Every ghost story on Earth, checked against the record.
639 legends. For each one we separate what the documents actually say from what people tell each other after dark.
Haunted places by state
Halloween season guides to the real history behind each state’s ghost stories.
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Dracula and Nosferatu: Is the Vampire Count Based on a True Story?
Dracula is partly based on real history, but not on a real vampire. Bram Stoker borrowed the name from a book about 15th-century Wallachia, and the…
Robert the Doll: The Haunted Doll of Key West and the Chucky Claim
Robert the Doll is a real, 40-inch sailor-suited doll on display at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida, and the museum's own page…
Gumiho: The Korean Nine-Tailed Fox and How K-Dramas Rewrote Her
A gumiho (구미호, also romanized kumiho) is the nine-tailed fox of Korean folklore, a fox spirit that can take human shape, most often a woman's. In…
Sadako and Ringu: What the Ring Story Is Really Based On
Sadako Yamamura is not a real person. She is the vengeful ghost of Koji Suzuki's 1991 novel Ring (リング), and she reached the screen in Hideo…
Leshy: The Slavic Forest Spirit Who Wore His Shoes on the Wrong Feet
The leshy (Russian leshiy, Леший) is the forest spirit of East Slavic folk belief, called the lisovyk in Ukrainian and the lyasun in Belarusian. He can…
Huldra: The Beautiful Forest Woman Who Hid a Cow’s Tail
The huldra is a female being of Norwegian folk belief, known in Sweden as the skogsrå. She is beautiful and tall from the front, but she…
Nisse and Tomte: Scandinavia’s Farm Guardian Who Wanted Butter on His Porridge
The nisse is the household spirit of Danish and Norwegian farms, called the tomte in Swedish. He is a small figure in grey with a red…
The Ankou: Brittany’s Folklore Collector of the Dead
The Ankou is the figure Breton folklore sends to collect the dead: a figure in a black robe and wide hat, a scythe over the shoulder,…
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Legends famous in their own language that English reference sites haven't caught up to. We write them first.