15 of the Scariest Urban Legends From Around the World

Everyone loves a good old fashioned urban legend. People love getting a good scare, and something about urban legends just makes it feel like these things could have actually happened at some point.

It’s not like a zombie story or a vampire tale, which could obviously never have been true; instead, these are stories that, in most cases, could certainly have happened to someone at some point, and that just makes them vastly more horrifying. Here are some of the most disturbing urban legends from around the world.

A slightly lesser-known urban legend tells about how a couple returns home to find their Doberman choking on something, and take him to the vet, only when they return home the frantic vet calls urging them to get out of the house because the object the dog was choking on was a human finger.

There’s not much more horrifying than the possibility of checking into a hotel room and discovering later that there’s a dead body hidden either under or inside the bed, is there? Especially since there are actual cases of this one happening a few times in real life.

In a case of hide and seek going terribly wrong, this legend tells of a wedding party that includes that game being played, with the bride sneaking into the attic and hiding in an old chest – the only problem is no one is able to find her, and years later her body is discovered in the chest, the lid having accidentally locked shut.

There are several variations of this, but the most common involves a woman stopping at a gas station being creeped out by the attendant trying to get her to come inside with him – only to discover when it’s already too late that he was trying to save her from a knife-wielding maniac hiding in the backseat.

A strong case for the whole “don’t bully people” can be made through the legend of Carmen Winstead, a teenager who has pushed down a sewer and died from her injuries, only to return to seek vengeance against her killers.

Along with the Hook Man, another reason to avoid any place called Lover’s Lane is the Hanging Boyfriend – which tells the tale of a boyfriend who gets out of the car to take a leak, and after the girlfriend hears scraping on the roof of the car discovers her now dead boyfriend has been hanged, and those sounds were his feet scraping the roof.

This legend tells about a man who picks up a young girl hitchhiking, but when he arrives at her house, she’s vanished from the backseat. He knocks on the door only to discover the girl had actually died years earlier on that same stretch of road.

A terrifying story that’s been around college campuses for decades tells the story of two female roommates, with one going out to a party and returning late, deciding to leave the lights off to avoid waking her sleeping roommate. In the morning she sees her roommate was brutally murdered, and the words “aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light” are painted on the wall in blood.

Imagine sitting on the toilet and realizing there’s a ghost popping up from under you? That’s the basic premise of the Hanako-San legend, which spread across Japan and suggests that the spirit of a young dead girl haunts school bathrooms across the country.

The Slender Man myth has gained a lot of popularity over the last few years, particularly with a video game “celebrating” this tall, slender, elongated specter in a black suit who supposedly stalks and kills children, typically in a remote part of the woods.