50 Creepy Facts About Disturbing Things That Really Happened

First, we were curious to know what draws these horror experts to creepiness and the frightening.

"It started for me as a kid! I started reading very young with Goosebumps & Stephen King, and it snowballed from there," shares Christopher Higgins, aka Bearded Film Guy, host of the Beyond the Blood Podcast and horror and Blu-ray collector.

"The draw for me is the ability to face our fears safely. We know it’s not real and can’t hurt us, but we’re so attached to the emotional risk of the story, it still creates a thrill that sits with us long after we’re done absorbing the material."

Kayleigh Dobbs, horror author and owner of the horror book, movie, and game review website Happy Goat Horror, also tells Bored Panda that she became interested in horror during her childhood.

"I don't know for sure what first drew me into horror, but I think it's because scary stories have a tendency to champion the underdog. I've loved horror ever since I was a small kid - I was introverted and bullied quite a lot, and always felt lonely and like an outsider. I remember reading Matilda and really identifying with parts of her character (and I consider that a horror story from Matilda's perspective)," she says.

"There was a show called Are You Afraid of the Dark that I really loved because each episode always featured an ordinary kid a bit older than me, usually someone without many friends, who was overcoming some sort of evil, and I think I found that comforting. As an adult, I love horror for the same reasons, plus I truly believe that of all genres to read and watch, it gives us the most well-written female characters."

Even though we often seek fiction to live out our fears, sometimes reality can be much scarier, and the horror experts completely agree.

"For as scary as fiction can be, it’s never nearly as frightening as reality. There are trends in horror film cycles that coincide with real-world events (example: the rise in “torture p✭rn” after 9/11). People use the horror in fiction oddly as a safe escape from the terrors of the real world," says Higgins.

"That's another reason why I love horror so much. The real world is full of terror, and sometimes being immersed in a world full of zombies or ghosts is preferable. Emerging from Barrow after a 30-day siege from bloodthirsty vampires makes the real world feel not quite as threatening sometimes," Dobbs agrees.

For Higgins to consider something creepy or unsettling, it has to be grounded in reality. "People are always the scariest, no matter the creature you make up. Humans are capable of both beauty and terror, and while we hold as much faith in morality as we can, the people at the helm of the story, their involvement in the terror, is always the most frightening," he told us.

Meanwhile, Dobbs says, "For me personally, something is really scary if on first glance it looks normal, but on closer inspection, something is just a bit...off. Stories of demonic possession, body thievery, and changelings (eeeeee especially changelings!) tend to really frighten me. In general, I think the best, most effective horror gives you a protagonist you feel strongly about. That way, if the scary thing doesn't scare you, you'll at least be afraid for the character."

Lastly, we couldn't let the horror experts go without asking about the most unsettling true story or fact they know.

"I did a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary when I was 18 years old during the day. There’s a hallway blocked off to traffic due to structural issues, but the guide told us a story of a riot that took place in that cell block and about the guards and prisoners who lost their lives," Higgins recalls.

"As we looked past the waist-high blockage, an overwhelming feeling of unease swept over me that I could not shake. It felt like I was being watched no matter where I went within those walls. To this day, 16 years later, it’s the scariest experience I’ve ever faced."

The most unsettling fact Dobbs knows is about the effect of toxoplasmosis (which one can get from undercooked meat or contact with cat excrement) on rats.

"It's caused by a parasite that is thought to somewhat disarm the instinctual fear that rats have of cats and even make them attracted to the smell of cat wee so that they're more likely to be driven towards them, so the cats can eat them," she explains

"The parasite can't reproduce in rats, but it can in cats, and it wants to live! I found this scary because...what if that parasite evolves to have a similar effect on humans, which will then somehow kick off the zombie apocalypse?! I spend quite a lot of time - too much, some might say - imagining things that could kick off the zombie apocalypse."

Dobbs signed off by saying that horror is worth everyone's time, especially in books. "A lot of people have this idea that horror is nothing but blood, guts, and gore, and that simply isn't true. There are so many subgenres (I'm not particularly a fan of the bloodier type of horror fiction). I think horror as a whole is the most honest about how people behave, and it serves to strengthen a person's sense of empathy because of that. Especially these days, we could all do with a little more empathy!" she concludes.