A Story on a Haunted House: Model Answer That Fits a School Exam
Quick answer: An original 180-word exam story about a haunted house in Shillong, with an ending a school board will accept, notes on how it scores, and three other ways to take the topic.
A haunted house story earns marks in an exam when it builds one clear fear, gives a plausible explanation or a quiet ambiguity at the end, and stays within what a school board allows: no gore, no possession, nothing that would frighten a younger reader. The model below is about 180 words, sends two friends into an empty house in Shillong, explains most of what they find, and leaves one small thing unexplained. That balance is what examiners reward.
This is the most popular title in the class and the most often fumbled, because students spend the word limit on atmosphere and then have nothing left for a resolution. Plan the explanation first, then work backward.
The task
Typical wording: 'Write a story in 150 to 200 words with the title The Haunted House.' Or an opening line: 'Nobody had lived in the house at the end of our lane for twenty years.' Decide before you write whether the haunting is real, explained or left open; the ending depends on it.
Model answer
The Fernandes House. Everyone in Laitumkhrah knew that the Fernandes house had been empty since before we were born, and everyone knew about the light. It came on in the top window some nights and went off again, though the electricity had been cut long ago. Dawa said it was a ghost. I said it was a reflection. We agreed to find out.
We climbed the back wall at dusk with one torch between us. The door on the veranda was unlocked. Inside, the house smelt of wet paper and something sweeter, and the floorboards said our names back to us at every step.
Upstairs we found the answer to the light: a family of owls in the rafters, and a broken skylight that let the moon fall onto a mirror still hanging on the wall. Dawa laughed so hard he dropped the torch.
We left the way we had come. On the veranda, a wooden chair was rocking gently, and there was no wind. We did not discuss it. We have not discussed it since.
Why it earns marks
Against content, organisation and expression:
Three other ways to take the same topic
Each has a resolution planned before the fear is built.
What writers can take from this
- Plan the explanation first; the atmosphere comes after.
- One fear, one house, one night.
- Use sound and smell; they frighten more than description of darkness.
- Solve most of it, leave one small thing open.
- No gore, no possession, no harm to anyone.
- Give the companions one distinguishing line each, not names and histories.
Try it yourself
Write a 180-word haunted house story in which everything frightening turns out to have an ordinary cause except one detail, and that detail is something the reader notices before the characters do.
Questions
How scary can a haunted house story be in a school exam?
Atmosphere is fine; harm is not. Strange lights, sounds, cold rooms and a door that should not have moved are all acceptable. Avoid blood, death on the page, or anything a younger student would be upset to read.
Can I write the haunted house story in the first person?
Yes, and it is usually the better choice, because fear is more convincing when felt directly. Use 'we' if there are two characters so you do not have to keep naming them.
Does a haunted house story need a moral?
Rarely, and only if the question asks. A moral about not trespassing sits awkwardly on a story the reader has just enjoyed. If required, keep it to one gentle line.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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