You’ve been there. Sometimes, you just need a good scare, but are too lazy to sift through the ocean of subpar scary stories and find that one terrifying tale. Or maybe you've heard of the internet phenonenon of creepypastas, but don't know where to start. Or most likely, its Friday night, you're bored, you're alone and you really just want to relax. Well, close out that Tinder app, and try reading these scary creepypastas instead!
5. The Disappearance of Ashley, Kansas
“Sometime during the night of August 16, 1952, the small town of Ashley, Kansas ceased to exist.”
A story straight out of a historian’s (fictional) archives, this creepypasta tells the story of a mysterious 1952 earthquake that seemed to have completely swallowed up the tiny town of Ashley. However, as the reader finds out, there were strange things happening in Ashley much earlier. First, the law enforcement offices of a neighboring town are flooded with calls from Ashley citizens reporting a “black hole” appearing in the sky, a phenomenon not reported by other communities. The next day, citizens report the town has been covered in total darkness. The following day, citizens begin speaking to the dead…
As any horror fanatic could tell you the small-town setting is a staple in horror fiction. “The Disappearance of Ashley, Kansas” takes the small town trope to the next level, however. What if a community became so isolated, so cut off from the world that it literally disappeared from the face of the earth?
After all, the reason why small towns are so prevalent within horror narratives is because of their enclosed, insulated and isolated space. What better place to stage a series of serial killings or alien abductions than a community so remote that most of the residents haven’t been two steps out of their town? What makes this particular creepypasta work is that the author was clearly aware of why small, insulated communities can be so scary - the remote nature of the small town feed into the fear of being so cut off from the rest of the world, you might just disappear.
On a somewhat different note, if you like this creepypasta, I’d recommend giving the manga “Uzumaki” a try. It’s much more of a slow-burn but the overarching theme of an isolated town slowly collapsing into itself are present in both works.
4. The Crawlspace
(Warning: this story contains images which may be distressful for some readers)
A self-described cautionary tale for students looking to study abroad. A group of American students travel to Rome to study abroad, and are assigned an old, but picturesque room above the Campo di Fiori. While there, the group of girls are delighted to discover hidden luxuries in their residence such as a fully-furnished master bathroom. However, the girls also find a small, blocked off doorway, painted over in an attempt to hide it. Being a curious lot, they decide to open it. Behind the small door is a large, seemingly uninhabited crawlspace.
Strange occurrences immediately start taking place, from unsettling noises emerging from behind the crawlspace’s closed doors, to the narrator catching a glimpse of a clearly inhuman face peeping from the darkness. If you love getting scared, I’d highly suggest reading this in the dead of night.
3. Kisaragi Station
Public transportation can be scary as hell, as anyone who has taken a midnight train can attest. This particular creepypasta won’t do much to soothe any fears.
“Kisaragi Station” didn’t first appear as a story at all. In fact, it first made its appearance on a 2004 2chan thread titled “Post About Strange Occurrences Around You.” A user with the screen name Hasumi started a subthread detailing a strange occurrence on what she believed was her usual train to work. Though it usually only took her five minutes to get to her destination, the train had been moving for twenty minutes, non-stop. Concerned, Hasumi continually updates the thread, first making light of her predicament, but steadily becoming more fearful. Finally, about an hour later, the train makes a stop at Kisaragi Station. The only problem is that the station is completely abandoned, and no matter who Hasumi calls, no one seems to know where or what that station is. It’s almost as if it doesn’t exist…
I won’t spoil the end. But one 2chan thread user notes that the kanji for “Kisaragi” can also be read as “devil”. Which is, you know, just slightly sinister.
Tons of creepypastas have the premise of a “true story”, but this particular story works because it keeps the format of a forum thread. The presence of fellow 2chan users trying to make sense of the situation gives the story a level of realism that can make a reader wonder whether this could happen to them as well. Was it staged? Probably. But there’s always the chance that it wasn’t…
2. Her Name Was Emma
Young children with creepy imaginary friends is at this point a horror story staple. What’s scarier than having a friend that no one can see except for yourself? Well… Try the other way around.
Most, if not all, friend groups have that one inside joke. More often than not, no matter how elaborate the prank, the joke dies out and the group moves on. Now, imagine your friends seemingly making up an imaginary friend as a joke… Only to pull this prank out for the next nine years of your lives. Imagine spending those nine years pretending to be friends with something you aren’t quite sure even exists.
“Her Name Was Emma” is a unique story, even within the realm of creepypasta. It makes you second guess whether the narrator is deluding herself into thinking that “Emma” isn’t there, whether “Emma” was a joke the whole time, or whether “Emma” started off as a joke… But ended up being real.
What really works about this story is the fact that it can be interpreted in a numerous amount of ways. What is Emma? Maybe you can figure it out.
2. Smile.dog
(Warning: this story contains images which may be distressful for some readers)
If you were on the internet at any point in time during the 2000’s, you probably remember your inbox being flooded with chainmails at one point or another. I don’t know about you, but my absolute favorites were the ones telling me that some ghostly little girl was going to rip my face off if my thirteen year old ass didn’t forward the email to the fifteen people on my mailing list. “Smile.dog” plays with that concept, with terrifying results.
In this tale, a journalist writes down a long and extensive analysis of the mysterious “Smile.dog” file, a nearly mythological chainmail which is said to make anyone who receives it go insane. His investigation results in meeting up with one of the original recipients of the file, who reveals to him the terrifying truth behind it.
The interesting thing about “Smile.dog” is the fact that the story itself isn’t particularly that scary. Everyone has received a threatening chainmail at some point in their life, and most of them had theoretically more terrifying antagonists then a smiling dog with human teeth. And the concept of an investigative reporter attempting to figure out the “truth” behind a mysterious occurrence isn’t exactly new either. But this creepypasta excels in drawing out the horror, delving deep into the psyche of the narrator as he tries to logically dissect the truth behind the “Smile.dog” chainmails while being presented with the option that the source of these emails may not be completely human. Though the narrator tries maintains a confident and ‘objective’ front all the way to the end, there’s an underlying layer of steadily growing anxiety and fear that becomes more apparent to the reader as the tale goes on. The kicker, of course is the abrupt change of pace towards the very end.
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