If you grew up in America and went to summer camp before, or had an older sibling, or a particularly ghoulish bunch of school bus friends, you’ve probably heard of it. scary campfire stories before. In fact, you probably still wake up in a cold sweat most nights, thinking you hear the distant rubbing of a hook against a car door. And even if you had a lovely childhood and therefore never heard any of those horrible stories grab your acoustic guitar and some s’mores because here are 10 terrifying campfire stories that still scare us away.
Even if you weren’t much into pitching tents and lighting bonfires, you might recognize some of these spooky campfire tales from Alvin Schwartz Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. This is because Schwartz, like many writers of ghost stories before him, drew inspiration from folk tales and urban legends.(then he added these horrible illustrations by Stephen Gammell, to haunt each of our waking thoughts more effectively). Most of these scary stories have no known origin and no recorded original author. It’s a good old-fashioned oral tradition and superstitions, kept alive around campfires, at sleepovers, and in dark places under play equipment.
The best scary stories to tell for fun
Fan of the paranormal? There are a ton of blood-curdling stories out there on the web. So, at Go, we scare each other with a top horror story. Thrills guaranteed!
The hook
A pair of attractive teenagers are parked at Make Out Point (or Lover’s Lane, depending on your side of the story), a secluded spot on the outskirts of town. The boyfriend turns on the radio to listen to piped music, and the two start to paddle. But as things get hot and muggy, they’re interrupted by a breaking news story: A murderer has escaped from neighboring state asylum. He’s armed and dangerous, and he has a hook instead of his right hand.
The girlfriend is visibly scared and wants to go home right away, but the boyfriend insists that everything will be fine. He locks all the doors of the car and tries to kiss her again. She calmly explains that no means no, and that she wants to go to hell with her home. Annoyed, the boyfriend slams the gas pedal and drives her home. It wasn’t until the two of them got out of the car that he noticed something hanging from the door handle – a bloody steel hook.
Bloody Mary
This one might be a little more popular at sleepovers than campfires, but I bet you’re still a little afraid to try it. The story goes that if you look at yourself in a mirror in a dark room and sing “Bloody Mary” three times, you will see the ghostly face of Bloody Mary herself staring at you. Or she’ll come out of the mirror and kill you. the real Bloody Mary was actually Queen Elizabeth’s hapless older sister, and she probably isn’t coming to kill you – but looking in a dark mirror for an extended period of time can cause very frightening hallucinations. Bloody Mary is also seen in many movies as a scary character which haunts people.
Wolf girl
As a kid, I knew this story as “The Blonde Wolf,” which is by no means the scariest of titles. But the story goes that a pregnant woman gave birth in a remote area of Texas. Her husband went for help, but their two bodies were discovered the next day, ravaged by wolves. The baby was nowhere to be found. Over the years, sightings have been reported of a little girl living with a wolf pack, and later of an adult female, covered in hair, nursing werewolves and finally sightings of a odd-looking wolf with strangely human features.
Do not turn on the light
Two college roommates are in the same science class, and the big semester is tomorrow morning. Marie wants to stay and study, but Tara wants to go out and party with a cute dude from the lacrosse team. She leaves Marie to her studies. When she comes home very late at night, Marie is in bed and the lights are off. Tara goes to bed without turning on the lights, trying not to disturb her studious friend. In the morning, she will wake Marie up so that they are not late for the test but Marie’s body is stiff and her bed is soaked in blood. On the wall above her, scrawled with blood, are the words “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?” This story inspired one of the horror tv show Supernatural, where the exact same story appears in one of the episode.
The keyhole
A man stays in a hotel for the weekend. On the way to his room, he notices a closed door with no number. When he asks, he is told that no one is allowed in that room. Curious, he stops to look in the keyhole the next night and sees a normal hotel room, with a very pale woman lying on the bed. He continues on his way. But the next night, he’s too curious and looks through the keyhole again: this time everything he sees is red. Just red. He goes to question the woman at the front desk about the room again, and she finally tells him the truth: a woman was murdered in this room years ago. An albino woman, with white skin and red eyes.
The clown statue
A babysitter was hired to watch two children overnight. After putting the children to bed, the parents ask her to watch TV in their upstairs bedroom, as the children have been having nightmares recently. She puts the children to bed quite easily and settles in the parents’ room to watch TV. But in the corner of the room, there is a large, almost life-size, spooky clown statue. She tries to ignore him, but it’s too scary. Finally, she calls the father to ask if she can watch TV downstairs instead. “Of course, but why? he asks. She tells him that the clown statue makes her come out too much. There is a pause. “Get the kids and leave the house,” says the father. “We don’t have a clown statue.
The hitchhiker
‘The endangered hitchhiker’ might be the most famous campfire story of all time. A couple is driving late at night when they notice a girl hitchhiking. They come to pick her up, she thanks them very much and gives them an address nearby. They drive her home, trying to have a polite conversation. But after a few minutes the girl is silent. The driver asks if they’ve reached the right intersection, but when they turn to the backseat, the girl is gone. She disappeared without a trace. When they reach the address she gave them, an elderly couple greet them at the door. They don’t know any girls but their own daughter was killed in a car crash many years ago, a few miles away.
Doggy Lick
A girl is just a little afraid of the dark, so every night her dog sleeps under her bed. When she’s scared, she puts her hand down, and her dog licks it to reassure her. One night, she wakes up to hear a strange dripping sound. She puts her hand down and feels the dog licking her, so she feels better and goes back to sleep. The next morning, she wakes up to find her dog’s body hanging in the middle of the room, dripping with blood. On the wall someone wrote: “Humans can lick too!
The ribbon
A man marries his beloved: a beautiful young woman who always wears a black velvet ribbon around her neck. On their wedding night, he asks why she never takes the ribbon off. “If I do, you’ll be sorry,” she said, before falling asleep. Night after night he keeps asking, but she always gives him the same answer. He begins to go mad with curiosity. Finally, one night, while she is sleeping, he steals the scissors from his sewing box and cuts the ribbon himself. The black ribbon falls and her head just rolls off her neck and falls to the floor with a sickening thud.
High beams
A young woman returns home late at night, when she notices a truck driving up behind her. No one else is on the road. She waits for the truck to pass in front of her, but instead it stays directly behind her and flashes his high beams. It becomes unstable. No matter how fast it is traveling or what side roads it takes, the truck stays close to it, flashing its high beams every few minutes. Terrified, she hurries home, with the truck right on her tail, and walks into her driveway. She jumps out of her car and tries to run to her front door, but the truck driver gets out too – and he’s holding a gun. He points the gun in her direction and fires. The woman screams, but the ball does was not for her: she turns to see a man’s body fall from the backseat of his car, clutching a butcher’s knife. The driver of the shaken truck explains that he noticed the man in the backseat of his car and was trying to wave at him. Every time the man raised his knife to stab her, he flashed his high beams.
The architect’s key
Once upon a time there was a man named Edward who was so rich and talented that he had designed and built his own dream house. He lived there for many years, until his death. A new family quickly moved in there, but every time they went into the basement – where Edward’s office was – they felt like someone was watching them.
One day, all the tailors in town told him that one of his old jackets was beyond repair, the father decided to repair it himself. So he went down to the old office, put his jacket on a chair, then looked in the old cabinet for something to fix his jacket. But the drawers were all locked and he couldn’t find a key anywhere. The next morning, when he came back downstairs, he found the key on the desk, all the drawers open, and his jacket completely mended.
The ghost of the entrance
Four young women have moved into an old-fashioned apartment (you know the kind, with creaky floors). A month after their arrival, one of the girls realizes that her favorite teddy bear is missing. The others swear to him that they neither touched nor seen him.
Weeks go by and she has almost forgotten her teddy bear when a strange event occurs. She opens the door to a closet they hardly ever use, and there on the top shelf is her stuffed friend. His roommates swear they have no idea what happened. Now whenever the teddy bear goes missing for a few days, she knows exactly where to find it.
The lake in the house
A young bachelor at the start of his career who quickly found success decided to buy his first house. One morning, a sound of running water woke him up. He rushed to the bathroom only to find that the bathtub faucet was running at full speed. He lived alone and this disturbed him. The phenomenon repeated itself a week later, but this time all the taps in the house started to flow.
The young man called a plumber to fix the pipes and the water damage. But the plumbing was in perfect condition. The plumber, who lived nearby, looked scared. “What’s wrong?” asked the bachelor. “The woman who lived here before you,” said the repairman, “she drowned in that tub.”
When the candle burns
Three little girls are participating in a slumber party when they have the idea of embarking on a spiritualism session. One of the girls, Clara, recently lost her grandfather and wants to try to get in touch with him and speak to his spirit. The three girls gather together candles and objects that belonged to the deceased: his watch, his cigar case and his photo. Then they hold hands and begin the spiritualism session.
Suddenly, the flame of the candles begins to flicker and the hands of the watch turn. Clara is sure it’s her grandfather! She starts talking to him and asking him questions when, suddenly, one of the candles flies, as if moved by an invisible force, and grazes his head. “Grandpa would never do that,” she said, shaking. She’s right. It’s not his grandfather, not at all.
The guest that no one had invited
One evening, a few guests had gathered around a meal. They were six and had just taken their seats when they heard a knock on the door. They weren’t expecting anyone, but the hostess went to open the door to see who it might be. There was no one. “Someone must have taken the wrong address,” she explained to her guests. But when their attention returned to the table, a seventh place setting had been set. “Was it there before?” one of the guests asked. “I… I must have put an extra place setting by mistake,” replied the hostess.
She took him back to the kitchen, but when she came back he was there again, this time with a drink next to it. As they were chatting, the other guests had noticed nothing. But seeing this, they were so shocked that they didn’t know what to do. They then decided that the best strategy was to play the game: they filled the empty glass and plate so as not to upset this mysterious guest that no one had invited.
The Lonely Ferris Wheel
Like every summer, the big funfair comes to town and Charlie, who has just started working there, has no idea of the big wheel he is responsible for turning. The first night is very busy, but at closing time, when the city is almost deserted, a young boy shows up at the last minute. “For the Ferris wheel, please,” the boy said, handing Charlie a ticket.
Charlie looks around. “Where are your parents?” he asks the child. But this one takes place without answering. Not sure what to do, he lets the boy ride, but once the turn of the wheel is finished, the child is no longer there! Charlie runs to tell the story to his boss. “Oh, it’s Thomas,” he replies. He gives Charlie an old newspaper clipping with a picture of the boy on it with the headline, “Eight-year-old falls from Ferris wheel.”
The child of the room 213
On a business trip, a businesswoman arrives at the hotel where she is given an access card for room 213. She is exhausted and impatient to sit down, but her card refuses to work. She goes downstairs to complain at reception and quickly gets a new card… which doesn’t work either! As she rushes back into the entrance hall, her bedroom door creaks open.
A little boy has opened the door and is standing in the dark. She returns to the reception. “There is another family in my room,” she told the employee. “Impossible,” he replies. No one other than you has checked in room 213. “
Broken glass
Sam, Peter and John meet every day after work for a drink. This time, they decided to try a bar they’ve never been to before. “They say this place is haunted,” Peter tells his friends. “Absurd!” the other two say to him, and they take their places around a table. Their drinks are brought to them, but, as they are about to toast their usual toast, Sam and John’s glasses literally burst. “But what is this?” They cried. “My apologies,” the waiter said simply, “that happens sometimes.”
Wedding in the dark
A couple of bride and groom are planning to host the wedding reception at their favorite restaurant. On the wedding day, however, the bride falls down the stairs to her death. Since then, it’s been said that every night after the restaurant closes, her ghost comes down the stairs she’s fallen into and sets up all the tables and chairs for the wedding guests she has never been able to see.
The laundry thief
A woman and her daughter have moved into a new home. As the mother works a lot, the daughter takes care of the household chores, including the laundry. One day, she goes down to the laundry room and throws a machine full of laundry. When she returns, the door to the washing machine is already open. Weird, she said to herself. I thought I closed it. “
She shrugs, but the same thing happens the next time. And that’s not all: every time that happens, one of his clothes disappears. Once it’s a sock, the next it’s a pair of shorts, and so on. After a few weeks, she goes down to the laundry room to find a complete outfit made up of all the clothes that are missing.
The traveling photographer
After the death of her dog, Bo, Anna begins to drag her photo wherever she goes. She loved Bo more than anything, which is why she is heartbroken the day she finds out that she has lost her photo. She’s sure she’ll never find it, but on Bo’s birthday the following year, she finds the photo in the closet, next to her old leash. “Good dog, Bo,” she whispers.
Her daughter’s scarf
On a frosty January evening, a man drives down a deserted road. Snow accumulates and quickly turns into a blizzard. But this man is not alone on the road. Another driver follows him and flashes his headlights to invite him to stop.
The two men get out of their car. The second man hands a pink scarf to the first. She is sweet and looks like her daughter’s. The man who gives her the scarf has a look as terrifying as her smile. Distraught, the father jumps into his car and rushes home. The police are already waiting for him there.
After closing
It is nine o’clock, time to close the store. Valérie, Ginny and Kelly are the only ones working. While they are cleaning the store, a pile of shirts fall to the floor. None of the girls, however, touched it. “It’s probably the ghost,” Ginny said. “Very funny,” Kelly replies. “It’s not a joke, adds Valérie seriously. It’s a little boy. He likes to play.”
Kelly still doesn’t take them seriously. They’re older and tease me, she told herself. But when she goes to the back room to collect her keys and go home, she sees the reflection of a little boy in the mirror next to her. When she looks back, her keys have been placed on the floor.
The old man and the apple pie
On Halloween night, an old man from New Jersey was found dead in the kitchen of his home. He lived alone with his wife. The man was not easy going and he cursed the children. On the morning of October 31, the old man had painstakingly inserted razor blades into apples he planned to distribute to the children in the evening.
His wife who strongly opposed the criminal acts of her grumpy husband decided to stop the slaughter planned by the old man. She baked him his favorite pie and invited him to devour a good slice of it for dessert, just before the children came knocking on the door. The man, who like a pig took huge bites of whatever he ingested, asked his wife just before swallowing:
“But where did you get the apples for the pie, I had them all this morning?” It was by swallowing that he got the answer to his question as he slit his throat from the inside.
The White Lady
There are several versions of this story, of the white lady. According to testimonies, it would have been seen as much in Europe as in America. Here is one of the many stories featuring her. Consider this story since it is told by a doctor. A person who is a priori rather realistic and has his feet firmly on the ground. The testimony dates from 1977.
After a long day of work, the doctor comes home one evening, in the pouring rain. He sees by the side of the road a young woman dressed in white. He stops and offers to take her home. She accepts and after indicating her address she does not say a word.
She remains very silent until they cross the Pont-du-Furet. At this moment, she appears agitated and frightened. When they reach their destination, the doctor lends her his umbrella and waits for her to bring it back to him.
Not seeing her return, he rings the bell. A couple opens the door to him, he then tells his story and describes the young girl. The couple, obviously very moved, tells him that it is their only daughter who lost her life on a motorbike in Pont-du-Furet years earlier.
The puzzle
An elderly woman living alone decides to make a puzzle in her living room to spend the evening. Outside, it’s total darkness. As she assembles the pieces, a strange impression seizes her: she gradually recognizes in her puzzle the decor of her living room, then her television, then herself seen from the front! More and more feverish, she continues. The last pieces of the puzzle she puts together are in the window behind her. The very last piece from the corner of the window shows the terrifying face of a man watching her!
The gas station
It was a dark, misty night. Denise was having difficulty staying awake and the road was wet. The fuel level was starting to get dangerously low and she had no idea where the next town was.
Just as she was about to stop the car to sleep on the side of the road, she spots a small, decrepit gas station. She stops there. The clerk seems very distracted by the back of the car as she asks him to refuel.
He finally does, but asks her to open the hood, because he senses a problem. Denise’s heart spins three times. She’s alone in a filthy little gas station in the middle of nowhere and the clerk has funny things …
He asks her to get out of the car to come and see the engine. She does so while wondering why she doesn’t start screaming. As soon as she arrives in front of the car, he grabs her by the arm and says:
“This car needs a tow truck, you have to come with me into the office!” “
Then he puts his hand over her mouth and forcibly pulls her inside the office. Once inside, he said to her:
“There’s a man lying in the back seat of your car!” We should call the police. “
The frightened woman runs to her car and spins off.
After a few minutes, Denise looks in her rearview mirror. She sees a man with a hoodie and an ax in his hand in the backseat. With a wave of his arms, he beheads the poor woman with his ax. Denise’s corpse is found a few days later. Years after this tragedy, the police have finally managed to grapple with the serial killer. Have you looked in the backseat of your car?
David Mac Callum and his Ouija board
A few days before Christmas 1995, in the district of Mayfair in London, David Mac Callum approaches two schoolchildren aged 15 and offers them to come to his place to listen to heavy metal . The two teenagers, Michael Earridge and Stephen Cullan, addicted to this music, accept the invitation and follow this new friend, a few years their senior.
Once there, Michael and Stephen find that David lives in an indescribable mess where records of Iron Maiden and Metallica sit alongside a mountain of books, all devoted to serial killer Charles Manson. In the center of the room stands an altar draped in black and adorned at each end with tall lighted candles.
To his guests, somewhat taken aback, Mac Callum explains in a peaceful tone: “This altar is that of Satan. My friend Dennis and I are devilish. It allows us to communicate with the dead, through the Ouija. “
Smiling, he points to the game board at the foot of the altar and suggests playing a game of Ouija board. Puzzled, Michael and Stephen accept.
Dennis arrived, the four young people take their places, seated on the floor, around the Ouija board and, according to custom, each one puts a hand on the movable triangle placed in the center of the game. Almost immediately, the voice strangely hoarse Mac Callum, break the silence:
“Satan, if you are with us, give us your orders! Dictate your wishes! Satan, what do you want me to do? “
Mac Callum gets up suddenly, grabs young Michael with his arms around him and throws him on the bed where he immobilizes him. Then, with a combat knife in his hand, he stabs his victim savagely. Eleven times, the long, sharp blade slams down on the unfortunate boy’s body.
Dennis, who somehow maintains Stephen, screaming in fear, finally shouts at Mac Callum:
“Stop, David, but stop! He is dead. “
With a start, Stephen manages to free himself and escapes at full speed.
Left alone, David and Dennis roll up the corpse in a sheet and a blanket. They have decided to transport it in the trunk of their car and they will dispose of it in a rubbish dump.
Arrested shortly afterwards on the indications provided by the survivor of the killing, it turned out that the two worshipers of Satan were already the subject of a double psychiatric and police investigation.
During his court appearance, David explained that voices transmitted by the Ouija board had prompted him to commit his crime. The judges had him locked up for life in Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security mental hospital. They sentenced his accomplice to ten years imprisonment in another psychiatric establishment.
So, a small part of the Ouija game, do you like it ?! Remember that there are strict rules to play with respect and safety. It’s Ginette Blais (our astrologer!) Who told us! Don’t have the game at home? It is possible to buy it right here!
Ghosts of Alcatraz
Located right in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz‘s high-security federal prison housed America’s top criminals from 1934 to 1963, when it was officially closed. Ten years later, the site was opened to the public and became one of the major tourist spots in the state of California.
Several witnesses claim to have been confronted with ghostly shadow appearances. Most would take place in the main corridor of the old prison where three inmates: Bernard Coy Joe Cretzer and Marvin Hubbard were shot on May 4, 1946 while trying to escape the vigilance of their guards.