Unsettling Mysteries
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A Prompt for 2019’s 13 Days of Dark & Weird Writing Challenge
Strange lights in the sky, disappearing planes, dimensional holes, unexplained fugue states, spontaneous combustion, doppelgangers, and yetis, oh my!
As a child of the 90s, I watched a lot of Unsolved Mysteries — a American show that ran from 1987 to 2002 and asked viewers to call in with any information related to the unresolved cases discussed.
Most of them were tragic, terrifying, and all too real, but if you were anything like me, you looked forward to the episodes on the truly bizarre occurrences that posed questions which would likely never be answered.
A recent Medium article detailed the reason why, even as adults, we hold on to some sort of twisted hope that the inexplicable phenomena we believed in as children will turn out to be real. Even if that reality would frighten us a bit.
The information age has turned us all cynical, if you ask me. But as writers, we can continue the legacy of mystery that scientists would have us discard as poppycock.
Of course, some of these things could be explained away by strange weather, geological events, mental health issues, and straight-up lies, but that’s not what we’re here to do.
For this prompt, we ask you to reopen investigation on an age-old mystery or begin an entirely new inquest for cryptic goings-on. You’re the detective, or the victim, or the outsider that everyone fears. Maybe you’re the nay-saying scientist proven wrong. Perhaps, you’ve been inside the Bermuda triangle and lived to tell the tale.
Some stories have been told to death, but with a fresh perspective, any mystery can be brought back to life.
What’s off limits?
When using historical occurrences as a basis for your story, we request you respectfully abstain from writing about real murder cases, especially those that were recent. The Dyatlov Pass incident, which points to more of a gruesome accident or other unexplained phenomena and occurred 60 years ago might be appropriate, while the details of a child murder would not. Use your own discretion, and when in doubt, lean toward the supernatural.
The Challenge
Submissions
If you use this prompt, please copy its link to the bottom of your story so the editors know you found it inspirational.
— Should be 2,500 words or less (if your story is extraordinary, we might accept longer)
— Can be Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short Story, and Experimental forms
— May be genres: Horror, Scifi, Weird, New Weird, Fantasy, Romance, etc., but should match the dark & weird theme in some way.
— Entries will be published between October 19th-31st. Submissions accepted through October 22nd.
For more details on submission, visit our announcement page, and utilize the Submission form found there.
