There are a lot of scary things in the world — spiders, ghosts and ghouls, werewolves and skeletons, and more.
The fact that they exist is terrifying enough, but some people like to go even further and make up terrifying tales about them to give themselves nightmares.
Here are 29 spine-chilling pieces of information. They’re all absolutely real. Take a look at each one and see if you can sleep for the next hour…
1: There used to be a town in Germany called “Amityville.” It was also known as “Hell’s Hollow” due to the evil spirits that haunted it. The whole area had an incredibly bad reputation before the infamous house was built there. In 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his family with a high-powered rifle, and then he moved out of the home to get away from the paranormal activity. The media jumped on the story and made it into a national phenomenon. Eventually, the home sold for $1 million and quickly became a popular filming location. Today, it looks completely different than it did back then. It has been completely remodeled to look like a normal home.
2: The first ever American serial killer was named John Wayne Gacy. He worked as a children’s clown named Pogo the Clown, but he raped and killed 33 men during the 1970s. He buried most of them in the crawl space of his garage. Some of the victims’ families managed to get DNA samples from their corpses, which helped to convict him in court.
4: The famous serial killer “Billy the Kid” was not actually a murderer. He was sentenced to hang at the age of 21 for shooting and killing three people, but he escaped and continued to rob and murder people until his own death. It was only after his death that people came to realize that there had never been any evidence linking him to any killings or deaths.
5: The last person in the world to be executed for witchcraft is a woman named Bridget Bishop. She was accused of practicing black magic and cursing an infant. While awaiting her trial, she was tortured and then hanged in 1593.
6: In the early 1900s, a group of witches and warlocks gathered in Boston, Massachusetts, on Halloween night and performed some truly terrible magic. They summoned a swarm of locusts and turned the sun black and blue. Many historians believe the incident helped to turn public opinion against witchcraft and other forms of dark magic for centuries.
7: In 1828, a man named Samuel Cunard was hung after being accused of committing sodomy against two young boys. However, the true identity of the two boys is still unknown and the case has never been overturned. It is now considered nothing more than a false accusation against an innocent man.
8: The “Wandering Jew” is a legend about a magical stone that supposedly grants its owner incredible power over the world. People who possess the stone are said to have the ability to travel through time, control others minds, and even raise the dead. The stone is said to grant its owner such power because it is connected to the devil and contains his essence.
9: In 1697, a French priest by the name of Father Nicolas Gombert claimed that he discovered the tomb of Jesus Christ. Over a hundred years later, the church decided to investigate the claims of the priest, but his discovery did not hold up under scientific examination. There was no evidence that the tomb had ever contained anything.
10: The Salem Witch Trials were one of the most brutal episodes in the history of the United States. They took place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the late 17th century. During the trials, people accused of witchcraft were forced to take an oath and then tortured by being held in isolation and having their bodies burned, cut open, or even hanged.
11: The famous American folk hero Davy Crockett was actually a real person. He was a frontiersman who was shot by a bear while defending his friend, a missionary named David Rice and his family, from Indian tribesmen. He later died of pneumonia and his body was returned to Tennessee for burial.
12: The first known person to be arrested for witchcraft was a slave named Tituba who worked on a tobacco plantation in Salem, Massachusetts. She was accused of cursing and using dark magic to kill people’s children. The charges were made up in order to justify the brutal treatment of slaves throughout Massachusetts. Many of these people were subjected to a brutal form of torture known as “beating the devil out of them.” Their bones would break and they would die from lack of blood and nourishment.
13: The legend of the vampire can be traced all the way back to the Middle Ages in Europe. People who believed in vampires were often treated for “vampirism” by being given a drink that contained garlic and holy water. It was hoped that the drink would prevent a vampire from feeding on their blood.
14: The word “witch” comes from the Old English word “wicca” which refers to a female magician. At one point, “witches” had the same status as medical practitioners and priests. This was primarily due to their powers of witchcraft. Women were also the only ones who received education and training in how to use witchcraft effectively.
15: A man named Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the blues guitar. However, there is no historical record of him actually doing so. Many musicians have said that he was the greatest blues guitarist who has ever lived, but there is only one known recording of him playing the guitar.
16: The legend of the “Pied Piper of Hamelin” may have been based on a real event that took place in the town of Hamelin, Germany. A rat infestation led to a local lord giving the town leader three months to deal with the problem. The people of Hamelin paid the local man a large sum of money to solve the problem. After three months, the rats were still present and the people of Hameln began to blame the man for their troubles. As a result, the man was accused of stealing their children and turning them into rats. The people of Hameln then decided to hire someone else to solve their problem. As a punishment for his failure to do his job properly, the local man was ordered to lead the town children into the forest and then he was allowed to keep all their possessions. This angered the town and so the children ran away and wandered the streets of Hamelin without any clothes on.
17: The term “Munchausen Syndrome” is derived from a real case study. In 1883, a woman by the name of “Lydia Maria Child” began making up illnesses in order to receive sympathy and attention from her husband. She would often accuse others of stealing the money she kept hidden in her house and even had her daughter accused of stealing food. Eventually, the police realized that she was just trying to steal money from the city, but it cost a lot of money and time to determine that.
18: Every year, there is an urban legend that claims that someone who has had their picture taken on Halloween will wake up the next morning with no arms or legs. While it sounds completely insane, it is a true story. In 1938, a boy named Walter Lantz was playing a game of tag on Halloween night. When his foot got stuck in a drain pipe and it was pulled into the sewage system. His body was never found, but his arms and legs have never been identified either.
19: The “Kissing Bug” is a species of insect that gets its name from the fact that it feeds on human blood. It is also known as a “casing bug” and many people refer to it as the “kissing disease.”
20: The “Halloween Tree” is a spooky legend that has been passed down from generation to generation. The legend says that if you cut down a piece of bark from a “halloween tree,” the tree will grow back in exactly the same way within 24 hours.
21: The “Bloody Mary” legend involves a mirror where children can try to summon the devil. It goes something like this. Children would sit in front of a mirror and ask it to call the devil. If they did, they would hear a voice calling back from the mirror and then it would tell them to follow it. Many say that if you follow it, you will be lost forever.
22: The “Bloody Handprint” legend was created by a man named John J. Collins. It is a story about a man who had a very close relative who had gone missing and had not been seen or heard from since. A few weeks later, the missing family member’s blood-stained handprints were discovered on the inside wall of his bedroom closet. He was later arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, and he spent the rest of his life in prison.
23: The “Blue Lady” is a ghost which is often said to appear in the window of an old, abandoned house on the evening of December 5. The legend has been traced back to the early 1800s when a woman named Maria Hesselberth was stabbed to death in front of her husband. After her husband reported her murder, he left her body outside of the house and he then fled the town. In the middle of the night, the ghost of Maria appeared in the window of the house. She told her husband that she was sorry for what happened to her, but she could not allow him to leave the house because the murderer had already been spotted near it. Her husband then went back into the house where he was met by his wife’s murderer and both were stabbed to death.
24: In the 1950s, there was a series of murders that took place in San Francisco, California. These murders were committed by a man by the name of Albert DeSalvo, who was known as “the Boston Strangler.” He was never apprehended and his crimes remain unsolved to this day. However, it has been rumored that some of the murders were carried out by another man who was never caught and that they may even have been carried out by the same person.
25: The “Cannibal Ghosts” are a set of mysterious ghosts who were accused of eating hundreds of people in China in the 14th Century. The ghosts are believed to live inside of the Great Wall of China, which was built between 221 and 206 BC. It is said that they were responsible for the death of the first emperor of China. The ghosts are believed to be able to pass through walls and they are also capable of moving objects using only their thoughts.
26: The “Hairy Man” is a ghost that is said to make himself appear before people who have been drinking too much. This is usually done at 3 o’clock in the morning and he is most often seen wearing a long brown coat.
27: In the early 1900s, a group of men working in a mine called the Hell Fire Club came across a cave that had the shape of a human body. Inside of the cave, they found thousands of skeletons and hundreds of human feet that were buried up to their ankles. Many historians believe that the “Hell Fire Cave” in Canada was the final resting place of a tribe of cannibalistic Indians.
28: On the night of May 25, 1874, a strange creature was said to have attacked and killed six people in the woods of Washington state. It was described as having a goat’s head covered in hair and it had red glowing eyes. It also had a thin and muscular body with short arms, and the creature stood about 9 feet tall. The creature left behind a trail of human bodies and it has been called the “Washington Monster.”
29: There was a man named “John Coffey” who was sentenced to death in Alabama. In the 1990s, a writer named William Styron wrote a book about this man and he called it “The Confessions of Nat Turner.”
30: The name “Devil’s Tower” may actually come from an ancient Native American legend. In the legend, a warrior named “Manitok” was the first to see a giant man-eating bear and he tried to fight it. However, the warrior was defeated and he was torn apart by the bear, which then ate its dinner. The bear then returned home and told its two cubs, “Come and get some flesh!” The next day, the bear showed its sons where to find Mani-tock and its brother and they then tore them apart and ate them.
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If these facts didn’t scare you, I don’t know what will!