Everyone loves a great ghost story! Sitting around a fire with the cool chill of the wind blowing in your face as a friend tells a story that creeps down your spine, you shiver and remind yourself it is only a story. Or is it?
That time of year is when we break out masks and everything related to pumpkins! What better way to prepare for the haunting hour than scaring ourselves at 2 a.m. on a Friday night with some of the scariest stories that the Internet can provide for us? Between creepy pastas and the SCP Foundation, there are no limits to the scary material available to engage with.
First, what are creepy pastas? Simply put, they are scary Internet memes. A community of users create either stories or even fake photos to scare people into thinking that strange, twisted creatures exist. These haunting campfire stories can range from strange events with a small amount of truth to add that "based on a true story vibe," while others prey on the use of creatures. These creatures are boundless. Each story is written from the perspective of either a police report, a psychiatrist report or a victim's recount of the events that unfolded. Creepy pastas are far more terrifying than what the name implies. One popular story that emerged recently was the telling of Slenderman, a tall, white-faced, sharply dressed "man." His appearance in free game "Slender" attracted many thrill seekers and, for a while, was considered the scariest game of all time. Overall, creepy pastas are the go-to for anyone looking to read a few stories to bring to their next bonfire!
The second option is actually lesser known but deserves more attention. The SCP Foundation is a fictional facility that collects strange and terrifying creatures from the world and hides them from humanity. Their website provides documentation of almost 3,000 entities and lets the outside world view them. They effectively scare even in their write-ups by purposely omitting certain facts and claiming these are top secret. SCP stands for Secure, Contain and Protect. They secure the entity, contain them and protect humanity. There is no perfect word to describe what the various SCP's are. Some can be harmless bugs while others can be radioactive men. Each one is given a classification: safe, euclid and keter. Safe is fairly self-explanatory. They pose no threat to mankind. Euclid is a classification to the middle-ground SCP's. Insufficient research tends to grant this rating to many of them while other reasons include that they are unpredictable or safe until provoked. The keter classification is reserved for the violent and dangerous SCP's. Most keter-classifieds are kept in captivity until the Foundation discovers a way to kill them.
The quality of ghost stories vary from person to person. Creepy pastas and the SCP Foundation compiled the cream of the crop while conveniently providing everything we need in one place. Creepy pastas are the more popular version of scary stories, but the SCP's should not be overlooked. If you find yourself in a position where you want to be scared, turn down the lights, pull out your computer and read. If you are looking for how dark the human mind can go, you will not be disappointed!
