the world looked like, what were they experiencing.
…wait a minute! damn you, Shirley! She tells us in the movie. Eleanor (Julie Harris) experiences the events differently than do the other three.
oh well, saves me writing a post about the idea.
lol
Love Shirley Jackson. I never saw this film – didn’t even know it existed.
Nice six – great tension build. I particularly like the pull into the present with the daytime-bright world of Facebook.
Very well done (the movie)… if you can see it, it’s worth the time.
thanks