Gregory Burkart
Local News Claims a “Terrifying Creature” is Killing Dogs in Argentina
One of the strangest viral cryptid images to make the rounds over the past few days has been sparking intense debate over its true origins… but even if it’s a doctored shot (which most of these turn out to be), it’s still seriously creepy to look at. The image was researched by the blog INEXPLICATA […]
Gregory Burkart
A Horrific Urban Legend Comes Calling in the Horror Short INVOKE!
The perfect setup for a creepypasta often involves the appearance of a mysterious file via text or email — one which the story’s protagonist often mistakes for a message or joke from a friend, who then denies sending it. That’s why the 2017 short film INVOKE by writer-director Carlos Omar de León should hit all […]
Gregory Burkart
Don’t Answer the Phone: The Twisted History of the “Red Numbers”
Urban legends and viral stories are filled with chilling warnings of “Death Calls,” which are rumored to kill anyone unfortunate enough to answer a telephone call from a specific number. There are countless variations on this theme but one of the earliest and most infamous examples is believed to have emerged on April 13, 2007 […]
Gregory Burkart
Infamous Creepypasta Image Makes “Guest” Appearance on THE X-FILES
You may not have seen this face before… but, according to one of the oldest and most enduring internet rumors, reportedly thousands of people have seen this disturbing visage in their dreams. Now it seems “THIS MAN” has crossed over into the 11th season of THE X-FILES, in the form of a bizarre cameo appearance. […]
Gregory Burkart
The Horrific Mystery of DR. EMMITT’S RESEARCH: Part 2
NOTE: Be sure to read Part 1 of this feature first [follow this link], or you’ll be up to your eyeballs in spoilers… The eerie, mind-boggling circumstances surrounding the death and/or disappearance of noted anthropologist W.M. Emmitt, Ph.D. – as documented by his former teaching assistant and posted to an occult-themed subreddit in 2012 – […]
Gregory Burkart
The Horrific Mystery of DR. EMMITT’S RESEARCH: Part 1
According to Reddit lore, today’s creepypasta – the first of two chapters – was once posted on a now-defunct forum primarily focused on… well, let’s call them “unorthodox experiments.” Topics on that board were said to have been sourced from actual research and included a wealth of data – including documents, photos and video clips […]
Gregory Burkart
This Mysterious Phone Call Contains a Terrifying Hidden Message
The recording has come to be known as “Hypno’s Lullaby” — but its origins remain a total mystery since it was first discovered 30 years ago this month, at the site of a grisly crime which also remains unsolved to this day. According to police reports, the following message was left on the answering machine […]
Gregory Burkart
The Gruesome Unsolved Crimes of “The Chess Killer”
The following case was compiled and uploaded in 2013 by user Rookurou, who cites a series of graphic and disturbing police reports from the city of Chichibu in the Japanese prefecture of Saitama in 1986. Over three decades later, the case remains unsolved, and the once-classified files were recently leaked online by an unnamed source. […]
Gregory Burkart
Have You Seen THIS MAN? You’re Not Alone…
When I first launched this column nearly two years ago, I offered a quick primer on some of the most notorious and heavily-shared viral tales known as creepypasta. Among the most enduring of these legends are a nightmare gallery of villains… of course, there’s the iconic and headline-grabbing Slender Man, but creepy web lore contains […]
Gregory Burkart
If This MP3 Appears on Your Playlist, You May Already Be Doomed
One of the rare but chillingly memorable audio-themed creepypasta legends [other examples include the well-documented “Hungarian Suicide Song”], the mystery surrounding a certain mp3 file is gaining traction among social media, with numerous reports of strange and disturbing incidents surrounding the file’s random appearance on music applications set to “shuffle” mode. While the origins of […]
Chok Suwanavisootr
Wanna Hook Up With a Ghost Hottie From Thailand’s Urban Legend?
In Thailand — the so-called “Land of Smiles” — we believe in something deeper than meets the eye: those spirits, ghosts, and other dark entities that we can’t see or explain, but have nevertheless become one of our favorite (and unavoidable) aspects of our culture. Since the old days, we’ve been told countless creepy urban […]
Gregory Burkart
The 25-Year-Old Mystery Behind “Mortuary of the Dead” [NSFW]
The ghastly, nightmarish legends surrounding a notorious (and redundantly-titled) video known as “Mortuary of the Dead” has elevated its seedy legacy from the underground domain of VHS bootlegs and “true gore” sites, and into the realm of internet legends… and that place, as you probably know by now, is where I live and breathe. Still, myths and […]
Gregory Burkart
This Author Knows Why 3AM is Called “The Devil’s Hour”
Three A.M…. Doctors say the body’s at low tide then. The soul is out. The blood moves slow. You’re the nearest to dead you’ll ever be save dying. Sleep is a patch of death, but three in the morn, full wide-eyed staring, is living death… and wasn’t it true, had he read somewhere, more people […]
Gregory Burkart
This Town Endured Weeks of Heavy Rain… and Something Even Deadlier
One of the amazing things about creepypasta tales is that they tend to spawn offshoots and hybrids as they travel, like creeping mutant vines, working their way through the nooks and crannies of the web. One example of this is a strange post by user Havoc98 on the Creepypasta Wiki, which he titles “A Month […]
