1) The Dyatlov Pass Incident

In 1959, nine hikers died on the high slopes of Kholat Syakhl when something caused them to flee their camp in terror. There were no apparent signs of struggle or reason for any member to panic so greatly that they would leave behind tents and food supplies with only clothes on their back.

They were found 50 meters from the tents, some of them with fatal injuries. While there are a lot of theories surrounding what happened that day, one popular theory is they encountered an unknown force or creature.

2) The Black Eyed Kids

While not as popular in the U.S., black eyed kids are a common urban legend across much of Europe and Asia, where they’re believed to be either ghosts or some other form of paranormal being that has one goal-to lure children away from their homes at night.

There aren’t many details about these beings, but in the stories they usually appear as children with coal-black eyes, pale skin, and wearing dark or dirty clothing.

3) The Babadook

While the origin of this story starts with a real life event, it quickly morphed into an urban legend.

In 1974, Australian author Jennifer Kent’s mother Amelia died suddenly and unexpectedly from complications related to peritonitis. A few months after her death, Jennifer found a strange looking pop-up book in her father’s study. It was an edition of “The Babadook” by renowned Australian author, Clive Barker. Jennifer’s father had apparently found the book while cleaning out a local school and wanted to read it with his daughter– but she refused, certain that her mother would have hated such a frightening children’s story.

After her father’s death, Jennifer found out that the book had been donated to a library in Sydney. The story took on an additional significance for her– and led to increased interest after she posted about it on social media following its release.

The Babadook tells the story of Amelia Vanek who, after the death of her husband, finds herself unable to cope with life’s stresses. She begins seeing a sinister entity in the house – The Babadook- which torments her and her son Samuel.

4) Capgras Delusion

A man in France was convinced that his wife had been replaced with an identical-looking imposter. This is a condition known as Capgras delusion, which occurs when the person’s brain has difficulty recognizing faces (due to damage or trauma).

5) The Well to Hell

In 1976, Soviet geologists drilling in Turkmenistan discovered a hole that seemed to lead straight into the center of the earth. Their equipment was suddenly destroyed by extreme heat and they had no way to measure what lay beyond their drill site.

6) Polybius

The game Polybius is a urban legend of an arcade video game which allegedly caused the loss of several hours, leads to insomnia and other side effects. No such game ever existed but its story has been told by gamers for years.

7) Dead Bart

In 1990, a Simpsons episode aired in which the main character Bart is killed by an oncoming car. Although this was just part of the show’s storyline at first (Bart eventually returned to life), children viewing their show through live TV were shocked and distressed when they saw his body lying motionless on the road.

8) Come Follow Me

In 1977, a man claiming to be the son of God began sending messages from his home in Florida. The letters would first come as phone calls asking for donations and then progressed into handwritten notes that included maps with directions to churches where he’d speak.

9) The Devil’s Cot

The Devil’s Cot is a folktale that many people believe to have originated in Scotland. The story tells of a priest who went out to bless the home and family, but when he arrived at their doorstep they were nowhere to be found. He searched for them until it started raining heavily and then returned back into his church where he saw all three of them lying on the altar.

10) Crooked-Headed Girl

This is a story set in the 1800s of a young woman from Madagascar who was born with an abnormally shaped head. Her father, believing that her abnormal birth would bring bad luck to their family and village, attempted to smother her as she slept. When this failed he tried drowning her but she managed to escape under water.

The post Never Sleep Again: 10 Real Life Creepypasta Stories appeared first on Scares Me.

Or when he cries and cocks his head toward the closet door, but when you open it up … there’s nothing there?

And what do you think it means when he wakes you up in the middle of the night, scratching at the floor … whining, twisting his neck in strange contortions?

Is he hearing some faraway hum, or did he just get spooked by a shadow or flash of light from outside? Maybe car headlights playing off the wall, passing through before you even notice?

Or, is something else passing through that you don’t notice?

And … what about when you come home from work and find your dog sitting in front of the television, watching … even though the set is turned off?

What do you think that means?

Maybe he turned it off just before you walked through the door. Or maybe something else did.

Probably, it’s nothing, though. Right? Just a dog being a dog, hearing the rumble of thunder miles away or the neighbor’s garage door opening  or the buzz along the phone line.

Probably.

But then, what do you think it means when he comes over to the corner where I’m floating, watching, and his ears flop around in an unnatural motion, like someone is scratching behind them?

Could it mean that he reminds me of a dog I had when I lived in this house? And that he recognizes me, somehow?

It could. It might.

Whatever it means, I’m enjoying the company after so many years of dark loneliness. Your oblivion is much appreciated.

The post Your Oblivion appeared first on Scares Me.

She had been dating David for two months, and she really liked him. Thought he might be the one.

But she had never been to his place, and they never went out anywhere but dark places — the movie theater, an outdoor dance club … good thing it was summer.

Mostly, it was just pizza and movies at her apartment.

She had pressed him on his personal life, but all he would say was that he lived in a room above Elmer’s Bar.

That’s where they had met, or close to it — she had bumped into him when she was trying to catch up to her friends as they left the bar one night, and he was coming in. The street was dark, and David had walked her to the car.

She gave him her number, and he called the next day. From a pay phone, he said.

But now, Charity hadn’t heard from him in almost a week, and she didn’t have a number for him. Her only choice was to go to his apartment and confront him.

She wasn’t sure how to get upstairs at the bar, so she entered through the main door. She would ask the bartender.

She hadn’t expected to see David in the bar itself, but there he was sitting in a dark corner.

Charity took a deep breath and marched his direction. “Where have you been, David?” she demanded, hands on hips.

He looked at her sheepishly. “Keep your voice down, Charity. We can’t be seen together.”

Charity’s blood boiled, and she prepared to lay into him, but a woman’s voiced sounded beside her.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help overhearing you.” Charity turned to find a waitress, about sixty years old, staring at her intently. “Did you know my David?”

Across the room, beyond the waitress, a wall-length mirror reflected the entire bar.

Charity cringed to see her own angry face and posture, towering over the old woman. She let her shoulders drop and stood upright, but something still didn’t seem right to her. She turned to gaze back at David, and he shrugged.

Then she looked back to the mirror and and saw it — or, rather, didn’t. David was not in the reflection.

“I still miss him after all these years,” the waitress said. “Could we sit down and talk about him for awhile, dear? I sure would appreciate it.”

The woman gestured toward a chair at the table next to David. He smiled at Charity, then stood and faded into the dark paneled wall.

The post The Elusive Mr. Right appeared first on Scares Me.

Of course, those were the same days most of brought our lunch, because Cook’s Choice usually meant mystery meat and spinach.

But Mr. Carney seemed to love it.

And that led to all sorts of rumors about the man who also ran the local dairy. He had always run the local dairy, to hear the old folks tell it.

That just added to the crazy stories.

The most common and well-developed was that he had some sort of deal with the head cook — free milk with the little cartoon cow on the carton, the cow that looked strangely like Mr. Carney himself.

In exchange for …

The Cook’s Choice meal every few weeks?

Maybe, but the whispers were darker than that.

Less than a thousand people lived in my town, and there were only a couple hundred students in my school. And yet … at least three or four kids went missing every year, never to be heard from again.

At least half of those disappearances happened in the week leading up to Cook’s Choice days.

At least … that was the story. There was even a rumor the cops found some items of clothing from several missing children under a rock on the Carney farm.

Personally, I enjoyed his stories when he subbed for our teacher, so I never put much stock in the gossip.

I’ve long since moved away, started my own family.

I had forgotten all about Mr. Carney until my son came home from school tonight, griping about the Cook’s Choice lunch but raving about his substitute teacher.

“What was her name?” I asked.

“His name,” my boy corrected, “Is Mr. Carney.”

The post Cook’s Choice appeared first on Scares Me.

I had just turned seventeen in December, though, and was saving up for my first car, so when my parents asked me to babysit my kid sister and a couple of her friends, I had just one question — how much you paying?

It was enough to get me on the hook, though I might have even done it for free. That’s how bored I was.

Besides, it was always fun to torment a gaggle of preteen girls, and this group was a particularly easy mark.

So, after we chowed down on delivery pizza, and after I made the obligatory check to make sure the kids all had their homework done, I made some popcorn and we all hunkered down in front of the TV. I popped Halloween in the VCR and sat back, ready to enjoy some screams.

The girls didn’t disappoint, and I had my plan all worked out for how I was going to really scare them once the movie was over. It involved a mask and a flashlight and our picture window.

But I never got the chance, because, just as the movie ended, my sister’s cell phone rang from the kitchen where she had left it.

Now, my parents are both techies, and we were the first kids to have cell phones in our school. We were also the first family I knew of who got rid of their house line.

“Can you get that for me?” my sister asked, and she looked scared. That was good.

“Sure,” I said, hopping up from my chair and walking toward the dark kitchen. “Maybe the call is coming from inside the house,” I teased as I picked up the phone.

A couple of the other girls gasped, but my sister rolled her eyes. “That only happens in the movies.”

I flipped the phone open and looked at the screen … my heart stopped. The calling number was the same as our old land line, which had been dead for years. I shot my eyes to my sister, not sure what to do. I wanted to scare her, but I didn’t want to kill her.

I clicked the button and said, “Hello?”. I could hear my voice shaking.

“Hey!” my sister yelled and stomped toward me. “That’s my phone!”

“Rickey?” the woman’s voice said from the other end of the line. “It’s Paula’s mom. I just wanted to check in on you guys. Is everything going OK? Are you having fun?”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the display again. It showed a different number — I assumed it belonged to Paula’s mom. Just then, my sister snatched the phone from my hand and went back to the living room, complaining to about how I had invaded her privacy.

I never did figure out what happened that night, how our old house number showed up on my sister’s cell phone, and it never happened again … as far as I know.

Even now, though, as a grown man … I still get the heebie-jeebies every time my phone rings when I’m visiting my parents.

The post House Line appeared first on Scares Me.

They think we don’t work, just hide behind our curtains all day, waiting for the sun to go down. And then … what? Just roam the streets?

But I guess it’s better that way. If they understood, maybe my existence would be even harder.

As it is, this summer has been the toughest one yet. The days so bright, the nights so short. I’ve lost twenty pounds since May.

This job is the only thing that keeps me going. The technology has been a godsend. Where else could you watch so many people come and go all day, pick up on their patterns, and do it all from a deep, dark dungeon far removed from the sun?

It’s ironic that work would save me considering the misconceptions about my kind. But then, nobody knows the truth about me. If they think about me at all, it’s just in an abstract way — how do I avoid the cameras, stay away from the security guy?

The job puts me at risk, too, though.

It’s rarely dark when I come into the mall, or when I leave at night. That presents its own challenges, but I’ve managed to cope, with only minor burns.

Working all day leaves me little energy at night, though, so feedings have been rough. Hence the weight loss.

But it was 57 degrees when I came to work this morning. Hardly anyone is wearing shorts today.

And the days are getting shorter. Soon it will be fall.

It’s my favorite time of year. Especially this year. People love routine, and I’m observant.

Soon, it will be easy to find what I need. Once the darkness comes back to me.

Soon … I won’t be hungry anymore.

The post Routine Kills appeared first on Scares Me.

It was just one of those scary stories parents told their kids to try and keep them from wandering off. The kind high school boys used to terrify grade-shoolers.

But then, somebody told Mabel Young about the tower, and she wanted to see it for herself.

“Can you come with me after school to find the Witch Tower?” she asked me after calculus class on Monday. Mabel is the new girl in school, quiet but smart, which makes her an easy target for bullies.

I know the feeling and figured she could tell. Probably why she sort of latched onto me. She’s kind of pretty, so I don’t really mind.

“That’s just an urban legend,” I told her, but she wouldn’t hear it.

So the next day, Tuesday, we headed out to Steckler’s Woods right after school. It’s mid-October, which meant we should have had about three hours of daylight left, but … we didn’t.

I swear we hadn’t been in the forest for more than fifteen minutes when it started to get dark. I know because we had just walked into the swampy clearing, which was about halfway through the woods.

I’ve taken the cut-through a hundred times, so I know the place.

“See, there’s nothing here,” I said and tugged on Mabel’s sleeve as I turned back toward the main road.

Just then, though, a wet, sucking sound came from the center of the clearing, and when I looked back, a three-story turret stood right there in the path. An old hag of a woman stood on top of the tower.

She wiggled her finger at the two of us, motioning us toward her.

It’s embarrassing to admit, but I turned and ran. I guess I figured Mabel would run, too. That she could take care of herself.

When I got to the edge of the woods, a blood-curdling cackle shook the trees around me. I sped up.

I ran straight home and went right up to my room. I called Mabel’s number later on, but no one answered, and I wondered why her mother didn’t pick up, at least.

I didn’t sleep at all that night, last night.

And now, here I sit in calculus class again, and Mabel isn’t here.

I asked a couple of the other kids in the hallway if they had seen Mabel this morning. They both said the same thing …

“Who’s Mabel.”

And Mr. Larson didn’t call Mabel’s name when he took role. I’m worried about her.

I’m more worried about me.

In the legend, no one ever remembers actually seeing the Witch Tower, or the witch. She either casts a spell over them to make them forget … or she makes them disappear.

Mabel is gone.

And I remember everything.

The post The Witch Tower appeared first on Scares Me.

Here are 22 such one-liners to get you on your way to Shiversville post-haste …

—

1. My head itched in the night, so I scratched  it, but then I realized my hands were clasped together in front of me.

2. Gwen was happy that John and Mitch were finally getting along, but she wished they had been alive to  enjoy the peace.

3. There is no sweeter sound than a baby’s giggle, although it’s also a bit creepy when it comes in the middle of the night and you live alone.

4. My girlfriend told always told me my porcelain doll was creepy, and the doll said the same thing about my girlfriend.

5. I was shocked to find I had a headful of gray hair when I woke up this morning, especially considering that I was bald when I wen to sleep.

6. Cold, clear winter nights don’t bother me as long as there is a full moon, but I do wonder why my shadow is on all fours in the snow.

7. Megan was perturbed that Danny had left the toilet seat up again, especially since he’d been dead for four years.

8. I just saw my reflection blink. (from marino1310 on reddit)

9. My house phone rang at midnight last night even though I only have a cell phone.

10. I’m always happy to hear my wife singing, but this morning her voice is coming from the kitchen yet she’s still asleep in the bed beside me.

11. I woke myself up with my snoring, but it continued even after I was awake.

12. We just had a solar eclipse but I could still see the moon in another part of the sky.

13. I fell asleep reading a scary story online and woke up with a bookmark in my lap.

14. I only found out too late that an electronic calendar invite counts for vampires.

15. As the earth exploded beneath him, James was relieved to have made it safely into outer space — at least until there was a knock on the cabin door.

16. Greg awoke with a start, laughed at himself for having believed the zoo nightmare was real, then wiped the sweat from his brow using his … tail.

17. When I was a kid, my mom told me to stop playing with my brother and just push him to the side of the plate so I could eat the rest of my dinner.

18. In my nightly review of our home security video, I was shocked to see my wife stabbing me with a huge knife, but was even more surprised to see that the date on the clip was tomorrow.

19. There was only one set of prints in the snow, heading from the house to the barn — even though I had just returned from the barn.

20. Every night, she kissed me on the cheek before heading up the stairs, but I never knew her name and I lived alone.

21. I was touched that Mrs. Everson showed up for my college graduation party but also a bit unnerved since she died when I was in second grade.

22. If you’ve read this far, it’s already too late.

The post Quick Chills: 22 One-Line Horror Stories to Make You Shiver appeared first on Scares Me.

And, while books may never die out completely and offer certain tactile advantages over other forms of scary, there is no denying that you could spend a lifetime and never work through all the thrills and chills available at your fingertips right here on the Internet.

To get you started on that journey, here are 12 of the best websites for finding the terrible, spine-tingling, awesome short horror stories that will keep you up for days on end.

American Literature

As you might expect from the name of the site, American Literature is dedicated to aggregating the best literary work from American authors in one place on the web. It’s a noble effort, and the result is a tremendous resource for students, teachers, and voracious readers alike.

But like most things, American Literature has a dark side.

Specifically, the site presents an extensive collection of terrible short tales that they dub the “Gothic, Ghost, Horror & Weird Library.”

It’s chock full of stories by masters like Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley, but also features several chilling one-offs and a link to a separate gallery of Halloween stories.

If you like your scary short stories with a bit of age on them, this is the site for you.

Creepy Little Stories

Creepy Little Stories is the web home of author Riley Weidler. It’s a fairly small site, but the the dozen or so stories you’ll find here are all worthy of a read and will make you want more.

East of the Web

East of the Web is one of the largest compendiums of short stories on the web.

With thousands of tales to peruse and nearly half a million monthly visitors, East of the Web offers something for almost every literary taste.

Lucky for us, horror is no exception, and the site offers up a rich selection of scary short stories that spans just about every subgenre.

With stories ranging in length from a single page to more than 30 pages, you could spend days in the dark corners of East of the Web before coming up for air.

Gothic Horror Stories

As Todd Atteberry himself puts it, his Gothic Horror Stories website is dedicated to …

The search for mysteries, curiosities, the magical and the enchanted. From ghost stories long forgotten, to the ones everyone knows, to places still stained with the macabre dyes of history, this is my journal of that journey.

Here you will find Atteberry’s breakdown of classic horror tales and also his accounts of personal visits to the some of the most haunted places on Earth.

The author’s distinctive literary flair lends an extra layer of darkness and mystique to each entry and will leave you shivering away the chills from your spine.

Poe Stories

When it comes to scary short stories — and really scary stories of any length — you still can’t do much better than Edgar Allan Poe.

Even nearly 170 years after his death, Poe still inspires awe and terror with his tales of the macabre, and generation after generation of readers pour through his works with great, dark fervor.

Robert Giordano of PoeStories.com, recognizing the master’s continued influence, has collected Poe’s short stories and poetry in one place, making them readily available for all.

Beyond just presenting the stories themselves, though, PoeStories.com also provides summaries, an image gallery, a forum, and other resources that only help to intensify the reading experience.

Scary for Kids

Most of us found our love for scary stories when we were kids.

I mean, that bump in the night may have sent you scurrying into Mom and Dad’s room, but didn’t it secretly thrill you, too? Wasn’t it fun and exciting to imagine what was really happening under you bed as you struggled to fall asleep?

Scary for Kids not only recognizes this double-edged sword of darkness and exhilaration but seizes on it and brings the best of the scary web for kids to bear in one place.

While Scary for Kids offers up games, pictures, and movies to generate chills for kids of all ages, their collection of 50+ scary short stories is can’t-miss material for anyone who doesn’t want to sleep tonight.

Just beware, though — these stories can scare just about anyone.

As the site’s tagline tells us, it’s all “even scarier for adults.”

Short ‘n’ Scary Stories

Short ‘n’ Scary Stories is a community site that brings readers and writers together to share in their love of dark tales.

The site allows you to submit your own story or delve deep into the dark recesses of other people’s nightmares, as told through their own words.

Categories offered up include:

• True Stories
• Supernatural
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Kid’s Stories
• Halloween
• Zombies Stories

Whatever subgenre you choose to follow, be assured that your path will be shadowy and chilling as you work through page after page of macabre tales.

Short-Story.me

Short-Story.me exists “Because everyone loves a short story,” as the site’s tagline insists.

Truer words have never been typed, and you will find that Short-Story.me fills this niche through a simple interface that presents page after page of stories across all genres — crime, fantasy, romance, and horror.

With nearly 200 horror stories in the offing as of this writing, Short-Story.me will keep you busy in the dark for quite a while.

And when your creative juices have been sufficiently stoked, you can submit your own story to the site.

Slightly Warped

Billing itself as one of the oldest continually functioning websites on the Internet, Slightly Warped brings all sorts of “funny, absurd, interesting, and other attention-getting adjectives” to web denizens across the globe.

Lucky for us, Slightly Warped also maintains a set of short horror stories that definitely fit in with the “warped” mentality of the rest of the site.

Check them out here, but don’t neglect the rest of the offering while you’re there because you’re bound to find something, um, tasty every time you visit.

The Scary Story

Lake Lopez is an author who specializes in horror, claiming that, “I want to scare the Hell out of you.”

He does a pretty good job of that, too, with his full-length books and his collections of short stories.

Lake is not stingy with his work, either, offering up a selection of his short fiction for free on his website, The Scary Story.

Check out his stories here.

True Ghost Tales

True Ghost Tales has been online for several years now, and during that time it has grown into one of the web’s largest collections of spooky tidbits, from historical narratives to (yes) tales of true hauntings.

Their Short Ghost Stories and Weird Experiences series is especially compelling for darkside lovers, offering a combination of real encounters and flights of fancy.

While the writing is not always at the standard of professional story tellers, there is a certain grit and realism that comes from “real” people telling their stories, and True Ghost Tales has that in spades.

Writing.com Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

If you like your horror in bite-size morsels, you can’t do much better than the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge at Writing.com.

In case you’re not familiar with it, Writing.com is one of the premiere sites for writers looking to hone their craft, and it’s been plying its trade for well over a decade.

But Writing.com is also a true boon for readers because authors of all ilk are always on the site experimenting, and that means proffering their latest stories for free.

One area of the site that is well-suited to horror lovers is the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge. Here, writers are presented with a quick writing prompt and encouraged to write a story based on that prompt in 300 words or less.

With 5-10 stories pouring in every day, you can almost always find a gem or two, and many of them have a decidedly dark tint.

The post 12 Dark Corners to Find the Best Short Horror Stories on the Web appeared first on Scares Me.