9 Creepy Halloween Urban Legends That Are Utterly Terrifying

What darkness awaits you on Halloween? Let these creepy urban legends be a warning about the things that go bump in the night.

Updated August 25, 2023
Scary woman dressed in white

Urban legends are creepy any time of year, but Halloween urban legends are even more unnerving. It's time to ramp up the Halloween creep factor by sharing spooky tales that just might be true. So before you head out for a night of terror — er... trick-or-treating, why not delve into all the things that await you in the dark?

Spider Wig

Wanting an authentic costume for a Halloween party, a young woman headed up to the attic to look through a trunk of old clothes. A 1920s fringe dress caught her eye, and she knew she had to wear it. Holding it up in front of herself, she danced around the attic, stopping in front of a tall mirror. The dress was perfect!

She gazed at herself in the mirror and frowned at her hairstyle. It was all wrong. She needed a bobbed hairdo from the 1920s.

Suddenly, she recalled a wig she'd seen at the bottom of the trunk. Retrieving the wig, she was about to put it on when the doorbell rang. Clutching the wig and dress, she ran down the stairs to open the front door.

"We're going to be late." Her best friend stood in the doorway, freaking out. "I'll steam out the wrinkles while you get your hair done. We need to hurry," her friend said.

Once she was dressed, the woman was thrilled with her costume. They left for the party, giggling at how she looked like a 1920s gangster's moll. By the time they arrived at the party, the woman was scratching at the wig. Having never worn a wig, she had no idea it could feel so itchy and crawly. They'd only been at the party for five minutes when the crawling sensation became unbearable.

"This wig is so itchy. I don't think I can stand it for the whole night," she told her friend.

Her friend looked at her and screamed, pointing at the wig as black spiders crawled out from under it. The woman shrieked as the spiders covered her face! She panicked and slapped at the spiders as they traveled down her arms. She jerked the wig from her head and threw it on the floor. A sea of baby spiders burst from the wig, scattering everywhere. The partygoers screamed and ran from the room.

It seems a spider had spun a nest inside the wig, and the little creepy-crawlies had all hatched in time for the Halloween costume party. The poor woman ran from the party. However, in her absence, she was awarded first place for the creepiest Halloween spider woman costume.

Halloween Tattoos

Two girls, cousins, went trick-or-treating together every year. One year, when they returned home, the girls were thrilled to discover they'd each received a unicorn temporary tattoo. They showed the tattoos to their moms, who thought they were a clever idea to give to trick-or-treaters. The girls quickly applied the tattoos to their arms, and within a few minutes, their moms noticed they were acting strangely. It was almost as though they were drunk or worse — drugged!

The moms scooped up their daughters and rushed them to the emergency room, where doctors believed the girls had been drugged. The police confiscated all their candy, but the lab reports showed no drugs. The next day, after the two little girls had recovered, one of the moms was picking up her daughter's Halloween costume from the floor when she noticed the used tattoo packaging. She grabbed a plastic bag and took it to the police station. The lab report on the tattoo revealed it had been laced with a hallucinogenic drug.

Halloween Haunted House Attraction

There is a tour of a five-story haunted house attraction that no one has ever been able to complete because it's so frightening. Each level is scarier than the last, testing the mettle of those brave enough to venture onto each new story of horror. Visitors to this haunted house attraction are enticed by its reputation. A strong motivation is the large cash reward for anyone who manages to complete the tour.

It's rumored that a few people have actually completed the tour, but they mysteriously disappeared before they could collect the cash reward. No one knows where the haunted house will be held from year to year, but it's always set up in a five-storied house, and it's the most terrifying experience you can have.

Bloody Mary, Bloody Arm

Bloody Mary was known for killing young women and bathing in their blood as a way to maintain her youth. The gruesome story is a favorite tale at sleepovers. On such an occasion on Halloween, three young girls decided to see if they could conjure the crazed killer from the spirit world.

They lit a candle and turned off the lights in the bathroom. Holding the candle in front of them, the three girls stood in front of a bathroom mirror and chanted, "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." They held their breath, waiting for the evil woman to appear in the mirror. Nothing happened, so they repeated, "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary."

Bloody hand on dark background

This time, they saw a shadow moving behind them, but before they could turn around, the frightening bloody face of a woman flashed in the mirror. The girls screamed in terror, and the one holding the candle dropped it. Rolling across the ceramic floor, the candle's flame went out. Darkness engulfed them, and the girls clawed at the doorknob, trying to open the door.

"I feel her hand on my shoulder!" One girl sobbed and released a blood-curdling scream that made the other girls panic even more. Eventually, they got the door open and fell out of the bathroom. The girl who'd felt the hand touch her found three bloody claw marks that tracked down her arm.

Razor Blade Candy

One Halloween, a boy and his friends decided they wanted a bigger candy haul than last year. After they had gone to every house in their neighborhood, they decided to walk a few blocks to another neighborhood. After all, with costumes, no one would recognize that they didn't belong there. The boys were pleased with all the candy they received.

The boys went home and sat down on the porch to empty their bags of candy. They compared the candies they had. One opened a candy bar and bit down on it. Blood oozed from his mouth, and he cried out in agony. His parents rushed onto the porch to find he had bitten into a razor blade that had sliced off his tongue that now lay on the porch floor in front of him. His mouth had several cuts.

The ambulance came and took the boy to the hospital, where doctors managed to stitch up his mouth and reattach his severed tongue. The police warn parents against allowing their children to trick-or-treat at the homes of people they don't know.

There is a rash of people wishing to harm unsuspecting children at Halloween by hiding razors and needles inside candy bars. Parents should always check the candy to ensure it hasn't been tampered with before allowing your child to eat it.

The Hook

After leaving a friend's Halloween party, a boyfriend and girlfriend decided to drive the short distance to a favorite lake park. The teenagers arrived at the spot to find it vacant. It was a beautiful romantic setting with a full moon shimmering on the water. The boy scrolled through his playlists to find the perfect music, when both of their phones beeped with a police alert warning for everyone to be on the lookout for a man with a prothetic hook who was seen fleeing the scene of a murder.

The two teenagers realized the address of the murder scene was only a couple of blocks from where they were parked. They decided to leave the park, but when they tried to start the car, the engine wouldn't turn over. They tried several times, and finally the engine coughed to life, and they sped out of the park.

They talked about their Halloween not ending quite the way they wanted. The girlfriend suggested they go back to her house to watch a scary movie. When they arrived at her house, they parked in the driveway behind her parents' cars. The girlfriend got out and turned back to wait for her boyfriend. Hanging from her car door was a prosthetic hook.

Murderer in the Backseat

Late on Halloween night, a nurse was driving home from work when she noticed a car that seemed to be following her. The driver began sporadically flashing the high beams on and off. The nurse sped up, and the car behind her sped up, too. She called 911 and told the police that someone was chasing her. The dispatcher told her to stop her car and get out of it immediately. The nurse thought the dispatcher had lost her mind, but just then, a police car pulled in front of her, forcing her to stop.

Scared woman driving and talking on the phone

The dispatcher told her once more to get out and go to the police car. She emerged from the car, and one of the police officers told her to get in the back seat of his car. She noticed the two officers had their guns drawn, and that the car that was following her had stopped several yards behind her.

The nurse didn't know what to expect. All kinds of thoughts raced through her mind. The first cop walked toward the driver's side of her car while the other moved around the passenger side. They stood with their guns and flashlights aimed at the back seat.

"Hands up! Drop the knife and get out of the car," one officer yelled.

The nurse watched as the police officers dragged a man from the back seat of her car. She later discovered that the car flashing its lights was driven by a woman who noticed the man rise up from the back seat holding what she thought was a knife. She immediately called 911, and each time the man rose up from the back seat, the woman flashed her lights.

Black Cats Sacrificed

One Halloween night, a woman was getting ready to go to bed. But her black cat was still outside. She called him from the back door, but he didn't come home. He sometimes liked to stay out at night, although she tried to keep him indoors. However, he was a rescue cat, and he still held onto some of his feral ways, so the woman didn't think too much about him not answering her calls.

For three days, she searched for her cat, and soon realized that he wasn't coming home. The woman printed out flyers, but when she started to post them in town, she found several flyers of missing black cats. Soon, it was discovered that Satanists had abducted several black cats in the area. Rumors claimed the cats were sacrificed to the devil on Halloween. Since then, everyone has been told to keep their black cats inside on Halloween night.

Wailing Woman in White

Maria, aka La Llorona, fell into a jealous rage when she discovered her husband was having an affair. She went insane from anger and jealousy and pushed her children into a raging river. The young children drowned in the bitter cold waters. The ghost of La Llorona wanders the riverbanks on Halloween in search of her children. You can hear her wailing cries riding over the river waters.

She is seen dressed in white as she searches for her lost children. Her gut-wrenching cries are those of a soul condemned for killing her own children. Those who see her will suffer a similar fate as her children. Parents are warned to keep their kids away from rivers on Halloween or the La Llorona will take them for her own.

Frightening Halloween Urban Legends

On Halloween, the veil between this world and the underworld thins, and nothing is quite as it seems. While you wander out among costumed ghosts and ghouls, there are forces at play that nobody understands. Let these urban legends be cautionary tales to remind you of the darkness that roams on Halloween night. 

9 Creepy Halloween Urban Legends That Are Utterly Terrifying