10 Scary Videos With Haunting Backstories

10 Scary Videos That Have Haunting Backstories

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at 10 Scary Videos That Have Haunting Backstories.

For this list, we’ll be examining the most disturbing videos that take on a whole new level of scariness due to their unsettling backstories.

Which of these clips freaked you out the most? Let us know in the comments.

Elisa Lam Elevator Footage

In 2013, Canadian student Elisa Lam disappeared while staying at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. Police investigation turned up surveillance footage that showed Lam getting into the hotel’s elevator on the day of her disappearance. In the clip, Lam appears to be speaking with an unseen individual. She presses multiple buttons on the panel and, at one point, hides in a corner of the elevator. Online sleuths jumped on the video, attempting to analyze Lam’s bizarre behavior, especially considering the Cecil Hotel’s notorious reputation. Sadly, Lam’s body was found in one of the hotel’s water tanks, nearly three weeks after this footage was recorded. Although her death was ruled an accidental drowning, many still believe there was some foul play behind it.

Doorbell Camera Captures Woman’s Screams

Residents of a Leimert Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California were rattled by a woman’s terrifying screams on the night of November 12th 2019. A doorbell camera from one of the houses captured the unknown woman yelling out for help in the distance. Also caught in the footage was the voice of a man apologizing. Moments later, a white car, believed to be carrying the unidentified man and woman, speeds down the street, right in front of the house from which the footage was recorded. Police, believing it to be a possible kidnapping, launched an investigation into the case. Perhaps most haunting is the fact that the identity and whereabouts of the woman appear to still be unknown.

Sandeep Nathwani Drags Ailing Mother Upstairs

This clip was recorded by a CCTV camera in a residential complex in Rajkot, India. It shows a man dragging an older woman up a flight of stairs. A short while later, the man returns to the apartment, this time, without the lady. The woman, 64-year-old Jayshree Nathwani, was found dead shortly after, apparently having fallen off the terrace of the building. Her son, Sandeep, an assistant professor who is the man in the footage, claimed that she had taken her own life by jumping off the terrace. However, this video seemed to contradict those claims. Sandeep was arrested and interrogated by police, upon which he confessed to ending his own mother’s life, as he was fed up with her ailing condition.

The Final Moments of Colleen Ritzer

On October 22nd 2013, high school teacher Colleen Ritzer was murdered in the bathroom of Danvers High School in Massachusetts, where she worked. That afternoon, she was captured on tape leaving her classroom and heading towards the restroom. Moments later, she was followed by one of her students, and eventual killer, Philip Chism. Chism can be seen hesitating at first, but then he pulls his hood over his head, and later wears a pair of gloves, before going after his teacher. After committing the crime, Chism changes his clothes, wears a mask and drags a barrel across the hallway, apparently containing Ritzer’s body. He was later arrested and convicted of Ritzer murder, which earned him at least 40 years in prison.

Ghostly Figure in the Middle of the Road

This dashcam footage was taken from a car driving down a dark and quiet road, late at night in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The car turns a corner and, in the distance, a spooky figure can be seen sitting cross-legged in the middle of the road. Unlike most horror movie characters, the driver makes the wise decision to back up and hightail it out of there. Turns out this wasn’t the first time such a figure was spotted in the exact same location. Locals have reported similar experiences, some going back as far as 10 years prior. While it technically could have been a ghost, a more logical explanation is that it likely was an attempted robbery set-up.

Rajaee Shareef Black’s Haunting Facebook Live

On December 11th 2021, 44-year-old Rajaee Shareef Black went on Facebook to confess to a horrendous crime. The session starts off pretty normal, with Black talking about the strained relationship with his ex-wife and the bitter custody battle they had been engaged in. He then reveals that he had just taken the life of his ex-girlfriend and was about to do the same to his former wife, Wendy, and then himself. According to reports, Black had mental health issues and was alleged to have been violent towards Wendy during their marriage. The divorced couple were found dead by law enforcement shortly after. Police also found their kids alive and well inside Black’s car, parked outside the house.

The Murder of Elizabeth Barraza

Early in the morning of January 25th 2019, Elizabeth Barraza was standing in the driveway outside her Tomball, Texas home when she was murdered in cold blood. Barraza was setting up for an impromptu garage sale in order to fund an anniversary trip for her and her husband. Moments after her husband had driven out to work, a neighbor’s doorbell camera showed an unknown individual walk up to Barraza and shoot her. The killer then ran back to their car and sped off. Police believe that the same car returned to the scene later, seemingly to ensure their mission was accomplished. Even with a sizable reward put out by the Barraza family, her killer still remains on the loose.

Long Island Missing Persons Shrine

A regular hike in the woods took an extremely disturbing turn for one New York man. While walking through the Berkeley Jackson County Park, James Rankin stumbled upon what could easily pass for a horror movie scene. In what appeared to be a rudimentary camp, someone had hung up several missing person posters of real-life cases. The hiker made a video of the strange site, which went viral on Facebook. Rankin also forwarded his findings to the police, who investigated the case and reportedly concluded that they were just decorations for a Halloween party. But with the “decorations” having been up long before Halloween, Rankin, as well as many online spectators, believe there could be a more sinister agenda at play.

Mr. Fritz the Doll

Dolls can either be fun toys for kids to play with or really creepy creations that can give you nightmares. This one definitely falls in the latter category. Known as Mr. Fritz the Doll, this figure was filmed in the home of its owner, after they had noticed some strange occurrences. In the clip, the doll can reportedly be seen blinking and moving its mouth. Also, the cabinet in which it sits opens and closes, seemingly without any aid. While the video is creepy on its own, the doll’s unsettling history makes it even worse. Apparently, Mr. Fritz was made by an American prisoner at a Nazi camp during WWII. Who knows what despicable things its eyes have seen?

Chalino Sánchez’s Death Note

After years of selling his music out of his trunk, Chalino Sánchez rose to become the voice of narcocorrido music. Sánchez had a particularly violent life, which culminated in his tragic murder on May 16th 1992. The night before, Sánchez performed to a packed audience at the Salon Bugambilias in Culiacán, Mexico. During his set, which was recorded on tape, someone handed the singer a mysterious note, widely believed to have contained a death threat. In the video, Sánchez reads the note and is immediately uneasy. He, however, crumples it and proceeds with his show. Hours later, Sánchez was abducted by a group of armed men claiming to be police officers. His body was found by an irrigation canal the next morning.