Over the years, Snopes has fact-checked numerous creepy stories about paranormal activity, frightening creatures, haunted houses and so on. In many cases, they're legends with no evidence to support them or some are downright false.
But that's not the case for every spooky rumor we've looked into. Sometimes, a claim that sounds like it's been made up to scare people on the internet is actually real, or at least somewhat based on true events.
For example, photos of mushrooms that look like human ears and corpse fingers are real — not the product of digital editing or artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Also, scenes in the 1982 film "Poltergeist" used real skeletons as props. And while no one may ever know what a North Carolina man saw during a 911 call in which he screamed "that's not human," the call itself is real.
We put together a collection of frightening events with unknown explanations, horror movie rumors and stories with spooky details — all with some basis in reality. What you find may surprise you.
