To write an effective two-paragraph ghost story start by creating an immersive, eerie setting in the first paragraph. Pick an ordinary, everyday location—an empty hallway—but then weave in tiny, creeping anomalies that suggest an unseen presence. Describe the silence as too thick to be natural, the icy patch that refuses to warm, or the faint sound of footsteps that halt when you do. Let the reader feel the unease before anything supernatural occurs. Engage the senses to make the world feel real so the ghostly element feels more believable when it arrives. Avoid unnecessary exposition and avoid overexplaining. Aim to twist the familiar into something sinister.

In the second paragraph, deliver the haunting moment with precision and restraint. Let the spirit appear without fanfare but through a singular, haunting anomaly visible to no one else: a shadow that moves when you don’t. A smudge on the glass that wasn’t there seconds before. A whisper that says their name in a voice they haven’t heard in years. Reveal the haunting by what it does to the person. A frozen breath. The dawning horror of being watched. Leave the terror unspoken, unresolved. The reader should be left wondering what happened next. Never explain the source. The power of a two-paragraph ghost story lies in what is left unsaid.