Horror stories by lemons

October: the spookiest month!

Written by Isabel Urdaneta ( @isabelita_ua )

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of 'Samhain', and people celebrated it with bonfires and costumes to ward off ghosts. Now, centuries later, we celebrate Halloween at the end of October with different activities such as trick-or-treating, dressing up in costumes, partying, or watching horror movies. My personal favorite Halloween activity is to share scary stories with my friends! Therefore, I thought we could share some of our personal scary stories to celebrate this holiday. Enjoy your reading!

Number 1: Whaley House

"As some of you may know, my hometown’s in San Diego CA. It’s a beautiful city that has also had its share of darkness and is home to one of the most haunted houses in the US. It is known as the Whaley house which was built over public execution grounds and every person who resided in the house died tragically. Occasionally I’ve come to visit the house and the few paranormal experiences I’ve had would happen in that house. It was there my closest friend and I took a picture and the imprint of a face appeared between us and where I suddenly felt like a gust of wind blew through me in a room with no windows or air conditioning. As a kid, I could’ve sworn I saw the imprint of someone sitting with no person visible and people report millions of experiences in that place."

- by Katrina Marie Aguilar (@katgirlsings)

Number 2: Werewolf

"My grandfather always told us paranormal stories, and my cousin and I thought that he was making it up to scare us. He told us that the 7th male child where there is no girl, upon reaching adolescence without being properly baptized, would become a werewolf. In our neighborhood, there is a neighbor who is the 7th male child, and since he is a close friend of the family we invited him to a birthday party on a Friday night. Everything was normal until 1:00 p.m when the man began to act strange. The appearance of his face and hands became increasingly creepy, it scared us a little. The man just got up, said goodbye, and left. From that moment we believe all the stories of my grandfather."

- Flor ( @delgadozami)

Number 3: HUAY-CHIVO (A Mayan legend)

"This story is about Mayan legend (Yucatan, Mexico). The story isn’t mine. HUAY-CHIVO It’s said that in a village there was a child who knew all the plants and their properties, thus being able to heal people. Growing up, he became a “Huay” or “Way” (Heaven in Maya) and fell in love with a young woman who helped his family by taking care of the goats. The desperate and crazy-loving sorcerer made a pact with Kisín (the devil) offering his soul in exchange for being able to become a goat to attract the young woman and be close to her. However, the spell did not work and transformed him into a terrifying being that can become a goat-shaped beast at will during the night to be more agile and be able to perform his evil spells better."

Link: https://yucatantoday.com/leyenda-huay-chivo/

- Karen Cutz Chi (@karen_cutz)

Number 4: The Haunting of Kempton Park Hospital

"Johannesburg is scary enough without ghosts, but for intrepid urban explorers, the abandoned Kempton Park Hospital has all the makings of a horror movie.

The hospital abruptly closed the day after Christmas in 1996. Nobody knows why, which has only added fuel to the frightening fire.

Medical files, equipment, and specimen jars were all left in place. Over the years, much of that has been destroyed or expropriated by local teenagers and the city’s homeless, yet, remnants of the hospital’s dubious past still remain.

A group of local ghost hunters documented their exploration of the abandoned hospital, which oozes eeriness. According to some, the hospital’s psychiatric wing is the haunted hotspot, with some explorers experiencing strange occurrences, including ear-piercing screams and dancing shadows.

The Kempton Park Hospital is due to be demolished soon, so if you feel brave enough, explore it while it lasts.

Disclaimer: Don’t enter Johannesburg’s abandoned buildings; the dangers exceed the supernatural."

- Mariana (@mariana_vanrooyen)

Number 5: The Grandmother

"5 years ago I went to Mexico City with my best friend's family, at that time my best friend's older sister was pregnant, and when we arrived at her cousin's house, my friend's sister asked me to accompany her to the bathroom, as it was a lot of people we had to go to a bathroom that is inside a room where they kept old things

When we were there I saw an older lady in a gray dress, I thought it was my best friend's grandmother so I said "Good night". My best friend's sister came out of the bathroom and asked me "who are you talking to?", and I told her "I think it's your grandmother" and she told me "My grandmother is not home."

- Gab ( @sggabs27)