The results of the 2023 Youth Scary Story Contest are in, and the winners have been selected.  Our winner for grades 3 through 5 is Milo H., a fifth-grader at Jeffery Elementary!  We hope you find "The Curse of Lilacville" as entertaining as we did.

Want to read another scary story?  Check out Adelynn B.'s "The Help of a Doll," our winner for grades 8 and 9. (Note: Our grades 6-7 winner requested that we not post their story publicly.  Trust us that it was creepy, wild, and laugh-out-loud funny.)

The Curse of Lilacville

Once upon a time there was a small town by the countryside called Lilacville. Its population was only five hundred people. It had been that way for over six hundred years; with rumors of an ancient voodoo witch living there. Of course, most people thought it was a made up story, trying to get people to come there.

There was an antique shop called Mage’s Antique, that was run by what the people of Lilacville called the “crazy lady.” No one really shopped there except Emily. She went there everyday.

“Come on Kris!” Emily shouted to her best friend, as she rode off on her skateboard. “Bet you can’t beat me to Mage’s!”

“Hey, wait up! You have to tell Ms. Sam!” Kris shouted, as he was always trying to be a goody two shoes.

“I already told my mom!” Emily said as she walked into Mage’s and the bell rang. Emily saw a little voodoo doll out of the corner of her eye. “How much for that doll Mage?” Emily asked as she picked up the doll.

“That? That belonged to the Voodoo witch. Beware…” Mage said in her usual spooky voice.
“Oooh I’m so scared.” Emily mocked.

“Just tell me how much it is.”

Mage responded: “That would cost yo-”

Mage was cut off by Kris opening the door, out of breath. “Emily,” Kris panted, “I had to run all the way here.” He saw that they were in the middle of a conversation and stopped talking.

“That would be forty five dollars; But beware!” Mage said.

Kris saw them talking about the voodoo doll and raised a skeptical eyebrow and said, “You’re not actually thinking of buying that thing, are you?”

Emily scoffed at him and agreed to the price. As they left the shop, the sky turned dark and thunder rumbled in the distance. Emily told Kris to go home because she decided to keep skating around town. As she passed by the old, abandoned mansion at the edge of town, Emily felt a strange pull towards the mansion. She shrugged it off and continued skateboarding home.

When Emily got home, Ethan, Emily's big brother, walked into the room and said mockingly; “ Did you and your boyfriend have fun at the shop?” Ethan was always such a jerk. He wouldn't let Emily forget the crush she had on Kris when they were in daycare. Kris and Emily were in middle school now.

“We're just friends. I had a crush on him ten years ago; We're fourteen now.” She shot back.

“Okay if you insist,” Ethan said as he walked downstairs. Emily walked to her room and set down the voodoo doll.

“Good night,” Emily said as she patted the doll's head. Emily laid down in bed and fell asleep. Emily had nightmares about being trapped in the voodoo doll, ancient witches, and Mage being right about the curse. She woke up, drenched in sweat. Emily glanced at where the doll should be, but it wasn't there.

She looked through the whole house and found it sitting in the living room; spattered with blood. Holy- What happened? She thought. Then she saw her cat, Waffle, laying in a pool of blood with scratches, cuts and worst of all stitches! Emily let out a blood curdling scream.
Emily’s mom rushed into the room with her dad and Ethan behind her, “What happened Em- OH MY GOSH! What happened to Waffle?!” Emily’s mom shouted.

“I don't know, I just found the doll sitting on Waffle’s body, with blood on its mouth,” Emily exclaimed. And then, Emily saw a voodoo doll that looked exactly like Waffle laying on the ground.

Emily put her hand on her head and fake coughed, “I don’t feel so good, I’m going to go lay down.” She said as she headed to her bedroom. She laid down and saw the doll on the dresser, but her eyelids were heavy and she fell asleep.

When she awoke there was something light on her chest. Emily looked up and saw the doll. She tried to scream, but the doll stitched her mouth shut. Then she felt the doll digging into her body, and it started eating her organs! Emily’s world faded to black.

The next day Kris came to Emily’s room and there, laying on the floor, was Emily’s body! Sitting next to Emily’s body was that stupid doll she bought at the store, and another doll that looked like Emily.

Kris screamed, and then Mage walked up to Kris and creepily said, “I tried to warn her.”

“H-h-ho-how d-did you k-know?” Kris stuttered, horrified.

“Because, I’m the evil witch! And now you know too much. It's time for you to join your friend Emily,” Mage cackled like a crazed hyena. Kris screamed, but before he could even blink, everything faded to black.