NoSleep is home to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of stories, written by hundreds of writers, some better and more prolific than others. That’s why I decided to put together a personal list of my favorite NoSleep writers of all time.
Many of the names here will be familiar if you’ve spent some time on the sub, but I’m sure there are a few you haven’t come across yet. For each writer, I’ll tell you why they stand out and give you a link to their Reddit profile where you can find their stories, along with a personal website or social media if you want to find out more about them.
Many of their best works are also featured on my long list of the best NoSleep stories, if you’d rather dive right into reading.
Fiction by René Rehn
Now, here’s my list of the best NoSleep writers (last updated: July 2026).
C. K. Walker alias u/The_Dalek_Emperor
If NoSleep has a queen, it’s C. K. Walker, the most famous writer the sub has ever produced. She’s known most for Borrasca, probably the most famous NoSleep series of all time, which you can find on my list of the best NoSleep series. Her standalone stories are just as beloved, the most famous among them being Room 733.
Her success didn’t stop at the sub either. Under her real name, Rebecca Klingel, she was hired by Mike Flanagan and has since written on The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and The Fall of the House of Usher. If you ever need proof of how far a NoSleep writer can make it, she’s it.
Dathan Auerbach alias u/1000Vultures
Dathan Auerbach is the author of Penpal, the first NoSleep series to achieve massive popularity. It centers on a string of unsettling childhood incidents that slowly tie together into a terrifying stalker narrative.
Penpal was eventually novelized and became one of the sub’s earliest success stories. Auerbach has since released a second novel, Bad Man. Among NoSleep writers, he’s the one who first proved the sub could launch careers.
Tony Lunedi alias u/TheBoyInTheClock
Tony Lunedi wrote The Spire in the Woods, my favorite NoSleep series of all time, and one of the greatest stories ever posted to the sub.
The series has unfortunately been deleted, and the book is currently out of print. While there was talk about a movie adaptation produced by Steven Spielberg, the project has since been abandoned. I still hope the story becomes available again one day.
Kerry Hammond alias u/searchandrescuewoods
Kerry Hammond is the author of the Search and Rescue series, which dominated the sub for a good while after it was posted, and gave internet horror one of its most enduring images: the stairs in the woods, which have long since outgrown its NoSleep origin.
The series was featured on the NoSleep Podcast and later served as the loose basis for Butcher’s Block, the third season of Channel Zero.
Jack Townsend alias u/GasStationJack
Jack Townsend wrote Tales From the Gas Station, the sub’s finest piece of deadpan comedy horror, narrated by a gas station attendant who’s a bit too slow to ever realize he’s in actual danger.
The stories are no longer available on Reddit, but have become a multi-book series, which continues Jack’s tales in the same hilarious manner.
Jack Anderson alias u/NeonTempo
Jack Anderson is the author of The Left/Right Game, one of the biggest phenomena in NoSleep history. It’s a reality-bending, sprawling horror adventure about a very simple driving game that takes its players somewhere very different. Few NoSleep series have garnered such widespread attention, with the QCode adaptation spreading far beyond Reddit.
Bonnie Quinn alias u/fainting–goat
Bonnie Quinn is the author of How to Survive Camping, the most ambitious long-form project in the sub’s history at well over 100 parts, and one of the best NoSleep series of all time. It’s since been removed from Reddit, but is available in book format.
Her standalone work should also be mentioned, with I saved a white snake being a personal favorite of mine.
Christopher Bloodworth alias u/BLOODWORTH
Christopher Bloodworth wrote the Bloodworth Saga, an early NoSleep epic. It’s a six-part series and it also references and includes bits and pieces from many of his other standalone works. It remains one of the most twisted classics the sub has ever produced.
Jared Roberts alias u/nazisharks
Jared Roberts writes what he himself described as Reddit’s most enigmatic stories, and I can’t put it any better. They’re pure weird fiction where nothing is explained, and the strangeness often runs existential rather than surreal. Several of his works are featured on my list of the weirdest NoSleep stories.
The standout is his story Three Visits to a Hidden Tribe, which is my favorite story ever posted to the sub. He’s also a frequent NoSleep Podcast contributor, with three season finales under his belt.
Christian Wallis alias u/ChristianWallis
Christian Wallis is my favorite writer on the sub right now. He writes cosmic horror and weird fiction, and his imagery is among the best NoSleep has to offer. It’s dense, exact, and disturbing in ways that stay with you.
The best place to start is his condemned high-rise story or the one about a woman hired to be a living exhibit in a billionaire’s private collection. They’re also featured on my list of the best NoSleep stories.
Jimmy Juliano alias u/Red_Grin
Jimmy Juliano built his reputation on one trope alone: nothing is scarier. His stories always withhold crucial pieces, and that absence is the true horror. Uncle Gerry’s Family Fun Zone is the most famous example, and he sits comfortably next to Jared Roberts as another of the sub’s weirdest writers.
Jesse Clark alias u/TheJesseClark
Jesse Clark is one of the sub’s greatest emotional writers. His prose is fantastic, but what he stands out for most is how well constructed his stories are, with his best seamlessly interlocking present and past. His definitive work is What Happens When the Stars Go Out, a story that no one should skip, and that’s sure to make you cry.
R. C. Bowman alias u/Dopabeane
R. C. Bowman writes dark fairy tales and features some of the richest vocabulary on the sub. Her story They told me I was nothing but a dog is one of the greatest things ever posted on NoSleep. Her amazing prose also earns her a heavy presence on my list of the most well-written NoSleep stories.
Unfortunately, her Reddit account has been banned, but she’s active and posting a new series on her Substack.
Caitlin Spice alias u/cymoril_melnibone
One of the sub’s finest prose stylists, Caitlin Spice, who also wrote under C. M. Scandreth, is the writer behind the A British Seaside Pub series. Her range runs from reality-bending concepts to theological body horror, all carried by some of the most polished writing you’ll find among NoSleep writers.
Her old account is gone, but you can find her stories on her personal subreddit, The Hallowdine Library.
Travis Brown alias u/Grand_Theft_Motto
Travis Brown writes fantastic prose with a deep emotional layer beneath the horror. Maria on the Moon is his masterpiece, a story about grief and holding on too long. He’s also written many other outstanding stories which I’ve featured on my list of the best NoSleep stories.
Matt Dymerski alias u/M59Gar
Matt Dymerski is one of NoSleep’s most prolific and popular writers, who’s most famous for his weird and concept-first stories. While his most famous work is A Shattered Life, my personal favorite is Stuck, a truly weird tale about a man stuck on the sidewalk of a quiet neighborhood.
He’s also written a sprawling multiverse series, and his early story Psychosis became a classic beyond the sub, which you can find out more about on my list of the best creepypasta.
Max Voynich alias u/Max-Voynich
Max Voynich is probably the sub’s best experimental horror writer. His stories might appear cryptic and confusing at first glance, but there’s always a hidden meaning underneath. His most famous works are yourfaceyourporn.mov and RATKING.
Hugh Lu alias u/Mr_Outlaw_
Hugh Lu writes long, sprawling, interconnected series, packed with weird imagery, wild creatures, and relentless action. His alternate-reality epic, which you can also find on my list of the best NoSleep series, is the perfect entry point. His work is often high-concept, but most of all, it’s a lot of fun. It’s damned good pulp rather than pure scares, but that’s meant as a compliment.
Pat Francis McGrail alias u/ByfelsDisciple
Pat Francis McGrail is one of the most popular NoSleep writers of all time, known for his disturbing, boundary-pushing entries like I Was Fucking Fat, but also for his strong narrative voice, most famously that of Patricia Barnes from his unusual job series. What sets him apart is his ability to hide genuine, deep themes under all the gore.
u/hercreation
u/hercreation is probably the sub’s most famous anthology writer. She’s written the suicide helper series, which took the sub by storm, but also one about a phobia support group, in which each member shares their own twisted tale, all held together by a genuine emotional framing narrative. Her biggest strengths are characters, dialogue, and disturbing scenarios, but also the raw human emotion underneath the surface.
Manen Lyset alias u/manen_lyset
Manen Lyset is another NoSleep legend, whose stories range from rural settlements to internet-adjacent horror. A Package Marked “Return to Sender” is a classic of the sub, while The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths shows just how dark his register can go.
S. H. Cooper alias u/Pippinacious
S. H. Cooper has real range, but for me her wholesome and deeply emotional stories always stood out, especially Auntie Bells, which you can find on my list of the best NoSleep tearjerkers. She’s also been a frequent contributor to the NoSleep Podcast, and for a good reason.
Rona Vaselaar alias u/sleepyhollow_101
Rona Vaselaar is a writer I often associate with the occult. Her works center on witches, witchcraft, and strange family lore. My personal favorites of hers are Here Comes the Child Bride and Miss Marni’s Teahouse. She’s also another frequent NoSleep Podcast contributor with 40 stories under her belt.
u/Coney-IslandQueen
u/Coney-IslandQueen has written some of the most beautiful sentences on the sub. The dogman is pure Southern Gothic, with some of the finest prose on NoSleep, and Don’t let them in handles domestic horror with a subtlety the subject rarely gets.
Elias Witherow alias u/Elias_Witherow
Elias Witherow might be one of the sub’s most transgressive writers, but also one of the most popular. His most famous story is Feed the Pig, and its novelization, The Black Farm, has become a mainstream success. His works are often grotesque and pulpy, but also unforgettable.
u/decorativegentleman
u/decorativegentleman writes some of the most refined prose on the sub, and spends it on stories that are often deliberately absurd, even when they’re horrible. His demonic antelope story is probably the finest example. It’s beautifully written, the character voices are distinct, and at the same time, it’s one of the most ridiculous things ever posted to the sub.
L. Chan alias u/straydog1980
L. Chan was one of the early writers on the sub, posting his stories more than a decade ago, but he was among the first to produce exceptional prose there. Milk and Cookies was the first NoSleep story that ever made me cry, and I found a dead girl’s diary remains one of the most ambitious and best early stories on the sub.
Tobias Wade alias u/TobiasWade
Tobias Wade is a writer who stands out for taking simple supernatural premises and turning them into something profound. His Grim Reaper story and The Taking Tree are some of the best examples of that, and turn out to be much deeper than their setup suggests.
He was also an anthology pioneer, publishing collections that featured many of the sub’s early greats, which gives him a legacy no single story can reach. You can find some of them on my list of the best NoSleep books.
William Dalphin alias u/wdalphin
William Dalphin posted his early works under u/wdalphin, and they stood out for their slower, more literary style. Then he created the Lily Madwhip account to share his tale about a girl who can see the future, which instantly became one of the sub’s most beloved series because of its fantastic narrative voice.
Chris Hicks alias u/writechriswrite
Chris Hicks wrote Remembering how to whistle, one of the bleakest tearjerkers on the sub, and his works are often much deeper and more emotional than most, even when their titles are playful, like his sleep paralysis demon story.
D. D. Wikman alias u/Saturdead
D. D. Wikman is among the most popular of the newer generation of NoSleep writers. He stands out for building a connected universe revolving around blue sunflowers and his concept-first stories. She simply couldn’t tell a lie and his dead language story are two of the cleverest things posted to the sub in years.
Hannah Costin alias u/newtotownJAM
Hannah Costin’s New Tenant series kicked off the entire rule-story trend on NoSleep, while her monster dentist series showed a much warmer register. Few NoSleep writers can claim they inspired an entire subgenre.
Richard Saxon alias u/RichardSaxon
Richard Saxon is popular and prolific, with a clear love for sci-fi-leaning horror that goes well beyond his deep-sea station series, which remains a favorite of mine for his creature design alone.
u/Darkly_Gathers
u/Darkly_Gathers writes long, atmospheric series that read more like novellas than typical NoSleep fare. While my personal favorite is his North Sea oil rig series, the community also holds his Drowned Man Games in high regard.
Calvin Ness alias u/cal_ness
Calvin Ness wrote the Dark Convoy, another of my favorite NoSleep series that has since been deleted and novelized. His other standout is the petrichor series, a small-town horror tale thick with body horror that turns nostalgia into high-concept dread. His signature is his range, easily switching from hard-ass weird fiction pulp to emotionally raw tragedy.
T. J. Lea alias u/tjaylea
T. J. Lea wrote the Spaces in Between bar series, which stands out for its atmosphere and vocabulary. He’s since written multiple books and started a YouTube channel, among other projects. He’s also the writer behind the Expressionless, one of the defining creepypasta of the early 2010s.
Bikram Mann alias u/Mandahrk
Bikram Mann is a prolific and versatile writer, known for stories rooted in Indian folklore on one hand and twisted sexual horror on the other, with the sex worker series being the most infamous example. Few writers cover that much ground and stay that consistent.
Ryan Major alias u/GTripp14
Ryan Major might be one of the most literary-leaning writers on NoSleep, using poetic and immersive prose for horror that asks deeper questions. He’s not a name a lot of people remember, which is a shame, because his work is more than worth reading, his best story being She will come to me, blanketed in the stars.
Brandon Faircloth alias u/Verastahl
Brandon Faircloth is extremely popular and talented, and his series about a man paid to watch a woman trapped in a room is a masterpiece of construction. While it runs for only four parts, the story features enough twists and turns to constantly throw you off just when you think you understand what’s going on.
Nick Botic alias u/Nickbotic
Nick Botic is an award-winning writer from Milwaukee who’s incredibly prolific, and one of the sub’s early standouts. While his works often center on real-life horror, he can also dip deeply into the paranormal, like in his Impossible Ones series, about a retired detective’s many unsolvable cases.
Blair Daniels alias u/BlairDaniels
Blair Daniels is a master of the short form. Her stories stand out for their low word count, while still ending on great twists and scares. She’s published multiple anthologies and now runs her own publishing house, Banshee Books.
Kyle Harrison alias u/Colourblindness
Kyle Harrison is one of the most popular and consistent writers on the sub, active for nearly a decade with hundreds of stories to his name. His most famous series is the 24-hour game, posted live during a 24-hour NoSleep event, with one part posted every hour. He’s a true veteran, and one of the few NoSleep writers whose output has stayed consistent in both frequency and quality.
Mr. Michael Squid alias u/mrmichaelsquid
Mr. Michael Squid is a highly prolific veteran and an early NoSleep legend. His stories were often boundary-pushing, and as visceral as they were fantastic. He’s since published a collection titled Darkest Dimension with Velox, which features fifty-two of his most popular tales.
Dylan Sindelar alias u/clover10176
Dylan Sindelar is the writer behind The Showers, an early NoSleep classic turned novel. While many writers earn their place on this list because of an entire catalog of outstanding works, he earned his with one perfect campfire story.
Christopher Maxim alias u/Christopher_Maxim
Christopher Maxim has been posting for over a decade, and his works stand out for how surreal and high-concept they are, closer to weird fiction than standard creepypasta tropes, often reminiscent of the Twilight Zone.
Tor-Anders Ulven alias u/hyperobscura
Tor-Anders Ulven first gained popularity on NoSleep for his multiple big series. What he stands out most for is becoming the undisputed king of Short Scary Stories, where he excelled at the flash fiction format.
T. C. Luppi alias u/poloniumpoisoning
T. C. Luppi is a Brazilian writer who made it big writing in a second language. Her posts can range from emotionally charged, like her story about a woman who never took off her wedding dress, to literal ghost pornography. And yet, both registers work flawlessly.
J. M. Nelson alias u/J_M_Novels
J. M. Nelson is one of the sub’s best Lovecraftian writers. While most of his work has since been deleted, Among the Court of the Stag-King survives as his standout, one of the best Lovecraftian stories on the sub, which you’ll also find on my list of the best NoSleep stories.
David Maloney alias u/lifeisstrangemetoo
David Maloney is one of the rare writers who stands out for using a minimal word count for maximum efficiency. His stories about a talking crow and My Husband Brought Home a Fake Daughter are both fantastic and run less than a thousand words.
Marcus Damanda alias u/MarcusDamanda
Marcus Damanda stands out for his slow-burn, literary period pieces. While the sub itself barely noticed him, his works have frequently been featured on the NoSleep Podcast. As Helen Remembered It is the standout, which reads more like an early twentieth-century piece than a story posted to Reddit.
u/likeeyedid
u/likeeyedid is another prolific writer who sits on the stranger side of NoSleep. Her story about a mother’s routine gone wrong is fantastic, but her real standout is the Tattletoe series about a picturesque little town where many things are a tad bit different. She’s also one of the sub’s few fellow German writers, like me.
