Creepypastas are short stories or even legends shared across the internet, made to frighten the reader and blur the line between fiction and reality. From haunted video games to mind control experiments, creepypastas have become a must in digital folklore, evolving through communities and fandoms, sparking widespread fascination and maybe even fear online. Today, I chose some of my favorite creepypastas that not only scared me a bit, but remain lurking in the corners of my own mind.
10. Russian Sleep Experiment
Soviet-era test subjects were exposed to an experimental sleep-inhibiting stimulant. Prisoners were kept in a secluded room filled with experimental gas, preventing them from sleeping. The gas turned the subjects into zombie-like monsters. The tragedy ended with the commander who sent a researcher into the room and began killing off the prisoners. One of the prisoners uttered the words, “So nearly free” or “Finally put to rest” before they died.
9. Expressionless
A woman appears in a hospital wearing a gown coated in blood, with a kitten in her jaw. She removed the kitten, threw it to the side, and then collapsed. After the doctors used sedatives to help her, she arose from the hospital bed. Despite the staff’s best efforts, they could not prevent her from massacring and going cannibalistic on the all the present personnel. The only female doctor who survived gave the woman the name “The Expressionless.” Throughout the attack, even in the peak of the woman’s assault, her face remained completely “expressionless.”
8. Lavender Town Syndrome
In the 1990s, hundreds of Japanese children committed suicide as a result of the creepy background music in the game, Pokémon Red and Green. The music is in the graveyard village in the Kanto region, known as Lavender Town. It is said to be haunted by the spirits of dead Pokémon. It is speculated that binaural beats and high pitched sounds only children could hear caused headaches and erratic behavior prior to their deaths. Other recorded side effects included insomnia, violent behavior, and brain hemorrhaging within the young players.
7. Sonic.exe
A teenager named Tom Miller receives a mysterious CD from his friend Kyle, who warns him to destroy it. Ignoring the warning, Tom plays it and discovers a twisted version of the game, Sonic the Hedgehog. It features disturbing audios and a demonic version of Sonic who goes by Sonic.exe or X. As the game becomes increasingly difficult, all playable characters are killed and enslaved by X. The ending shows a hyper-realistic image of X saying, “I AM GOD,” and Tom hears a voice addressing him directly. Tom then sees a bloodstained Sonic plush toy crying on his bed, his fate left unknown. A sequel, however, reveals he unsuccessfully tried to hang himself to escape X from taking his soul.
6. Clockwork: Your Time is Up
A girl named Natalie Ouellette was constantly bullied and had emotional trauma from her classmates and her own parents. The isolation and pressure became too much and ended in hospitalization. Natalie was left permanently scarred, physically and mentally, after a violent act with one of her bullies. During a mental breakdown, she murdered her parents and carved a permanent smile into her face. She replaced her own eyes with the face of a clock, becoming known as “Clockwork.” Natalie went on a murder spree, killing anyone she believed was “out of time.” She became known for her catchphrase, “Your time is up,” which reflects her obsession with time and control and how her time as an innocent girl was taken away. Clockwork is often portrayed as cold and vengeful, driven by a twisted sense of justice and the trauma she suffered.
5. Gateway of the Mind
In the 1980s, an experiment was conducted where scientists would remove all of a man’s senses. They did this in hope that the man would communicate with God. At first the experiment goes smoothly, and the man is calm. As it continues, he begins to experience terrifying visions, where he descends into madness. During the course of the experiment, the man reached beyond normal human perception. What he found was not peace, or enlightenment, but only despair. In the end, the man whispers to the scientists that he did in fact speak to God, but that God has abandoned humanity. The project was secretly shut down and all records of this experiment were lost or maybe even hidden.
4. Held
A man wakes up in an unfamiliar place, with no memory of how he got there. Every day, someone slides food under the door, but there is no interaction. The man remains calm, believing this is a government mistake or psychological experiment. The isolation gets to him, and he starts to lose track of time. One day, a TV screen flickers on. It plays static, eventually showing disturbing videos. Some contain other people in his situation, or a woman crying. Some show unsettling medical procedures, while some feature the man himself. Sometimes the screen shows the outside world, abandoned with inhumane figures. Sometimes it shows messages like, “This is for your safety,” and “You are being protected.” or “Do not attempt to leave.” Driven into madness, the man stops resisting. He believes whatever is outside is far more terrifying.
3. No Visor
No Visor is an entity born from something darker than code, and appears in the game Among Us.At first it has the appearance of a normal crewmate, until you notice the visor is missing. Where there should be a face is a pitch-black void with no eyes or features. No Visor haunts a glitched version of the game that a player is forced to join. Players have reportedly been pulled into strange lobbies with no other names and broken game mechanics. The lights flicker, tasks don’t work, and strange messages appear. Sometimes they beg for help, but other times they warn you to leave. No Visor doesn’t speak, instead he watches from darkened hallways. He stands motionless until the player’s screen distorts and their avatar vanishes. Sometimes the player’s name disappears from the player list, erasing evidence they were ever there. Players have reported hearing static or a low voice whispering after the game has ended. Some players say their device froze up, but others claim it kept playing. If you’re ever in a game where the lights won’t stay on and a nameless crewmate is standing unnaturally still, don’t look too closely because No Visor is already looking at you.
2. The Backrooms
The Backrooms is a terrifying alternate dimension that people can accidentally “noclip” into, which is described as falling through a glitch in reality, usually from elevators, basements, or dreams. This alternate dimension consists of endless maze-like rooms or levels. One of the most common is level 0, which has yellow walls and stained carpeting, along with air that smells damp. It has buzzing fluorescent lights, which hum constantly. Like most levels, there are no windows, exits, or clear logic to their layout. The environment feels oppressively wrong, and leaves the noclipper with a strong feeling of isolation and dread. The back rooms that once was only level 0, has grown into a vast multi-level universe. Each level has its own unique setting, hazards, and sometimes, entities. They all have their own perception of physics and time, which is what people often lose track of. The Backrooms plays on people losing their minds from the isolation and fear of being trapped in an unfamiliar place. It has no clear way out, and those who enter are rarely heard from again.
1. The SCP Foundation
The SCP Foundation is a secret organization that is responsible for securing, containing, and protecting the world from paranormal and supernatural phenomena, also known as “anomalies” or “SCPs.” These can be anything from monsters and cursed items to strange places or unnatural events. Each SCP is assigned a number which corresponds to a detailed file describing what it is, how it behaves, how to contain it, and why it poses a threat. Every SCP is classified based on how difficult it is to contain. Safe means the anomaly is easy to keep control of. Euclid means the anomaly requires constant monitoring. Keter means the SCP is almost impossible to contain, and may be actively dangerous. Thaumiel is a rare class of SCPs that the foundation uses to help contain other SCPs. Neutralized is the final level of classification, and refers to SCPs that are no longer anomalous or have been destroyed. One of The SCP Foundation’s most important jobs is to keep their research hidden from the rest of society to protect them from widespread panic about the true nature of these entities.
