Death in the 1800s
The Donner Party got stuck in the Sierra Nevada mountains during winter when attempting to travel along this famous route to the West Coast. Only 48 out of 87 survived, with roughly half of them having resorted to cannibalism to live.
The Oregon Trail
In 2011, the CDC released a post in which they describe how to act in case this monster ever becomes real. If the event ever did happen, CDC says, "they would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak."
Zombies
We all remember the rumors of murderers on this children's website. Although stories varied on the culprit (from evil Neopets to Dr. Quack or Miss Birdie), all of them alleged that they'd kill your favorite pets.
WebKinz
Vivien Harmon, Lana Winters, Cordelia Goode
American Horror Story
Although some common fears include the fear of heights (acrophobia) or of needles (trypanophobia), one we might all might experience now or during finals is glossophobia, the fear of this.
public speaking / speaking in front of groups
Over in London, one of the world's most notorious and unknown serial killers killed five women in the early fall of '88. Although you may know him better by this moniker, he was also known as the Whitechapel Butcherer and Leather Apron.
Jack the Ripper
In the 1960s song "Monster Mash," this iconic stock character was in chains, backed by his baying hounds. At the end of the song, you can hear him yell "Mash good!"
Igor
In Spongebob's first Halloween episode "Scaredy Pants," Spongebob dresses up as a ghost. This character (also appearing for the first time) was so offended by Spongebob's costume that he appeared to take the souls of everyone at the Krusty Krab party.
The Flying Dutchman
Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood, Basira Hussain
A mistelling of a classic urban legend was posted to this forum site in 2012. It became a popular copypasta, its most quoted line being the final six words: "man door hand hook car door."
4chan
According to the nursery rhyme, this woman "took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one." Regardless, she was acquitted for the double-murder charges.
It took a lot to get Hollywood to enjoy this iconic monster. After a failed attempt the decade prior, this monster delighted for the first time in 1941 with a six-hour make-up process and a time-lapsed transformation.
Werewolf / Wolfman
This terrifying animated movie, premiered in 2006 along with Barnyard, used mo-cap to bring the fear to life. It was executive produced by Spielberg, and starred Steve Buscemi as the owner of the titular building.
Monster House
Alice Hardy, Ginny Field, Tommy Jarvis
Friday the 13th
The largest pumpkin ever recorded weighed 2624.6 pounds, and it shares a name with this famous Netflix quarantine show. Although it had yet to be released, the pumpkin's owner may have seen the leading man in 2016 election ads.
Tiger King
As the story goes, Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a kerosene lantern and lit this city ablaze in '71. The fire killed between two and three hundred people and destroyed four miles of this city.
Chicago, Illinois
Our big green friend Frankenstein originates from a 1818 novel written by Mary Shelley. Although most of the story takes place in Europe, the framing story around the tale takes place at this wintery location, where the doctor and the creature both die.
The North Pole
The Scary Maze flash game was created and released in 2003. Players would navigate through an on-screen maze until a screamer image from this horror movie popped on screen.
The Exorcist
Harry Mason, James Sunderland, Heather Mason
Silent Hill
When humans are afraid, they have a variety of physical reactions, including an increased heartrate, muscle tension, or piloerection, more commonly known as this.
Goosebumps
To many, Lavinia Fisher was the first female serial killer in the U.S. She killed at her inn, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, named for the distance from this major Southern city. She was later jailed and executed in this city as well.
Charleston, South Carolina
The most famous American vampire was teenager Mercy Brown, who died of this common and romanticized disease in 1892. Two months after her death, her father George exhumed the family's graves to find that Mercy's body had hardly decayed and there was still blood in her heart.
Consumption / Tuberculosis
In More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, one tale follows a young boy and his dog in a haunted mansion. In the dark, he kept hearing an eerie voice call out this nonsensical phrase.
Me Tie Dough-ty Walker
Amanda Benson, Grady Tucker, Carly Beth
Goosebumps
Perhaps the greatest scare of all was the Red Scare proceeding World War II. Its nickname was based on this politician, who was so intense in his hearings with potential communists that it led a lawyer to ask, "have you left no sense of decency?"
Joseph McCarthy