By: Alice Langholt
If you're looking for a true Halloween legend (the best kind are true, after all), these Halloween stories will give you the thrill you are seeking. Tell these Halloween ghost stories at your next creepy event, and you'll have everyone's attention. You can also say they are true, because they really are. That is what makes this list of Halloween legends the best ones to share.
- The Dead Body Under the Mattress
A couple on vacation were in a motel. There was a horrible smell in the room that they couldn't identify. They called management to complain, and someone found that the odor was coming from the bed. After further investigation, they discovered the dead body of a girl shoved into the bed's box spring. Murders in hotel rooms have happened many times, with dead bodies found in the mattress or the closet. Let it be a caution to you to check the room before you start your stay. - Mummy at the Carnival
A haunted house feature at a carnival has lots to see and experience. Among the fun props is a mummy "hanging man" suspended from the ceiling. Poked once too often by a curious teen on a dare, the arm falls off, revealing bone underneath! This actually happened in Long Beach, California, in 1976. What was thought to be a prop was really the dead body of Elmer McCurdy, a train robber killed in 1911 and embalmed. - Hanging Halloween
Amidst the Halloween decorations in the neighborhood was the body of a woman hanging from a tree. The real suicide was thought to be just another Halloween prop, until someone had a closer look and discovered that it was real. Imagine the kids trick or treating around the houses in the neighborhood, pointing and laughing at all the decorations, until someone realized it wasn't a fake. This happened in Frederica, Delaware, and it was a poorly, or perhaps purposefully, timed suicide. - The Wrong Door
Two high school students are on their way to a party on Halloween night. They think they have the right house and ring the doorbell. When no one answers, they head back to their car. The garage door opens, and when they turn to walk back to the house, the homeowner fires, fatally wounding one of the young men. This story took place in 1992 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when a homeowner mistook foreign exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori for a dangerous intruder. The homeowner, Rodney Peairs, was acquitted of manslaughter in a criminal trial. He was later found responsible in a civil trial and ordered to pay $650,000 to the boy's parents. - Razors in Candy, Veterans Shooting Kids
You may have heard stories about razors in apples, poison candy or a veteran freaking out and shooting a kid in an army costume. These are cautionary tales to remind kids to be wary of strangers and to have parents inspect their candy before eating it on Halloween. Only one documented case of a man putting pins in candy exists. In 2000, a Minneapolis man put pins in candy bars and gave them out to children who visited his home. One boy suffered a small cut in his mouth when he bit into a candy bar, but no one else was hurt.
