- Ghost stories are often intended for entertainment,
a way to creep you out with a fictional tale
of malevolent spirits.
But what if they aren't just stories?
As it turns out, not all ghost stories are fiction.
In fact, some of the most terrifying ones
are actual recountings of real events.
(eerie music)
Here are 10 disturbing real ghost stories
that will haunt you.
Number 10 is The Willows.
The Willows is a terrifying ghost story
based on real events that happened to one man.
Algernon Blackwood published the story in 1907,
and it follows two friends who are on a canoe trip
down the river Danube.
After finding an island in the middle of the river,
they land on it and camp there for the night.
However, as the waters rise around them,
they find themselves stranded there,
and after seeing what they think to be a corpse in the water
they suddenly realize the island is haunted.
Blackwood himself has come out as saying
that he has traveled extensively
and that the rumors that this story
is based on his life experience turned out to be true.
Often times, authors will put their real, terrifying stories
into fictional tales with characters
because nobody will believe them.
Number nine is the Flying Dutchman.
The concept of a ghost ship has been used
as a fictional device in films, novels
and most famously in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
But shockingly, many of these stories
are actually based on real-life ghost ships.
The Flying Dutchman is a large sailed ship
which is doomed to sail forever and can never make port.
Many believe that to even see the Flying Dutchman
is an omen of doom.
The stories of the ship go back to at least 1790,
when a traveler described how sailors
feared seeing the Flying Dutchman
and believed that it was an apparition of a ship
which could not make port during bad weather.
It sank beneath the waves, and its crew drowned with it.
The Flying Dutchman has since been seen
in multiple similar storms,
and all sailor know to avoid it
lest they suffer the same fate.
Number eight is Martin's Close.
M. R. James wrote many of the greatest ghost stories
of all time, and one in particular is based on a real event
that took place in the 18th century England.
The story is called Martin's Close and tells the story
of a young woman with learning difficulties
who falls in love with a rich man.
Whenever the man walked through town,
the woman would follow and sing to him.
Eventually he killed her,
and afterwards was haunted by her ghost,
who either taunted him or was obsessed with him still,
depending on your reading of the story.
Since the writing of the story,
it has been discovered by researchers
that that story is based on the real case of Henry Malcolm,
who supposedly treated a similar young woman badly,
which led to her suicide.
Number seven is The Woman in Black.
The Woman in Black was written in 1982 by Susan Hill.
It tells the story of a remote coastal village in England
which is preyed upon by a malevolent apparition
known as the Woman in Black.
Whenever this ghostly figure is seen, a child soon dies.
Horrifyingly, this was a real experience
that Susan Hill had, which led to her
writing The Woman in Black.
One winter evening on the Suffolk coast,
Susan walked along a path which cut across a beach
looking out to the North Sea.
It led to a notorious deserted marsh,
and as the sun set, Susan was heading home
and came across a rotting boat lying in the mud.
She suddenly realized that se was not alone.
The shadows moved around her,
and a strange light shone nearby.
Ever since that encounter, children that she encountered
began dying one by one.
Number six is the Amityville Horror.
Written by Jay Anson in 1977, the Amityville Horror
is based on a terrifying case of supernatural malevolence.
This story was so powerful that it caused mass interest
in haunted houses throughout the '70s and '80s
and was even produced into a series
of successful horror films.
However, the events that are depicted in the book
are real and chilling.
In November of 1974, a man shot and killed
his entire family as they slept.
In total, the body count of dead people was six.
The house where this happened
was on the South Shore of Long Island,
and the man who did this soon claimed
that the house had been haunted
and that he had been possessed
to commit such barbaric murders.
Now, this may seem farfetched;
however, soon after, another family moved into the house.
Lasting just 28 days, that family left
as paranormal phenomena had driven them from their new home.
Number five is The Signal-Man.
The Signal-Man was written by Charles Dickens in the 1860s.
It is one of the most terrifying ghost stories ever written,
and it was significantly influenced
by Charles Dickens' own life experiences.
In this story, a signal-man whose duty it is
to change points and signals on a train track
is confronted by a hooded figure
by the mouth of a nearby train tunnel.
Each time the figure appears,
a horrible tragedy occurs on the train line.
Charles Dickens himself was involved
in a train crash in 1865.
The train derailed on a viaduct,
causing carriages to fall into the water below.
Dickens himself survived and attended
to many of the wounded and dead.
It's said that he was haunted by this event
until the last years of his life,
and that an ominous figure of the signal-man
directly relates to that experience.
Number four is The Shining.
Stephen King's classic 1977 novel The Shining
is based on his own life and the chilling hauntings
of the Stanley Hotel.
While visiting Colorado's Stanley Hotel in 1974,
King was influenced by its eerie atmosphere.
He and his wife were the only two guests in that hotel,
because it was getting ready to close for the season.
After being isolated and walking the empty halls,
King began to have nightmares that his young son
was being chased screaming
through those very same corridors.
Many believe that the hotel has a haunting presence
living within it, and that perhaps King himself
was influenced by it.
He was also struggling with an alcohol addiction
at the time, similar to the character
Jack Torrence in the book.
The Shining is literally a product of a haunted location
and a man haunted by addiction and forces in real life.
Number three is The Changeling.
Released in 1980, the screenplay for The Changeling
was based on the direct paranormal experiences
of its writer, Russell Hunter.
He believed that, while living in a mansion in Denver,
that the ghost of a young boy made contact with him.
Through unexplained noises and bangs throughout the house,
Hunter discovered a hidden children's room on the property.
The writer then attempted to contact the spirit
through a seance.
The ghost directed him towards another house,
where the spirit said that its bones
and a gold medallion bearing the boy's name could be found.
It turns out that the boy was a wheelchair user
and had been murdered while still a child.
Russell Hunter used thse chilling experiences
to write The Changeling and tell
the spirit's harrowing story.
Number two is A Christmas Carol.
Every year, people sit down to read
or watch a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol,
but what many people don't realize is that A Christmas Carol
was partly inspired by real-life events.
The book tells the story of a miser called Ebenezer Scrooge.
He's a money lender and is as cold-hearted as they come.
On Christmas Eve he's visited by three spirits
which show him the error of his ways.
As it turns out, Scrooge himself
was actually based on a real person.
He was a banker from Edinburgh called Ebenezer Scrawgy.
The man had told of stories of how he was haunted
throughout his life by the decisions that he made.
Dickens took his terrifying life story
of being haunted by the paranormal
and turned it into a book.
And number one is The Monkey's Paw.
Published in 1902, the Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs
is both a legendary ghost story and based on fact.
In the story, a family finds an old mummified monkey's paw.
They are told that the paw had a spell placed upon it
and that it grants the owner three wishes.
However, the wishes are granted at a terrible cost.
The family wishes for 200 pounds to pay off their mortgage.
The next day, their son is killed at a factory,
and they're given 200 pounds in compensation.
10 days after the funeral, the family wishes
for their son back, and his mutilated body
walks slowly up the driveway towards their home.
The truth behind this story is that there are
in fact relics, including cursed monkey paws
and rabbit feet, which you can buy at certain shops.
These items have been known to bring with them
terrible misfortune.
However, those who buy them are not aware of this.
And that's it.
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Thank you for watching.
Sweet dreams.