A Thorough Investigation of Scary Internet Stories! A Summary of Classifications and Trends
Introduction
With the spread of the internet, ghost stories and urban legends have exploded in popularity, spreading not only through word-of-mouth and print media but also through various platforms such as bulletin boards and video streaming services. In this article, we collect famous internet ghost stories from both Japan and abroad and organize them from multiple perspectives, including the platform of origin, region, theme, narrative format, and relationship to historical facts. Furthermore, we look back at how the trends in scary stories have changed from the 1970s to the present day.
Information Sources and Research Methods
• Wikipedia and dictionary articles – We verified the first appearance and overview of ghost stories. For example, it is clearly stated that the "Russian Sleep Experiment" is a work of fiction posted to the Creepypasta Wiki in 2010 .
• Japanese urban legend-related materials – We researched the background of Japanese-specific internet ghost stories such as the Kuchisake-onna (Slit-Mouthed Woman), Jinmenken (Human-Faced Dog), and Kisaragi Station using sources like Nippon.com .
• News articles and specialized sites – We confirmed that police and experts have stated that topics that became social issues, such as the Momo Challenge and the Blue Whale Challenge, are hoaxes .
• Dictionary/cultural sites – For overseas Creepypasta such as Jeff the Killer and Ben Drowned, we cited sources and diffusion paths from dictionary articles.
• Creepypasta comprehensive pages – We summarized the characteristics and first appearance years of representative overseas internet ghost stories such as The Backrooms, Smile Dog, and Siren Head .
Classification Axes for Scary Stories
To organize internet ghost stories, we classified them based on the following perspectives:
1. Platform of origin: Bulletin boards (2channel, 4chan), blogs, video sharing sites, in-game rumors, etc.
2. Region/Cultural sphere of origin: Japan, North America, Russia, etc.
3. Theme/Genre: Yokai, cursed rituals, urban ghost stories, game bugs or cursed cartridges, challenge-type hoaxes, etc.
4. Narrative format: Short stories, long serials, live-commentary style (progressing in real-time on bulletin boards), Alternate Reality Games (ARG).
5. Relationship to historical facts: Whether it is completely fictional, based on real events or locations, or caused social panic.
Representative Internet Ghost Stories
From Japan
• Kuchisake-onna (Slit-Mouthed Woman) – An urban legend that spread among children around 1978, where a masked woman asks, "Am I pretty?" and attacks depending on the answer .
• Jinmenken (Human-Faced Dog) – A rumor reported in magazines in the 1980s about a dog with a human face running on highways .
• Kisaragi Station – In 2004, a user named "Hasumi" appeared on a 2channel live-commentary thread, lost in a mysterious unmanned station, and the story progressed as other users provided advice .
• Kunekune (Wriggling Thing) – A ghost story posted on a horror site around 2000 and reposted to 2channel in 2003, claiming that seeing the "white wriggling thing" makes you go insane .
• Kotoribako (Child-Taking Box) – A 2005 bulletin board post. A box filled with parts of the bodies of persecuted village children is said to curse women and children .
• Hachishakusama (Eight-Feet Tall) – A 2008 post about a female spirit over 240 cm tall who approaches while whispering "po-po-po" .
• Resort Baito (Resort Part-time Job) – A long ghost story about young people encountering supernatural phenomena on a sealed floor of an inn. They survive thanks to a monk's advice .
• Hitori Kakurenbo (One-Man Hide-and-Seek) – A ritual using a stuffed animal to play hide-and-seek alone, which became a hot topic after the steps were spread in 2007 .
• Inunaki Village Legend – A rumor that there is a village in Fukuoka Prefecture where the Constitution does not apply, but it is actually a hoax .
• Elevator Game – A ritual said to take you to another world by pressing elevator buttons in a specific order. Verification videos on YouTube spread the story .
From Overseas
• The Backrooms – Triggered by an image of a yellow room and a short text posted to 4chan in 2019, the worldview of an infinite labyrinth and monsters was expanded.
• Russian Sleep Experiment – A 2010 Creepypasta Wiki post. It uses human experimentation during the Soviet era as a theme and is written in the style of terrifying experimental records .
• Ben Drowned – Posted to 4chan in 2010 as a story about a cursed cartridge of the game "Majora's Mask," with linked YouTube videos and an ARG .
• Candle Cove – A recollection of a fictional children's program presented by Kris Straub in a forum format in 2009.
• SCP Foundation – A collaborative creative project that began on anonymous bulletin boards around 2007, where documents of a foundation that contains paranormal phenomena are posted .
• Slender Man – A tall, mysterious figure born from a 2009 Photoshop contest. It became popular through web series and games, and even led to copycat incidents .
• Smile Dog – A rumor that seeing an image called "Smile.jpg" leads to being haunted by nightmares, and you cannot be freed unless you spread the image to others.
• Ted the Caver – A 2001 blog-style ghost story. The cave exploration records were cut off midway, fueling the readers' imaginations .
• Zalgo – Spread from a 2004 forum through a copy-paste message added to a drawing of a cartoon character saying "Zalgo is coming."
• Momo Challenge – Caused a stir around 2018 on social media for allegedly encouraging children to self-harm, but it turned out to be a hoax with almost no reports of actual harm .
• Blue Whale Challenge – A serial suicide game said to have originated in Russia in 2016–2017. Its existence is questionable, and much of it is exaggeration or rumor.
• Red Room – A rumor about a "Red Room" on the dark web that live-streams torture. It is technically difficult, there is no evidence of its existence, and it is considered an urban legend.
• Jeff the Killer – Edited images spread around 2008, and the setting of a white-faced boy whispering "Go to sleep" became popular.
• Herobrine – Rumored as a mysterious character in the Minecraft community around 2010, and streamers hyped it up in their videos .
• Siren Head – Created by illustrator Trevor Henderson in 2018, characterized by a thin body and a siren-shaped head. It became popular on TikTok and other platforms around 2020 .
Trends in Scary Stories and Changes in the Era
1970s–1990s: The Era of Word-of-Mouth and Mass Media
Before the internet, like the Kuchisake-onna and Jinmenken, stories started with children's rumors or magazine articles, reflecting anxieties about dark roads at night or crime. They spread nationwide through television and newspapers, and variations emerged that changed by region in other countries such as South Korea and Taiwan  .
2000s: The Rise of Bulletin Boards and Blogs
Bulletin boards and blogs like 2channel and Angelfire became places for creation, and long-form ghost stories became popular, supported by anonymity and live-commentary culture. Styles where readers participated in real-time, such as Kisaragi Station, Kotoribako, and Hachishakusama, became established. Overseas, blog-style stories like "Ted the Caver" and image-modification memes like "Zalgo" also appeared.
2007–2010s: The Creepypasta Boom
Overseas, Something Awful and the Creepypasta Wiki became hubs, and works like Slender Man, the Russian Sleep Experiment, and Ben Drowned spread explosively. In Japan, "try-it-yourself" rituals like Hitori Kakurenbo and the Elevator Game were verified on YouTube and spread as participatory content. Projects that shared a large-scale worldview based on a Wiki, like the SCP Foundation, also developed during this period.
2013–2020s: The Era of Social Media and Short-form Content
Video-focused social media like TikTok and YouTube became central, and memes born from a single photo or a few seconds of video, like The Backrooms and Siren Head, became huge hits. Individual creators and influencers expanded the stories, making it easy to turn them into games or 3D videos. On the other hand, there were cases where baseless rumors like the Momo Challenge and the Blue Whale Challenge caused panic on social media, highlighting the importance of information literacy .
Conclusion
Internet ghost stories have evolved beyond mere "scary stories" into user-participatory creative play. From long-form stories in the bulletin board era to short visual concepts in the social media era, and their development into ARGs and games, changes in media have altered the form and diffusion methods of these stories. In the future, new means of expression such as AI generation and VR technology will likely be incorporated, leading to the birth of even more diverse ghost stories. To avoid social anxiety caused by hoaxes, I hope we can enjoy internet ghost stories as folklore of digital culture while remaining conscious of the boundary between fiction and reality.
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