The Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina, has issued a call for short stories in their first-ever The Rhine Mysterious Short Story Contest. Since their research is focused on Parapsychology, this intriguing short story contest invites authors to submit a “strange, eerie story” and take your writer’s imagination “to the far reaches of the mind.”
Tell your true story, mix truth and fiction, or go straight to fiction. Short story submissions may be up to 2,500 words, with a theme of one (or more) of the following:
- Telepathy — mind to mind communication through a means other than the normal senses).
- Clairvoyance or Remote Viewing — knowledge of objects, people, or events that are hidden via space or time. For example, an object hidden in a box in a different room, a photograph sealed in an envelope, an event that is occurring to a loved one who is thousands of miles away, or the characteristics of a room that only existed in the past.
- Precognition — knowledge of an event that has not yet occurred, or information that appears to be transferred from the future into the present.
- PK or Psychokinesis — Mind interacting with matter at a distance. Mind interactions with living systems (including energetic healing) are sometimes included in this category.
- Survival Studies — The nature of human consciousness and an examination of whether consciousness survives the physical form. This includes mediumship research, reincarnation, out of body experiences, apparitions, and ghost activities.
Stick to the available themes listed; do not submit short stories covering the adventures of zombies, aliens, or vampires.
All entries must be rated G or PG-13. If your creative juices really get flowing, they will allow more than one submission per author. Each entry must have a separate entry form and payment.
Who is eligible to enter? Well, this is how they describe writer requirements:
Open to writers worldwide, age 18 or older. Employees of Sponsor as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, children) and household members of each such employee are not eligible to participate in the Contest. Void where prohibited by law. All state and local restrictions apply.
While Rhine Research Center is located in North Carolina, worldwide submissions are being accepted.
Once you’ve written your tale, it needs to be submitted in a Microsoft Word document no later than August 10, 2017.
Read the Official Contest Rules, prizes, and more.
Visit this page for the short story submission application. Then, send in your application, your story as a Word document, and the $20 submission fee. See details at www.rhine.org/…/rhine-short-story-contest-2017.html.
Winners will be announced by October 10, 2017. The top short stories will be selected and the winning authors will receive a prize and be invited to share their story during a Rhine public event in late October 2017 — around Halloween. Stories may be published at some future date.
If you’re not familiar with the Rhine Research Center, its scientific research started in the 1930s, when Dr. Rhine of Duke University started the Parapsychology department. Today, the Rhine holds psy-related events, oversees an onsite research library, and conducts scientific research projects on ESP and Parapsychology. Find out more about their work and public events at www.rhine.org.
