Four Stories Set Underwater
by H.J. Dutton
Thousands of years of experiences with unpredictable tides and unreliable ships have hammered in a deep fear of the world beneath the waves. Even if their plots don’t center around the sea, horror stories – especially those of the modern Gothic variety – often take place near the ocean. Less common, though, are stories that take place not by or on the water but almost entirely or entirely underwater. Why the scarcity?
One likely reason for it revolves around dialogue. Characters’ inability to talk underwater restrains a writer’s ability to establish interpersonal dynamics. Writers have avenues around this issue, however. Submarines exist, after all. Julia Armfield’s pseudo cosmic horror novel Our Wives Under the Sea (2022) takes place half inside a domestic space and half inside a submarine stranded miles beneath the ocean surface. Full-Face Masks (FFMs), apparatuses that enable radio communication between divers, are another option. The cast of Darcy Coates’s novel From Below (2022) uses these devices, eliminating the dialogue issue. For a recent cinematic example, look at Markiplier’s sci-fi horror film adaptation of the video game Iron Lung (2026), in which a convict is locked inside a rusty submarine. If a submarine seems too small, consider the option in Christine Morgan’s Trench Mouth (2021): a research facility deep under the waves.
Below, I’ve compiled a short list of marine horror stories that more than scratch the itch for underwater frights.
“In the Abyss” – H.G. Wells (1896)
Elstead, an ocean explorer, uses a diving sphere to descend five miles below the ocean’s surface. There, he encounters a yet undiscovered ecosystem and the all too intelligent beings that call it home. One of Wells’s lesser-known stories but a fun one nonetheless.
“The Temple” – H.P. Lovecraft (1920)
After attacking a British vessel, the crew of a German U-Boat discovers an odd amulet among the wreckage. Their discovery is a massive mistake, as the latent power in the artifact draws the men toward a place older than anything made by man. This is classic Lovecraft goodness, complete with human hubris and sunken cities.
“Blood Makes Noise” – Gemma Files (1999)
Moving into more contemporary territory, this cosmic horror short follows a doomed submarine crew as they attract the attention of something that feeds on human fear. This is a fantastic exercise in ambiguity and a poignant example of how a story’s surviving characters can end up worse off than its casualties.
“Houses Under the Sea” – Caitlin R. Kiernan (2007)
An alcoholic journalist living in Cannery Row, California, reflects on his relationship with a former professor and the woman’s descent into insanity and obsession. Another strong example of how modern masters such as Kiernan have both preserved and reimagined the Cthulhu Mythos.
For more horrors by, on, and under the water, look in the Horrific Scribes archive…
Read Nicholas De Marino‘s Living Nightmares in Horrific Scribes October 2025, two poems, “a swollen metallic dolphin” and “Beach Body.”
Description: Bodies, bodies everywhere, nor any soul to scrape.
Read John Leahy‘s short story “Flowers” in Horrific Scribes August 2025.
Description: The crew of pirate ship The Black Zephyr find a man clinging to flotsam in the ocean after his ship has been wrecked. The man’s name is Anton Lammers, and his ship was the Coen, a well-known ship in the Dutch East India company. Lammers tells the pirates the story of the demise of the Coen, a truly terrible tale indeed. So terrible, in fact, that it borders on the unbelievable.
Read Jason Frederick Myers‘s short story “Death Is a Local Term” in Horrific Scribes October 2025.
Description: After eyewitness accounts of something strange spotted over Lake Superior, a local salvage diver with a knack for finding things learns that some things are best left undiscovered and that death isn’t always the end.
Read Nick Porisch‘s short story “The Rivers Styx” in Horrific Scribes October 2025.
Description: An engineer with a sketchy past discovers the true meaning of Hell after he boards a steamboat carrying three other passengers, who may have more in common with him than he ever thought possible.