The Denver Gazette wrote the beginning of a spooky story. Students in grades 1-8 wrote the ending for a chance to win a 2026 season pass to Elitch Gardens.

This year we received a record 81 submissions. It was a difficult task selecting the winning entries because there were so many well-written, spooky endings. A huge thank you to everyone who participated.

Without further ado, here are the 2025 winners:

A Haunting on Riverdale Road

It was a frigid fall night on a lonely, dark road. 

I had read the warning signs when I drove up Riverdale Road to meet some friends. “WARNING: Hitchhikers may be demons,” read one sign. “This road is cursed,” read another. 

My friend had told me about a portal to another world that was somewhere along Riverdale Road. A portal that allowed spirits to roam freely in the night.  

But I completely shrugged off the warnings and stories.  

Riverdale Road, after all, was a beautiful 11-mile stretch of perfectly smooth pavement that wound through quiet open spaces and elegant, tall cottonwood trees. There was nothing to be afraid of.  

When I left my friend’s house that night, I turned down Riverdale Road and peered into the darkness. I noticed just how eerie things felt after dark. 

That’s when I saw him.  

He was tall, lanky and ghostly pale, and he was running alongside my car. I wasn’t driving fast, but I also wasn’t driving slow. How was he keeping up? It was a chilly night, but no steam was coming from his breath as he ran. That’s when he turned, looked at me, and tapped on my window.  

I sped down the road as far as I could drive and stopped when I finally came to a stop sign. I let out a huge breath of relief. I could no longer see him.  

That’s when she appeared, right in the middle of the road….. 

Elementary school winner Aaron Kalisman
University Hill, 5th Grade

She looked like my sister. Suddenly, I realized that this was a demon not a kid in a costume. She had glowing red eyes, two inch fangs and bat wings. She came towards the car.

At first I thought she was walking, then I realized she was actually floating. When she reached the car she said, “They’re coming.”

I didn’t hear it, rather the voice was in my head. I turned my car around and started to drive back towards my friend’s house. I went up a small hill and down the other side.

Then I saw it: an oval of red and black. I slammed on the brakes but I was already too close. The front half of my car and I were through the portal, but the rest seemed to be on the other side. The other side looked like Riverdale Road.

A voice in my mind yelled “NO TRESPASSING. THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY. NO HUMANS ALLOWED.”

I saw a demon – this one looked like a snake with the head of a human and two pairs of bat wings. I backed up the car.

Suddenly I was back on the road. I sped towards my friend’s house. I jumped out of my car and ran to the door and frantically rang the doorbell. As I waited I saw a silhouette in one of the house’s windows. I heard footsteps, then the door creaked open.

I screamed. It was not my friend, but a demon standing in the doorway. 

Middle school winner Emmalyn Cipollo
Louisville Middle School, 7th Grade

She wore a dress flowing at the sides, tattered lace tearing at the seams. Her braids fell over her shoulders, attempting to hide her pale face. It didn’t work. Her white eyes bore into mine, watching me with loathing. The pupils that belonged in her eyes were nonexistent.   

I slammed the brakes, screaming as my car skidded across the road. It was dark, but I still felt the collision against something hard. Something human. I jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, and I sprinted to the hood. The girl’s limbs spread on the ground, completely still. Her eyes were closed. I leaned down to check for a pulse, feeling none.  

“Help!” I screamed, but the dark woods that surrounded me were no help. As blood trickled out of her corset, I glanced back. The boy was running again, towards me this time. The fog around his feet stirred, seemingly awoken from its stillness.  

He shouted, “Emily! That’s Lola!”   

This wasn’t just some boy. And that wasn’t just some girl. These were my friends, Lola and Jack. I moved the hair from the body of the girl, and realized it really was her. I really hit my best friend, Lola.    

“What have you done?” Jack looked up into my eyes, glistening with unwept tears. I sighed, blood all over my hands. A sinister smile painted my face as I said,  

 “I told you not to scare me.”