These Kid’s Tales Even Give Grownups The Creeps

Parents use different tactics to get their kids to behave–– Some like to frighten the naughty out of them! Across cultures for centuries, horrifying children’s stories have been told by authors with dark thoughts. From spooky legends to disturbing fairy tales, we’ve short-listed the most spine-chilling tales from around the world.

Internet Archive Book Images on Wikimedia

1. The Story Of The Thumb Sucker - Germany

This old tale by Heinrich Hoffman would scare anyone from continuing a bad habit. After a mother tells her son to stop sucking his thumb, he continues anyway after she leaves the house. The boy receives a visit from a tailor who snips off his thumb with a giant pair of scissors.  

Sean Foster on Unsplash

2. Yara-Ma-Yha-Who - Australia

Parents like to scare their children with this legend from down under. To prevent them from wandering off, kids are told of the frog-man who haunts the fig trees. With his leech-like fingers, he slurps up the blood of his little victims and turns them into the creatures themselves.   

Ilo Frey on Wikimedia

3. The Babes In The Wood - England

A plot about abandonment was the underlying theme of many old folktales. This horrifying tale by Thomas Millington dates back to 1595 and does not have a happy ending. After losing their parents, sibling orphans are traumatized by a murderous uncle and then left to starve to death in a forest.

Arthur, R. on Wikimedia     

4. Hansel And Gretel - Germany

As one of the better-known horror stories in children’s literature, Hansel And Gretel has been rewritten several times from its original tale by the infamous Brothers Grimm. The gruesome fairytale evokes a brother and sister who encounter a witch in a gingerbread house who tries to eat them.  

Erik Mclean on Unsplash

5. Little Red Riding Hood - France

Little Red Riding Hood is another chilling fairytale with many versions spun from the original storyline. The first printed version in 1695 by Charles Perrault does not have a happy ending. A poor girl is fooled by a disguised wolf who runs off to eat her grandmother. Then dressed in grandma’s clothes, he chows down on the little girl for dessert.  

Jessie Willcox Smith on Wikimedia

6. Night Of The Living Dummy - USA

As part of the Goosebumps book series by R.L. Stine, Night of the Living Dummy is one of the creepiest. In hopes of becoming rich and famous, the protagonists selfishly befriend an evil magic puppet who commits murderous crimes.  

Gage Skidmore on Wikimedia

7. The Fate Of The Children Of Lir - Ireland

For a nation recognized for their good fortune, the Irish are not short of devastating legends about unlucky children. The Children of Lir in particular gives the siblings in this tale a miserable life, destined to spend 300 years as swans due to a jealous witch.   

Helen Stratton on Wikimedia

8. The Tale Of The Qallupilluit - Canada

Kathy Walsh recites this story from what she was told as an Inuit kid.

The myth claims that Qallupilluit are sea witches who lure children onto the ice pans, stuff them into their hooded parkas, and drag them under the icy water.   

Diamond Jenness on Wikimedia

9. La Llorona - Mexico

Parents tell this Mexican ghost story to keep their kids in check. La Llorona, the Weeping Woman, is believed to be the ghost of a mother who murdered her offspring by drowning them in a river. Some say you can hear her wailing as she looks for her missing children and drowns any kids who get in the way of her path.    

ViCee25 on Wikimedia

10. Hanako-san - Japan

This urban legend will make you pee your pants! Legend has it that Hanako-san is a ghost that haunts the third stall of school bathrooms. A creepy little girl who hangs out by a toilet is enough to make many kids quit drinking juice boxes at lunch.    

Loozrboy on Wikimedia

11. Sun, Moon, and Talia- Italy

As an ancient version of “Sleeping Beauty” published in 1634, this original story is far from a Disney fairytale. The morbid tale is about the daughter of a lord who falls into a coma from a splinter and is impregnated by a royal man. She gives birth to twins who are later abducted by the king’s wife. She wants to roast them alive but the king throws her into the fire instead.

Jennie Harbour on Wikimedia

12. Aschenputtel (Cinderella) - Germany

The Brothers Grimm had to make the list of children’s horror at least twice. Although there are many versions of the Cinderella story, this one is by far the most grotesque. The goriest part of the corrupted fairytale involves evil stepsisters slicing off their toes and heels to fit inside the glass slipper.  

Offterdinger, photo by Harke on Wikimedia

13. Black Annis - England

Another wicked witch disturbs the English countryside. Parents alert their kids about the evil hag who lives in a cave she dug with her iron claws. She has a blue face and eats lambs and human children after skinning them alive first.  

James Superschoolnews on Wikimedia

14. The Ghost Of Mami Wata- Africa

The Ghost Of Mami Wata is a bedtime story that would keep many kids awake. It’s a tale of a doomed boy who is haunted by the ghost of a spiteful mermaid. The aquatic spirit seeks revenge for the destruction of her underwater palace.     

Ethan Doyle White on Wikimedia

15. The Dead Mother- Russia

The title says it all. This creepy Russian fairytale is about the tragic death of a mother during childbirth. Her ghost secretly appears every night at midnight to nurse her baby but eventually when she is caught, she disappears forever and the infant is dead.      

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16. The Slit-Mouthed Woman- Korea & Japan

Kids might be scared to walk the streets alone in case they run into this terrifying woman.

Legend has it that a green-faced lady will ask a yes or no question with only fatal answers. If you answer “yes” to “Am I pretty”? and she’ll slit your mouth the same as hers. Answer “no” and she’ll kill you on the spot.   

Tanapat user on Wikimedia

17. Coraline - England

Coraline by Neil Gaiman has struck controversy in modern times due to its dark content. It’s deemed by many to be inappropriate for the targeted age group of adolescents. You decide if a story about a woman who wants to sew buttons onto a child’s eyes is a fitting read for tweens.   

Jlahorn at English Wikipedia on Wikimedia

18. El Cuco- Spain

El Cuco is the Spanish Boogeyman. Parents tell their kids this creepy man looks for misbehaving children to kidnap and stuff into his bag. El Cuco is based on a true story about an ill man who kidnapped a young boy for his “life-saving” blood.       

Honoré Daumier on Wikimedia

19. The Gashlycrumb Tinies- USA

This book is another example of children’s literature that might be too frightening for kids to read. This tale by Edward Gorey is about the untimely deaths of 26 children. It’s not exactly a nice bedtime story to put the little ones to sleep.   

EgorovaSvetlana on Wikimedia

20. La Ciguapa- Dominican Republic

This Latino legend is about a long-haired nude woman with backward feet and was originally told to scare boys from wandering at night.

If you looked her in the eyes she would snatch you up and drag you to the forest, never to be seen again. 

W. Guerra on Wikimedia