There are many funny videos on the Internet that make us laugh and feel better. However, we all need some scary stories from time to time to feel that adrenaline we don’t usually have in our lives. It makes us feel more alive and shakes us up to move forward and treasure what we have.
Sometimes, after watching some viral funny videos on Nexter.org, we need to change the atmosphere to add a bit of the real-life bitterness to the mix. That’s great that the same portal has multiple genres to offer us. The fact that the gruesome nighttime stories feel more like the real life to us than the sweetness of other content shows the true colors we live in. No matter how much we’d like to change it, fairytale life isn’t for us because we know that the world isn’t perfect and that sweetness is too overrated.
True scary stories tell us something that we can relate to. If a person believes that the story is possible in real life, that’s success. Making a tale believable is what makes it even more dangerous in the eyes of people. This way, they know they aren’t completely safe.
As kids, we all like gathering around a campfire in summer and share some crazy stuff there. But why are adults more scared than children? Is that because our survival instincts are stronger and we know that in case something like this can happen?
No matter the answer, most of us still like a good scare and have to know at least one from those childhood camps. If not, here’s the list of the best scary stories to tell in the dark.
The Big Toe
One of the most prominent authors of the scares people tend to know is Alvin Schwartz. This collector of urban legends wrote a trilogy named “Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark.” This book is an actual inspiration of this list and without Schwartz’s stories, it wouldn’t be just as scary.
There are many bone-chilling ideas and creatures in these books, but one of the most disturbing would be The Big Toe. It’s based on the folklore tale about “the hairy toe.” In this version, a young boy digs out a toe and brings it to his mom who chops it in soup. Later that night, the rightful owner of the toe comes to get it back from the sleeping boy.
The Babysitter
This urban legend has been used in books and movies countless times and is a popular story to tell your friends on a sleepover. Schwartz’s version of the tale mentions a young girl babysitting two kids. After putting them in beds, she walks downstairs to watch TV but later receives a series of scary calls from a strange man telling her to check on children. Scared, the girl calls 911 only to discover that the man is upstairs and walks down to kill her. In this version, the babysitter and the kids are saved by police, but there are much darker versions of the tale as well.
Jeff the Killer
Many creepy stories that we know and have used to tell around a campfire or in a dark room are some sort of urban legends. However, recently, a new kind of legends have appeared that suit the new age of technologies better. These stories are called creepypastas due to their way of “copy-pasting” through the Internet. One of such tales appeared thanks to some thick twist of photoshopping, bullying kids, and our wish for adrenaline.
Jeff the Killer tells a story of a young boy Jeffrey Woods who, at the age of 13, loses his sanity and goes on a killing spree, murdering his family in the process. Till these days, he seeks new victims to satisfy his urges. The method of choice is a big knife and his iconic words “Go to Sleep.”
The truly sad part of the stories lies in the photoshopped picture representing Jeff that is said to be the result of peers bullying a young girl.
May I Carry Your Basket?
This is a strange and creepy story made by Alvin Schwartz. It shows us that helping some strangers on the streets may turn out to be a bad idea after all. The protagonist of this tale learned it the hard way when a basket that he’d helped to carry revealed to have a woman’s head inside. Running from the woman and her head, he got beaten and almost eaten alive.
Slenderman
This is another one of those horror stories whose creation is the work of the digital forces. The theory goes that its creator was an Internet user Eric Knusden on a forum Something Awful. The story of a lanky supernatural being was later roused by the video series Marble Hornets that mentions him as An Operator and gives him the general attributes that we know now.
Slenderman is widely known across the globe thanks to his appearances in movies, songs, video games, fiction, and so on. He dwells in forests, has tentacle arms and no face, and can make his own proxy-killers in addition to murdering children.
Eyeless Jack
Another popular creepypasta on our list is Eyeless Jack. This serial killer is known for his creepy mask and empty eye sockets with dark liquid dripping out of them. He’s a surgeon who hunts for our organs for a tasty treat.
The Hook
Among Alvin’s short scary stories, The Hook may be the best known urban legend outside of the books. As young teenagers, we’ve all heard this story in some versions. The Hook Man was an escapee from a mental asylum who had a hook instead of a hand. A young couple was at a deserted lovers’ lane for a makeout session when they heard the news about this killer. The mood wasn’t right anymore and the girl insisted on going home. After safely getting there, the couple finds a hook dangling from the car handle on the girl’s side.
This is the version that goes without any actual murder. However, there’s also a version that sees the young man getting out of the car and being killed by the hooked man.
Bloody Mary
Among the true scary stories of our childhoods, Bloody Mary may be the scariest one. This is a ghost game that made us all petrified deep inside. To see Bloody Mary, one has to stay in a dark room at night in front of a mirror and call her name three or more times. If a person is brave enough to complete the procedure, they’ll see her. However, they’ll have to pay the price for the ghost who is fond of scratching eyes out and disfigurement.
Have you done this as a dare in your childhood?
High Beams (Killer in the Backseat)
One night, a lone woman drives on a deserted highway. What can possibly go wrong? When she notices a car behind, it flashes its high beams at her and continues to chase the woman. After driving home and calling the police, the woman turns out to be actually saved by a man in the car who saw a killer in the back seat and flashes light every time he raises the knife to strike her.
The story is a constant reminder for people to check their back seats before getting in a car.
A Ghost Hitchhiker
Real ghost stories are a rarity in our world, especially the ones that would seem to be true. However, a Ghost Hitchhiker isn’t just a story in Schwarz’s book, this is an urban legend that has many versions and assumed witnesses. Various versions of this tale tell us about a lone hitchhiker in the middle of nowhere who suddenly disappears from the car. He usually leaves some item that is later found on someone’s grave. This tale appears in many cultures across the world and has been reported for centuries in one form or another.
There are many scary stories that are better told in the dark and kids know that perfectly well. That’s why we all like to gather around a campfire or in a dark room on a sleepover and share the scary pieces and bits that we’ve all heard or read on the Internet. Some stories are passed through films; others through parents who are not afraid to share those urban legends.
There’s little written down materials that would keep a story in its original form. Thus, we all may know different versions of the tales, but it makes them even more realistic as each person can add a bit that would scare them the most, thus creating a collective tale that has all necessary elements to scare anyone who hears it.
Finding all those stories, videos, and fiction on the Internet may be fun for some time, but don’t forget to switch your lights on and do it during the daytime.
