5 Disturbing Stories to Scare Your Friends Around the Campfire

A collection of short, bone-chilling stories to scare your friends around the campfire this summer!

5 disturbing scary stories to scare your friends around the campfire

We are DEEP into summer now.

Over the past few days, we have experienced a heat wave that has us desperately longing for the cooler temperatures of autumn.

But we still have several weeks before the weather starts to cool down, so we’re making the most of all the summer season has to offer.

One of our favorite activities in the summertime is camping… or at least building a big bonfire and enjoying a little bit of the wild beauty nature has to offer.

Sitting around the blaze of a fire, staring off into the pitch black woods surrounding you, so vulnerable to whatever lurks hidden under the cloak of darkness…

You hear a branch crack in the distance.

Is someone… or something… staring back. Watching you.

Okay- we’re getting creeped out just thinking about it.

A summer campfire is the perfect setting to hang out with close friends and take turns giving each other goosebumps with a round of scary stories.

Grab the marshmallows because today we’re sharing 5 disturbing stories to scare your friends around the campfire!

1. The Rake

5 disturbing scary stories to scare your friends around the campfire

For centuries, there have been tales of a creature that appears in the night and destroys the lives of those it encounters.

Nearly two dozen reports from victims recount identical experiences.

They awaken in the night to see it standing in the room at the foot of the bed.

It is shaped like a man, but nothing about it is human.

Its eyes are black and hollow. You stare into them. You blink to shake the image away, but it’s still there.

You will never close your eyes without seeing it ever again.

Every night, it returns. Standing at the foot of your bed. Watching you.

Your sanity begins to decay.

You no longer sleep, but you desperately clench your eyes shut.

You know what you’ll see staring back at you if you dare open them.

2. The Smiling Man

5 disturbing scary stories to scare your friends around the campfire

You’re walking home alone late one night.

You turn to cut down an empty street, and you see him.

Off in the distance, a tall figure stands under the glow of a street lamp.

A man dressed in an old suit with a disturbing smile spread across his face.

He’s moving toward you. You go to speak, but terror squeezes your throat tight.

He stares straight up to the sky, his distorted grin shining in the moonlight, as he gets closer and closer.

His smile cuts deep into your soul.

Is he drunk? High?… No.

His smile is not from inebriation.

It is a smile of pure insanity.

He runs toward you now. His bizzare grin wider than ever before.

You make it home and turn around.

He’s gone, but the deranged smile on his face is burned into your memory forever.

3. Anansi’s Goatman Story

5 disturbing scary stories to scare your friends around the campfire

You are in the nearby woods with a group of friends

You’re telling ghost stories when you start to get the feeling your little group may not be alone in the woods.

Someone tells the tale of the half-man, half-goat that stalks its victims in the woods.

You’ve heard it’s bad luck to speak of… the Goatman.

But that legend can’t be true… can it?

You smell a foul odor penetrate the thick, warm air.

You feel the presence there with you now.

The Goatman is among you.

Ice-cold chills shoot down your spine, and you run home in a panic.

Slamming your front door closed behind you, you see curtains billowing in the wind from an open window across the room.

You dash across the room to lock the window shut, but you’re too late.

He’s followed you home.

4. Stairs in the Forest

5 disturbing scary stories to scare your friends around the campfire

If you’ve ever spoken to anyone who’s worked for the US Forest Service, you’ve probably heard tales of the strange sightings seen deep within the forests of the United States.

One such sighting mentioned time and again by Search and Rescue Officers is that of a set of stairs in the middle of the woods that seem to lead to no where.

Each officer’s story varies in detail, but they’ve all been told countless times by supervisors not to speak of… the stairs.

Most importantly- they warn NEVER touch the stairs.

***

One summer afternoon, you and a friend are backpacking through the forest.

You’re deep in the woods, miles into the wilderness and alone.

As you walk, you see a clearing in the distance.

In the middle of the clearing sits a staircase.

Your friend is apprehensive, but you run ahead, curious to get a closer look.

It’s one of the strangest things you’ve ever seen.

The stairs seem like they were ripped right from a new house and placed in the center of the forest.

Each step of the staircase is covered in pristine white carpet, untouched and undisturbed by the nature that surrounds it.

As if nature herself is afraid to come in contact with the steps.

You go to approach the staircase, but something stops you.

A feeling of dread and paranoia.

A thought in the back of your mind: “This isn’t right. I should not be here.”

Something- some force stronger than curiosity- compels you to go up. You have to know.

Each step higher shakes you to your core. You’re shaking so badly, you feel like you could stumble and fall at any moment.

You take the last step, and every sound stops.

Have you gone deaf?

You try with everything you have to choke out a sound, but there is nothing but silence.

You feel lightheaded and dizzy before your knees give out. Everything goes black.

When you wake, the stairs are gone. Your friend is no where to be seen.

You start the trek home and soon find your friend who has no memory of the stairs and claims you just wondered off on your own for an hour or so.

You vow never to mention what you saw and felt that day.

You try to convince yourself that it was all some heat-induced delusion, but deep down, you know what happened.

You know somewhere, hidden within the brush of the forest, the stairs are waiting for you to find them again.

5. The Girl in the Photograph

5 disturbing scary stories to scare your friends around the campfire

You burst free from the doors- SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

You’re practically skipping with glee thinking of the summer adventures ahead when you notice a small photograph laying on the sidewalk.

You pick it up and notice it’s a photo of a small girl.

She wears white tights and red shoes. Her hand is waving a peace sign.

Intrigued, you fold the photo up and stuff it into your jacket pocket.

That night, as you lay sleeping in bed, you’re awakened by a tapping on your window.

You look, but no one is there.

As you climb from your bed to investigate, you hear a giggle coming from the street below your bedroom window.

You stand staring into the road, but no one is there.

The next day, your mind wanders frequently to the photo in your jacket pocket.

When you close your eyes, you can still see the image of the small girl in the red shoes waving the peace sign in the air with glee.

That night, you’re laying in bed and about to fall asleep when the “TAP TAP TAP” at the window rips you awake.

You hear the giggle from the street below again. This time, you have to investigate.

You throw on your jacket and run into the street, desperately searching for the tapping visitor with the gleeful giggle.

You don’t see the truck speeding towards you before it smashes into you.

The driver slams on his breaks and runs to your aid.

In vain, he tries to revive your lifeless body when the photograph falls from your jacket pocket.

He picks it up and notices the small girl with the red shoes waving three fingers in the air with glee.

What are your favorite scary stories and urban legends to tell around the campfire?

Let us know down below!

xo- mr and mrs 

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