Is it "the end?" Letting evil continue past your conclusion

We’ve all seen it: the haunted house is burned down, the killer is dead, the sun rises. Everything’s fine. Except… it’s not. Because good horror doesn’t end when the story does. That's to assume that your story has reached it's conclusion.

Horror isn’t closure. It’s contamination.

If your final chapter feels like a sigh of relief, you might be writing the wrong genre.

Unfinished Business Lingers

Think of the best horror stories you’ve read or watched. The ones that left you staring at the ceiling at 3am, whispering, what if? Chances are, they didn’t answer every question. They left the door open. Slightly.

The house was empty… but why was the closet light still on? She escaped… but her shadow stayed behind.The monster was gone… but the silence got louder.

Uncertainty isn’t a flaw in horror—it’s a weapon. It sticks under your fingernails. Use this to your advantage and create an ending that your readers will keep replaying over and over again until that moment where they just have to tell everyone about it.

The Reader’s Mind Is Your Playground

When you leave a few threads untied, your reader does the terrifying work for you. They imagine what the character didn’t see. They create a monster worse than anything you could’ve shown.

The story ends, but the dread continues.

“They said it was over. But at night, I still hear her singing in the walls.”

Pet Sematary is a great example of this technique. Stephen King ends the story with his protagonist Louis hearing his wife's voice cooing at him. But if you know the story, you know why this is dangerous for Louis. The story is left open ended, and the audience is left to decide what happened to Louis, and what happened to his somewhat psychic daughter, Ellie, as well.

Don’t Tie the Bow. Leave a Bloodstain Instead.

Let your final scene bruise the reader. Let them wish they hadn’t turned the last page. That’s when horror becomes unforgettable—not because of a neat twist, but because of a messy, lingering truth- It’s not over. It never was.

Take the fantastic Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The story ends with Eleanor's death, and the ominous sense that the house is responsible. We don’t get the comfort of knowing what haunted the house or whether Eleanor was truly possessed or just fragile. The story has ended, but the horror hasn’t been resolved.

That’s the bloodstain. That’s what lingers. The story ends, but the evil continues, leaving the reader to interpret the ambiguity of the novels conclusion.