When you’re gathered around the campfire, all it takes is the right scary tale to turn a peaceful evening of s’more making into a terrifying fright night of pure fear. Come prepared to put your fellow campers into a panic with these scary campfire stories. But be warned, these are not suitable for young children … or adults that frighten easily!
The Licking Dog
While her parents are out of town on an anniversary trip, a young girl named Sally is looking after the house and taking care of the family dog until their return. She stays up late and watches TV, skipping past the news channels that flash headlines on traffic backups, prison breaks, and weather warnings. At her feet, the dog rests, curled up and snoring lightly.
As Sally gets ready to go to sleep, the dog gets up and follows her, finding a comfortable spot beneath her bed to rest for the night. Sally slips beneath her bedsheets and gets comfortable too. She quickly drifts off to sleep after sticking her hand down to pet the dog goodnight.
Sally wakes suddenly to the thick sound of dripping in the distance. She throws back her bedsheets, annoyed at herself for having apparently left the tap on in the kitchen. She gets up and goes to the sink where she tightens the faucet. Then she climbs back in bed. Before drifting back off, she sticks her hand beneath the bed to feel the comforting lick of her groggy dog.
A few moments later, Sally’s eyes slide open as she realizes that the dripping sound hasn’t stopped. She lies in bed a few moments listening to the persisting plop, plop, plop, wondering where it could be coming from. Feeling increasingly uneasy, she sticks her arm down below the bed and feels the reassuring presence of her dog as he licks her hand once again.
Sally attempts to ignore the dripping and instead focuses on the light snoring of the dog below her. She leaves her arm hanging off the bed so she can feel his warm breath as she closes her eyes and tries to fall back to sleep. But the dripping sound doesn’t cease and Sally grows increasingly annoyed. She sits up, peels back her bed sheets, and goes to investigate further.
Listening for the muffled dripping noise, Sally follows her ears to the bathroom where she assumes the sink faucet must not have been turned off all the way. But when Sally looks at the sink, there isn’t even a slight trickle of water coming from the faucet. Listening closer, she realizes that the dripping sound is coming from behind her, in the shower! She turns around and slides the shower door open. Inside, she sees the lifeless body of her dog hanging upside down with blood dripping from its opened neck.
Scared the killer might still be in the house, Sally screams and bolts out of the bathroom. Before she can reach the front door she must first pass her bedroom doorway. As she runs past, Sally quickly glances inside to see a set of human hands crawling out from under her bed. Without stopping, Sally continues running for the front door, no longer hearing the trickle of blood, but only the pounding footsteps of someone closing in behind her.
The Clown in the Corner
A teenage girl arrives at a massive house to babysit for a young, wealthy family with three kids. The house is filled with interesting decorations, and the rooms seem to go on forever. Before leaving, the parents instruct the girl of the childrens’ bedtime, and the father requests that after the kids go down, she go to the basement to watch TV. Understanding that she is not to wander around the house, the girl agrees and the parents leave.
After putting the kids to bed, the girl does as she was instructed and goes into the basement to watch TV until the parents return home. Like the rest of the house, the basement is scattered with unique artifacts and unusual adornments. The weirdest of them by far being a life-sized clown statue grinning in the corner. Doing her best to ignore her strange surroundings, she flips on the TV and finds something to watch.
After a few minutes of being unable to concentrate on the TV, the girl decides to cover the clown statue up with a blanket. She walks over to the corner and before draping the blanket over the statue, she looks into its colorfully-painted face. She could feel its eyes staring right back at hers. Uneasy, she covers it and quickly returns to the couch where its creepy, outlined silhouette still stands tall in the corner.
With the eeriness of the statue getting the best of her, she finally decides to call the father and ask permission to spend her time in another room of the house. When she gets ahold of him and explains that she is freaked out by the giant clown statue in the corner of the basement, she feels slightly foolish and embarrassed of her silly fear. Expecting the father to respond lightheartedly, she is taken aback when he abruptly says, “Listen very carefully, get the children out of the house and take them to the neighbors immediately!”
Not understanding the father’s stern and serious tone, she asks, “Why?” The father responds, this time in a panicked voice, “Recently the children have been telling us about a clown that watches them in their sleep. We assumed it was just nightmares. We don’t own any clown statues! I’m calling the police, but you need to get the kids out of the house RIGHT NOW!”
The girl drops the phone and looks up into the corner of the basement. On the floor where the clown statue once stood remains only a bunched-up blanket. Terrified, the girl turns around to run up the stairs but as she gets to the first step she sees the clown, no longer a statue, waving at her from the top of the staircase. With each descending step towards her, the grin on the clowns face grows bigger and bigger.
Unforgettable Memories
A recently-married couple is taking their first camping trip together. They pack up their outdoor gear, get into the car, and head out into the wilderness for a weekend of fun in the sun! To document their rugged adventure, they bring a disposable camera and snap pictures of one another throughout their stay.
Together they roast marshmallows, go on hikes, and stargaze before falling asleep in the tent side by side. The weekend is relaxing and they don’t see a single soul the whole time they are out. When the weekend comes to an end, they pack up their gear and get ready to head home.
On the drive back, they stop to get their roll of film developed from their disposable camera. Excited to look back and reminisce on the fun they had together, they are both eager to see how the photos turned out. As they flip through their collection of pictures, they notice that amongst the photos of them hiking and hanging out are stacks of photos that show both of them fast asleep together in the tent.
With an instant feeling of uneasiness coming over them, they both decide never to go camping again.
Gather around the fire ring, make yourself some campfire popcorn, and get ready to figure out who the real scaredy cats of your campsite are! Do you have a scary campfire story that is guaranteed to give us chills? Share it in the comments below!
