7 Scary Childhood Stories That Probably Still Give You Nightmares

This story is so ubiquitous that it has its own Snopes entry (it's rated as a purely fictional "legend," don't worry). The earliest iterations appeared online around 2004. There are many different versions, but it usually goes a little something like this: a teen babysitter is looking after two children for the night. The parents ask her to watch TV upstairs, in their bedroom, once the kids are asleep, because the kids have been having nightmares and might wake up crying (or some similar excuse). The babysitter agrees, and puts the kids to bed without a problem. But when she enters the parents' bedroom, she sees a creepy, life-sized clown statue standing in the corner. She tries to ignore it and watch her TV show... but it's just a very creepy life-sized clown statue. Finally, she breaks down and calls the dad to ask if she can watch TV downstairs instead.

"Sure," he says, "But may I ask why?"

"It's silly," she says, "but I'm just getting a little creeped out by your giant, life-sized clown statue."

The dad is silent for a moment. Then he says, "I'm calling the police. Grab the kids and get out of the house. We don't have a clown statue."

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