# Ideas that would make a small town scary?



## smoothbench (Mar 6, 2011)

Hi All, I've decided to start writing my first novel which is going to be a horror and would love some ideas that would make a small town creepy. It could be the people, atmosphere and generally anything that would make a small town of say 200 people or so, frightening. 
I'd also prefer it if these ideas were subtle, so no monsters or aliens. 
Thanks. :-D


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## garza (Mar 6, 2011)

A secret everyone knows but the newcomer. Questions to the newcomer like, 'plannin' on bein' here long, are you? wouldn't you be happier in a bigger town? what made you move here? you're not goin' to start no trouble, are you?' all asked with a sideways, suspicious look, along with a reluctance by shopkeepers to wait on the newcomer, slow response from utilities with a 'we weren't sure you planned to stay' excuse, and a feeling by the newcomer that he is constantly watched.


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## Leyline (Mar 6, 2011)

Dogs that never bark.

All curtains dark, never open.

Complete lack of birds.

A just-barely-there scent. Not pleasant or unpleasant...just....there.

Ever present hum.

Everyone has the same color eyes.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Mar 6, 2011)

Leyline said:


> Dogs that never bark.
> 
> A just-barely-there scent. Not pleasant or unpleasant...just....there.


 
These are scary, indeed.

How about houses that are relatively far apart. Oh, people that keep staring are weird, too. And a whole town that seems so quiet.


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## garza (Mar 6, 2011)

How about no children? No one in town under about 20 years old? And evasive answers about why that's so.


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## garza (Mar 6, 2011)

Better yet. The town has the normal amount of children, but the newcomer soon figures out that the children are running things. The newcomer notices the adults give way to the children, and he overhears conversations in which the children are giving instructions to the adults.

Edit - And he notices that he never sees an adult on the street without a child.


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## BoredMormon (Mar 6, 2011)

My wife finds the lack of shopping in small towns very disturbing


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## Leyline (Mar 6, 2011)

garza said:


> Better yet. The town has the normal amount of children, but the newcomer soon figures out that the children are running things. The newcomer notices the adults give way to the children, and he overhears conversations in which the children are giving instructions to the adults.
> 
> Edit - And he notices that he never sees an adult on the street without a child.


 
Well, it worked nicely for John Wyndham in _The Midwich Cuckoos_.


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## Olly Buckle (Mar 6, 2011)

Leyline said:


> Dogs that never bark.
> 
> All curtains dark, never open.
> 
> ...


 
These all fall into one of two categories, something that is normally there is not, or something which is not normally there is. Leyline is right, they are the sort of things that are creepy, so long as they are kept subtle.

Bored Mormon, you made me laugh.


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## The Backward OX (Mar 6, 2011)

Speaking from experience, I suggest living in a town that size for a few years first. You'll learn so much about why ALL small towns can be scary that you'll have no need of forums. You'll be able to write what you know.


Persons acting as general practitioners saying stuff like, "It's a real strain, all this pretending I know something about medicine."


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## smoothbench (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks guys these helped a lot


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## smoothbench (Mar 6, 2011)

I've actually been thinking about an idea for the story that might be a bit absurd, and I'd like to know if it sound stupid or if its been done before. 

It's going to be a small town where everyone in it is abstinent - for religious reasons. No one is related to each other and the only way to keep the town's population going is to kidnap people outside their community and force them to adapt to their new lives where they are matched with families. They are far out and escape is impossible. Does this sound like a ridiculous idea? Thanks.


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## Foxee (Mar 6, 2011)

I don't think it sounds ridiculous. I think you'll have to think of some good ideas for how to make it work, that's all. Brainstorm as many reasons as possible why everyone there would be abstinent, I know religion is the first thing that people think of but I don't think it's strong enough to keep that many people abstinent for that long. Maybe they aren't abstinent but are instead infertile (that would be easier to make stick, I think). Also, you'll have to carefully think through how they manage to spirit people away and how they effectively keep them there and integrate them. You almost need some kind of brainwashing, a drug, or some other means to ensure they don't escape.

I think it sounds like an interesting premise.


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## smoothbench (Mar 6, 2011)

Foxee said:


> I don't think it sounds ridiculous. I think you'll have to think of some good ideas for how to make it work, that's all. Brainstorm as many reasons as possible why everyone there would be abstinent, I know religion is the first thing that people think of but I don't think it's strong enough to keep that many people abstinent for that long. Maybe they aren't abstinent but are instead infertile (that would be easier to make stick, I think). Also, you'll have to carefully think through how they manage to spirit people away and how they effectively keep them there and integrate them. You almost need some kind of brainwashing, a drug, or some other means to ensure they don't escape.
> 
> I think it sounds like an interesting premise.



I'm determined to make the abstinence idea work because I have some good ideas that could work well with it but I'll need to come up with an original explanation of how it works. You've hit the nail on the head with everything else you've said though. I'm especially concerned with their methods of abducting people, especially if its with adults as well. I've been given a lot to think about :/


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## Foxee (Mar 6, 2011)

You've actually reminded me of a Star Trek (TNG) episode where a society had, for some reason I can't really remember, stopped procreating and were cloning themselves instead and needed to basically do what you're suggesting although they only really needed to kidnap people long enough to make a clone.

Just try to come up with something really original. The whole idea has intriguing possibilities.


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## smoothbench (Mar 6, 2011)

I was thinking that my main character would be a reporter that goes to this town to investigate a disappearance, but somewhere along the line he gets amnesia from a fall or something like that. This revelation will be withheld from the reader so the story will begin after he becomes conscious and he's convinced to believe he's part of the community and always has been. As the story goes on he'll slowly regain discover the truth and what's really going on in this town. Does giving him amnesia seem like a lazy or generic thing to do?


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## Foxee (Mar 6, 2011)

Seems a little contrived. If a reporter came to the town the townspeople wouldn't be really happy about that, would they? Not if they're investigating a disappearance. 

I think it's more likely that the 'fall' would be arranged by the townspeople and perhaps the reporter would be told by the kindly, utterly trustworthy-seeming old white-haired doctor that the reporter has amnesia. Then it's up to you whether they'd integrate the reporter into their town as they usually do or show him/her around in a 'Look how great this place is, nothing more to see here!' kind of way. If they know that the reporter has been in touch with someone outside the town who will come after them if they don't return, the second option might be in the town's best interests.


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## Leyline (Mar 6, 2011)

Foxee makes some good points. Another thing you could do is have the guy be an investigative reporter who basically approaches his job like an undercover cop -- no credentials, etc. proving he's with the press. Perhaps he has studied the pattern of disappearances and sets himself up as 'bait' -- only to get more than he bargains for? This could be a much more violent abduction than he expected, accounting for the memory-loss. Or, taking another path, perhaps the townspeople use a drug or series of drugs to intentionally remove their victims memory? They could then present themselves as compassionate rescuers who found their victims lying on the side of the road, drowning, etc. They may even justify this to themselves with a religious excuse -- they're ridding poor souls of their sinful pasts, bringing them into the true church.

I think starting it out In Media Res is a good idea, even though the whole amnesia POV character is a bit overused in thriller/suspense fiction. You'll just have to find an original way to spin it. Perhaps the MC has a medical condition or advanced training that gives him some extra immunity to the drug, so that his memories start slowly returning? Quite a few interesting ways you could present this, both structurally and on a plot level.


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## smoothbench (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks Leyline I like those ideas. However I'd like it if the people in the town were aware of how they got there and maybe they were brainwashed into believing this life is better for them. But I want there to be others who only go along with it out of fear of what would happen to them if they resisted. They put up a facade but some eventually become to depressed by it that they commit suicide. This is something that my main character will question since the town seems like such a happy place on the outside.


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## mockingbird (Mar 7, 2011)

Hi Smoothbench, good idea as it worked for Peter Weir's first film - The Town that Ate paris - isolated town in Au outback needs more people. If you arrive you never get out, as all cars are spiked, roads become blocked, but the newcomer must have something to offer or it's curtains for sure.


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## Akhilleus (Mar 7, 2011)

sarah palin as the mayor ...


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## Glass Pencil (Mar 7, 2011)

Dropping your kid off at the babysitter only to later do a sex offender search on the neighborhood.

Watching that map of the smalltown light up like an LA traffic jam.


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## MJ Preston (Mar 7, 2011)

I have a really good idea, but I'm going to save that one for myself.

In the mean time. What about secret meetings. Unexplained flickering lights and sounds in the dark hours. Medications. 

I say don't completely rule out monsters. They walk among us all the time.


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## SilverMoon (Mar 8, 2011)

MJ - "Medications" you have the wheels spinning. This investigative reporter slowly realizes that "all" of the townspeople will not look at him directly in the eye. He finds this strange as he's a newcomer. He should be a source of curiosity. Neither do they look at each other. They're all doing the "medication shuffle" as witnessed in the hallways in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". So he mimics them, following one of the men around town to see where he is lead. The man enters a GP's office at the far end of town. There, there is a line of people. The doctor is at the receptionist's window wearing sunglasses (why to be discovered later) dispensing pills to keep the townspeople complacent. The GP is an old crippled looking man. He's nervous around the people, as if he's seen hell. His hand shakes as he hands over the little paper cup of pills (the reporter, of course, cheeks his pills). 

All the storefronts and town bar are dark, seemingly closed for business yet there is an "Open" sign. And then a smaller one framed and written in caligraphy: from Dante's Inferno "_Beware all ye who enter here"._

He then realizes that there are no children to be seen but hears them faintly singing "Ring around the Rosey" from a far distance.

Many whys here. It might be fun to dig into.


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## caelum (Mar 8, 2011)

Chanting in the night that comes from people's basements.  Everyone has a strange custom of greeting, like instead of shaking hands they rub palms.  The town's accent/dialect is strange.


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## Terry D (Mar 8, 2011)

A decrepit church in the center of town, abandon, boarded up, but at night the church bells toll.

A sprinkling of deformed animals -- cats with three eyes, a dog with a face nearly human, etc.

Everyone looks away when you speak to them, and pause before answering.


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## Foxee (Mar 8, 2011)

> Chanting in the night that comes from people's basements.


I'm scared of basements. I'm going to have nightmares now (again), thanks a heap, Caelum!


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## caelum (Mar 8, 2011)

Haha.  I'm a little the opposite in that respect, I've always had a thing about attics.


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