Every ghost story on Earth, checked against the record.

555 legends. For each one we separate what the documents actually say from what people tell each other after dark.

Documented Partially documented Oral tradition Internet origin Unverified Disputed Fiction How we verify →
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ASIA Oral tradition Sep 7

Maria Labo: The Philippine Aswang Legend of the Cannibal Mother

Maria Labo doesn't lurk in a forest or wait under a bridge. She's a mother — an ordinary overseas worker who came home from Dubai, Canada,…

ASIA Partially documented Sep 5

Khara-Khoto: The Black City’s Ghost Soldiers and Cursed Well

Ruins don't usually come with a warning label, but Khara-Khoto's has held for six centuries: don't dig in the wells, and don't stay after dark. Khara-Khoto…

ASIA Partially documented Sep 5

Kalu Kumaraya: Sri Lanka’s Incubus Prince of Pathaha Pokuna

Villagers near Udugampola, Sri Lanka, still point to a stone-lined pond called Pathaha Pokuna and lower their voices. Kalu Kumaraya (කළු කුමාරයා), “the Black Prince,” is…

AFRICA Partially documented Sep 4

The Ghost of Uniondale: South Africa’s Vanishing Hitchhiker

SEO METADATA SEO Title: `The Ghost of Uniondale: South Africa's Vanishing Hitchhiker` Meta Description: `Maria Roux died on a Karoo road in 1968. Decades later, drivers…

Peru Oral tradition Sep 2

El Tunche: The Whistling Spirit of the Peruvian Amazon

A whistle cuts through the jungle darkness — high, thin, and closer than it should be. Whatever you do, the guides in Peru's Amazon will tell…

Argentina Partially documented Sep 2

El Familiar: Argentina’s Devil-Pact Sugar Mill Legend

El Familiar is a legend from the sugar-producing provinces of northwestern Argentina — mainly Tucumán, Jujuy, Salta, and Catamarca — that says a sugar mill's fortune…

ASIA Oral tradition Sep 2

Zheztyrnak: Kazakh Folklore’s Copper-Clawed Demon

Zheztyrnak — жезтырнақ in Kazakh, literally “copper claw” — is the shapeshifting demon of the Kazakh steppe who appears to lone hunters as a beautiful woman…

EUROPE Disputed Aug 31

The Karadedeler Incident: Turkey’s Found-Footage Legend

A village in northwest Turkey says something was filming them back in January 1989. The Karadedeler Olayı (Karadedeler Incident, Karadedeler Olayı in Turkish) is the claim…

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