Do you love to get creeped out?
Well, you’re in the right place, friends!
Because we have a bunch of scary stories that we want you to use next time you’re with a group of your pals.
Folks on AskReddit shared their favorite creepy stories to tell around a campfire.
Let’s get weird!
1. A quick one.
“There was a young girl playing in her room one day when she heard a voice that sounded like her mother’s from the kitchen.
“Sweetie, come down here.”
The little girl jumped up and ran out the door where she suddenly ran into her mother at the top of the stairs. Her mother reached out and quickly covered the girls mouth so she couldn’t make a sound.
“Don’t go down there, I heard it too,” she said.”
2. Lost.
“A farmer, while on his way home, is caught in a terrible thunderstorm with his horse.
Completely lost he realises he will either freeze to death or get struck by lightning if he doesn’t find a place to stay. Through the storm, he comes across a small homestead, the yellow candlelight visible through the sheets of rain.
Lighting flashes brightly, thunder barely a breath later, and he leads his terrified horse to the small house.
Tying the petrified animal to the fence, he knocks on the door and an old lady opens it with a smile. She ushers him in and he finds her husband smoking a pipe. He is seated at the kitchen table, and the wife quickly boils the kettle and gives him a bowl of hot soup and a cup of coffee. The farmer tells the old couple his story, and they are happy to serve as his sanctuary against the storm.
Outside the lightning flashes again, followed with a bout of thunder, and the old man smiles when jumps, offering him a bit of tobacco for his pipe to calm his nerves. The farmer accepts gratefully.
The next bolt slams close, ripping through the ground, almost deafening him completely. He jumps up with a cry, startled out of his wits, only to find himself standing in the dark and cold. Soaked wet by the rain, with no sign of the couple, broken stones littered around him, and his horse tied to a tree branch. Without thinking, he jumps on his spooked horse and gallops as fast as he can away from the place.
He would reach a town sometime during the night. At a tavern, after sharing his story, the folks tell him of the small cottage nearby which had been struck by lightning a long time ago, and of the couple that was killed in the fire.”
3. Mary Sue.
“There once was a girl named Mary Sue.
She would always wear a bow around her neck. The kids at school would always say, “Mary Sue, Mary Sue. Take off that bow will you?” But she refused.
In high school, her best friends asked her to take it off as they had gone out of fashion but Mary Sue refused.
One day Mary Sue met the man of her dreams and he asked her to take off her bow but she replied, “One day you will find out.”
Almost 60 years later, after Mary Sue’s children had grown up and moved out Mary Sue went up to her husband. “Do you want to see what is under my bow?” She asked. Her Husband put down his newspaper, “Are you sure? You’ve never taken it off.”
“I am sure my love,” Mary Sue said pulling the end of her bow. The bow fell to the ground shortly followed by her head then the rest of her body.”
4. Out of gas.
“I work in the Nevada desert. A little facility out in the middle of nowhere. To get home it’s about an hour drive of pretty much nothing.
One day driving home, my car ran out of gas. I’ve always wondered if this dreaded day would come and… here we are. I had no choice but to start walking. I always drove past this little road side motel so I guess I don’t have much of a choice.
I walked a couple miles until I got to it. I asked the front desk if they had any gas I could use. They said yes, but it would cost me. It was… way too expensive. I didn’t even have enough on me so I had no choice but to clean dishes and do other odd jobs around the place for the rest of the night. By the end I had made enough money but I was completely beat.
No way I could drive after that. I asked if I could at least use a room for the night. Not wanting to cause an accident the owner said yes. Thank god. Although what he said after surprised me to say the least.
“We have two rooms available. Ones haunted, and there’s another next to it.”
I laughed it off figuring it was just him messing with me after the long day, friendly jokes. Just to be safe I chose the room next to it. When I got in there, what a dump. Just a sh*tty table with a sh*tty bed and a sh*tty broken fridge. I sat down on the bed, exhausted. I looked up to see their was a hole in the wall, about the size of a coin.
Wow. How classy. Out of curiosity I looked through the hole with one eye. I saw the room next to mine. At the table, a young woman was seated brushing her long brown hair. She was beautiful, from the back at least. I didn’t want to be a creep so I just went to bed. A couple hours later i woke up with an uncomfortable feeling. Just in the pit of my stomach that something wasn’t quite right. I sat up and saw the hole in the wall was now glowing.
I kneeled back down to it and peered through. All I could see… was red. Bright, glowing red. I figured the woman had just placed something, I don’t know an electronic in front of the hole. I went back to bed, unable to shake the feeling. The next morning when I woke up, I headed straight to the front desk to get all paid so I could get the hell out. As I got the gas I decided to ask the owner.
“Hey, that woman in the room next to mine. Is she alright? I was getting kind of a bad feeling.”
The owner laughed at me. “Oh so you saw her. She’s the haunted rooms resident.”
I laughed it off again, trying to continue to joke around with sarcasm. “Well she’s awfully pretty for a ghost.”
The owner handed me the gas tank. “Then you haven’t seen her from the front. Her eyes are glowing red.””
5. A long time ago…
“One hundred years ago, out in the waters around Spivey Point, a small clipper ship drew toward land. Suddenly, out of the night, the fog rolled in. For a moment, they could see nothing, not a foot in front of them.
Then, they saw a light. By God, it was a fire burning on the shore, strong enough to penetrate the swirling mist. They steered a course toward the light. But it was a campfire, like this one. The ship crashed against the rocks, the hull sheared in two, masts snapped like a twig. The wreckage sank, with all the men aboard.
At the bottom of the sea, lay the Elizabeth Dane, with her crew, their lungs filled with salt water, their eyes open, staring to the darkness. And above, as suddenly as it come, the fog lifted, receded back across the ocean and never came again.
But it is told by the fishermen, and their fathers and grandfathers, that when the fog returns to Antonio Bay, the men at the bottom of the sea, out in the water by Spivey Point will rise up and search for the campfire that led them to their dark, icy death.”
6. No!
“I had a roommate/friend of mine in college decided one summer to solo hike through a bunch of Colorado.
He’s kinda odd. He’s one of those kinda people that automatically thinks old stuff is better, that will only takes photos on film, and has a ridiculous record collection. But he’s also pretty experienced camper so no one was very worried about him. It’s kinda a “soul searching” thing for him.
But anyway, he goes off for two month and he comes back and he’s telling me about his trip. “It was amazing… just out in nature… so many stars” that kind of stuff. And also, “there were a couple days I felt like I was being watched, but I never met anyone on the trail. Super weird. I even thought I saw someone, but nope”
A couple days later he gets his photos from the local film developer he uses. And he gets back to the apartment and shows me the photos like he always does, but he seems… off?
I’m looking through the photos, and there are beautiful landscapes, his camp set up, his breakfast, and then right in the middle of their are 4 photos of him in his sleeping bag… sleeping.”
7. WTF?
“Why I’m no longer a park ranger…
When I was a park ranger, I usually worked the day shift, but there had lately been a lot of night shift guys quitting. It was obviously inevitable that I would be asked to do night shift. I arrived at the watchtower at 5:00PM. The watchtower was next to one of those large ponds/small lakes. I climbed up the stairs to the top and entered the tower room.
There was one clear glass wall and three wooden opaque walls. Inside was a bed with a nightstand next to it on the right. There was also a kitchenette with two sets of cabinets on the left hand side. Next to the glass wall on the far side of the room was a radio communication station. On the nightstand was a flashlight. Inside the nightstand were a pair of binoculars and a long range walkie talkie.
Inside the small cabinets was food. I couldn’t open the big cabinets for some reason. There was most likely stuff in there that were above my pay grade. Around the watch tower room was a walkway. Anyways, I went to the communication station and radioed my partner Donny, who was at the main ranger station. I said “Well Donny, it looks like it’s just us tonight.” He didn’t reply though so I assumed he was in the bathroom. So I took the binoculars and walkie talkie and stepped onto the walkway.
I scanned the far ridge, the roads, and the forest below. I was looking for illegal campsites, trouble makers, and other riff raff. As I passed my binoculars across the far ridge, I saw what looked like a snowman. I had a double take and thought: “a snowman? In the middle of July?” I looked again and saw that it wasn’t a snowman but a kid wearing a ghost costume… just staring at the watchtower. The costume was a sheet pulled over with two eyeholes cut out, like the ghost costumes in Charlie Brown.
So I radioed Donny again and asked: “Hey Donny, are you there?” Donny responded: “Yeah, I just made it out.” I got a chuckle out of that. Donny was always good for a laugh. I then said: “yeah. Say, can you check out the ridge? I saw a kid up there wearing a ghost costume. You know, a sheet with eyeholes cut out.” “You mean like from Charlie Brown Halloween?” he asked. “Yes.”
Donny then left the ranger station and headed for the ridge. About 40 minutes later, the sun had set and it was a bit dark. I scanned the ridge again, but the kid in the ghost costume was gone. So I radioed Donny again: “are you there?” Donny responded: “I’m almost at the ridge. What’s up?” I said: “You might want to search the surrounding area, the kid has moved.” “Sure thing.”
About 10 minutes later, I saw Donny’s flashlight shining on the ridge in the distance. I looked in my binoculars and saw Donny shining the light around and Donny shrugging. He then radioed me and said: “I don’t see anyone h….” Donny’s flashlight then went out and there was just static on the radio. I spoke into the radio “Donny? Donny?! DONNY! ARE YOU THERE, WHAT HAPPENED?!”
Just then I heard a loud shriek coming from the base of the tower. I shined my flashlight down and saw, right between the tower and the pond, a pale, blue woman with empty eye sockets staring at me. All of her limbs looked broken and bent in the wrong way. Just then she started sprinting up the stairs towards the top where I was. I had never seen anyone move that fast. She was running faster than olympic runners.
I freaked out, ran inside, grabbed the biggest kitchen knife I could find, locked the door, and hid next to it. There was no way she could run up those steps that fast, even if her limbs weren’t broken. Then I heard the sound of one of the big cabinets opening. My blood ran cold. I slowly looked over at the cabinets to see one of the big ones wide open with the ghost from the ridge looking right at me. I froze in fear… that is until I heard it giggling.
I recognized that giggle. I pulled off the sheet and saw it was one of Donny’s kids. He pulled out a walkie talkie and said: “hey dad we got him.” I heard Donny’s voice come over the radio: “hahaha good job!” I grabbed that walkie talkie and said “haha very funny you jerk.” Donny replied: “Yeah, listening to you scream like a girl was the best bit.” I responded: “Yeah screw you too Donny. By the way, that wasn’t me who screamed, that was that zombie chick at the stairs. Who was that, your wife?”
Donny hesitated in responding and just stuttered out: “m-my… wife? Do ghosts look like zombies from that from that distance? You said it yourself it looked like a Charlie Brown ghost.” I then said “Not the ghosts. There was a woman at the bottom of the tower. She shrieked and ran up the stairs faster than an olympic runner.” Donny then said “uhhhh yeah….. I didn’t put a woman on the stairs.”
Needless to say I put in my resignation when my shift was over.”
8. Scout trip.
“We were on a scout trip in northern Utah. Was a short trip with some light hiking, fishing, merit badge work, etc.
According to the scout leader, the place was called mirror lake, and he had an old friend who’d camped out there before, some 25 years before. This friend was there with 2 other guys, all in there mid-20s. I can’t remember the names so we’ll say they were Steve, mike, and Jacob.
They had a very tame fishing trip, no alcohol or any other substance that could have upped the chances that events were being misremembered, misinterpreted, scary when it wasn’t, etc. but on the final night of the trip, they’d called it a night, settled in for bed, and Steve fell asleep. Not long later, he and mike woke up in the tent, to a noise in the distance, presumably an animal echoing from across the lake.
As they came to, they noticed Jacob was missing. At first, they didn’t assume anything was wrong, he was probably just going to the bathroom, and would be back any minute. But as they waited, they gradually got more uneasy and worried. Eventually they decided to go find him. As they were just beginning their search of the near area, but before they started calling his name out as loud as they could, they heard an ear-splitting, inhuman screech, followed by Jacob’s bloodcurdling scream.
Scared out of their wits, they rushed back to their tent. With hushed voices and tears in their eyes, survival became the primary concern. They prayed that whoever or whatever had their friend had happened upon him while he was out looking for a spot to go to the bathroom, so it wouldn’t known where their tent was. The plan became to sleep in shifts through the night and get back to the city at the first sign of light, and inform the officials so they could hopefully save Jacob , or whatever remained of him.
Things went well for the first few shifts, so they began to relax, and hope that they would survive the night began to grow. The time came again for Steve to rest, and this time he was able to fall asleep more quickly, and sleep more deeply with his mind less on edge and the fatigue piling up. But not long later, he was roused from his sleep as mike was rustling around the tent. Steve sat up, and saw that mike was getting his shoes on.
He asked him where he was going, but mike didn’t respond, or acknowledge his question. Concern growing as the grogginess faded and the situation came back to him, Steve got out of his sleeping bag, and grabbed his friend by the shoulder. When he faced mike head on, his face was blank, but his eyes were wide, and glazed over, as reflective as a mirror, or as the lake. He was muttering something about needing to go, and continued getting ready to leave the tent, almost in a trance.
Steve thought he was just tired, and not being careful, so he tried to talk him out of going out, saying to wait till it was light so they could pack up and hike back to the car. But mike kept ignoring him. As Steve started to get a little more rough with mike to try to shake him out of it, they heard a noise much the same as the one they heard before, but not nearly as far as across the lake.
This was the first thing that got mikes attention, and his whole body went tense as the flashlight reflected off his glossed eyes, and he began to rush, seeming to be in a hurry to get out of the tent and join whatever was out there. Steve went into full panic mode, unsure of what to do but he was resolved to not let mike go out there and be taken or killed as Jacob had.
He was trying to hold mike back, but mike struggled against him, unshakable in his trance. Mike broke free, and began to unzip the main entrance, when Steve tackled him away, pinning him down with his body weight and clamping a hand over mikes mouth in case he tried to call the thing over. For what felt like years Steve stayed there, barely dating to breathe, resisting mikes attempts to wriggle free or speak, sure that he hadn’t come back to himself yet.
Finally, as the light of morning began to work its way through the trees, mike stopped struggling, and the mirror left his eyes. Steve asked him why he had been trying to leave, but mike had no memory of this. In a flurry they broke down their camp, basically sprinted through the winding trail back to their car, and sped till they could get cell reception to call the police.
I never asked my scout leader after the trip if he really knew a guy that claimed this stuff had really happened, or if he’d just made it up/come across the story from someone else telling it. But he was a smart guy, so I could see him coming up with it on the spot to make it feel real and tied to where we where camping to freak us out.
I was definitely unsettled, but some of the other boys were scared out of their minds. Later that night, we were settling in to go to bed when we realized one boy had fallen asleep in the tent while we’d all been chatting. So we were cruel enough to all leave the tent and then try to wake him up and make him think we’d all been taken under the “mirrors trance” he was pretty scared for about 2 minutes before someone gave it up and went and told him, but if it had been up to me I’d have held out and let him freak out a while longer.
This was an awesome question and a great thread to read and get me thinking back to this and other great camping trips.”
9. Yikes!
“Late at night, two doctors are finishing their shift at the hospital.
As they get in the elevator, an elderly woman in patient’s gown waves at them to wait but the older doctor lets the door close. “Why didn’t you wait for her?” asks the other doctor.
“Didn’t you see her blue ID bracelet? That’s a morgue tag!””
10. Haunted house.
“When my Uncle attended University in the early 80s he was among a group of fraternity brothers responsible for recruiting freshman, who went through a particular kind of hazing, involving a supposed “haunted house” a few miles from campus.
An old three story Victorian style mansion left abandoned and withering away to the elements after, rumor has it, the Father of the family that resided within had one day gone mad and murdered his wife and three children with a hatchet and then hung himself from the second story stairwell.
The hazing involved sending three Freshman potential fraternity recruits to said house, at 3am, two equipped with a unique item relating to the murders and all three with a candle and a match. The Freshman would be sent one at a time to the house, observed from afar bt the frat boys.
They were instructed to enter the house, light their candle, and ascend each floor until they got to the attic. They were told to stop at each main picture window of each floor and let their candle show in the window, to prove they were actually there and completing the challenge.
My Uncle was a senior member of the fraternity, and he ended up having a worse outcome than anyone else involved. So the night comes, the fated night that changed multiple peoples lives irreversibly, forever.
My uncle, four of his frat brothers and three Freshman potential frat brothers arrive at a small bridge on the outskirts of the house around 2:30am, the night is cold and still, clouds ride across an almost full moon, illuminating the old house and casting eerie shadows.
The three Freshman are given separate items alongside their candles and matches. The first gets a hatchet, representing the murder weapon. The second is given a rope, representing the suicide method. The third is given a second match, because he’s told it’s almost certain his candle will not burn true after the first two ascend the stairs and disturb the spirits.
So my Uncle, the frat brothers, and the other two freshman watch as the first recruit approaches the old house with a hatchet, a candle, and a match in hand. Nervously, he enters, and in the dark night the rest can plainly see the match strike, light, and ignite the candle.
This house had many large picture windows, and the whole group watches as a glow illuminates the first floor windows, passing one by one, until the stairs, when it begins to rise, first floor, second floor, and then the candle goes out.
They spectate for a minute, “most likely a draft”, or “moving too fast from panic”. So they send the second freshman recruit, equipped with a rope, candle and match. And eerily enough, the same events unfold. First floor, second floor, and the candle goes out.
The third and last recruit is obviously shaken but the frat brothers try to rationalize the situation by explaining that the other two recruits are probably just messing with them. “Holed up and the second floor, laughing in the dark and sipping on a hip flask”. My Uncle says he didn’t beleive this but he just laughed and agreed to ease the tension.
So they send the third freshman to investigate, give his buddies a kick in the *ss and remind them that they can’t join the frat unless they make it to the attic and prove it with the candle glowing in the window.
With nothing but a candle and two matches, the third visibly trembling freshman approaches the house, gives a apprehensive look back to the group, then enters.
Again, it happens, the same thing, first floor, second floor, and the candle goes out. It doesn’t relight, despite the second match.
My Uncle and his buddies are perplexed, do these guys just not want to join the frat? Are they just screwing with them to be cocky or prove something? It’s got to be freezing, dark and miserable in that old house, what do they have to gain?
So they wait. And wait. And wait. Two hours have passed, the beer has all been drunk and my Uncle and his frat buddies are just annoyed at this point. So they say f*ck it, leave em, let the freshman enjoy their little prank and sit in the cold and dark, not going to give them the satisfaction. So they go back the the dorm and sleep it off, eager to see the freshman recruits the next day and inform them that they failed the test and “hope it was worth it!”.
But the freshman never show up.
In fact, they still haven’t showed up the next day either. Nervous, my Uncle and his buddies decide to investigate the old house before getting police involved and potentially a massive scandal. Well what they found, my Uncle never forgot or forgave himself.
At the top of the second floor stairway, they found the first freshman, face down in a pool of blood with the hatchet buried in his head. Hanging by the rope he brought was the second freshman, dangling from the second floor railing. Panicked and horrified they call the police.
The third freshman was never found, but there were footprints in the dust leading up the stairs, and out an open window, the police never found him, and he is believed to the top suspect. Why would he kill his friends? No known motive, but he’s the only suspect and is still missing to this day. After an extensive investigation, no charges are filed on the frat or my Uncle due to lack of evidence.
My Uncles fraternity completely disbanded after the incident, “Hazing gone wrong ends in two grisly deaths” the papers said, big mess swept under the rug. But then the incidents started happening. Now here’s the even more peculiar part of the whole mess.
Each year, almost on the dot, the night of the deaths of those two freshman, my Uncles frat brothers started dropping like flies, one at a time. “Grief stricken suicide” “Alcoholism” “Tragic accident”. Each was explained away and forgotten, only my Uncle seemed to draw the connection and it haunted him for the rest of his life.
Until he was the last one left.
12 years later, he found himself the last of his fraternity to be alive, and the anniversary was approaching. Terrified, he panicked, sold all his worldly possessions and decided to live the vagrant rail riding hobo lifestyle. Who knows why, we certainly don’t, all we know is how he was found, two days after the anniversary.
He was found at a railway station by a worker unloading box cars, he was found alone, dead and cold, a horrible shocked look frozen on his face. Beside him was a candle and two burnt out matches, and scratched in to the door of the box car, was… AHHHHHHHH!
That’s when you scream and scare the ever loving sh*t out of a bunch of 12 year old Boy Scouts and have them hike in the dark back to their camp. Good times.”
Now we want to hear from you!
In the comments, please share the campfire stories that creep you out.
We can’t wait to get all spooky up in here!
