Top 10 Creepiest Real Life Monster Stories

“Kentucky Goblins” almost sounds like a sports team or a “Gremlins” knockoff. In reality, it refers to the Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter of 1955. On this August evening, the Sutton farmhouse had a close encounter with little aliens… or at least that’s what five grown-ups and seven kids claimed. Before rushing to the police, the residents allegedly spent hours shooting at the creatures. While the authorities found no evidence of a saucer landing or aliens, the story made national news. Over time, the media went from calling the creatures “little men” to “little green men,” helping to coin the phrase. The creatures supposedly had “large pointed ears, clawlike hands, eyes that glowed yellow and spindly legs,” although many UFO experts have attributed this to owls, or meteors.

#9: Robert the Doll

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From Talky Tina to Chucky, pop culture has seen its fair share of evil dolls. Robert could be seen as a predecessor to all of them. This supposedly haunted doll shared the same name as his original owner, Robert Eugene Otto. While the story’s versions vary, it’s generally believed that Otto’s grandfather bought the doll while visiting Germany in 1904. Giving it to him for his birthday, Otto became quite attached to the doll, although something darker may’ve been lurking underneath. The doll was blamed for broken bones, broken dishes, and broken marriages, not to mention car accidents and job terminations. While there may be a logical explanation, we’ll always think twice before buying a doll in a sailor outfit.

#8: Dog Boy

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In the 1950s, Floyd and Alline Bettis (uh-LEEN BET-iss) welcomed their son Gerald into the world. It’s been said that Gerald was a cruel outsider who caught and tortured stray animals, earning the nickname Dog Boy. On top of making animals howl, Gerald allegedly locked his parents upstairs on occasion, essentially imprisoning them. Although Gerald died in May 1988, the Bettis House has since been a hot spot for reported paranormal activity. The Weaver family, who bought the house following Alline’s death in 1995, claimed that pennies levitated downstairs and the lights turned on and off on their own. The Whites, who subsequently rented the house, were also horrified to find a stack of 2-by-4s suddenly standing up vertically without explanation. Was this Dog Boy’s doing?

#7: La Llorona

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Whether you want to call her the Weeping Woman, the Crying Woman, or the Wailing Woman, this legend has been making people scream for centuries. While it’s gone through various iterations, the story of La Llorona traditionally involves an unloved woman, a neglectful husband, and their two children. When the woman caught her husband committing adultery, she drowned their children and then took her own life. La Llorona is an iconic staple of Hispanic folklore, but is there any truth behind the tale? As a boy, Patricio Lugan claims that his family saw a tall, thin lady floating over a New Mexican creek, believing it was La Llorona. A woman draped in black matching her description was also reportedly spotted in Ojo de La Vaca.

#6: The Green-Clawed Creature

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August 14, 1955 was a hot one in Evansville, Indiana. To cool off, friends Naomi Johnson and Louise Lamble went down to the Ohio River. As Lamble was floating on an inner tube, Johnson called out for help as she was pulled under the water. Johnson broke free, although her leg was left wounded and stained. While she didn’t get a good look, Johnson believes that she encountered a scaly green creature with hairy claws. She also reportedly claimed that a U.S. Air Force officer told her to stay quiet about the incident. What makes this story especially eerie is that it took place on the same day as the Kentucky Goblins sighting. Coincidence, or could there be a correlation between these green creatures?

Sharing many parallels to werewolves, the rougarou is typically depicted as a wolf-like creature with human qualities. Over the years, the rougarou has been used as a cautionary tale to scare disobedient children. Deriving from the Laurentians, the legend has since spread to Louisiana where it’s become a popular folktale. There have been many interesting stories surrounding the rougarou, although one of the creepiest was published in “Swapping Stories: Folktales from Louisiana.” In the book, Native American John Verret (VARE-it) claims that his uncle and cousin were returning home late on a moonlit night when they were confronted by a big dog. They escaped by hopping over a fence, but suddenly the dog vanished... with a man in its place.

#4: The Phone Stalker

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The Kuykendalls, McKays, and Prices share two things in common. All three families live in Washington and in 2007, all three received disturbing phone calls. For the Kuykendalls, it all began when 16-year-old Courtney’s phone started sending offensive text messages on its own. After that, it wasn’t long until the Kuykendalls, as well as the McKays and Prices, started receiving a series of threatening texts and calls from an unknown person - or persons - known as “Restricted.” The families believed that they were being spied on via their cell phones. Adding to the curiosity, the phones would turn on and change ringtones by themselves. The most obvious explanations are hacking or viruses. In any case, at least seven days passed and Samara never showed up, right?

#3: The Dover Demon

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In April of 1977, several Massachusetts teenagers reported sightings of a creature that would come to be known as the Dover Demon. Over the course of two nights, something strange was spotted on Farm Street, Miller Hill Road, and Springdale Avenue by different teens. Whatever it was, it seemed to move in a straight 2-mile line. Since this was the ‘70s, nobody had a smartphone on hand to snap a photo but the witnesses did draw pictures of the so-called demon. Bill Bartlett’s interpretation depicted the creature with large eyes and slender fingers. Bartlett even wrote on his sketch that he would “swear on a stack of Bibles that I saw this creature.” Was it a baby moose, a horse, or... something not of this world?

This isn’t the kind of zombie story you’d see in a George A. Romero picture, but it is food for thought. Having a fever and coughing up blood, Haitian man Clairvius Narcisse checked himself into a hospital on April 30, 1962. Unable to find the cause of his ailments, Narcisse died after three days and was buried shortly after. Eighteen years passed and then one day, Angelina Narcisse was confronted by a man claiming to be her brother. With a vast knowledge of Clairvius’ childhood and family history, this man said that he was paralyzed, dug up, and forced into labor. There have been many theories about what exactly happened to Clairvius, although it truly felt as if a mortal had risen from the dead.

#1: Annabelle

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You’ve undoubtedly heard about Annabelle, thanks to “The Conjuring” Universe, but what’s the actual story surrounding this supposedly haunted doll? As seen in the movies, Annabelle was investigated by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Instead of the sinister design were used to seeing, though, Annabelle is actually a Raggedy Ann doll. The toy was supposedly possessed by a dead girl named Annabelle. When the doll began to display malevolent behavior, the Warrens were called. Deducing that the doll was possessed by a demon, Annabelle was eventually taken to the Warren’s Occult Museum where she currently resides alongside other supposedly haunted objects. Whether you believe the stories or not, we feel much safer sleeping at night knowing that Annabelle is sealed in a glass box.