a descriptive essay about a haunted house

A scary house - descriptive essay

samuraitom 23 / 18   Sep 23, 2007   #1 Prompt was to describe a place. I think I did a good job with that. I tried not to use too many "I" but that proved to be a bit difficult. I'm trying to get rid of all the vague sentence starters that my teacher informed me about. 1) Is my thesis statement ok? 2) Is my conclusion alright? Critique as always, please. The Scary House As I stood, gazing at the dilapidated house. I shivered, as though, ice had replaced my spine. The cold air enveloped the entire body. The multiple layer of clothing could not protect against the deathly cold. The walkway leading up to house were cracked. Weeds and dandelions poked out from these cracks. Red roses grown wildly in thick batches by the gate. The moonlight cast a ghoulish glow on the house. Vines formed a twisted maze upon the side of house, reaching their tentacles towards the roof. The house's walls showed black decay by neglect. Splotches of original paint hinted at the house former prosperity. Cobwebs covered the corners of the doors, tiny black spiders threading towards their prey. The house is fit for the kings and queens of the supernatural. The door begrudgingly creaked open. A musty, dank order creep into my nose. The house was dead silence except for the intermittent creaks and moans. Black and brown mold dotted the ceiling in clusters, evident of rain seeping through the roof. I quietly entered the dark living room. Windows covered with grime and dirt, the calm moonlight struggled to penetrate the darkness in thin thread rays. Sharp shadows roamed around the room. The sofa and chairs overturned revealing deep grooves on the ground where they used to sit. Wallpaper lay curled on the floor. A large jagged hole dug through the wall stood as though daring any to enter. Picture frames hanged off-centered. Sharp shadows roamed around the room. A misplaced grand bookcase stood the corner of the room, undisturbed for a long time. Selecting the correct book could reveal a secret doorway into a labyrinth. I made my way back into the hallway, a slimmer of light came from behind a door. I approached and opened the door. I had reached the bathroom. The single window was mildly dirty, a flood of light flowed into the room. Dust swirled around the room as I made my way inside. The medicine cabinet mirror lay shattered in pieces on the floor tile. Empty medicine bottle lay in the porcelain sink. The only sound to be heard is the drip, drip of the faucet. A closer look revealed the discoloration of the water, a brownish concoction. A lone mouse stood sentry at the bottom of the tub. Never having a visitor in a while, it curiously eyed me before scuttling away. Approaching the bathtub, a violent odor made it way to my nose. Pinching my nose, I leaned over and peered inside. Crusty rags filled the bathtub, little hints of movement underneath them. It would be unadvisable to see what is under the rags. I arrived at the foot of the staircase. I stood and peered at the top, wondering when a twisted head person will crawl down and have me for dinner. I summoned strength and tiptoed my way up the stairs. Each step intensified the moaning and creaking as if the steps could collapse at any moment. I turned to the right, and met my final destination. The door did not give way easier, a forceful push was needed. Stepping inside, a dresser seem to have been pushed against the door, attempting to deny anyone entry. I could make out the silhouette of bed, edging in closer for a better look. A toy dinosaur lay missing its head on the bed. The sheet was splattered with a dark color. The wind intensified outside, the rustling of the leaves and branches were louder. In the corner, a little chair began to rock slowly. The room had once belonged to a boy. The thin strips of wallpaper showed little trucks. Crayon markings scrambled upon the wall where wallpaper used to stick. The carpet squished as I walked. Little picture frames remained facedown on the carpet. A howl echoed throughout the house. It was time to leave, I told myself. I closed the bedroom door behind as I carefully walked down the stairs. I hoped I did not disturb anything or its somber rest. I made my way outside where my group of friends was standing. They asked me what took me so long; I replied that escaping the ghosts was difficult.

My Own Experience in a Haunted House

• Categories: Haunted House Personal Experience

About this sample

Words: 686 |

Updated: 6 December, 2023

Words: 686 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Bader, C. (2014). Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture. NYU Press.
• Dickey, C. (2016). Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. Penguin Books.
• Hargrove, R. (2013). The Haunted House: A True Ghost Story. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
• Holzer, H. (2017). Ghosts: True Encounters from the World Beyond. Black Dog & Leventhal.
• Klinger, L. (2014). The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft. Liveright Publishing Corporation.
• Michell, J., & Rickard, R. (Eds.). (2016). Paranormality: Why We Believe the Impossible. Overlook Press.
• Radford, B., & Nickell, J. (2012). The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead. Prometheus Books.
• Randles, J., & Hough, P. (2016). The Paranormal, the new guide to understanding and working with the unexplained. Watkins Media Limited.
• Tucker, E. (2016). Haunted Halls: Ghostlore of American College Campuses. University Press of Mississippi.
• Underwood, P. (2013). Haunted London. Amberley Publishing.

Video Version

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

• Expert in: Geography & Travel Life

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1217 words

3 pages / 1500 words

3 pages / 1157 words

2 pages / 854 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Haunted House

The Belvedere, a historic building located in the heart of the city, has long been shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Over the years, countless reports of paranormal activity have emerged, leading many to believe that the [...]

Thailand's world-famous attractions are well documented on tv, unit used as backdrops in many Hollywood movies and manifest itself once more in trendy fiction. Still, to witness the Grand Palace to observe a Railey Beach sunset [...]

Imagine being different than everyone else around you. Imagine spending your life trying to find the place where you belong in the world. Many people that are hybrid children of individuals from two different cultures or races [...]

The memory of fear that stands out the most for me is, the first time that I rode The Tower of Terror. Disney Land is the happiest place on Earth to me. It has a bunch of fun rides and rollercoasters to go on. It was my fourth [...]

Westward Expansion is the expansion of land in the west of the United States bought in the Louisiana Purchase. The land was from the mississippi River to the west of the rocky mountain. There were 15 states in the 828,000,000 [...]

Ruaha parkland is one among the few Tanzania’s illustrious wild|geographic area|geographical region|geographic region} area wherever one will have a rare expertise of game viewing spiced up by the fascinating landscape. The park [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

EssayEmpire

Descriptive essay example: the haunted house.

Pushing the heavy gates open the touch of the iron bars, as cold as ice, seized up my hand completely. Even though I could feel the unevenness of the old cobbled path beneath me, they were smooth in contrast to the crunching of the odd dead leaf that I stepped on. Carrying on up the path the grass carried on forever into the horizon, a dull grey color as if it had lost the will to live and stopped growing altogether.

One lonesome Oak tree stood by the house swaying in the wind and as the windswept by the tree whispered to the air and its surroundings. The moon shone bright white, in the cloudless sky, it was the only source of light that could be seen for miles. Owls occasionally fluttered by overhead, their silhouettes passing over the grass. The air was cold and numb and with every breath I drew a misty, chilly exhale followed.

As the house drew nearer everything around me became quieter and more distant. The trees murmuring couldn’t be heard anymore and the cold iron gates were far, far back in the distance. Owls couldn’t be heard anymore and there were no leaves on the ground, just some aged concrete steps, and a doorway that stood in front of me.

From the outside, the house was tall and thin, made from large dark grey stones that had a rough feel all of this sandwiched together by crumbling cement. Climber Plants grew up the house winding around the drainpipes grabbing for the little sunlight that reached this desolate place. The windows rattled vigorously from the howling wind, as though they were about to fall out of the frames which were made from rotting wood being eaten away by wood worm. A few potted plants lay next to the door, once there for neat presentation now wilted and brown, almost certainly dead. The door had been left ajar perhaps for many years, or maybe someone was already in there.

The hallway was dull and smelt of dust mixed with old age. Paintings hung up of what looked to be important rich people, their eyes following my every move. To the left was an old wooden stairway leading upwards to the second floor each step looked so delicate and worn that if you were to walk up them you would step right through them. Straight ahead led to two more rooms, which looked to be a kitchen, from all the cups and plates left out, a dining room, and to the right of me was the lounge area. The lounge had large bookcases on each wall stacked with thick data books caped in dust. There was no television just a sofa, two chairs and a fireplace; the thick smell of charcoal from the once burning fireplace had spread around the room choking me up on the inside. The chairs and sofa were made from black leather once soft and comfy now thin and worn away from all the use. Under the chairs and in front of the fireplace lay a red and dusty grey rug stained from the charcoal and shredded at the sides from mice living in the bottom of the sofa.

As I entered the kitchen I could see the moonlight shining through the windows casting a reflection on the wall opposite. Mugs and plates lay on the surface cold and stained by tea. The sink and taps made from brass, eroded and layered in dirt, still leaking water into the sink and every time a drop of water fell an echo passed around the house as though symbols were being smashed together. I could feel the coldness from the musty orange and black tiled floor even though I was wearing shoes it felt as though it had frozen over.

I moved on to the dining room – a big table made from oak and six chairs filled the room. The table had been laid, the plates and silverware lay there untouched and unused like a forgotten date. Above the table hung a beautiful chandelier twinkling in the moonlight. The walls plastered with cream wallpaper curling in at the corners.

• How to Write a Descriptive Essay
• Descriptive Essay Topics
• Essay Writing Services

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER

Special offer!

GET 10% OFF WITH  24START  DISCOUNT CODE

Related posts.

Essay on A Haunted House

Students are often asked to write an essay on A Haunted House in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on A Haunted House

What is a haunted house.

A haunted house is a place where ghosts or spirits are believed to live. These houses often have a scary and eerie feeling. People say they hear strange sounds, see odd things, or feel a spooky presence in these houses. These experiences make them believe that the house is haunted.

Stories about Haunted Houses

Many stories are told about haunted houses. Some are from books or movies, while others are shared by people who claim to have experienced it. These stories often involve ghosts, strange noises, moving objects, and other unexplained events.

Why are Houses Said to be Haunted?

Houses are said to be haunted for many reasons. Sometimes, it’s because something sad or scary happened there, like a death or a crime. Other times, it’s because the house is old and makes strange sounds. People’s imaginations can make them think a house is haunted.

Visiting a Haunted House

Visiting a haunted house can be scary but exciting. Some people do it for fun, especially during Halloween. Others do it to try and see if ghosts are real. But remember, it’s always important to respect others’ property and feelings.

250 Words Essay on A Haunted House

A haunted house is a building where people believe ghosts live. These spirits might be of people who once lived in the house and are now gone. People often feel scared to go inside such houses because of the strange things that happen there.

Appearance of a Haunted House

Haunted houses often look old and empty. They may have broken windows, an old rusty gate, and a garden full of dead plants. At night, these houses might seem even scarier with the moonlight casting long, dark shadows.

There are many stories about haunted houses. Some people say they have heard strange sounds, like footsteps or whispers. Others tell of doors opening and closing on their own. Some even claim to have seen ghosts!

Haunted Houses in Movies

Haunted houses are popular in movies and TV shows. They make the story exciting and scary. The characters in these stories often have to face their fears and find out the truth about the ghosts.

Visiting a haunted house can be a fun adventure, especially during Halloween. Some people like the thrill of being scared. But remember, it’s all just for fun. Ghosts and haunted houses are more a part of stories and our imagination than real life.

In the end, haunted houses are interesting because of the mystery they hold. They make us wonder about what might be living beyond what we can see. But it’s always important to remember that it’s just a story, and there’s no need to be too scared.

500 Words Essay on A Haunted House

The idea of a haunted house.

A haunted house is a building often thought to be occupied by spirits. These spirits are usually the souls of people who have passed away. Many people believe that these spirits have not found peace and so they stay in the house where they once lived.

Haunted houses often look scary from the outside. They are usually old and in bad condition. The paint might be peeling off and the windows might be broken. The gardens around the house are often overgrown and unkempt. This creates a feeling of fear and unease. At night, these houses can look even more frightening because of the dark shadows and strange noises.

Inside a Haunted House

Inside a haunted house, things can be even more eerie. The rooms are often dark and filled with old, dusty furniture. Cobwebs hang from the corners and the air is heavy and cold. Some people say they can feel the presence of spirits when they enter these rooms. Strange things can happen in a haunted house. Objects might move on their own or doors might slam shut. People have also reported hearing strange noises like whispers or footsteps when no one else is around.

Stories About Haunted Houses

There are many stories about haunted houses. Some of these stories are very old and have been passed down through generations. People tell these tales to scare each other and to entertain. In some stories, the spirits in the house are friendly and just want to be left alone. In others, they are angry and try to scare away anyone who enters the house.

Visiting a haunted house can be a thrilling experience. Some people go to haunted houses for fun, especially around Halloween. There are also professional ghost hunters who visit haunted houses to try and capture evidence of the paranormal. They use special tools like voice recorders and cameras to try and capture the spirits on tape.

Haunted houses are a part of many cultures around the world. They are a source of fear, curiosity, and excitement. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, the idea of a haunted house can still give you a chill. It’s a reminder of the mystery and unknown that still exists in our world.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on A Greek Mythical Character
• Essay on Turning Challenges To Opportunities
• Essay on A Challenge Overcome

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Setting Description Entry: Haunted House (inside)

May 23, 2009 by BECCA PUGLISI

Sight Dust, cobwebs, sheets on furniture, broken tables, chairs, windows, lamps, peeling wallpaper, gaps in the floorboards, holes in the walls, flickering lights (if there’s electricity) chandelier with broken strings of crystals, broken glass on the floor, spiders, cockroaches, rust, mildew, ripped curtains, shadows, gloomy staircases, old portraits & paintings, cracked…

footsteps on the stair, creaking doors, window shutters rattling on the outside, wind scattering/rustling paper through a broken window gap, words whispered in ear, screams, crying, wailing, laughter, glass smashing, the scrap of a chair moving, the scritch of tree branches scraping at the windows, rats squeaking, movement in the walls, a…

Phantom perfume or cologne, burning smells, pipe or cigarette smoke, mildew, rot, dank, rusty or metallic smells, wet wood and stone, rancid breath, yeasty beer smell, food, dust, dry rot, rat/mice feces, urine

Sour & dry mouth from fear, dust floating in the air and coating the tongue, salty tears

A phantom hand on the shoulder, the puff of breath on the earlobe or the back of the neck, the sensation of being grabbed on the arm, pushed, pulled, pinched, poked, slapped, burned, a feeling of light-headedness and nausea, hair rising on arms or the back of the neck, the body’s reaction to a drop in temperature (chills, shivering, breath puffing out…

Helpful hints:

–The words you choose can convey atmosphere and mood.

Example 1:  I cringed at each creak on the old warped stairs, but it didn’t sway my determination to make it to the bedroom on the second floor. Halfway up, a shadow flickered at the corner of my vision. I froze, and as I stood there, caught a woody scent lingering in the air. Tobacco smoke? A shiver curled through the hairs on the back of my neck then cascaded down my backbone. It was all I could do to not hurl myself back down the stairs toward the front door…

–Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when used sparingly.

Example 1: (Metaphor ) The dining room chair suddenly jolted back and tilted toward me, a gracious invitation by an invisible host…

Think beyond what a character sees, and provide a sensory feast for readers

Setting is much more than just a backdrop, which is why choosing the right one and describing it well is so important. To help with this, we have expanded and integrated this thesaurus into our online library at One Stop For Writers.

Each entry has been enhanced to include possible sources of conflict, people commonly found in these locales, and setting-specific notes and tips, and the collection itself has been augmented to include a whopping 230 entries—all of which have been cross-referenced with our other thesauruses for easy searchability. So if you’re interested in seeing this powerful Setting Thesaurus , head on over and register at One Stop.

On the other hand, if you prefer your references in book form, we’ve got you covered, too, because both books are now available for purchase in digital and print copies. In addition to the entries, each book contains instructional front matter to help you maximize your settings. With advice on topics like making your setting do double duty and using figurative language to bring them to life, these books offer ample information to help you maximize your settings and write them effectively.

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers —a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

Reader Interactions

May 14, 2021 at 1:51 pm

creepy…

May 8, 2021 at 6:48 pm

Oh wow. It hadn’t occurred to me to make a list of all the things to do with my settings. Thank you for this. Brilliant!

May 10, 2021 at 5:53 am

It’s so much easier to get the setting exactly where we want it when we know beforehand what to aim for :).

March 12, 2021 at 5:58 pm

I really love this Thank you so much for doing this

March 2, 2021 at 2:17 pm

February 18, 2021 at 8:34 am

Thankyou soo much…it really helped me

February 13, 2021 at 5:04 am

omg!! Thankyou so much, this helped with my assignment!!!

February 10, 2021 at 6:25 am

thank you so much, helped me alot during lockdown!!

February 11, 2021 at 8:29 am

Well thank goodness for that!

December 22, 2020 at 12:24 am

Thank You really helpful

December 12, 2020 at 5:30 am

December 4, 2020 at 11:38 pm

Thank you so much, there are totally enough ideas for me for my essay

November 22, 2020 at 10:04 am

Very helpful

November 10, 2020 at 5:41 pm

thank you so much i needed ideas and this gave me so much.

October 21, 2020 at 4:50 pm

I am doing a descriptive writing project and this helped me so much! Thank You!

October 21, 2020 at 7:01 pm

Glad it helped!

March 20, 2021 at 6:59 am

October 8, 2020 at 11:51 am

I love the website I had to write a paper about Halloween and I used this website to find my d Description Word I need . Who ever made this website I don’t know what I would tell him or her but it’s one of my favorite it gives me great description of what words I don’t understand and I then I can use it later if I could rate it 5 stars

October 8, 2020 at 1:07 pm

Zachary, I am so glad you like this website and it’s a help to you!

September 26, 2020 at 5:48 pm

thank u a lot s helps me in my writing

September 19, 2020 at 1:49 am

Thanks! It was quite helpful for my paragraph. 😊

March 25, 2020 at 1:17 am

This was SOOO helpful. Thanks a lot. It was very helpful.

This was SOOO helpful. Thanks a lot.

January 2, 2020 at 5:56 am

this helped me with my essay A LOT!!!!!!!!!!! 😊

December 3, 2019 at 2:51 pm

This is awesome！👌

March 31, 2021 at 11:41 pm

This awesome

November 18, 2019 at 1:32 pm

This is so helpful for everyone . People can use them in essays while describing a haunted house .

November 10, 2020 at 5:43 pm

That is exactly what i used it for

November 11, 2019 at 7:02 am

This is so helpful! Definately the best website for writing! Thanksssss❤️❤️

November 11, 2019 at 10:42 am

Happy this helps!

November 3, 2019 at 7:28 am

October 25, 2019 at 4:58 am

I really like it. It’s really good.for.young children and writers. I love it do much

July 1, 2019 at 6:21 pm

wow I really needed this thank you sooo much

May 25, 2019 at 11:22 am

Amazing. Im a 14-year-old writer and all these descriptions inspired me on how to write my mystery book. Thanks so much Becca

February 9, 2019 at 6:29 pm

I really liked it because it helped me a lot to inspire me with my writing for greater depth.It was all very creative and amazing 😃👍🏻

January 28, 2019 at 11:34 am

very good descriptions

January 3, 2019 at 11:03 pm

This is too helpful

November 11, 2018 at 4:21 am

Helpful!!!!!

June 6, 2019 at 2:08 am

Good descriptive terms and phrases!!

October 24, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Thank you so much you have helped me so much.

October 23, 2018 at 10:49 am

This story describes the house and starts to leave an image of what the inside of the house looks like. I get shivers reading it.

October 22, 2018 at 11:10 am

I love this website it helps me

July 22, 2018 at 8:38 am

Thank you so much.. It helped me a lot… I am very happy about this web page😊

November 19, 2018 at 11:04 pm

yeah me too it helped alot

December 13, 2017 at 7:04 am

Thank you so much it really helped write my writing assessment and get full marks, don’t worry i didn’t cheat that much!

October 25, 2019 at 12:17 pm

lmao “that much”

November 9, 2017 at 5:32 pm

It Game Some Ideas What To Write

April 4, 2017 at 1:37 pm

Its just awesome because I get a idea to write it in my suspense story??

March 19, 2017 at 11:49 am

thanks alot it really helped me in my suspense story writing and it did really gave me some ideas to write it thanks 😉

December 3, 2016 at 8:15 am

Thank you very much. This is helpful to do my English HW. Zabit Khwaja

September 12, 2018 at 2:01 pm

October 25, 2016 at 2:12 pm

Thank you !! This has really helped me to do my homework and to inspire me for different t ideas.

October 6, 2016 at 9:45 am

this helped me do my English course thank u sooo much

September 1, 2011 at 9:32 am

this is awesome! 😀 helped me do my coursework for English! thanks a lot 😀

October 14, 2010 at 8:47 pm

this story is awsome i want to read another one.

September 16, 2010 at 12:48 pm

Thanks Aloot It Helped Me In My English Homework:) But I Think It Would Be Better If There Were More Examples Of Haunted Houses:D x

April 3, 2010 at 4:53 pm

this has helped me a great deal with my story for my English class 🙂

May 27, 2009 at 11:34 am

I love the image of the child riding a phantom rocking horse — very effective.

May 25, 2009 at 11:48 pm

This one was so fun to do. There are so many unusual settings to explore–stay tuned!

May 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm

You gals cover some of the greatest topics!!! Hope you can get these out in book form soon or eventually! Keep up the good work!

May 24, 2009 at 7:21 am

I can hear the wind moaning around corners…whhoooooooooowhoooooo.

May 24, 2009 at 7:14 am

Fantastic! Thanks!

May 23, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Gives me the shivers too. =)

May 23, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Gives me shivers just reading it. 😉

• TOP CATEGORIES
• AS and A Level
• University Degree
• International Baccalaureate
• Uncategorised
• 5 Star Essays
• Study Tools
• Study Guides
• Meet the Team
• English Language
• Writing to Inform, Explain and Describe

Haunted house narrative writing. The house stood on the top of lonely hill. There was no chance of taking the way through roads. I had to take the shortcut.

13 Redwood Villa

It was cloudy and the first few specks of the rain were exploding on the dark gravel. I was in the park and I knew that I was going to get drenched if I didn’t make my way quickly from there. A major storm could be heard on the distance echoing through the silent night.

I had to reach there, as quickly as possible. Just a few moments ago, I had got the message from my friend, Lucy, to go there – 13 Redwood Villa. She had asked me to reach there by 7 pm and it was already half past six. Thunder clapped overhead and the clouds burst on the horizon.

The house stood on the top of lonely hill. There was no chance of taking the way through roads. I had to take the shortcut. “What shall I do”, I pondered over it the second and decided I’d go the hill way to the top. So, I moved forwards. It was dead chilling cold and the rain had made it even more difficult to walk. The cloud had obscured the moon in the dark night and the whole way filled with sense of anger and malice.

I took a deep breath of the cool night air and walked faster towards the house. My curiosity was already beyond its limits. Now, I was almost to the top. The flickering light of the house could be seen nearby.

Finally, I reached there – 13 Redwood Villa.

The house stood, 3 storeys high, with boarded up windows and a broken chimney, giving the house a menacing look. Its door had been boarded up too but you could easily push it open between the planks at the bottom.

“Am I sure this is the house”, I thought to myself. Lucy hadn’t told me about why she wanted to see me. I was not really excited now, not after the dreadful smell and the abandoned look the house gave. “Well, I couldn’t turn back now, after all I’ve come till here”. I was stuck between fear and excitement.

But at last, a crack of thunder, a flash of lightning and slowly I pushed the door open. The rusty hinges gave a scary creaking noise. I took one last look at the outside of that fearsome house. The rain was splashing down around me. And then I had ducked under the planks of wood and was inside, peering about in the darkness.

This is a preview of the whole essay

As my eyes adjusted in the darkness, the room slowly came into the view, the long bare corridor with doors leading to unknown rooms. I then started even forwards. Suddenly I heard a squeak. I was totally daunted. And then I heard some footsteps as if someone was wandering around me.

My heart was accelerating. Thud, thud, thud... The rain was still pattering dismally on the window panes. Although petrified, I went to the door to see who it was. No one! I again heard the noise. I looked down. Thank god it was just a cat, an abandoned little black cat.

But its look was enough for me to give a fright. I had looked at the cat’s face in the gloom and I could see its dark hair, its perfect features and a ghastly eyes staring back at me. I slammed the door close and made a run. I could hear the cat meowing back as if trying to break inside. It all seemed stupid now. I should’ve never come to this house.

I was still running and just at the moment I saw a big door on the corner of the corridor. I went inside and entered a large bare room. It was all dark and smelled of sodden clothes and rotten fruits. Running through the side of the room I noticed a flight of stairs ahead of me. I could hear someone muttering on top of stairs.

Hurriedly, I ran up the stairs and reached the second floor. The windows upstairs were covered with large, black curtains which flapped along as the gust of wind rushed inside the windows. All the walls were covered with cobwebs. The floor creaked under my feet. That corridor had even more doors that led to unknown rooms. And I could still hear the voices.

Just then I saw someone hurrying inside one of the doors. It might have been the same person of whom I had heard footsteps of. I was shocked and shivered with frightfulness. “Who else could be inside? Was it Lucy?” I decided to follow the person. But the dim light of the moon flickered and the person darted away. I missed. That must have been my imagination.

Slowly I entered the room standing just behind me. That room was such a mess, as if someone had torn it apart in rage. All the things were tipped over on the floor. Through the bars of windows I could see the sky slowly clearing up. I looked at my watch. It was already ten to seven.

I still hadn’t seen Lucy yet. “If this was her trick to scare me then I would’ve never forgiven her, but what if she wasn’t playing a trick. She should’ve been here by now!”

I left the room and marched towards another room, and another. Through more doors and up another staircase and I realised I was totally lost. I swore I was. But I knew I was now on the topmost floor.

As I stood there, stiff, I heard the owl hooting and outside and also the rustling of leaves. But beneath all the noise, was the terrible silence that overpowered every other sound.

The voices were getting louder.

I checked through almost all of the rooms until I was really exhausted. I paused for a second and went towards the windows. I needed fresh air. Outside the windows I could see the whole city as dead as doornail. There was no trace of any sound, not even a single muttering or laugh. I again turned towards the corridors. I only had two more rooms to check.  

I stepped up to one door and slowly reached for the handle. Just as I was about to enter inside, a group of bats hovered outside from the room. That was scary. I screamed with terror. I closed my eyes and ducked down until every bat had flown away. Luckily it was all quiet again.

Hastily I grabbed out the torchlight from my pocket and set it alight. In the flashlight I saw a puddle of liquid on the floor. Drops were splashing into it. “Was that a blood?” I frowned.

As I looked up, I saw a large chunk of wood that had fallen out of the ceiling. The rain was seeping into through the crack. I sighed with relief. The puddle on floor was just a rain, not the blood.

Just then I noticed some white thing on the floor. I focused the light on the floor. The light shone vividly at a large pair of sharp fangs. My head snapped up. I tried to scream but no sound came up. I stumbled back, clutched my stomach and fell over on the floor. I was unable to rip my eyes away from the sight. It couldn’t have been a real Dracula!

Startlingly, I crawled forward to touch the fangs. It came off onto my hand. It was just a fake pair of fangs. I was confused for a moment. Was it any trick!

It was now already five past seven and I was still wandering around the house. I still had to check in through one more room. The door stood on the farthest corner of the corridor. It looked creaky and intimidating. The illusion made it look even more sinister. Standing there, watching the quiet patience of the door, I knew it was more than a fright inside. I knew something was there. Not evil or malicious, simply dangerous!

The muttering voices were now gone. The whole house stood dead quiet. The only thing I could now hear was my own breath. Through the windows, the pale light of the moon shone beneath the dark deep clouds. Everything seemed so ghastly and unrealistic. I got up and slowly made my way towards the final door. My knees were now too weak, I had to bend and walk.

Lastly, I reached it. I grabbed the door handle and pushed myself inwards.

Oh my God! The room was so dark and so creepy. No windows, no light, nothing! I stood there in the silent darkness for a moment, holding my breath. I knew there was something hidden behind this darkness. I was now too much scared. So, I started backing away. Suddenly, something touched my back. I swore it was a human hand. “I must run away”. All these creepiness was now too much for me to bear.

But a noise behind me made me stop. I turned around slowly and tried to adjust my eyes in the darkness. Bare feet hit the floor loudly as I heard someone running towards me. “Hello, who’s there”, I shrieked with fear.

Silence! But suddenly the lights flicked open and the balloons popped out. I saw all the faces I knew. Before I could even realise anything, everyone shouted “Happy Birthday, James!”

English coursework                               Asmita Dhakal         Page  of 4

Document Details

• Word Count 1578
• Page Count 5
• Subject English

Related Essays

A haunted house. As I stood, gazing at the dilapidated house. I shivered

The House On The Hill.

The Haunted House

Haunted house

• Social Science
• Psychotherapy

Descriptive Writing – Haunted House

Related documents

Add this document to collection(s)

You can add this document to your study collection(s)

Add this document to saved

You can add this document to your saved list

Suggest us how to improve StudyLib

(For complaints, use another form )

Input it if you want to receive answer

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Fantastic Beasts and Other Creatures Abound in May’s Graphic Novels

There be monsters in four new volumes out this month (yes, even in “Nancy”).

By Sam Thielman

Sam Thielman is a reporter and critic based in Brooklyn. In addition to his monthly column for The Times, he has written about comics and graphic novels for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate and The Guardian.

The seven-year wait since Emil Ferris published her debut graphic novel has felt far longer than that, but MY FAVORITE THING IS MONSTERS, BOOK 2 (Fantagraphics, 412 pp., $44.99) is finally here, and now the first book is no longer in a class by itself. There is apparently nothing Ferris can’t render: A cartoony girl-werewolf — her protagonist, Karen Reyes, drawn as she sees herself — seems to flow from her multicolored ballpoint pens as easily as Jan Sanders van Hemessen’s musclebound Judith , standing contrapposto next to the head of Holophernes on one memorable page, wields her sword.

And that’s part of the point. Ferris is drawing a murder mystery and a story about Chicago in the 1960s and a coming-of-age tale, but she’s also interested in all the ways that high art is in conversation with low art. Her gangsters, drag queens and hippie philosophers might be aliens or vampires from a sleazy magazine on one page, but they could just as easily populate a Picasso or a Goya drawing on the next. There’s a page of Medusa as the Mona Lisa that feels like the book’s cri de coeur: Why shouldn’t beauty and monstrosity peacefully coexist within the same subject?

This is not merely an artistic problem. Karen’s beloved brother, Deeze, is devoted and protective, but he’s also brutally violent. And as Karen tentatively gets more comfortable being gay, she learns that one of her neighbors, Anka, a Holocaust survivor, has been murdered — a fact made all the more tragic because of the terrible things she did to survive.

Ferris doesn’t tie up all these plot threads; she revels in the contradictions rather than resolving them. A prequel, “Records of the Damned,” is reportedly already in the works, and somehow my anticipation for the next volume is already exactly the right kind of pleasant agony.

Last year when the artist Martin Simmonds was at New York Comic Con, he let curious passers-by flip through a beautiful portfolio of pages he had for sale. The most striking would become leaves for UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: DRACULA (Image/Skybound, 120 pp., $24.99) , drawn, painted and collaged by Simmonds and written by his frequent collaborator James Tynion IV. Those pages, with lace glued to them and gutters drawn with what looked like correction tape, are featured in this condensed “Dracula” story, a lush volume that plays up Mina Harker’s attraction to the Transylvanian count.

Simmonds and Tynion have produced less an adaptation of the 1931 Universal Studios film, as the cover suggests, than a tone poem on its themes, which is all to the good. The script is spare and the images are generous and baroque; often, they sweep across pages and beyond borders, and Dracula himself gains a dreamlike quality. Little wonder that their Mina is so thoroughly seduced.

Despite a charming visual style that looks like a 1990s Cartoon Network offering and a cover that promises “six twisted tales of adorable horror,” Jay Stephens’s DWELLINGS (Oni Press, 272 pp., $34.99) is both a single, rewardingly complicated narrative and decidedly not for kids. The story concerns a little Canadian town called Elwich, populated by an encyclopedic variety of scary-story protagonists: There’s the family on the lam from the mob, the woman whose puppet talks to her, and a demonic possession.

The characters are simple and their demises are satisfyingly horrible, a bit like especially gory episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” but that is only the plot. The icing is as much fun as the cake here: Each issue begins with an “advertisement” hawking cheap toys and magic tricks to kids, but the descriptive text is both funny (Existentialism, item No. 3306, is only $1.98) and very worrying. It’s the sort of thing you can enjoy once, and then resolve not to read again because it was too disturbing and then immediately pick back up.

The boom in reprinting classic newspaper comics somehow missed Ernie Bushmiller’s astounding “Nancy,” a strip that manages to reduce much of what makes comics work to its barest essence. (And yes, monsters dwell here as well.) It does this by making you laugh, and the editor Denis Kitchen has filled NANCY & SLUGGO’S GUIDE TO LIFE (New York Review Comics, 148 pp., $24.95) with many of Bushmiller’s best gags.

Bushmiller drew the strip for 44 years, and, unlike with Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts” or Frank King’s “Gasoline Alley,” there was no deep psychology or narrative engine, so “Nancy” occasionally repeated itself. Here, Kitchen doles out little bits of Bushmiller’s unchanging but inarguable genius with scientific precision. He’s separated the book into three themes: Money, Food and Sleep, with the last being the strangest and most fun. (It is also probably the least funny, but who cares?)

It’s a showcase for Bushmiller’s prodigious drawing skills, which he played down his whole career. One terrific strip has Nancy being swatted by a giant mosquito; another has ghouls, ghosts and devils chasing her through her dreams and inspiring her to open a haunted house. All of them, through that peculiar Bushmiller magic, take longer to describe than they do to read and enjoy.