Back when I was in elementary school, my friends and I would gather around every Halloween, doing our best to creep each other out with urban legends.
Dressed in our adorable little costumes, we’d munch on our trick-or-treat candy while putting on the bravest faces we could manage. But the truth is, as tough as I tried to come across during these scary story exchanges, most of these creepy urban legends wholly prevented me from falling asleep that night. I was too frightened.
Decades later, you’d think I’d be able to move on from those freaky urban legends, right? Eh, not exactly! Sometimes, these stories just stick with you, and their chilling effects refuse to go away regardless of how much time has passed.
Here are the absolute creepiest urban legends that will keep you tossing and turning at night. Read on if you dare…
Haunted Christmas Carols
Ever wonder why they’re called Christmas Carols? It all started when a young woman named Carol vanished from her small town in 1888, and nobody saw her again. Was she kidnapped, or had someone done something to hurt her? The town wanted answers. Tragically, she was rumored to have been killed by notorious murderer, Jack the Ripper. The jolly Christmas carols were sung from door to door in an effort for people to open up their doors and offer information on her whereabouts. Tragically, she was never found, but this paints an eerie light over such jolly music…
The Hitchhiker
You’re feeling friendly, and you decide to pick up a hitchhiker. But unlike all those frightening tales we’ve all heard about people who engage in this sort of activity, your experience turns out to actually be pretty mellow. Until you look over and realize the person you’ve been talking with in the passenger seat is gone. Vanished. Out of sight, as if they’d never been there at all. Upon further inspection, you realize they’re actually a ghost belonging to one of the victims who’d been killed in the very spot you’d picked them up… spooky!Â
The Light Switch
College roommates Jessica and Sadie are complete opposites. While Jessica is the extroverted life of the party, Sadie prefers to spend her Saturday nights with her nose hidden behind a Dostoevsky novel. To each their own! Despite their differences, they get along well and are very respectful to one another as roommates. So when Jessica comes back from a party at 3 a.m., she makes sure to keep the light off out of respect for her sleeping roomie. But when she turns on the light the next morning, she sees Sadie murdered, with writing in blood on the wall which says, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?”Â
Slender Man
While most Urban Legends go way back, some existing for centuries, Slender Man is a modern urban legend that started off as an internet meme. It tells the tale of a terrifyingly tall guy (we’re talking like nine feet tall) who lures poor victims into the woods and demands they kill others for him.Â
What started out as a spooky fictional tale took a dark and nearly fatal turn in real life when two girls were sentenced for sacrificing their classmate to Slender Man by trying to take her life. Fortunately, she managed to survive the situation, while her classmates were jailed.
Which of these tales creeps you out the most?
