Some dares should never be taken. In The Church, one of the chilling stories from Scott Bailey’s haunting collection Thirteen Tales of Ghosts, a simple Halloween challenge spirals into a descent into the unknown, where fear becomes reality, and the line between life and death vanishes.
What starts as a harmless night out among friends quickly transforms into a nightmarish ordeal. Five sceptics venture into a ruined church, full of bravado and dismissive of its dark history. Armed with candles and ghost stories, they aim to stay until dawn—but the restless dead have other plans. As the group’s laughter fades and the cold mist rolls in, an eerie presence begins to stir, and one by one, their courage is tested.
Bailey masterfully captures the tension and terror of The Church, crafting a tale that is as much about existential dread as it is about supernatural horror. Readers are drawn into the narrator’s descent—first into darkness and then into the terrifying realisation of what lies beyond the grave. The ruin, with its toppled altar and broken crucifix, becomes a grim reminder of the fragile boundary between the living and the dead.
Through atmospheric descriptions and a relentless pace, the story leaves readers with an uncomfortable question: what if death is not an escape but an eternal, inescapable prison? The chilling whispers and the narrator’s growing panic create an immersive experience, making The Church one of the most memorable and unsettling stories in Thirteen Tales of Ghosts.
If you’re seeking a ghost story that lingers long after the last word, The Church is a must-read. It’s a stark reminder that some doors should remain closed and that respect for the dead is more than a quaint tradition—it might just be a lifeline.
Dare to uncover the rest of the tales in Thirteen Tales of Ghosts. But be warned: once you enter Bailey’s world of shadows and spectres, you may never look at the dark the same way again.
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 