Stephen King’s “bedtime story” tweet proves he’s still the king of horror in 280 characters

Oonagh Keating. Updated June 4th, 2019

Stephen King‘s Twitter account is a treat for so many reasons: he’s funny, he expertly drags Donald Trump at every opportunity, and he can give us the shivers like nobody else, even with a character limit of 280. This little “bedtime story” got people’s imaginations fired up, because it gets right under the skin.

Want a little bedtime story? My friend felt he had a hair caught between his eye and his glasses. He couldn't get rid of it, so he looked in the mirror. A tick was crawling on his eyeball. Nighty-night, sleep well.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 31, 2019

Anybody else feel like taping their eyelids closed right now? People reacted in a few different ways.

Some lost sleep over it.

I. Am. Never. Going. To. Sleep. https://t.co/hDzmIc5Vh7

— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) May 31, 2019

Okay no sleep for the next week, got it pic.twitter.com/A8dkDEnl6V

— John Jiao, MD (@JohnJiao) May 31, 2019

Jesus H Roosevelt Christ!!!!! I won’t be sleeping now pic.twitter.com/yzmsRij0FS

— Michelle Carr ·o. △̶ (@mcarr2k) May 31, 2019

Some were just in awe of the master.

Stephen King writes long books because he wants to, not because he can't scare the shit out of you in a paragraph. https://t.co/XpdD0Kl2Dq

— The Wyzard 📚💖 (@WiseWyzard) May 31, 2019

This guy is so good that he can write a horror story within the confines of a tweet. https://t.co/xjB0URDZbZ

— Steve Collins (@SteveCollinsSJ) May 31, 2019

OMG! As if your books weren't scary enough, now I have to beware your tweets!!! https://t.co/V03vsUxoCA

— Cheryl (@CherylFawn) May 31, 2019

Even with a limit of 280 characters, @StephenKing has managed to freak me out. https://t.co/bO2G2UP72Z

— Canada Hardcover 🇨🇦 (@CanadaHardcover) May 31, 2019

And then there were the stories – oh, God – The stories!

I once rinsed my mouth from a cup after brushing my teeth, felt something odd in my mouth, then spit a huge spider out into the sink. https://t.co/5Aa42pIKqo

— Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) May 31, 2019

One time when I was reading The Shining a spider crawled out from between the pages onto my hand and I thought that was the worst scare Stephen King could give me but no.

I was wrong. https://t.co/lggQJcFFQq

— gin. (@showupforthis) May 31, 2019

I had to sleep on an old mattress in a pasture as thanks for helping someone in Minnesota move (Long story) and woke up every hour to pry a tick from various crevices and throw it into the fire. I can still feel them crawling sometimes….

— Thomas Pluck (@thomaspluck) May 31, 2019

I went on a hike once and when I got back home I found a tick. Pulled it off. Felt like things were crawling all over me. 20 ticks later I stopped counting but there were more. pic.twitter.com/MizihxcEFN

— FrostyWitchGoddess (@amandajhelling) May 31, 2019

But one person couldn’t help comparing it to a different horror altogether – the 2016 US election results.

https://twitter.com/OttoSalaj/status/1134453980812206080

via GIPHY