Cailynn's Blog

Want your horror to haunt, not just shock? Unlock the power of symbolism. This guide reveals how everyday objects, colours, animals, and settings can become potent tools to explore trauma, embed unease, and turn your stories into emotional puzzles. Learn to weave symbolism into your narratives to intensify atmosphere, deepen character arcs, and ensure your horror lingers in the reader's mind long after the final page.

Step inside the Phantom Funhouse — where the mirrors lie, the laughter never ends, and your reflection might just step out on its own. This week’s Macabre Monday dives into the eerie urban legends of haunted amusement rides and how writers can turn them into nightmare-fuelled story settings. From chilling folklore to horror writing prompts, this article is your ticket to crafting carnival horror that lingers in the reader’s mind.

In horror fiction, pacing is more than just tempo—it’s tension. It’s the slow creep of dread in a haunted hallway, and the heart-pounding sprint when something lunges from the dark. In this post, we explore how to balance slow-burn suspense with fast-paced fear, so your story grabs the reader by the throat—and doesn’t let go.

Strange noises. Missing food. A creeping sense that you’re not alone. The “Man in the Attic” phenomenon isn’t just an urban legend—it’s a chilling real-world horror. From secret squatters to exes hiding in ceilings, real-life cases prove that the most terrifying intruder might already be inside your home. In this post, we explore unsettling stories, the psychology behind them, and why this fear hits so close to home.

A great horror twist doesn’t just shock—it lingers. It makes you question everything that came before, including the characters, the setting, and maybe even yourself. In this post, we’re peeling back the layers of what makes a twist truly work in horror—and how to craft one that doesn’t just surprise your readers, but haunts them.

Carnival corpses and vanishing passengers—these legends aren’t just spooky stories. They might be warnings. 🎡👻🚗

A witchy, vengeful spirit rises in Puritan New England. Slewfoot is dark, defiant, and devilishly good. 🐐🔥📖

In horror, suspense is the silence before the scream—the breath held before the shadow moves. In this post, we’ll explore how to build dread that lingers, how suspense differs from surprise, and why tension is your best scare tactic. Whether it’s footsteps in the attic or a truth your character can’t face, suspense keeps readers turning pages with white-knuckled curiosity.

These writers don’t just scare me—they haunt me. Folklore, fear, and fiction that lingers like fog in the bones. 📚👁️

A fairy tale gone feral. The Changeling is part grief horror, part urban legend, and 100% unsettling. Read it… but not at bedtime.

In horror, sound = presence. It tells us we’re not alone—long before the monster shows its face. In this post, we explore how to use sound in fiction to heighten tension, deepen dread, and make silence terrifying.

Five disappearances. Zero explanations. The Bennington Triangle is Vermont’s eeriest mystery—and the forest might still be hungry.

If you love horror with heart and history, Tananarive Due is your next obsession. From haunted houses to ancestral curses, her stories stay

A slow-burning folk horror where the coast whispers secrets, and miracles may come with a price. The Loney is unsettling, haunting, perfect.

Loved Madness in Bloom? Craving more haunted houses, twisted legacies, and eerie blooms? Your next nightmares await…

In horror, it’s not always the ghost you should fear—it’s the object that remembers. From cracked teacups to humming hand mixers, the most haunting things are often small, silent, and watching. Let’s talk about how to write them.

England’s Corpse Roads once carried the dead to their graves. Some say they still do. Ghostly paths where grief never stopped walking.

Priya Sharma’s horror is poetic, mythic, and quietly devastating. If folklore and grief had a baby—it would win a Shirley Jackson Award.

In Starve Acre, grief festers like roots in the dark. A haunting folk horror tale where nothing buried stays that way for long. 🌿💀

In horror fiction, monsters may chase your characters—but it's their own fears that trap them. From guilt and grief to identity and control, fear arcs turn ordinary protagonists into unforgettable ones. In this post, we explore how to build fear into the bones of your story—where inner dread meets external terror, and survival means facing what haunts them most.