Thick cold shadows stretch
as rotting walls attenuate the
terrifying echoes of a scream.
whimsical haunted house was created with children in mind
they promote unity, peace, hope, love, everything kind
they have witches and black cats, ghosts and gremlins too
but all these creatures want to do is sing lullabies to you
they serve you cider, pumpkin cakes, apple pies and such
I love being there, they have a warm, friendly, happy touch
this haunted house is not like any other on the block
They never turn you away, the door does not have a lock
I know this house where I have grown up
I also know I will be buried deep into the ground
If the stream of truth every leaked into my real world
My existence will suddenly be a sin to them
I know I ‘m not the ideal child
I have been ed over and over many times
Fate has just decided to push me to cliff
So I just want this wait to be over soon
About- This poem was written on April 21, 2026; 8:31pm and is part of
So, our house is supposedly haunted?
The rest of the crew laughed their petootsies off
Didn’t everyone watch Channel 5 News?
ghosts, monsters, ghouls, goblins and one witch resided here
She was the ringleader of the burglary ring
Sent them in and out of houses pilfering and looting
If anyone gives you trouble, use my cell number, she said
Homeowners always back down when faced with a flying witch
Their clubhouse was at 2300 Pennsylvania, and it was filling up
The gremlins had not paid rent for a year; they were getting tossed out
Two sheriff’s deputies were at the door now, demanding to see them
The witch stuck her head over the banister
Give the officers candy, she told the ghost who had answered the door
She wanted them to come back next month to kick out the gargoyles.
If you are in your seventies you might remember
the movie Babes in Toyland that came out one December
The movie stars were in an enchanted forest with diabolical trees
Tonight, on Halloween, I could not help but think of the likes of these
Because down the lane where the party was twirling by the hour
Was a haunted house that had come alive, and had a super power
With a witch-like nose, she had a snarl, a sniffle, a sneeze and a sneer
I am not so brave, so began to shiver and shake wanting not to be here
What is wrong? Queried the house in a persnickety, evil, mean way.
I could not stop my quivering feet, they decided to not stay.
But try as they might, they could not move, let alone run away.
The haunted house held us down firmly on that terrifying day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First, it was the way the light
refused to touch the hallway~
how the floorboards sighed
beneath something unseen.
Then came the whispers,
not from walls, but from the space
between them, syllables
chewed soft and wet.
You learned to ignore the fingers
brushing your neck in the dark,
the way your reflection
sometimes blinked too slowly.
But tonight, you wake
to the sound of your own voice
downstairs, laughing,
while you lie perfectly still.
And now you understand~
the house wasn’t haunted.
You were the thing
it was trying to keep out.
creepy emojis
watched by entity
reflection in glass
spiritual essence
fast glimpses and blips
eerie feeling
ghostly visit
Victorian
velvet draperies
abandoned
disheveled
haunted house
gloomy
doomy
ghost
The looming house smelled of stale pumpkin pies,
When I stepped in through the creaking door to distant cries.
The lore said a mistress had waited a century for her lover,
Before drowning herself in the nearby river.
Her portrait still hung over the fireplace,
Her face was veiled in translucent black lace.
Her armchair still rocks deep into the night,
Her footsteps echo down the hallway to the right.
I stare back at myself in the mirror by the withering parlor,
And see a replica of the portrait in drenched clothes, with a sickly pallor.
What horror hides behind these walls
That seem to stare with piercing eyes?
The halls--they echo sound like calls
For aid as from tormented cries.
Why do dark shadows seem to reign,
Usurp what little light remains?
This room breathes doom or some such bane,
Each creak gives off some death-like strains.
And who are these whose faces masked
Bend over me with visage grim?
They prod, they pinch, they poke unasked
I struggle but can’t move a limb.
October 26-27, 2025
Among 3rd Place
A Spooky Haunted Poem 8-12 lines of rhyme Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Tania Kitchin
We heard that sound time after time, my sis and I,
that distant “boom” resounding through the nighttime air.
Our siblings and both parents, always sound asleep
by ten, were of this strange occurrence unaware.
We told them. They said this was our best tale to date,
then laughed. We challenged them to listen silently
with us at ten. ALL heard the “boom.” Then no one laughed.
That was our long-time home. We couldn’t simply flee!
We talked to folks who knew our house’s history
and learned a man, the victim of a shotgun blast,
had died at ten o’clock one night. We really wished
we’d not inquired. This knowledge left us all aghast.
Lost in the woods, I felt a strange dread
from old manor, webs turned bloody red...
panting ... darting; my ripped skirt gave way
as eerie hoots screamed ; voices astray...
Glancing at the macabre of a house
beaten grasses stuck on deadly louse--
O chilling view...till my knotted hair
untangled from branches' threadbare lair--
Haunted, this place was the host of carnage
one gruesome tale from November's page!
On a phone call from Mr. Mouse
Went to a spooky haunted house
and ventured to peep and enter
as carpenter in severe winter
to fix broken latch but Mrs.Hen tried to catch
me to snatch my tools and sat on egg to hatch.
From roof of asbestos crawled down Octopus.
Swooped vulture valorous, horrifying notorious.
Eight eyes of black widow sparkled through wide window
Moon cast ghostly shadow on feral bushes in meadow.
Violent viper always hyper, shedding tears,
‘I love you’ to whisper close to my ears.
Champion jumper vampire came to inspire
gifting me a shiny sapphire, me about to expire.
Shutters hang askew, redeeming guilt with two-way sighs,
Confessing what your forgotten vows and phantom memories deny.
Ivy throttles the porch in a desperate, strangling embrace,
hinting at peril in the wall's disheveled pale face.
The rank dark garden pond’s gaze reflects no pulse of sky,
it's a black, unblinking pupil that won't blink or die.
Window curtains quiver and sway where no breeze dares.
Echoes of stalking footsteps persist when climbing stairs.
Shadows crouch and slither beneath each creaking beam,
they shift when you look away — they're not what they seem.
This house harbors the twilight between dream and waking,
where spooky creaks unravel the curse in its undertaking.
If you find your child in a room
speaking aloud, but no one’s around,
and sometimes late at night you hear
a constant creepy, clanging sound . . .
If you’re in your bathtub bathing
and you get an eerie feeling -
perhaps a voice repeats your name;
strange shapes slide across the ceiling. . .
If week by week the darkness grows;
goosebumps keep raising on your skin;
then something pulls your covers off!
A haunted house you must be in.
shadows reek of turpentine
scarlet-lettered trespass sign
fences dangle off the hinge
matted cobwebs festive fringe
spiders dance on abused toys
murderous crows' ghastly noise
unseen faces give you pause
rebel souls without a cause
unfriendly lot, wise be warned
you now living, the unmourned
leave us ghosts to haunt in peace
that your mind retains its lease
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