IT WAS A DARK AND STORY NIGHT... : GRAND PRIZE, 7 AND UNDER SHIMSHONE YACOBY, AGE 7.

The office door swung open with a deafening creak and, in the glow of fluorescent light, you could see the jagged corners poking out of the bin.

The scary stories had arrived.

A couple of hundred children, ages 2 to 15, dredged the depths of their imaginations and called on their mental halls of horror to come up with tales of the most terrifying sort.

We've wrenched the best of the entries from our clammy hands to share with you on this scary day.

Entries were divided into three age categories: 7 and younger, 8-11 and 12-15. Grand-prize winners from each category will receive a family four-pack of tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood. First-place winners will receive four movie passes. First runners-up will receive four passes to the Iceoplex in North Hills. (Runners-up in the story contest are Joshua Yu, 7 1/2; Cole Valancius, 10; and Lindsey Branker, 13.)

``Dracula the Blood Sucking Vampire''

One time there was a man. He was going to London. But he didn't know that there was the real Dracula, and he didn't know that vampires go to London every week, and it was Friday. When the man got on the plane, it was going to take 10 hours to go to London. He met some people on the plane. They were going to London too. There names were Michael, Chris and Franky. When the plane got to London, the man and his friends walked out of the airplane and the airport together. When they got to the hotel, they rented their hotel rooms. But he didn't know that his friends were vampires. Michael was Dracula and the other vampires were his slaves. Then night appeared, the vampires went out of their coffins and into the man's room, and went to his bed. Dracula told Franky to suck the man's blood, and Dracula told Chris to look around. Dracula showed how to suck blood from people because Franky was a new vampire. Then Dracula and his slaves went to the second hotel room and this time Dracula sucked the person's blood. And they went on and on until they arrived at a person's room. The person was strange. The person had a cross and vampires are afraid of a cross, so the vampires ran and ran all the way back to their coffins.

First place, 7 and under

Jacki Yi, age 7-1/2

When I was sleeping. When I opened my eyes I saw a witch. When I saw the witch I ran to the bathroom and I locked the door. Then once a while the witch broke my window and she tried to get me. So I unlocked the door and ran to my neighbor's house. When she came in I chopped her head off. So I never saw the witch again.

Grand prize, 8-11 years old

Diana Gharbawy, age 10

``The Night With a Wolf''

One night when I was watching TV, I heard a cry outside. I looked, then went outside on my porch to see what was making the sound. I looked at the park and mountains, but I did not see anything unusual. When I looked at the higher floor I saw a wolf forming in the stars. Then I heard the cry again and looked at the park.

When I looked back I saw a real wolf. I ran inside the house and closed the door thinking I was safe, but it came up to my porch and looked right at me.

Since I was all alone, it was all up to me. Then all of a sudden the lights went out. Then the lights came back on. When they came back on I didn't see the wolf outside but I saw a giant hole. Then I felt hot air blowing against my legs. I turned around and there it was, drool falling to the ground. I knew I should have stood still, yet I ran. I ran in circles until it finally caught me.

I fell to the ground from all the running. The wolf came up to me and almost walked over me. I could feel its breath on my neck, but before the wolf could bite, the neighbor came in with a gun and shot the wolf before it could do any harm. After the police came, my neighbor explained that when he heard all the noise, he got his gun and came as fast as he could.

First place, 8-11 years old

Anna Wing, age 8

``The Ghoul''

Once there were two sisters. Their names were Laurie and Anna. Their family lived near a haunted house. And every night they were afraid because a thing called the ghoul would come out and grab a kid. And when a person comes in there his servants, the dancing skeletons, will grab the person and bring it to the ghoul. Their mom was named Jamie and she was not afraid of anything because she was born in an earthquake.

One day my sister and I went to the haunted house. We went inside and nothing happened. I was afraid. There were bats everywhere I looked.

Suddenly I saw something run by. I was really afraid. My sister and I followed it. It went into a room, I opened the door and - Boo! - the ghoul was there! I ran out the door as fast as I could and when I got home I said, ``I'll do it again.''

I went back into the house. I opened the door that I opened before, and I found the ghoul laying in a box. Suddenly he grabbed me and locked me up in a box and he said he was going to eat me. Then he went away. I waited for five hours and still nothing happened and then someone opened the door. It was my sister Laurie. She unlocked the door for me and I ran out the door and when I got home it was dinner time. After dinner I watched the news and it was about the ghoul. Now I know why he left me. He went to another country. But now I'm worried about the skeletons.

Grand prize, 12-15 years old

Paris Salar

``3 Days Until Halloween''

It was October 29th and it was a rainy night. The cold air breeze ran through the thick window as if it were magic while Mary sat in her room watching the Jay Leno Show.

`Man, this show bites! I can't believe that so many people watch it! I wish that I had HBO. I could have been watching Freddy's Dead Part 2. Since I have nothing to do I'll just call Nicole and see what she's up to.''

Ring, ring! ``Hello,'' said Mary.

``Hello Nicole. How are you girl? I wanted to call you but I was afraid you were asleep.''

``Are you kidding me? I was watching the Jay Leno Show.''

``So what are you going to do for Halloween? You know that it's three days from now!''

``I think that I might have a party on Halloween night or something.''

The next morning, the 30th of October, as Nicole and I were walking home from school we saw an old lady who started talking to us.

``Hello ladies. I would like to give you two an offer. I will give it to you under one condition and that condition is if you lead me to St. Parkinson Avenue.''

``Sure, no problem lady. It's on the third block to the right.'' said Mary.

``Thank you so much dear. Now since you have been so kind to me, I shall give you two both three wishes that you should use wisely,'' said the old lady.

``All right,'' said the two girls at the same time. So the girls both left, saying goodbye to each other as they left to their own homes. That night Mary got into a fight with her brother and went to her room and wished for her brother to deform into an insect.

That was her first wish. About two hours later, she heard her brother scream from the kitchen.

``What's the matter Max?'' said Mary.

``Look at my face, I look like - like a bee!''

Oh, no, my brother is deforming into a bee! My wish is really coming true. That lady wasn't lying. Then that must be my first wish. I have no choice but to make my second wish into changing him back to normal.

``I wish my brother would turn back to normal.'' All of a sudden, my brother started changing into himself again.

``Well, there goes my second wish.''

Then later she went to call Nicole and tell her about what just happened.

``Nicole, Nicole! You know that lady that gave us the three wishes?''

``Yeah,'' said Nicole.

``Well, I got in a fight with Max and I wished that he would turn into a bee and it happened. Then I wished that he would turn back to normal and he did.''

``So you mean you have used two of your wishes and that this lady wasn't lying?''

``Yeah, I'm not joking. I just have one more wish left now.''

``Do you think I should use my wishes too?''

``Maybe,'' said Mary. Later that night, Mary was sitting on her bed thinking of what her third wish should be. That's it, she knew what it was. It would be a little freaky but worth a try.

``I've got it,'' said Mary. ``My third wish is that Nicole and I are being chased by different monsters that we both think are scary on Halloween night.''

While Mary was thinking about this odd wish, Nicole decided to wish too.

``Since I have a test tomorrow, my first wish is that I get an ``A'' on this test. My second wish is that Mary and I are being chased by the make-believe Phantom that is supposed to be in the auditorium. My third wish is that I have a really spooky Halloween.

The next day, Nicole got an ``A'' on her test which brought up her grade. Today was October 31st. Halloween Day. Tonight was the night that Mary and Nicole were to be chased by monsters. Since today was Halloween, school got out earlier. So the girls went home, put on their costumes, ran outside and started trick or treating. Since they started a little earlier than everybody else, they were done trick or treating by six o'clock. While both of the girls were walking, suddenly out of nowhere, a Mummy started running after them. Of course, they knew who it was.

``George, take off your mask. We know that's you.'' But the Mummy kept running after them.

``We said stop, George, you're starting to scare us.'' But the Mummy kept on running. So the girls started running too. After a few blocks, the Mummy disappeared.

``Nicole, did you wish for anything last night?'' said Mary.

``Of course I did,'' said Nicole.

``By any chance, what did you wish for?''

``I wished that I'd get an ``A'' on my test, which I did. Then, I wished for us to be chased by monsters. OOOOOOOOPS!''

``What did you say Nicole? What kind of idiot would do such a thing?''

``Well did you wish for your third wish yet?'' said Nicole.

``Yes I did. My third wish was that, OH NO! .... I wished for the same thing you did!''

``Great, we both wished for the same thing. Now we're busted.''

As they started to walk, another monster jumped out of nowhere, and was after them. Soon they out ran this monster too. It was becoming dark now. It was eight o'clock and the girls were tired. They were always alert if anything or anyone was behind them. The girls ran all the way to Nicole's house for safety, but nobody was home, and in her room, sitting down in her chair was a strange looking man, eating bugs. It was so scary to them, that they screamed and ran out of the house. As they started running, another monster was after them. Soon they outran all of the monsters except for one. This monster was big, scary-looking, hairy, fast and hungry. They ran so fast that they had nowhere to go but their school. So they ran and ran and ran until they reached the auditorium. The monster was gone. They stayed in the auditorium for a least five long minutes until there was no sign of the monster.

``What are we going to do? said Mary. ``Monsters are going to be chasing us all night long. There goes our Halloween night.''

``EEEERRRRRRRR ...... EEEERRRRRRRRRR ......''

``What was that?''

``EEEERRRRRRRR .....EEEERRRRRRRRRR ...... Now I've got you!'' said a voice out of nowhere. All of a sudden, a Phantom with a white mask, black cape, and a black suit jumped out of the stage.

``Oh my goodness, it's the make-believe Phantom. What are we going to do?'' cried Nicole.

As the Phantom got closer to them, they got scared more until the Phantom trapped them so the two girls couldn't escape. Then, the Phantom jumped at Mary and started to choke her. She started screaming and shouting and kicking him, but he wouldn't stop ....

``Wake up Mary, wake up. It's time to go trick or treating,'' said Mary's Mom.

``No, no don't kill me, please don't, stop I didn't mean to wish for that,'' shouted Mary.

``It's OK, it was a nightmare,'' said her Mom. So Mary woke up and told her Mom everything that had happened.

First place, 12-15 years old

Krissy MacQueen, age 12

``Halloween Happenings''

Mandi Walker couldn't wait for Halloween. Just the sound of it gave her a special prickling sensation that only a kid would know. Mandi was typical. SHe had brown hair, hazel eyes, and a quiet manner. She was the type that wasn't about to be picked out of a crowd. Not like Shelly, the popular girl that never had anything nice to say to Mandi. But now, putting all that aside, Halloween was approaching ... That was important. Her costume was as typical as herself. A witch - nothing special here. But, it wasn't her fault, she didn't know any better. Yet, she was eager, nothing could change that.

Halloween night, full of bats and ghosts, yes, this is what nightmares were made of. Mandi stepped out of her house into the brisk night. But now, just not Mandi, for now she was ``Wala the Witch.'' For a while, as every year, it was routine: ``Knock, knock - trick or treat - getting candy, on to the next house.'' Routine. But one house was different. Mandi knocked on the door. The house didn't even have a pumpkin! By now, Mandi was far from her house. She peered back at the door. Creeeek! It opened into blackness, ``Trick or treat,'' Mandi said automatically. No answer.

For the first time in her life, she was curious. She walked inside the inviting house, where she was immediately enveloped by darkness. ``Hello?'' she called out. The door shut behind her, and she heard giggling. ``Shelly?'' she asked. ``Is that you? This isn't funny.'' By now, Mandi was irritated. ``I'm outa here!'' she said. As she ran for the door, the floor fell beneath her. She screamed all the way to the ground. She was covered in debris. ``Help! Shelly? Help!!'' Mandi yelled. Suddenly, something heavy covered the hole where she had fallen. She was trapped! Then, a ghost from nowhere flew right through Mandi. She screamed and saw fire, and howling. This wasn't Shelly. She backed up and fell over something - a head. She ran in the opposite direction - there, on the wall was a skeleton. Mandi, then and there, fainted. Every night they collectively haunted her for the rest of her life. All at night - you see, I know the whole story, I'm Mandi.

CAPTION(S):

9 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Andrea Aguilar, 12, of Los Angeles is the grand-prize winner in the 12-to-15 age category of the scary drawing contest.

(2--4--Color) Reseda resident Anna Leonardi, 6, won the grand prize in the 7-and-under category for her vampire drawing, top; with Courtney Pinkstaff, 5, of Tarzana taking first-runner-up for the scary spider, above, and Jackie Jones, 7, of Sun Valley earning first place for her spooky scene, right.

(5--7--Color) In the 8-to-11 category, 10-year-old Simi Valley resident Richard Enriquez's ominous vision, left, earned the grand prize; Timothy Glenn Hake, 10, of Canyon Country took first place with his oft-punctured pumpkin, below right; and Sergio Arriaga, 11, of Fillmore drew the first runner-up, below left.

(8--9) Winners in the 12-to-15 category include Victor Ocampo, 14, for his haunted house, right, which took first place; and Jamie Miller, 12, for her first-runner-up entry, above.