3 TRUE Disturbing Carnival Horror Stories

starting a new job is always a mix of excitement and nerves when I landed a summer job at a local Carnival in Downtown LA I was just looking for some extra cash before my senior year of college started in the fall the carnival was a typical setup with rides games and food stands but its main attraction was the fun house which doubled as a haunted house after Dark it was actually a solid structure that I think used to be some old guy's Mansion or something I was assigned to manage the fun house which was a

favorite among the carnival goers it seemed simple enough guide the guests in ensure they have a fun safe time and observe them leave at first everything seemed straightforward but then I started noticing odd things it started with small discrepancies i' count a dozen people entering but only 11 would emerge at first I chocked it up to miscounting after all keeping track in the chaos of laughter and screams was no easy task however as the days passed the numbers just didn't add up 7 went in six came out 10 went in nine came out was I

going crazy something was off and I couldn't ignore it much longer one particularly busy afternoon a blonde girl caught my eye as she walked up to the fun house she was dropped at gorgeous and almost seemed out of place amidst the childlike atmosphere she couldn't have been more than a few years older than me I genuinely had to do a double take I'm not a weird guy by any means but I couldn't help but lock eyes with her for a few seconds she smiled handed me her ticket and I directed her into the attraction after

she disappeared into the darkness I went back to my duties time ticked by and I watched attentively as people entered and exited sometimes asking me questions and whatnot admittedly I was paying a little more attention to the guests that night as I wanted to see that girl as she left and maybe work up the courage to talk to her her pretty soon I started picking up on the fact that groups of people who had entered after her were beginning to emerge a few more minutes pass and I started getting worried she should have been out

by now compelled by a genuine concern I decided to abandon my post for a few minutes and go looking for her I stepped inside and locked the entrance door I began investigating navigating the dimly lit rooms and narrow corridors I moved through the house until I came across something I had noticed during my initial walkthrough a barely noticeable seam in the wall I'm not really sure what I was expecting but curiosity got the best of me I pressed against the seam and I heard a distinct click I played around with it some more and my

jaw nearly hit the floor when I realized it was a hidden door it swung open slowly revealing a pitch black hallway I stood there in shock what in the world was this doing here I was definitely going to have a long conversation with my boss about this I walked into the hallway with my phone's flashlight guiding the way I didn't have much brain power to spend being nervous because I was still so shocked about the whole situation I got to the end of the passage and found another door I flung it open and to my

surprise it was a concealed exit that led back to the carnival grounds I breathed a sigh of relief as this discovery proved I wasn't going crazy all those people I had noticed leaving the attraction had probably stumbled across that Secret Door by accident and assumed it was the correct way to go as I walked back the way had came I couldn't help but feel a little bummed out that I wasn't going to get the chance to talk to that girl I'm not sure what came over me but I decided to keep exploring the fun house

instead of returning to my post I think a part of me just wanted a few extra minutes of this impromptu break I was taking I walked through a couple more rooms and that's when I noticed it on one of the walls was another faint seam identical to the first one I had seen I again played with it until it clicked and swung open I could immediately tell this one was very different the putrid smell was the first thing I noticed more concerning though was the fact that there was no Corridor in this one but a

ladder a ladder that led downwards I was more confused than anything this door was on the ground floor and I was told specifically that this place didn't have a basement I debated climbing down but I just felt awful about the prospect that the girl might be down there so against my instincts I began The Descent the smell only got worse as I climbed down into the darkness I was expecting to find a basement but what I found instead was far far worse I got to the bottom and pulled out my phone's flashlight I was frozen

in shock I was literally standing in a tunnel that extended into the darkness there was literally no way that this was part of the house above the rational part of my brain screamed turn back to forget about it but the mystery was too compelling I ventured further being careful not to make any noise the walls were damp and the tunnel was completely Sil silent as I explored my flashlight beam fell on something unexpected a white glittery purse was sitting in the middle of the corridor I picked it up turning it over in my hands it

looked familiar and then it hit me it was that girl's purse I was sure of it I started to panic was she really down here I doubted there was any way a rational person could find this tunnel and not turn around but the proof was literally in my hands my mind started racing was she hurt lost and then a more terrifying thought hit me was she alone I didn't feel safe anymore but I was in too deep violating every survival Instinct I had I yelled out into the tunnel for that girl I waited nothing I

was just about to shout again when I heard the sound of Rapid footsteps echoing through the tunnels my first instinct was to run I had every reason to believe whoever was running toward me was hostile I turned around and bolted back to the ladder I got halfway up and slipped falling back to the bottom the footsteps were basically right on top of me now I knew I was done for I braced myself for a fight and then a voice rang out a girl's voice her voice she gasped help me clutching her side as if in

pain I yelled at her to climb up but she insisted that I follow her back into the darkness for some reason I told her there was no chance I was doing that and basically forced her up the ladder we got to the top and I slammed the door shut I asked her how in the world she ended up down there and she couldn't really give me a straight answer she kept saying she didn't really remember how it happened just that she suddenly realized she was underground she said she started hearing things moving in the dark

and that there were voices calling to her I didn't know how to process this I asked her if someone had guided her down there and she said she didn't remember the weirdest thing about her story was that she was looking at me with this Blank Stare that genuinely freaked me out I basically interrogated her about why she told me to stay down there but she didn't answer I had had enough I wanted to get as far away from this person as possible I called the police but she opted to leave the fun house before they

got there I never saw her again the police investigated and what they found was actually insane apparently this house had been some sort of safe house during Prohibition in the 1920s as such it had a bunch of secret passageways that led to a section of the underground prohibition tunnels that hadn't been discovered the owner claimed he had no idea idea about the House's history but I was skeptical I quit my job and got as far away from there as possible I still have so many questions did the owner know about this was that girl almost

kidnapped had someone knocked her out and took her down there or something was she part of the whole thing I feel like there's a number of explanations for what happened to me but all of them are equally terrifying ever since I was a kid I loved carnivals the lights the games the unpredictable Joy of it all I know lots of people find them weird and childish but not me growing up in a small town in Indiana it's not like there was a whole bunch to do so whenever the carnivals would roll through town you best

believe I was spending as much time there as I possibly could it's been over 20 years and I still enjoy the atmosphere of a local Carnival despite what I'm about to tell you I think my love for carnivals is something all never lose I was like 10 or 11 when this happened and I was a kind of nerdy kid growing up in the days leading up to the Spring Carnival I found myself in the library reading up on whatever I found interesting at the time for whatever reason I wound up in the History Section I

remember the books being literally caked in layers of dust that's how long it had been since they were even touched I was flipping through a book on the history of our town when a small faded slip of paper fell out from between the pages confused used I leaned down to pick it up to my pleasant surprise it was a ticket for our local Spring Carnival dated over 15 years ago the odds of something like that happening had to be extremely low I was ecstatic this ticket would make a great addition to my miscellaneous collection back

home what was even cooler though was the fact that the date on the ticket was just 2 days away when the carnival would certainly be in town as I predicted the carnival cruised into town the next morning so I figured why not use the old ticket Just for Laughs to see what the booth attendant would say I wanted to get it punched anyway the next evening I headed to the carnival with the ticket safely tucked away in my pocket as I approached the entrance the carnival seemed just as Lively as ever the air filled with

the scent of cotton candy and popcorn I pulled out the ticket at the gate handing it over to the guy at the booth his face changed the moment he saw it he went pale his eyes widening slightly before he masked his reaction with a forced smile it was honestly a little creepy uh enjoy your evening he stammered handing me back the ticket without punching it I was so weirded out by his reaction that I forgot to ask him to punch it I Shrugged it off though thinking maybe he was just new and confused about the

old design of the ticket I wandered around played some games and enjoyed a funnel cake the night was perfect but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off I felt eyes on me observing maybe it was just paranoia I tried to ignore it at first but I kept noticing the carnival employees giving me weird looks after a while I got fed up and decided to ask one of the older game operators about it I found a kindl looking elderly man running the ring toss Booth I showed him the ticket and unlike the booth guy

he didn't even try to hide his shock he glanced around nervously before leaning closer young man where did you get this he asked after telling him where I found it I started feeling uneasy about the whole situation maybe I should have just kept the ticket at home you found something you weren't meant to find the old man started his voice dropping to a whisper this ticket it's part of a story that the folks around here don't talk about much about 15 years ago something terrible happened during the carnival right here in this town he paused

as if weighing weather to continue There was a young worker name of Ryan nice kid everybody liked him he was responsible for one of the rides I can't remember which one night he just disappeared vanished without a trace the police found his wallet but there was nothing in it except a ticket that looked an awful lot like this one he said gesturing towards my hands the atmosphere around us seemed to drop a few degrees he continued they searched everywhere even drained the local pond but no sign of him after that strange things started happening every

time the carnival stopped here accidents things going missing odd sightings people said it was Ryan trying to come back or something worse that took him I could feel a chill running down my spine but a part of me was skeptical and you believe that I asked the old man Shrugged I've seen enough to keep an open mind but the point is the ticket you found might stir things up it's best you get rid of it leave it here he then motioned for me to give it to him but I was reluctant I looked down at

it reading it over again as if there was some kind of secret I was missing How could a TI it be the cause of all that I questioned still not fully buying it the look in his eye got darker his tone switched almost as if he were angry he told me to give it here almost in a growl I considered it but concluded that some stupid story wasn't worth giving up such a cool souvenir I told him no and he actually sprung up with a quickness that startled me he reached for the ticket his fingers

grazing my hand I jerked back instinctively clutching the ticket tighter the old man's expression morphed into something desperate almost predatory you don't understand he hissed his eyes darting around as if expecting something or someone to emerge from the Shadows I backed away towards the tent's exit my heart pounding I think I should go I stammered turning to lose myself in the crowd behind me I could hear his calls a mix of pleading and warning I didn't care what he was saying though I let the bustling crowd Around Me Drown his voice out my mind was

racing not even about the ticket but more so his aggressive Rive reaction the joy of the carnival had been spoiled I left earlier than planned the ticket burning a hole in my pocket over the next few days my luck seemed to turn sharply I missed catching the school bus scraped my knee pretty bad in a bike accident and worst of all my best friend accused me of stealing his favorite baseball card something I would never do things got worse than that though I remember coming home one night to my mother in tears after losing her

job my brother broke his leg skateboarding the next week and our beloved family pet Bean also passed away a few days after that it was like a dark cloud had settled over me since that night at the carnival I couldn't help but remember the old man's warning about the tickets starring things up it seemed ridiculous but then again so was the string of bad luck that followed me my dad laughed when I told him about my theory he told me that there was no such thing as ghosts and that I shouldn't be so superstitious one

rainy afternoon after school after a particularly tough day where I had forgotten my lunch and had to go hungry I pulled the ticket out I stared at it this small piece of paper that had brought nothing but trouble feeling a mix of anger and fear I decided I had had enough I grabbed my rain coat and boots and trudged out to the creek that ran behind our house my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest as the ring soaked through my hair standing at the Creek's Edge I took one last look at

the ticket before tearing it into tiny pieces and watching them get swept up by the current it's just a piece of paper I thought things started to look up after that my friend found his baseball card and apologized to me and we became friends again I didn't miss the bus a single time that school year my mom got a better job in the next couple of days whether it was all a coincidence or that ticket really was cursed I couldn't say but one thing was for sure I learned to be more careful about what I

picked up and brought home I don't believe in the Supernatural even after all this stuff happened to me my parents like telling me that I imagined everything because I was so young it's still hard to fully explain it but I've long since accepted it as one of those weird coincidences that you just can't [Music] explain I hate carnivals I think they're disgusting and filled with children I hate the food the games and the smell of it all my hatred of carnivals is probably biased though and mostly based on what I'm about to tell you a

few years ago I was dragged to our local carnival by my younger sister I obviously wasn't going to be rude and not go but I wasn't looking forward to it after a while my sister got bored and wanted to leave so I called my mom to pick us up I actually opted not to go with them as I was in the midst of a fight with my dad and didn't want to go back home until he was asleep I told my mom I'd walk home later so she picked up my sister and left the carnival

was honestly a little pathetic there were were far fewer people there that night than I remember there being in previous years and everyone looked miserable I figured I might as well walk around a little to try and get my money's worth after all I had paid for a ticket out of my own pocket I decided to step into the fun house as I figured that would at least be a little cool I was expecting there to be a ton of people in there but it was completely empty there was literally not a single other person

in there as far as I could tell I had never been inside a fun house alone before people don't realize how important the laughter and talking is to the atmosphere without it you're basically just standing there in silence surrounded by a bunch of weird mirrors it was honestly a little creepy I Shrugged my shoulders and figured I might as well walk through it admittedly I did get a pretty good laugh out of the distorted mirrors I think I was like halfway through when I noticed something odd in one of the reflections to my left there

was a head that seemed to be peering at me I only saw it for a split second but it was a bald guy with really sunken eyes I whipped around but didn't see anyone to be completely honest I had no idea where he had even been standing since there were mirrors all over the place he could have literally been anywhere I thought it was especially creepy since I didn't hear the fun house entrance open he either snuck in behind me or he had already been inside I kept walking going a little more quickly now and

then I saw him again out of the corner of my eye he had this deranged smile this time it was the exact same face I was positive I tried to figure out where he was standing but the reflections were too confusing I yelled for him to get lost but got no response I wasn't sure what I was expecting I picked up the pace again but it was difficult trying to navigate this Maze of mirrors and I kept hitting dead ends I started sweating constantly looking over my shoulder every few seconds a few minutes later I

turned a corner after hitting another dead end and a hand reached out from behind one of the mirrors grabbed my wrist I screamed cursing at the guy to let go of me but he held firm I punched his arm forcing him to let go I fell to the ground in The Fray and saw the creepster in his full form he was wearing all gray had a bit of a gut and a tired sunken face I jumped my feet before he could reach for me again and sprinted back the way I came I don't know if

it was survival instincts or not but finding my way back to the entrance was somehow easier with the adrenaline coursing through my veins I sprinted out of the fun house and caught my breath I reached into my back pocket and a horrifying realization hit me I didn't have my wallet I must have dropped it when I fell there was no way I was going back in there after running to the nearest staff person I told them everything that happened she seemed confused and told me that the fun house was closed to patrons that night I

was horrified they called the police and searched it but found nothing not even my wallet I felt like such an idiot I told them that that guy was probably an ex-employee with a key but they Shrugged off my theory and told me to go home so reluctantly that's what I did it's not like I had gotten hurt or anything I wish I could tell you the story ended there but I can't a week later my girlfriend called me one night in a panic frantically screaming into the phone about something terrible that happened apparently someone had

been texting her phone pretending to be me and convinced her to drive out to this remote location to help me change a tire thankfully she decided to bring her dad even though the guy told her to come alone they pretty quickly realized what was going on when the car parked in the lot wasn't mine her dad stepped out of the car and six dudes stepped out of the car in front of them he sprinted back to the car and high tailed it out of there before those guys could catch up to him the whole thing

made sense I did have my girlfriend's number written down on a slip of paper in my wallet which explains how he got her number both of us changed all our contact information and it's been a month without incident I really don't know how to feel about this whole ordeal I think I'm just going to try to block them memory out of my head