Everyone loves a good scare, and for some reason, we all love some good horror just as we’re about to go to sleep. The worst part of it is when we need to wake up early the next day for school or work, but a scary story is too irresistible for most of us. We have just what you’re looking for if you’re not looking to sleep for a single minute tonight out of the fear that something’s going to creep up to you at night. While it’s almost certain that these myths are grounded in fiction and have no basis in reality, they’ve still been passed around for years and plenty of people have had fun listening to them. If you’re someone who enjoys horror, then buckle up your seatbelt because we’re about to explore some of the most haunting urban legends that the world has come up with to this day:
The Statue Upstairs
There are many versions of this story, but all of them revolve around a creepy statue of sorts. One fine evening, the parents of two children asked a local babysitter to watch over their kids because they had to go out to take care of some business. The babysitter was new in this home, but the kids didn’t give her any trouble whatsoever and were pretty well behaved. 
The evening seemed to be going perfectly, but there was a statue in the upstairs room which seemed to be looking right at her and gave her the creeps. Feeling uncomfortable, she called the parents of the kids and asked them if she could cover the statue in the upper room. The father, who picked up the phone, became frantic and told her to get out of the house with the kids immediately and call the cops because they didn’t own a statue. Of course, when the parents rushed home, there was no sign of the statue, the baby sitter, or their kids.
The Russian Sleep Experiment
We’re not sure the exact point in time when this urban legend started, but it’s one of the creepiest stories out there. In post-WW2 Russia, some scientists gathered and started experimenting on some prisoners. Their goal was to determine the effects of sleep deprivation on humans, but what happened was something that no one could have prepared for. The prisoners were all locked up in a large chamber with ample food and water. However, the chamber was also packed with a certain gas which stopped the prisoners from sleeping. Not long after, the prisoners started showing extreme levels of distress, and while the scientists couldn’t see them, it was for certain that something was very wrong with the situation. After around a week or so of the prisoners being awake, the scientists opened the chamber to see that some of the prisoners had died, while one was still alive and was in the most terrifying form that anyone could imagine. He had eaten parts of his own flesh, and when the scientists interrogated him as to who he was, he finally let out the answer that he was something that stayed inside humans and couldn’t come forward due to sleep itself. A lot of the scientists ended up killing themselves after the experiment had ended. Of course, they shot the monstrosity that they had created as well.
The Rake
The scariest thing about the rake, which is a sort of creepy half-dog and half-human hybrid, is that you can actually find reports of people who have come across it and have even killed some. There’s no real proof that we can verify, of course, but it’s unsettling nonetheless. There are all sorts of stories about this creature, and it’s famous for preying upon those who feel extreme emotions in its presence. This legend goes all the way back to the twelfth century, so we can only guess whether or not the Rake was ever real or not. What we do know is that it’s horrifying to look at, and its sight alone is more than enough to give anyone a heart attack.
There are lots of urban legends out there that are extremely entertaining, but that really depends on the sort of person you are, of course. Do you know any?