10 Unsettling Ghost Stories to Tell This Halloween

In 2024, a global survey revealed that about 41% of Americans believe in ghosts and 64% believe in some form of paranormal entity. Percentages vary slightly worldwide, but most major countries hover just above the 40% mark.

It’s no wonder that so many hauntings are reported across the globe. People often see or experience something they can’t explain and blame it on spirits. Some believe that our lives intertwine with those who came before us in ways we cannot comprehend—so we might glimpse or hear something that doesn’t make sense.

The ten hauntings on this list are deeply unsettling, but are they the result of natural explanations, or are the dead truly trying to tell us something? Either way, they make for some truly spooky Halloween ghost stories.

Related: 10 of the Most Disturbingly Haunted Public Houses in the UK

10 The Nurse with No Eyes

South Africa is a land of contrasts, and beneath its colorful surface lies darkness. There are places where locals fear ghosts more than they do crime. In 2020, the Phoenix Paranormal South Africa team explored such a place in Gauteng, and what they discovered led them to call it the most haunted building in the country.

According to their investigation, the building stands on the grounds of an unnamed psychiatric hospital. It is reportedly haunted by an apparition wearing silver boots. While setting up cameras outside, the team also claimed to see a ghost high in a tree that wouldn’t stop laughing. Their EVP recordings captured a voice whispering, “What are you doing here?” and a photo of a red-haired nurse tending to invisible patients. When she looked up, there were dark holes where her eyes should have been.

The team declined to name the area or hospital, as it remains operational—but their story continues to terrify South Africans.^[1]

9 The Isle of Skye Ghost Car

The Isle of Skye, with its breathtaking cliffs and moody skies, has long been a place of mystery. It’s also home to one of Scotland’s strangest ghost stories: the phantom car of the A87.

In 1941, Dr. Allan MacDonald reported seeing a speeding car with a single blazing headlight on the stretch of the A87 between Sligachan and Portree. The vehicle appeared out of nowhere and vanished into the night without a trace. This was the first recorded sighting of what’s rumored to be the ghostly 1934 Austin.

Since then, numerous drivers have claimed to see the same one-eyed car bearing down on them in the dead of night. When they pull over to let it pass, it simply disappears. Some locals believe it’s driven by the spirit of a minister who died in a car crash decades ago—forever reliving the fatal journey.^[2]

8 The Flapper Ghost

In the late 1930s, a young man named Wally met a beautiful woman at the Melody Mill ballroom in Chicago. The venue was a favorite of couples from the 1920s until its closure in the 1980s.

What Wally didn’t know was that many other men had also met the mysterious young woman—a brunette in a shimmering white flapper dress resembling silent-film star Colleen Moore—and offered her a ride home, only for her to vanish along the way. When Wally offered to drive her to the Wood Lawn Cemetery, she agreed. He even arranged to see her again the following week.

When Wally returned for their date, the woman’s mother answered the door and burst into tears. Her daughter, she explained, had died three years earlier.

A similar version of the story tells of another “flapper ghost girl,” reportedly seen in 1933 and again in 1973, who had died after her appendix ruptured and was buried in Waldheim Cemetery. Men who offered her a ride after nights of dancing said she directed them to the cemetery, then vanished when they arrived.^[3]

7 Joey the Clown

Clowns are supposed to be funny—but more often, they’re just plain creepy. And dead clowns in dark tunnels are worse still.

According to British legend, an abandoned Victorian railway tunnel converted into a hiking path was once haunted by a ghost known as Joey the Clown. Before the conversion, there were no gates barring access, and local kids often explored the pitch-dark tunnels. That stopped when they heard about Joey.

It’s said Joey was a deranged circus clown who kidnapped a baby and hung it by its feet from a pipe inside the tunnel—directly in the path of oncoming trains. When he heard the whistle of an approaching engine, he leaped in front of it and was killed instantly, along with the infant.

Soon after, people began reporting a madman’s laughter echoing through the tunnel, along with the cries of a baby. Others swore they heard a train rushing toward them—but no train ever came.^[4]

6 A Terrifying Attic

When Kara Schmidt signed the lease for her first apartment in Superior, Wisconsin, she was thrilled. That excitement turned to confusion when she discovered a massive attic she hadn’t noticed during the initial walkthrough.

When she ventured upstairs, she found “Blood Ben Blood Ben” spray-painted across the wall. It wasn’t a dealbreaker—she planned to repaint—but soon after moving in, she began hearing footsteps overhead. One night, she woke up to find the attic door standing open.

Feeling unsettled, Kara locked the attic door and plastered movie posters across it. But the noises didn’t stop. She often woke at night, sensing someone standing in her bedroom doorway, though she could never see anyone.

Eventually, a friend joined her to investigate the attic. As soon as they entered, the friend said, “Something is really wrong here.” Kara moved out soon after. A psychic acquaintance later told her the attic was home to a violent spirit who left at night to watch her sleep.^[5]

5 The Dead Mother

When people hear the name Edvard Munch, they think of The Scream—but he painted something far more haunting. The Dead Mother (1899–1900) depicts a wide-eyed child with an expression of terror, standing before the bed of her deceased mother, surrounded by mourners. The work was inspired by Munch’s own mother’s death from tuberculosis when he was five.

Displayed at the Kunsthalle Bremen in Germany, the painting still shocks viewers—some say it even haunts them. Visitors have reported that the child’s eyes follow them, or that they hear faint rustling from the canvas. A few even claim the child sometimes disappears from the frame entirely.^[6]

4 La Noria

In the northern Chilean desert lies the abandoned mining village of La Noria. All that remains are the ruins—and the neglected cemetery just outside town. Locals warn visitors never to enter after dark.

Most of the shallow graves are open, coffins disturbed, skeletons visible. But legend says the horror doesn’t end there. People have reported seeing shadowy figures and ghostly children wandering the streets and abandoned schoolhouses. Others claim to hear whispering voices, screams, and footsteps that rush toward them before vanishing.

Some say they’ve even seen the dead sit upright in their coffins—or rise and walk toward the nearby town when the wind howls across the desert.^[7]

3 The Ghost Ship of Durban Harbor

According to South African legend, a phantom steamer once appeared near Durban Harbor in KwaZulu-Natal. Witnesses said it came around the Bluff headland at dusk, swinging a blue-green lantern from the bow. People waited for it to dock each time it was seen—but it never arrived.

One night, two fishermen spotted the eerie vessel again. As it drifted close, one man climbed aboard and shouted down that he’d found a cat and a still-warm pipe on deck, along with two green bottles. He tossed one to his friend below—and then vanished.

The remaining fishermen rowed frantically for help. When he returned with rescuers, the ship—and his friend—were gone. Since then, locals say that when summer storms lash Durban, a faint green light flickers just off the harbor’s entrance.^[8]

2 The Meat Man

The Monte Vista Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona, is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in America. Secret tunnels run beneath downtown to the hotel’s basement. Room 306 was the site of two brutal murders—but the creepiest legend centers on Room 220, home to “The Meat Man.”

In the 1980s, a guest stayed several days at the hotel. There was nothing unusual about him except his habit of hanging raw meat from the chandelier. When he was later found dead, staff soon discovered he wasn’t gone for good.

Soon after his death, a maintenance worker entered Room 220 to make repairs. When he returned later, the lights were on, the bed linens were torn to shreds, and the television blared at full volume. Terrified, he refused to work there again.

Guests since have reported the TV turning on by itself—and cold, clammy hands touching them at night. Some say the hands feel like raw meat.^[9]

1 The Ghosts of the University of St Andrews

Founded in the 15th century, the University of St Andrews in Scotland is the oldest in the country—and one of the most haunted.

Legend says the ghost of Protestant martyr Patrick Hamilton still roams St Salvator’s Hall, where he was burned at the stake in 1528. Students claim to see a figure wreathed in flame near the site of his execution. But Hamilton is far from alone: more than 400 spirits are said to haunt the university’s grounds.

Among them is the White Lady, thought to have been a servant of Mary, Queen of Scots, who died of grief after her lover’s beheading. Her ghost wanders beside a tower in the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral.

Another spirit haunts nearby St Leonard’s Kirk—a veiled nun who mutilated her own face to avoid marriage and become a nun. Her would-be lover fled to Edinburgh and took his own life. The nun later died of remorse, but her ghost still walks the avenue to St Leonard’s, lantern in hand. Those who dare approach say she lifts her veil to reveal her horribly disfigured face.^[10]