20 Scary Stories To Tell Around A Campfire

Room For One is a classic ghost story often believed to be based on a true story from Ireland. 

The story starts with a woman pacing towards her office building when a hearse pulls near her matching her walking speed and offers her a lift. She gets creeped out by the deformed face of the driver and promptly refused to get inside. 

The spooky driver then points towards a coffin in the back of the hearse and says, there is “room for one more.” The woman races to work and completes her shift.

However, when she is waiting for the elevator from her office on the 9th floor of the building, she hears the same scary voice repeat there is “room for one more” from inside the packed elevator. She decides to take the stairs and hears all the people plummet to death after the elevator cable snaps.

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Short campfire stories include Fifty-Cent Piece. The story is about a couple’s encounter with an old man and his wife.

The American story takes place in the then-little hamlet of Spiegletown. A couple was returning from their trip to New England when darkness crept upon them and they had to find a shelter for the night. 

The husband who was driving the carriage turned into an alley where they found a little home with an old husband and wife living. The traveling pair decided to stay at home and they were served respectfully. The pair decided to pay for the service but the old couple refused.

However, the traveling couple left a shining fifty-cent coin at the dinner table and left early in the morning. They were terrified when a restaurant owner along the way revealed the house they supposedly stayed in had burnt down years ago and the old couple died there. 

As the traveling couple and the restaurant owner returned to confirm the existence of the house, they were left petrified by the shining 50-cent piece at the old burnt dinner table. 

Scary campfire stories for kids include A Cursed Doll. The story is a funny and scary one making it perfect for young children. 

A Curse Doll story starts out with a girl who already has a huge collection of dolls going to purchase another doll for her collection. She finds a perfect doll at a shop but the old woman does not want to sell it because the doll is cursed. 

However, after much negotiating, the woman tells the little girl to take the doll for free but she does not want to get blamed for any mishaps. The girl excited and overjoyed runs to her home and finds the lobby of the apartment complex deserted. 

She waits for the elevator and climbs into it once it arrives. Although the door of the elevator closes, it does not move. She then feels the doll move slowly in her hands, it stares her right to her face with its lifeless glass eyes and cries, “Press the button to go up, stupid.”

Campfire stories movie Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark features the well-known The Red Spot. The story is also known as The Spider Bite.

The story starts when a little girl is sleeping in her bedroom and a spider walks across her face. The eight-legged insect halts on her left cheek before moving about minding its own business. 

However, the little girl wakes up with a red spot on her face the next morning and shows it to her mother. Her mom comforts her saying it was just a spider bite and will go away in a few days, the mum warns the little girl not to scratch. 

The red spot gradually grows and turns into a huge red boil on her face. Frightened by the discovery, the little girl asks to get checked with a doctor but the doctor was not free and she would have to wait until the next day to get checked. 

She decided to take a warm bath in the evening when the boil bursts and many tiny spider babies craw out of the spot, turns out the red spot had a spider egg buried which hatched producing many baby spiders. 

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Magic Castle is a story about an old woman whose curiosity gets the better of her leading her to a haunted castle.

The story starts when an old woman who always goes to the woods to walk her dog decided to take a new path. She encounters a bright green slimly notice warning people not to go to the haunted castle at midnight. 

She decided to go to the castle that very night, and when she reached the door of the castle, there was another notice warning people not to enter. She found another similar notice when she reached the hallway. 

The bottom of the staircase past the hallway read, “Do not climb the stairs,” and the door which was not supposed to be opened made an ominous creek when pushed by the old lady. In the last room, there lay a big wooden coffin-like box that was not supposed to be opened either.

However, when the old lady pushed the heavy lid off, she found a box full of colorful Smarties (the European equivalent of M&Ms). 

One of the scariest campfire stories is The Motel Keyhole. The story is about a guest at an unusual motel who peeped through a keyhole.

The Motel Keyhole story starts when a gentleman checks into an unusual motel. At the front desk, the reception lady warns him not to look or try to get into an unnumbered room on the way to his room, he follows the instructions and goes directly to his room.

However, the next day curiosity gets the better of him and he tries the door, as said earlier it was locked. He looked inside the room from the unusually wide keyhole. The man saw a woman with a dreadful white pale skin at the corner of the room. The lady faced opposite from the door into the wall.

He tried to peek inside the room the next day as well. However, he only saw a red color from the keyhole. The man could not make anything of the color and decided to ask the receptionist. 

The lady told the story about a husband who murdered his wife in that room. She added the creepy fact the pair had unusually white skin and red eyes. 

Campfire ghost stories include the folklore The Yellow Ribbon. The story is about a girl named Janet and her best friend turned husband Johnny.

Janet wore a yellow ribbon around her neck every day since her childhood, she wore it regardless of her dress or the weather. Johnny who was best of friends with Janet asked her about the ribbon numerous time in their childhood and high school days, but she never answered him.

The young couple got together really well and often went out together. Johnny after noticing they had a very good relationship decided to purpose to Janet which she promptly accepted and had a huge wedding. Johnny hoped to get the answer about the yellow ribbon at their wedding but she did not answer him yet. 

The pair raised a family of four and had their golden anniversary but still, Janet never revealed the reason for wearing the yellow ribbon. At last, Johnny decided to ask about it for a final time at Janet’s death bed and Janet with a smile asked him to take it off. As Johnny takes the ribbon off, Janet’s head falls off. 

Meateater campfire stories include The Hairy Toe. The story is about an old woman who finds a hairy toe in the woods and eats it for dinner.

An elderly woman was searching for something to eat as dinner in the woods when she stumbled upon a hair toe poking out of the ground. She quickly unroots the toe after seeing the meat and brings it home and prepares a fine dinner soup. 

As she slept after eating the hairy toe soup, she heard the howling of the winds and in the distance, she could hear something chanting,  “Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe.” Although she tried to cover her head with the sheets, the sound only got louder until she could hear it on her front porch.

She decided to bar her cottage door but to no avail, as the big creature flung the front door open breaking the bar into two halves. The woman went missing from the village and the only trace that was left behind was a big footstep pressed on the loose soil of the meadow which was missing a toe from its left foot. 

Campfire spooky stories are sure to bring kids and adults to the edge of their seats alike. Ghost Ship of Captain Sandovate is one such spooky story.

The story is about a Spanish exploration ship that stumbles upon heaps of gold and treasure during its voyage to the newfound land across the Atlantic. However, the temptation of gold and riches gets the better of the sailors, and they resort to mutiny tying their captain Sandovate to the mast of the ship. 

The Spanish treasure vessel turns pirate flying a black flag and Captain Sandovate begs for water after being in the scorching summer sun for days. The sailor teased their former captain with water as they bought it near him but did not give him a sip.

The sailor’s wrong deeds were being watched by the gods and soon they were trapped in a storm sinking the ship along will all hands. After the ship sank to the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, a ghost ship resembling the treasured vessel started roaming the Atlantic with a broken mast and a person tied to their half-mast. 

The Ghost Ship pleaded for a sip of water to the passerby ships but no one was able to help them.

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The Vanishing Hitchhiker is also sometimes titled Lavender. The story is about a young girl who asks for a lift to get home.

Two friends were driving down a quiet country road when they see a lady standing on the side of the road with her thumb up, asking for a lift. The boys decided to take her and invited her to go to the dance with them. 

As it was a cold evening, the girl borrowed one of the boy’s overcoat to keep herself warm, the three enjoyed dancing until late at night. The lady asked them to take her home as the night matured, the boys agreed and dropped her home but they forgot to take the overcoat back. 

One of the boys agreed to wait until the next morning to get back the coat but when they reached the girl’s home, they were greeted by the girl’s mother who revealed her daughter had died 12 years ago in the same corner where the boys had picked her the night before. 

The two friends also visited the grave to confirm the death as they were caught with astonishment. The gravestone read the girl’s name and the date of death which was precisely 12 years ago and the coat was wrapped around the gravestone.

The High Beams is among the scary campfire stories for adults as well. The story follows a woman who is flashed with high beams by another vehicle from behind.

A lady was driving down a deserted highway when another vehicle approached her from behind, the vehicle was about to pass her when it suddenly stopped and pulled in the back of the lady’s car and started flashing high beams repeatedly. 

The strange car followed her as she took her exit and flashed its high beams constantly, the woman dialed 911 in terror and soon enough red and blue flashing lights were visible in the distance. The woman had already reached her home with the strange car still following her when police patrols pulled near her with their weapons drawn. 

As the officers pulled the man in the strange car out of his vehicle, he shouted there is someone in the car. The officers and woman discovered a corpse in the backseat of the woman’s car with a butcher’s knife in his hands.

The man from the strange vehicle revealed he blinked his high beams every time the corpse tried to attack the lady. At last, the man was just trying to save the lady after spotting the danger. 

Love Test is an old spooky story from Japan. It is about a beautiful girl who scared away men who came to court or date her. 

In a tiny Japanese village, there lived a beautiful girl with a perfect body and personality. However, everymen, who came to date her ran away in terror and never spoke anything about the night. Soon, people started spreading rumors and no one came to date the lady making her parents worry about her future. 

However, one day a man walked to their home and said he wanted to date the girl to her father. He agreed promptly and the girl asked him to come at midnight and not wake her parents. He arrives at her home at midnight and the beautiful girl leads him to a cemetery in the woods.

The girl starts to dig up a grave and tears an arm away from a corpse and starts devouring it. She had earlier said that she would take a love test and revealed it was her test, she tossed another arm to the man which he started eating without hesitation but it turned out the corpse was made up of candy and it was a prank all along. 

However, the man’s eyes filled with rage and he dug a nearby grave and started devouring a real corpse. This time, it was the girl who ran away and never spoke about the night. 

Ghost of the Bloody Finger is a story based on an abandoned house in a small village. The story starts with a group of men chatting in a coffee shop bragging about their bravery. 

A group of men was bragging about their bravery and one of them admitted he was not afraid of anything. Another tasked him to spend a night at the supposedly haunted abandoned home in the village to which he agreed and decided to spend the very night there.

He arrived at the home at dusk and inspected every room and did not find anything out of the ordinary. He decided to sleep in one of the bedrooms upstairs and snug into his sleeping bag as the night fell. However, as soon as he had dozed off, he heard a distant voice saying, I am the ghost of the bloody finger! I am at the bottom of the stairs!”

The voice started to grow louder and louder as it recalled it was on the top of the stairs, then in the upstairs hall, then near the bedroom door, and at last it cried I am the ghost of the bloody finger! from inside the bedroom, but this time the ghost paused for a moment before asking, “Do you have a bandaid?”

An old man lived in a large countryside home on his own. Although he was not afraid of anything, he kept a shotgun by his side all the time for his protection. 

One night he climbed into his bed after a long day of fieldwork when he noticed something unusual at the end of his bed, he saw an unearthly creature with two spooky eyes staring at him.

He slowly reached out for his gun without making much of a moment and aimed at the eye of the creature and pulled the trigger. As soon as he pulled the trigger, he cried out loud screaming in agony. The poor man had shot his own big toes out of fear. 

A Town Named 1234 is a little more scarier and thriller than the ordinary ghost stories for kids. It is about maintaining the population by any means.

In the countryside of the United States, there was a town named 1234, which was named after its population of 1,234 people which it had maintained for the past 99 years and this marked the 100th year of the population, everyone worked to maintain the population by moving out of the town and back in whenever needed. 

However, when the census day for the 100th year approached, a man died making one person in the town. Fortunately, a woman named Sheri was going to have a baby and the Mayor of the town asked her to get an earlier c-section to deliver the baby in exchange for a job in a factory and all hospital expenses covered by the town, she agreed. 

A day before the census the council members met at the town hall when the doctor called to reveal that Sheri was having a twin, this meant the population will be unbalanced once again, the mayor announced he would have an accident that night and sacrifice himself to maintain the population for the 100th year.

He explained his plan of cutting the brakes of a vehicle and asking one of the councilmen to drive it and hit him while he crossed the road at the bottom of the hill. Tom was tasked with driving the vehicle but as he turned the ignition the vehicle exploded killing him instantly. 

The mayor addressed the councilmen that it was an unfortunate accident and they received another phone call from the doctor saying, Sheri delivered only one child and another was stillborn. 

There lived a man who always wore two pairs of underpants. He had been wearing two pairs since his childhood and continued it throughout his adulthood.

However, when he passed away, his wife only put one pair of underpants on his corpse before being buried. The husband’s ghost started hunting his wife every night and she was forced to move to a new location. 

Every time the wife moved to a new location, the husband’s ghost found her and haunted her. After moving around to 5 or 6 places, the wife gathered her courage to ask her husband’s ghost what it wanted. 

The ghost calmly asked for another pair of underpants, the wife handed it over and the ghost has not been seen again ever after. 

The Legend of the Great Texas Wobblefink is an account of a small-town journalist who saw a beast twice. 

A journalist visited a stable in Texas where a mare named Missy was about to give birth to a baby horse. This was a big event as Missy was one of the greatest mares in all of Texas and the newborn would make heaps of wealth for the owner. However, the mare did not give birth for 6 days after her due date and all other journalist left except for one.

On the 6th day when he was in his car, he heard screaming from the stable and he rushed hurriedly to witness an unearthly creature with horns and a deformed body. He wrote an article and sent it to his editor who placed the story on the 13th page of the magazine, the journalist left his job as a writer and started working on a farm. 

However, one day when he was heading inside the barn to milk the cows while holding an empty bucket in each of his hands, he saw the same creature staring him straight in his eyes from a distance, it looked horrific. The creature had blood dripping from his jaws. 

The former journalist started looking for the animals on the farm to make sure they were all safe and when he returned, the creature was already gone. He named the creature the Great Texas Wobblefink and tried to get his story published by no one believed him. The creature is still at large roaming the Texas hills and woods. 

Don’t Turn on the Light is a story of two friends who shared a dorm room in their college.

The lady shared a room with her roommate Jenna. As Jenna loved to go to bed early, the other girl decided to pack everything and go to the basement to pull an all-nighter before her final exams the next day. She studied hard until one or two in the night when she realized she left a history book in her hostel room. 

She claimed the three flights of stairs and reached the room, she opened the door very slowly and crept inside, and reached for her books. She got a metallic smell and heard something dripping inside the room, she thought the faucet might have started to leak. 

Jenna’s friend studied until six in the morning when she decided to get a few hours of sleep before her exam started and headed to her room. Inside the room, she found Jenna’s throat slit from ear to ear and blood dripping from the saturated blanket making a dripping noise. 

As she screamed in fear, other students flocked to the hallway and the room. One of the friends showed her writing on the wall that read, “Aren’t you glad that you did not turn on the light,” written with Jenna’s blood. 

A group of campers after enjoying their campfire stories started getting ready for the night. One ten-year-old girl did not get ready and went straight to bed. 

All other people from the group brushed their teeth and took their turns emptying their bladders at the nearby pit toilet before tucking themself away for the night. The girl woke up in the middle of the night and had to use to pit toilet, she looked for her flashlight but did not find it. 

She tip-toed out of the tent and past the campsite to go to the pit-toilet in the dark. She did not want to wake-up fellow campers, but as he raced on the beaten path to the toilet she heard something following her, it came close but the girl was able to lock herself inside the toilet just in time. 

However, as her heart was pounding and her brain pre-occupied she only heard the fainting sound of footsteps to the woods and missed the swooshing sound from under the pit, the fellow campers were woken by a loud cry from the pit toilet. 

The girl disappeared never to be discovered again but the campers did see an unearthly creature vanish into the pit. 

S’more is one of the customary snacks at the campfire. Throwing marshmallows into the woods before preparing them will save lives according to our next story. 

A family and one of the teen’s friends go camping when the friend whose name is Royal is forced to choose a marshmallow and throw it into the woods by the family members. The grandfather shares his horrible experience after Royal reluctantly agrees. 

The grandfather had gone camping about 76 years ago when he was just 12 with his father, uncle, and their friends. One of the friends had brought a bag of marshmallows with him and his daughter had taught him to prepare S’mores. 

Only the grandfather, uncle, and one of the friends threw marshmallows unknowingly into the woods before preparing the snack, the two who did not share their bite were taken by big-foot-like creatures at night.

The remaining three hurried out of the jungle with a bag of S’mores and marshmallows as their panic food, they built a campfire and started making more S’mores after getting hungry during the flight. The grandfather and uncle threw the marshmallows into the woods and the remaining one was taken by the same creatures.

After suffering identical situations with marshmallows twice, the grandfather came to the conclusion that one must offer one piece of marshmallows to the unearthly creatures before making S’more during camping. 

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