scariest urban legends

The Top 6 Scariest Urban Legends from Around the World

25 October 2019

From Bloody Mary to the Red Room and back.

Urban legends have a way of reappearing.

That's part of their eerie magic—they can be adapted to suit various cultures and time-periods, but they always seem to creep back into our consciousness.

These legends come from all around the world, and though many are not based in truth, it's terrifying to think that a real event could have inspired them.

There is no urban legend more famous than the story of Bloody Mary. It's easy enough to summon this evil ghoul: Just go into a darkened bathroom and say her name three times into the mirror, and supposedly a bloodstained woman will show up, either holding a bloodstained baby or promising to come and kill your children.
The actual Bloody Mary story may be based on Queen Mary I, a monarch born in 1516. Queen Mary took the throne at age 37 and married Philip of Spain. During her reign, Mary suffered from a miscarriage that is believed to be a case of "pseudocyesis," or "phantom pregnancy." Mary would suffer from this phenomenon twice during her life before dying at age 46, and this may be the location of the baby-killer image. (Of course, Mary also earned the nickname "Bloody Mary" by killing a bunch of Protestants).
However, Mary I may not have actually been the original inspiration for Bloody Mary. The "mirror witch" ritual could be based in traditions involving unmarried girls trying to catch glimpses of their future husbands, or they could also be based in old funeral rituals that viewed mirrors as portals between our world and the spirit world.
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Most everyone has heard some version of this story. The tale always begins the same way: A young couple is driving on a misty, empty road at night when their car breaks down. The boyfriend, ever-chivalrous, offers to go look for help. In many versions of the story, the couple has been listening to a story about a local serial killer on the loose when the car stalls. The boyfriend tells his girlfriend to hide in the back of the car for her own safety. Sometimes, he promises that he'll knock three times when he returns, so she knows that it's him.
Time passes. At last, the girl hears three knocks. Then she hears another knock. And another. At last, she summons up the nerve to look up from under her blanket—and sees that her boyfriend is hanging from the tree above her, his foot knocking against the window.
Another variation of this urban legend, known as The Hook, begins with two teens making out in a car while listening to the radio. A news report about an escaped killer with hooks for hands comes on, but that doesn't deter these two lovebirds—until they hear scraping from outside the car. The boy gets out and examines the rear bumper, and hanging there, of course, is a hook.
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Urban legends are so creepy in part because we can't help but suspect that they have some basis in truth. For the citizens of Puebla City, Mexico some of their folktales turned out to be based in something very real.
For hundreds of years, townspeople told stories about a series of tunnels underneath their city. These urban legends actually inspired people to seek them out, and what they found exceeded all their expectations.
In 2015, a labyrinth of tunnels was actually discovered. It is believed that the tunnels stretch for six miles, and there are many portions that people have not yet been able to access—but visitors can enter a two-mile stretch.
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In Beijing, there is a particular bus stop that you may want to avoid. As with most urban legends, there are a lot of different versions of this story about China's ghostly bus station. Perhaps the most popular one is based on an event that's said to have happened way back in 1995. On a dark and stormy night (it's always those dark and stormy nights!), a young man got on the last bus to Fragrant Hills, a town located in Beijing's Haidian District. Somewhere along the way, the bus was waved down by three strange men. Once they were on board, it became clear that they were wearing Qing Dynasty robes (the Qing Dynasty began in 1644 and ended in 1911).
Soon enough, everyone had gotten off except for the aforementioned young man, an old woman, and the three strangers. Suddenly, the old woman loudly accused the young man of stealing her wallet, and insisted that they get off and go to the nearest police station.
Once they'd both been kicked off the bus, the old woman said that she knew her wallet hadn't been stolen, but she'd noticed that the three men did not have legs and therefore must have been ghosts.
The following day, the bus was reported missing and was found three days later at the bottom of a river. Three bodies—the rotting corpses of the conductor, the driver, and an unidentified body—were discovered; in some version of the story, the gas tank was full of blood.
Some versions of the story substitute the three men for a woman in a red dress, while others claim the bus was never found. Either way, if on a dark and stormy night you spot a quiet traveler in strange clothing, make sure you listen to your instincts (or the nearest old person) when they tell you to get the hell out.
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There are several urban legends from around the world that involve "red rooms," both virtual and material.
Around the late 1990s, one particularly terrifying urban legend popped up (pardon the pun). According to this legend, there's a pop-up going around the interwebs that will literally kill you if you click on it. The pop-up doesn't advertise anything; rather, it asks an unfinished question, such as "Do you like…?" It's supposedly red in color, with black text that's usually Japanese lettering. If you see it, it'll keep popping up even if you close your browser. Eventually, the ad will reveal the question, "Do you like the Red Room?"
If you see that question, it's all over. One of a few things might happen: The ad might start to show a crack or fissure, expanding outward from a small point. When the crack expands to fill the whole screen, the viewer dies. In another story, the ad will expand to reveal a long list of names, and something will appear behind the viewer, and they will later be found dead, the walls of their home covered in blood. According to some legends, the viewer dies by suicide; but regardless, you don't want to stumble on this virus.
So how do you survive the Red Room pop-up? Well, don't go reading about it or searching for it—that's a start—but if you do see it, whatever you do, don't attempt to close your browser window.
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In Siberia, around 1989, some Russian scientists drilled a borehole 14.5 meters deep into the Earth. They lowered equipment down there to see what was going on, including an audio recording piece. Before the microphone melted, the scientists heard horrific screaming.
Many of the scientists quit their jobs right then, as the story goes, convinced that they'd heard trapped spirits screaming in Hell. But the ones who stayed the night were in for a greater shock: A plume of gas burst up from the wormhole and took the form of a demon, surrounded by fire that spelled the message "I have conquered."
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