Throwback Monday: Two-Sentence Horror Stories

I thought this would be perfect to bring back for Halloween since I'm doing it again myself this year! I first posted this in 2013, but it's still a fun and easy-prep activity almost 10 years later. (This is a Throwback Monday bc I couldn't wait until Thursday!)

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Olim, fur villam magnificam direptam intravit quod pecuniam vult et quaerit. Sed postquam nox advenit, sanguis effundit per ianuas et fur numquam revenit. (Once, a thief entered a run-down magnificent house because he wants and seeks money. But after night arrived, blood flowed through the doors and the thief never returned)

A short, sweet, and easy Halloween activity.  Or anytime you feel like writing horror stories, really.

A few months ago, io9 published an article about a recent Reddit activity online.  Participants were asked to write horror stories and post them on Reddit.  The stipulation, however, was that they could only be two sentences long.

​As difficult as that is to do, there were many takers and some really great fiction came out of the event.  Read the io9 article I linked 

above.  It's really amazing how much can be communicated in just a few words.  When I read it, a lightbulb went off in my head and the article was filed away in my brain somewhere under "There Has To Be Some Way I Can Use This In My Class" (long file name, longer file contents).

Last week, inspired by the holiday and expecting my classes to be at least somewhat active (says ten years' previous Halloween experience--and who am I to argue with experience?), I decided that I had found the right moment to use this idea.

I began the class by handing out and going over a compilation of horror vocabulary, Vocabula Terrifica, that Miriam put together earlier this month.  After running quickly through the vocabulary, I told them about the io9 article and read a couple of the examples in English.  Then I put them into small groups, where they were asked to write Latin two sentence horror stories and illustrate them on a colored sheet of paper.  Lastly, they were asked to tape them on the wall when they finished.  The few groups who finished early were able to go around and read other groups' stories.

It was a nice way to spend Halloween.

(I looked at my mirror. I saw another man.)