horror story
noun
: an account of an unsettling or unfortunate occurrence
heard horror stories about recent layoffs
also : something unsettling or unfortunate
his childhood was a horror story
Example Sentences
We've all heard horror stories about airlines losing people's luggage. Her childhood was a horror story.
Recent Examples on the Web Apart from the Khashoggi murder, Saudi Arabia’s human rights record reads like a chapter out of an Edgar Allan Poe horror story. 
Aaron David Miller, CNN, 10 July 2022 The last chapter, detailing the car crash that killed Payá on July 22, 2012, reads like a nightmare-inducing horror story. Vanessa Garcia, Washington Post, 1 July 2022 Rolin Jones adapted the book to television and serves as the showrunner for the project, and executive produces with Mark Johnson and Alan Taylor, who will direct the first two episodes of the gothic horror story. Wilson Chapman, Variety, 23 July 2022 And that’s only part of the horror story for investors and companies this year. New York Times, 16 July 2022 And that is only part of the horror story for investors and companies this year. Isabella Simonetti, BostonGlobe.com, 30 June 2022 Russian Doll, in other words, felt like a very funny, allegorical horror story in which the big jump scare was being a geriatric millennial with no plans, no prospects, and a less-than-spotless lifestyle. Philippa Snow, The New Republic, 18 Apr. 2022 Like, for example, a horror story where the characters are still recognizable both in terms of looks and their personalities. Goldie Chan, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2022 The first of these is a horror story; in the course of almost three hours on Thursday night, Trump’s former aides recalled the surreal menace of watching the MAGA shock troops breach the Capitol. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 22 July 2022 See More
Aaron David Miller, CNN, 10 July 2022 The last chapter, detailing the car crash that killed Payá on July 22, 2012, reads like a nightmare-inducing horror story. Vanessa Garcia, Washington Post, 1 July 2022 Rolin Jones adapted the book to television and serves as the showrunner for the project, and executive produces with Mark Johnson and Alan Taylor, who will direct the first two episodes of the gothic horror story. Wilson Chapman, Variety, 23 July 2022 And that’s only part of the horror story for investors and companies this year. New York Times, 16 July 2022 And that is only part of the horror story for investors and companies this year. Isabella Simonetti, BostonGlobe.com, 30 June 2022 Russian Doll, in other words, felt like a very funny, allegorical horror story in which the big jump scare was being a geriatric millennial with no plans, no prospects, and a less-than-spotless lifestyle. Philippa Snow, The New Republic, 18 Apr. 2022 Like, for example, a horror story where the characters are still recognizable both in terms of looks and their personalities. Goldie Chan, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2022 The first of these is a horror story; in the course of almost three hours on Thursday night, Trump’s former aides recalled the surreal menace of watching the MAGA shock troops breach the Capitol. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 22 July 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1937, in the meaning defined above