6 Spooky Halloween Stories That Will Keep You Up at Night!

Declaimer: The only reason I'm writing about scary stories? Due to it being October, and I love this month since Halloween is towards the end and I love watching and reading scary stories or watch horror movies.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Whether it’s Halloween or you’re just fiending for a scare, we’ve got plenty of terrifying tales to pull at the threads of your sanity. Some of them are made up, but others are eyewitness accounts from real people. Are you willing to suspend disbelief? Read on…if you dare.

The architect’s key ~There was once a man named Edward, who designed and built his own perfect house. He lived in it for many years until he eventually passed away. A new family soon moved in, but whenever they went into the basement—where Edward’s personal study had been—they would get the feeling that someone was watching them. One day, the father of the new family decided to fix up an old jacket, which every tailor in town had told him was beyond repair. So, he went down to the old study, laid his jacket on a chair, and then tried to see if there was anything in the old desk that could help him mend it. But the drawers were all locked, and he couldn’t find a key anywhere. The next morning, he came back down to find the key on the desk, all of the drawers open, and his jacket completely fixed. Here are more haunted house mysteries no one can explain.

A mother’s love ~Some people actively go out looking for ghost encounters, and every once in a while, they find one. When Kevin was a teenager, he and his friends had heard about a dangerous turn on the nearby highway that caused many accidents over the years; it was now haunted. The most well-known story was of a mother who took her own life after her son had crashed his car and died there. It was said around town that her ghost remained at the deadly turn to protect people from ending up like her deceased child. Kevin and his friends decided to put that theory to the test. At night, Kevin drove his friends out to the highway. When the group of boys arrived at the turn, they pulled over. They’d brought a bag of flour with them and proceeded to sprinkle the white powder on the road, the grass, and the car. The idea was to get footprints to prove that the ghost was indeed real. The boys hopped back in and began to take the car around the turn. Kevin accelerated faster and faster and—THUMP. The car came to an abrupt halt as if someone had slammed down on it with their own two hands. They immediately got out of the car and saw two woman-sized handprints in the white flour on the hood. For more haunting tales, check out these scary podcasts.

The ghost in the hall ~Four young women moved into an old New England apartment together. (You know, the type with squeaky floorboards and a long, dark hallway, like you’d find in the scariest Halloween movies.) A month after they moved in, one of the roommates realized that her favorite stuffed teddy bear was missing. The others all said they hadn’t touched it or seen it. Weeks went by, and she almost forgot about her teddy when something strange happened. She opened the door to one of the closets they hardly ever used, and there on the top shelf sat her furry friend. All of her roommates swore they had no idea how it had happened. Now, whenever the teddy bear goes missing for a few days, she knows exactly where to find it.

A voice in the desert~ Two young men in their 20s, Josh and Dan, went on a camping trip together in a desert in New Mexico. They didn’t take much with them besides sleeping bags, food, and materials for a fire. After they cooked their dinner, they fell asleep as they gazed up into the starry night sky. The beauty and peace of the trip were short-lived, however. In the early, dark hours of the morning, Josh was startled awake by what sounded like Dan’s voice, but frantic. The voice said, “Come here, quick! Look!” Sleepy and confused, Josh got up to see what his friend was talking about. He heard again, “Come here, quick! Look!” It sounded unnatural; a perfect repetition. Josh took a few steps forward, and then someone grabbed him from behind. He turned around to see Dan with his finger in front of his mouth, warning Josh to keep quiet. They rolled up their sleeping bags and left. They still don’t know who—or what—was trying to lure Josh away into the desert. Freaked out by this spooky story? These hilarious Halloween memes will calm you down.

Echoes of the past ~A young bachelor at the beginning of his career became very successful very quickly, so he bought himself a house. One morning, he awoke to the sound of running water. He rushed to the bathroom and saw that the bathtub faucet was running on full blast. He was perturbed by this, as he lived alone. A week later, it happened again, only this time it wasn’t just one faucet—it was all of the faucets in the house. The young man called a repairman to fix the pipes and the water damage…but, as it turned out, the pipes weren’t broken. The repairman, a local, seemed visibly shaken. “What’s wrong?” the bachelor asked. “The woman who lived here before you,” said the repairman, “she drowned in that bathtub.”

No one steals twice ~Jen went to the same convenience store every day after school for a snack. Over time, she became good friends with the cashier, Lucy. Out of curiosity, one day Jen asked Lucy how she would stop someone if they tried to steal from the store. Lucy replied, “Oh, no one ever steals anything from here twice. The store won’t let them.” Jen didn’t know what that meant but dropped the subject. When she went back to the store at the start of the next school week, Jen walked in to find Lucy talking to some cops. Apparently, a man stole from the store and drove off, but his brakes mysteriously failed and his car went soaring off a cliff. The cops asked Lucy if she knew what happened. “No,” she said. “I was stocking the back room. I didn’t even know he’d come in.” No one ever steals twice… If you’re looking for spooky stories that are a little less creepy, these Disney Halloween movies might be more your speed.