Creepypasta stories for Halloween

Although we are living in 2020 where reality is possibly scarier than our imagination, I still want to celebrate Halloween, and go out of my way to scare myself. I love scary movies, scary books, creepy youtube videos, haunted houses, conspiracy theories, and anything else you can think of that might be related. When I was younger, Creepypasta the freshest goldmine for scary stories and urban legends, and my friends and I would stay up late reading and share them the next day at school like they were real encounters. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what Creepypasta is, all you need to know is that it is basically the Wikipedia/fanfiction of scary urban legends. Some are based on true-ish events, and anyone can publish on the website. As Halloween season quickly approaches, I figured one of the best ways to get ready for the holiday would be to dive into these short stories and see what creepy stuff has been bred.

One of the most popular stories back in 2012 was“Jeff the Killer,” told from two time periods and perspectives about–you guessed it–a guy named Jeff who ends up being a killer. Even if you aren’t familiar with the story, you might have seen the picture of Jeff with a wide smile, unblinking eyes, and a completely white face. Barring the various grammatical errors and plot holes, the story is fairly creepy and will likely set you on edge. It has even been recently rebooted by another author to offer a retelling of the story based in Louisiana. (read the original story here) (read the reboot here). 

 

Another widely known story is “The Russian Sleep Experiment” which is possibly real information about a sleep study done in the Soviet Union in the mid-1900s. The experiment was to determine the effects sleep-deprivation had on the human body. Test subjects were placed in an observation room the was being pumped with a gas that made it impossible for these people to fall asleep. After a few days, there were violent side-effects observed in the individuals and the experiment ended prematurely. This is one of my personal favorites and it never fails to unsettle me in the best of ways (read the story here).

I quit routinely reading Creepypasta sometime after the initial hype, but amid my absence, there were still creepy stories being told. One of the stories I happened upon is called “When You Go to Heaven, they Take Your Skin”, which sounds pretty foreboding, right? It is the story about an individual who briefly dies and finds himself in Heaven. It isn’t like he ever would have imagined Heaven, though. Instead of the pearly white gates, there is a simple door and an “angel” who is requesting his skin before he can enter. It is an interesting and short plot told from the first-person narrative, and it as if these events have actually happened as the narrator speaks as if he knows the reader is reading. The ending is interesting and creates a sense of dread and possibly will cause you to have an existential crisis, which seems like a common theme in these stories (read it here).

While I was reading through various stories to mention in this article, I came across “The Tall Man of Briarbell, Missouri.” Out of all the stories, I think this story got the best reaction out of me. It is a quick read set in a small Missouri town told from the perspective of children. It is a story about an urban legend known as the Tall Man that everyone in the town knows about. One day, an old man seemingly up and leaves town, and the children blame the Tall Man. They go by the man’s house multiple nights and sees him through the window above the door but only at night. They eventually find out the whole story (so they think) about the old man’s disappearance and it genuinely had me in a creeped out state of shock. Bordering the line between ripping of the Slenderman legends and creating a unique story, this Creepypasta is one you should definitely read soon (read it here).

 

I am definitely going to be doing some more browsing for stories on Creepypasta and get into the spooky spirit this season. Since haunted houses and other fear-inducing Halloween activities will probably be limited due to our real-life horror story pandemic, this will be a good way to spook yourself in a safe and controlled environment (even if you don’t feel completely safe after reading). Maybe you will even be inspired to contribute your own Creepypasta about what you might have seen outside your window while reading? 

For added spookiness, listen to this in-progress playlist I created on Spotify: Horror Ambiance 

 

Here’s a link to find more stories: Creepypasta Home Page

 

• CreepyPasta
• halloween
• scary stories