10 Horror Myths Based on Disturbing Stories

When we think about myths and legends, we generally imagine elaborate narratives that tell us the story or the emergence of different phenomena or elements of reality. However, also We can find examples of horror myths among the stories of different cultures which basically tell us about the fears of the unknown and incomprehensible present in all of humanity.

In this article we are going to review ten horror myths and legends from various sources, some of them of great antiquity while others based on more recent historical moments and contexts.

A dozen horror myths

Below we leave you with different more or less known horror myths and legends, which come from various countries and cultures.

1. The butter remover

The story of the boogeyman, who takes children away in a sack, is one of the best-known myths in Spain. And yet, it turns out to be not so much a legend as it refers to an event that really occurred at the end of the 19th century.

And during this time, different cases were observed of men who kidnapped and murdered children (in other cases also women) in order to extract their blood and lipids (butters) to sell them or use them as a healing element, believing that these parts of children contributed to curing conditions such as tuberculosis A real example was that of Francisco Leona, who, along with his accomplice and his client, was sentenced to death after the murder of a child for these reasons.

2. La Llorona

One of the best-known horror myths and legends in Mexico, and which in fact has pre-Columbian origins, is that of La Llorona. Legend tells us that there was once a woman who, after getting married and having children, gradually saw a distancing and loss of interest in her from her husband.

One day, the woman discovered that her husband was cheating on her and was going to leave her. Furious, she drowned her two children, but after doing so she realized what she had done and ended up taking her own life. Since then her spirit wanders around her disconsolate, screaming and crying while she searches for her children.

3. Kuchisake-Onna

A Japanese horror myth tells us the story of Kuchisake-Onna, a vain woman married to a samurai whom she cheated on with other men. One day, her husband discovered her infidelities and, furious with her, brutally cut her face and mouth while she asked him if she really considered herself beautiful. The woman died, and her repentant husband would end up committing suicide.

Since then the woman’s spirit has returned in the form of a yokai, and appears from time to time covering her face with a surgical mask. The woman will seek out and stop at someone usually young (some versions say she chases after students and even children) to ask if he considers her beautiful. If she answers no, she will kill her victim.

If he answers yes, he will proceed to remove his mask to show his enormous wound, repeating the same question. If the victim gets scared, screams or says no, he will kill them. If you answer yes, the yokai will either inflict the same wound on you, or follow you to her house to kill you there. Trying to flee is useless, because the spirit will appear again.

4. The girl on the curve

One of the most well-known and popular urban legends in many countries is the legend of the girl with the curve. This tells us how a young woman died years ago in a traffic accident on a sharp curve in the road. Some time later, the spirit of the same young woman shows up on the road hitchhiking and asking for a ride

After getting into the car, the young woman remains silent until the driver approaches the curve where she died. It is then that her spirit tells the driver to be careful of her since she was killed on that curve, and once said this, she disappears.

5. The Holy Company

A well-known legend from the province of Galicia tells us about the appearance of a procession of souls in pain that runs through the Galician territory, the Santa Compaña. In it we are told that at midnight the souls in Purgatory gather to go out in procession, carrying candles, praying and singing funeral songs. It is said to travel along roads, forests and villages, passing and visiting the homes of those who are about to die.

The appearance of the Holy Company generally announces to those who see it their future death, sometimes seeing how the dead carry a coffin with the corpse of the person who sees it. It can also be seen by some chosen ones and those who by mistake during their baptism have been anointed with the oils of the deceased.

The procession is led by a subject still alive, who cannot look back at any time and carries a cross and holy water. This subject (who during the day will not remember his nocturnal walk) is destined to die in a short time, walking every night without rest and weakening and wasting away until he dies and joins the procession or passes the cross to another victim. If someone crosses paths with the procession, they can protect themselves from it by drawing a circle and praying from inside it.

6. Aka-mantle

There is a Japanese legend that tells us about the spirit or yokai Aka Manto, a spectrum that appears in public bathrooms and schools to give you a choice between two papers: one blue and one red. If the victim of this being chooses red, Aka-Manto will proceed to cut him with a knife until his clothes are dyed red with blood.

If the blue color is chosen, the spirit will strangle the person to death, thereby causing their face and skin to acquire the same blue color that it offered. Trying to say another color still results in death the only possibility of survival being to tell the being not to need any paper.

7. The wigeon

One of the best-known horror legends or myths from Venezuela is that of Silbón. The story tells us how a young man killed and disemboweled his own father, after discovering that his father had raped (in other versions beaten) his wife. After discovering him, his family cursed him and whipped him, and later whipped him and rubbed chili or chili into his wounds and threw him to the dogs. He eventually transformed into a lost soul, who travels with a sack in which are the remains of his dead father.

This being is an omen of death, and is said to primarily seek to attack and kill womanizers and drunks. His whistles sound far away when he is close and close when he is far away. There are several versions of this legend in some of which the reason for the murder of the father is to extract the entrails to eat them when the father failed to hunt a deer.

8. Teke-Teke

A macabre Japanese legend tells the story of a young student who was a victim of bullying and who fell on the train tracks after being scared by some classmates, with such luck that she was cut in half. Since then this young woman, now a furious spirit, wanders dragging her torso with her hands searching for her legs and attacking and killing.

9. The Legend of Pocong

This myth belongs to Indonesia, where the body of the dead is traditionally covered with white cloths and lace clothing that are tied above their heads. According to local beliefs, the souls of the dead remain in their bodies for forty days after death. After that time the body must develop.

When this is not done, the spirit of the dead will return in the form of an apparition, since his shroud prevents him from leaving. This spirit floats or jumps to move, generally looking for the people around it According to some legends, these beings also feed on the blood of infants.

10. The legend of Bloody Mary

The story of Bloody Mary is one of the classic horror legends. The story tells us that little Mary Whales, who one day became ill and eventually died. The family buried the girl, installing a device typical of the time in which a rope tied to a bell was placed in case the supposed dead person was not dead (since catalepsy was already known). The little girl woke up, her supposed death being a product of catalepsy, and she rang the bell. However, no one heard her.

When the family realized that the bell had fallen to the ground after multiple attempts and dug up the girl, they found her already dead, with bloody hands after having desperately tried to flee. But before she died, cast a curse: those people who say their name three times in front of a mirror will die, before which the bell that no one heard in their case will be heard.