Creepypastas are some of the most memorable stories you'll find online. The name comes from copypasta, because creepypastas share the trait of being reposted everywhere online, but for very different reasons. Instead of mimicking spam or a niche form of humor, they're made to scare people, even if only a little. Some are mildly creepy, while others are a lot more unsettling or even involve elaborate viral hoaxes. And all of the best creepypastas have left a lasting mark on the people who have read them, because they're each composed well enough to leave some disturbing thoughts in our heads.

In this list, we've collected some facts and important points about some of the biggest creepypastas to ever exist. These defined a whole era in online history, and many of the scary stories that circulate the web nowadays were originally inspired by these. If you're feeling nostalgic and want to reminisce on the things that really scared you for some reason when you were a kid, these are the ones that you'll probably remember, or stored deep down in your repressed memories. Here are the biggest and most influential creepypastas out there.