Modern folklore and urban legends
You pick up a hitchhiker on a dark road. Before reaching the destination, you glance in the mirror—the back seat is empty. This is the world's most universal ghost story, told for thousands of years.
A pale, hairless humanoid creature crouches at the foot of your bed, watching you sleep with oversized black eyes. Born from Creepypasta in 2006, the Rake is one of the internet's most disturbing creations.
The ghost of a woman severed at the waist by a train drags herself across the ground at terrifying speed. If she catches you, she cuts you in half to match her own form.
In Navajo tradition, the yee naaldlooshii are witches who wear animal skins to shapeshift. Possessing terrifying supernatural powers, they are so feared that speaking of them is itself considered dangerous.
The ghost of a mother who drowned her own children wanders the waterways of Latin America, weeping eternally. This 500-year-old legend remains the most feared story in Mexican folklore.
A white, writhing figure stands in a summer rice paddy, undulating despite the absence of wind. Anyone who comprehends its true nature goes insane. Born on Japan's internet in 2003.
A Korean ritual claims that pressing floors in a specific sequence in a 10+ story building can transport you to another world. Its eerie connection to the Elisa Lam case sent it viral worldwide.
Chant "Bloody Mary" three times into a dark mirror, and a blood-soaked specter will appear. This centuries-old ritual has terrified sleepover participants around the world.
A voice in a school bathroom stall asks: "Red paper or blue paper?" Choose red and you are flayed alive. Choose blue and you are strangled to death. There is no right answer.
In 1837, a fire-breathing figure with superhuman leaping ability terrorized Victorian London. For over 70 years, Spring-Heeled Jack haunted England, leaving behind real police reports and genuine panic.
Since 1957, a half-man, half-goat creature wielding an axe has allegedly terrorized the woods around Beltsville, Maryland, attacking cars and frightening teenagers on lovers' lanes.
Late at night, children knock on doors and car windows, begging to be let inside. Their eyes are entirely black—no whites, no iris. Those who let them in are said to face terrible consequences.
