Horror Short Stories and Many More

15 Urban Legends That Turned Out to Be True

7. The Escapist

Legend

A woman is left for dead and then buried in a shallow grave. She awakes and then digs herself out of the grave

True Story

A man tried to kill his girlfriend of six years. He tased her, taped up her hands and feet and stuffed her in an old TV box. He then buried her alive and withdrew 500 pounds from her bank account using her ATM card. The woman used her engagement ring to cut through the tape and dig herself out of her own grave

8. Creepy Crawlers Inside The Brain

Legend

Exotic insects crawl into your brain and begin living and laying eggs within your body.

True Story

Rochelle Harris returned from a vacation in Peru and began hearing scratching noises in her head. She didn't think much of it until the noises became louder. She then experienced severe headaches and pain on the side her face. Eventually, a fly flew out of her ear. She went to the doctor and discovered maggots were living in her ear canal.

9. Halloween Hanging

Legend

A Halloween decoration of a body in a noose is seen hanging from a tree. Locals soon realize the hanging decoration is an actual body.

True Story

Five days before Halloween, a 42-year-old woman hanged herself from a tree near a busy road in Delaware. The body hung there for almost 24 hours before people realized it wasn't a decoration.

10. Black Water

Legend

A person or family moves into a new home and water from the sink and shower is completely black. The black water is the result of a liquefied decomposing body.

True Story

In 2013, guests at the Hotel Cecil in L.A. noticed their water smelled and tasted funny and was black in color. They continued to use the water for about a week before complaining to hotel management. It turns out there was liquefied dead body of a college student in one of the water tanks. No one knows how the student died or got into the tank.

11. Body In The Wall

Legend

Construction workers find a human skeleton in a wall while renovating a home.

True Story

While renovating a bank in 2011, workers found the bones of a man who had been missing for 27 years. It's believed he became trapped in the chimney while trying to rob the bank in 1984.

12. You're Not Alone

Legend

A man who lives alone has always felt like he was being watched in his own home. He later finds out a stranger has been living in his attic.

True Story

In 2008, a Japanese man started noticing missing food and displaced items in his home. He set up a camera and discovered a homeless woman had been living in his cupboard for an entire year. She would steal food and even take showers.

13.  Funhouse Mummy

Legend

A traveling carnival dressed a prop mummy and used it to entertain children. However, the carnival owners were keeping a creepy secret. The prop was an actual mummified body. Kids were unknowingly playing with a real dead body.

True Story

In 1976, a film crew for the show, The Six Million Dollar Man, moved a prop mummy. The prop's arm fell off and they discovered it was a real skeleton. It was later revealed that the body was criminal Elmer McCurdy's. He was shot a killed in a shootout in 1911 and the undertaker who embalmed the corpse was so impressed with his work he used it as display to showcase his skills. People paid five cents by dropping a nickel in its mouth.

True Story Continued...

A group of carnival promoters claiming to be the embalmer's relatives eventually took the mummy and began using it in carnivals across America. McCurdy's body is now buried in Oklahoma with concrete poured on top so no one else can steal the body.

14. Ice Bath Surgery

Legend

A person meets someone at a bar and they have drinks. They eventually go to the hotel room and the person passes out. They wake up in the bathtub filled with ice and find an incision on their abdomen.

True Story

In 2008, an Indian construction worker woke up on a metal table without his kidneys after meeting his new "bosses." He was the latest victim of an organ-trafficking scheme. Several other cases have also been reported because selling black market organs is very lucrative in parts of the world.

15. Buried Alive

Legend 

Someone thought to be dead is actually buried alive. When the body is exhumed by the family, scratch marks are found on the coffin.

True Story

Someone thought to be dead is actually buried alive. When before advances in modern medicine, this shockingly occurred very regularly. In the 19th century, William Tebb compiled all known instances of premature burial. He collected 219 cases of near premature burial, 149 cases of actual premature burial and few cases where embalming had begun on an undead body. the body is exhumed by the family, scratch marks are found on the coffin.