In the theme of the horror holidays, The Chronicle researched and interviewed Olathe North students to bring you the most popular and the scariest horror stories we could find. 

“I did have an experience where I saw another person that looked exactly like me in my own room,” one Olathe North student who did not want to be identified said. ‘Well they looked like me but disoriented, like their face was melting… But safe to say I definitely slept in the living room for a while.”

It’s always creepy to see someone who looks like you, but someone who looks like you and mismatched is disturbing and scary. Horror stories can come from anywhere, whether it’s a legend passed down through families or something that happened to you. Either way, they could be real or just something someone made up on a whim. 

When you think about horror what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Halloween, stories from friends or family, maybe even some of your favorite movies? 

One Olathe North teacher who did not want to be identified said, “after watching ‘The Amityville Horror’ as a child [when I was] maybe 6 or 7, it caused me to be scared of horror movies and impacted the way I view [scary movies].”

Going back as far as 1971, one of the top three scariest horror books is “The Exorcist” by William Peter Blatty, along with “Salem’s Lot” by Stephen King and “Those Across the River” by Christopher Buehlman. Books are always a good escape from reality and when it comes to a good horror book you can imagine yourself in the book itself, as if you were written into the story.

“When I’m asked what books are my favorite, I always thought about how I gravitated toward fantasy and horror books,” freshman Peyton Chipman said.

When you think about horror what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Halloween, stories from friends or family, maybe even some of your favorite movies? 

One Olathe North teacher who did not want to be identified said, “after watching ‘The Amityville Horror’ as a child [when I was] maybe 6 or 7, it caused me to be scared of horror movies and impacted the way I view [scary movies].”

All of us have some type of story that is the first to pop into your head, is it really horror, or just a spooky story? What distinguishes horror from spooky?

“Horror is a daunting realization of what could possibly be out there in the real world. Spooky is the feeling like being watched or goosebumps,” former Olathe North student Adam Long said. 

“Spooky to me is more of a ghost situation, paranormal, [whereas] horror is like Michael Meyers, either real events or actual people,” Senior Piper Griggs said.

Some stories are scarier than others because they aren’t just stories, they’re true events. Be careful when going out this Halloween, you may end up as a horror story if you don’t watch out.

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Sophomore Taylor Jovita wanted to share a personal story:

“The night before Halloween, me and my parents were talking about what plans we had for tomorrow [Halloween] and what time we would be doing these said plans. So after that, I decided to go to sleep, we were shopping all day so I was exhausted. I got into my pajamas and brushed my teeth, I slipped under my covers and laid down, soon passing out. I woke up and looked at my clock [to see it was] 2:03am and got up to go get a drink of water. I assumed my dad was awake since the TV was on, but when I came down the stairs he was nowhere to be found. I was suddenly confused when I realized he was sound asleep with my mother upstairs. Turning off the TV, I [got a glass of] water and went back to bed. I fell asleep, and woke up again. Now at 3:05am, I couldn’t sleep at this point, [I was] looking down at my phone when I realized I [could] hear the TV once again, now unamused. Heading downstairs, nobody was there. At this point I’m annoyed. I turned off the TV again, when I heard footsteps upstairs, I [went to] see who it was but when I checked everyone was still passed out. As I was heading back to my room I heard more footsteps downstairs. Totally spooked by now, and it’s around 3:30am, I went downstairs again… nobody. Deciding to go to sleep, I finally fell asleep and stayed asleep. When I woke up the morning of Halloween, my dad asked me why the TV was on. I never turned it on.”