the gothic house horror tropes meme

[ladyboneranon]

THE GOTHIC HOUSE MEME



Below meme will contain horror concepts, triggers, and terrible stereotypes. Please click with caution.

It looms out of the woods, tall and elegant, with sweeping Gothic lines. An inheritance, or a gift, or a purchase; this house should be a blessing, but instead it's a curse.

This house knows what you fear.


THE ROLES

1. Stranded. Your car broke down, or your girlfriend sped away. There's only one place around. It's a little creepy, but it's your only option.

2. Moving in. This is your new place! It's not so bad, and it was a great value for the square footage. Your new life is gonna be great!

3. Dare. It wasn't your idea, but you were dared to come in here by a friend. All you have to do is get inside, and then get out again.

4. The Seer. You knew there was something terrible that was going to happen here. Hopefully they listen to your warning.

5. The Native. You've lived in this house for so long you can't remember anything else. Maybe the curse hasn't touched you; maybe you are the curse. Somewhat related to:

6. The Monster. The big bad guy, no matter what form that might take.

7. The Expert. Exterminator, exorcist, priest, or vampire hunter, you're the guy they call to come clear out places like this.

8. Other. Feel free to come up with others!

THE SITUATIONS

1. Creepy crawlies. A swarm of spiders hatches from a sac in the wall; you find the basement is full of snakes; you awaken each morning with rat bites on your skin; the birds watch you, wherever you go. Some sort of creature is plaguing this house, and you have to fight it to get free.

2. Ghosts. There was a horrific murder committed here in the past, a crime of passion from a jealous lover. Be careful, or you'll find yourself possessed, and acting out history all over again. -- Or maybe you're the ghost, and you never even knew you'd died.

3. The Asylum. A long time ago, tortured souls were kept here. The halls still remember their torment -- and perhaps the ghosts of the tortured past will reach from those walls, and try to pull you back in.

4. A Stalker. The house would be perfect -- except for that creepy groundskeeper. Looks like he has a fondness for pruning shears, and he doesn't want anyone to take this place away from him. How many will he kill before you escape?

5. Satan's touch. This is a den of old witches, people who sold their soul to the Devil and who sacrificed children in their rituals. It's said that the last little girl they killed still wanders here, and that she will cast your soul to hell in order to stay.

6. Possession. A demon has taken over your skin. There's only one chance to save you: an exorcism.

7. Monsters. There's something loose in the woods, a product of science or magic gone terribly wrong. Defeat it, and maybe you'll be able to live in peace.

8. Zombies. The house has layers of defense, but eventually you may be overwhelmed.

9. Vampires. A very, very old creature lives in this house. A creature perhaps looking for a mortal companion to join them…

10. Transformation. Your bones are changing, your limbs growing, your skin changing. Something about this place is making you into a monster, and you may be beyond saving.

Comments

Nancy Holbrook / A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

[nightmarishly]

6/7

[bprd_fishman]

[Why someone as smart as you is even staying at this house is a complete mystery, but you're here.

The house itself seems normal, bar a few rusty hinges and weak floors, but the basement door's been locked tight...apparently from the inside. Most people who come here don't bother trying to open it but they don't stay long either...it's the dreams that drive them out. The constant dreams of the sound of sloshing water, the smell of sea salt, the rocking sensation of waves, the sight of dark shapes moving on the other side of glass. It's the sensation of sitting inside an alien mind for brief moments and seeing through its alien eyes.

After the first day or two they seem to happen even when the occupant is awake.]

The Doctor (10) | Doctor Who | OTA

[manfromgallifrey]

2 Ghosts of the past?

[firstdoctor]

[ Theta is just going to stand in the hall, running his hands over the walls with a frown. Something was simply...off about this house. He couldn't figure out what just yet.]

Molly Hooper | BBC Sherlock | OTA

[littlemouse]

[stlg13bomber]

[It's just swell that his grand-uncle left him this old mansion in his will. Sure, it's a bit of a fixer-upper but you expect it in a house this old. Carter's been having a lot of fun exploring the place, from the attic with the locked trunks to the stone cellar with rusting chains hanging from the walls. It's got a lot of room in it and the logical idea is to have guests up to stay the night.

But Molly's not the only stranger who came to the house last night. The cellar door was smashed in and something's ravaged the strange jars and barrels inside. Whatever did it must have tremendous strength to get through doors two inches thick. On the wood are the marks of massive claws and there's bite marks in the dried meat. Carter is currently looking at it with his arms folded and a thoughtful frown on his face.]

You think it was beavers?

Abe Sapien | Hellboy | OTA

[bprd_fishman]

[Human AU optional. Or there's a fish living in your basement.]

Re: Abe Sapien | Hellboy | OTA

[glitterandgears]

[Cassie's made friends with weirder things. :) 7/2 sound interesting?]

Tony Stark | Marvel Cinematic Universe | OTA

[starkingenuity]

Archer || Fate/stay night || open to all

[swordedpast]

 

role 1

[mitsuzuri]

[ Ayako had an errand to run today. Going through the rumored 'haunted' forests by the edge of Fuyuki wasn't a problem, but having her bike flattened against a misplaced rock and the weather suddenly taking a turn for the worse are. She doesn't remember a manor here, either, but at least until the rain lets up, it might be best to take shelter where it's available.

She would have knocked, but the doors swung open by their own to show the place being clearly abandoned. Ayako's too old and down to earth to believe in ghost stories, but something's still unsettling about this place. She doesn't plan to venture too deep in, lingering by the front hall, though if she can find something, just in case to serve as a makeshift weapon... ]

...Hello? Is anyone here?

Mami Tomoe || Puella Magi Madoka Magica || open to all

[bittensweet]

 

hermione granger | hp post-canon, au

[leviohhhhsa]

[Rambling AU deets here.]

5/7

[bprd_fishman]

[Professor Brutenholm's body was found near a local farm, lying on the path as if he had collapsed from exhaustion. His body showed signs of past illness and no investigation was made into his death. Brutenholm had no family or known will, and his manor now lies vacant. He rarely entertained guests in the past and no one's been up since...but the local children say they've seen a face at the windows when they've gone up on the hill to play.

There were rumors about the asocial professor. Claims that he dabbled in dark magic, or conducted Satanic rituals with creatures from the grim woods around the house. Inhuman things have been seen in the woods, or in the river, but the sightings are few and far between.

The face at the window, say the children, is pale blue. Its eyes are wide and dark and the hand it presses to the glass is webbed like a duck's. It's only there for a brief moment before it flees back into the safety of the old house...but one brave girl's claimed that the face she saw looked very, very sad.]

Jason Todd | DCnU

[ex_agoodsoldier468]

1-3? aka Roy driving Jason up a wall with chattiness till Jay wants to make HIM a ghost?

[arsenalrising]

This place is officially creepy. [Roy wouldn't admit to having a helluva case of the heebie jeebies of course. To the likes of Jason Todd? God, the Red Hood wouldn't let him live it down for as long as he lived.

Instead, the red clad archer stuck close to Jason's back and talked. Because that was what he did when he got nervy, he talked. It was the kind of bad habit he'd probably picked up from Ollie but woe onto the fool who compared him to his former mentor.] I mean, really creepy. Freddy Krueger coming out from around the corner kinda creepy.

'course, most normal people would avoid the creepy freakin' house in the middle of nowhere. But not us. We're just....nuts. This is completely insane, Jay. This is the kind of place people go into in horror movies and never come out of.

Dick Grayson | DC Comics

[diggitydank]

7 and 2 why not

[ridemyelectrostick]

[Tim's still new at this whole... supernatural thing. Really, he shouldn't be shocked. Sure, he was friends with a shapeshifter and a Kryptonian and a speedster. But ghosts are in a league of their own.

A very creepy league.

Still, that was just a rumor. Maybe there wasn't really a ghost. Maybe he and Dick were just investigating a simple missing persons case covered up by someone with a very twisted imagination.]

So, this is the place where people started disappearing?

Kuroko Tetsuya | KnB | ota

[invisible_one]

[He is born for creepy places where he can sneak even better than usual XD]

Erza Scarlet | Fairy Tail

[scarletrequip]

Role 1, Scenario 5 -- mwa ha haaaaaa

[celestial_wizard]

[ Car? No car for these two, but Lucy had been paired with Erza on a mission, and while yes, the mission went off quickly since Erza was ridiculously powerful... it wasn't without a lot of property damage. Nonetheless, when their carriage back home broke down, with only that creepy creepy mansion nearby, Lucy had a baaaaaaaaaaad feeling they were going to be asked to go there for help.

... five minutes later, that's exactly what had happened. Lucy, at Erza's side, grimaced nervously. ]

Ne, Erza, we could still walk -- [ What, and abandon that poor driver to deal with the carriage's broken wheel on his own? Plus Magnolia was MILES away yet, it'd take them the rest of the day to get there. Not ideal. ]

It doesn't look like anyone is home - and this place is really creepy. [ Look at that face Erza! Don't make her go in there. ;.; ]

Lucy Heartfilia | Fairy Tail (OTA)

[celestial_wizard]

Abigail Widdowson - Crooked House (OC)

[acrookedchild]

[So... basically canon for her.]

Sherlock Holmes | BBC Sherlock | OTA

[improbably_true]

[acrookedchild]

Mister Holmes.

[The ancient rumours still plague Geap Manor. So when a series of ritualistic killings started in Windsor, the family home of the Widdowsons came under suspicion by the more imaginative in the area. Even though the only remaining Widdowson was Abigail Widdowson, 22-year-old socialite who shopped often, donated to charities, and kept the archaic house up with only her father's old friend to help her.

When she couldn't stand the whispering any longer, she'd sent an e-mail to an interesting blog she'd been following. A consulting detective.

The reward she was offering was lucrative. It had seemed like the best incentive to get the man to come.

She stands just beyond the doorway, letting him in. Her slim form is pulled up as tall and straight as she can make it, though she's hardly an imposing figure. Her hair is natural, though make-up can't fully hide the dark circles under her eyes from a trained eye or the paleness to her face.

Most of the furniture in the house is old. Some of it a few decades, most of it at least a century. The interior has been touched very, very little since the Tudor era when it was built. The house is wired for electricity and modern plumbing is available, but the majority of the house (even down to the twisted knocker on the front door) has not been altered.]

Thank you for coming.

The Leanansidhe | Dresden Files

[debtofhounds]

1-5 all right?

[frailraven]

[He's not impressed. Having a wheel explode like that? Stranded in the middle of the woods, where there's been reports of the dead, Abyss, portals and other things? It could be magic. It could be reports of a devil no one knew existed but in stories.

Stories are powerful things.]

Jay | Marble Hornets

[cameraobscura]

[Well, I wouldn't exactly call him an expert, but he's here trespassing poking about where he probably shouldn't be.

And filming it, of course.]

7 + you know who

[dogtagged]

[ hi, Jay, here's the real expert. or at least one who has more experience with cutting things up... and now he's walking up behind Jay with his sword and everything, because dude, what are you doing here.

he's very quiet when he walks, so if Jay doesn't notice him before he's close enough, Nic taps him on the shoulder. ]

stiles stilinski ; teen wolf

[mindsets]

rolled 6 -> 10

[blackdogstar]

[ooc: haha so IDK what you'd want to do with that? Remus as the werewolf npc maybe? Some of your wolfy friends? Something else?]

Clementine | The Walking Dead

[smallsurvivor]

Gilbert Nightray|Pandora Hearts

[frailraven]

3/1

[oftheturks]

[Cissnei never backs down from a challenge. It's not in her nature to do so. Go inside a house and get out sounded easy enough at first.

Though, for some reason, she feels like she's being followed. Constant scratching noises surround her and she can't tell what it is, other than it's some kind of animal that doesn't sound very friendly.]

Roy Harper || Young Justice

[arrowsfall]

?? and 8

[smallsurvivor]

[It's not very fun when people start dying everywhere, then get up and kill more people. It's not the sort of thing any community should be subjected to. But it's happened and the abandoned house may be the only safe spot left.

It's just that there's a closet door that opens a crack whenever Roy's back is turned and shuts again quickly whenever he moves within sight. It's just a closet door. Nothing to investigate. No little girls hiding in here at all, no sir.]

Dick Grayson/Harry Potter | Harry Potter/DC Comics AU

[dickandharry]

[AU where Harry was raised as Dick Grayson. Backstory here: http://dickandharry.dreamwidth.org/494.html]

Garry ❖ Ib

[twelftharcana]

3,9 ! Prose or action is fine with me just in case you like prose more

[sleepygunsman]

[Some how Lace got the short end of the straw in this but he didn't mind going inside the mansion. He silently moved past the door, everything appeared to be fine until he let go of the door. The second his hand moved away the door swung shut.

Lace quickly tried to open the door to avail. He sighed before turning back around.]

.....Hello? Could you open the door please...? I need to be back before it's midnight....

Shindou Takuto | Inazuma Eleven GO! | ota

[presto_turn]

Jade Harley | Homestuck

[jugglesworlds]