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3 True Santa Claus Horror Stories That Will Ruin Your Childhood · True Horror Stories

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: When I first took Morgan to the mall that day,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the air was thick with the scent of cinnamon and pine.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The bustling crowd, the twinkling lights, and the cheery Christmas
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: music were enough to bring out the child in anyone.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Morgan's eyes sparkled with excitement as he tugged at my hand,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: pointing eagerly at every display we pass. Granny, look, he exclaimed, delightly,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it's Sanna.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: There. He was, right by the towering Christmas tree.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Santa Claus himself, or at least some man dressed to Santa.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: A group of giggling children surrounded him, each waiting their
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: turn to sit on his lap and tell him their
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Christmas wishes.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Morgan was no different.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: As we approached, I couldn't help but notice something unsettling
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: about the man. His Santa suit was immaculate, but his
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: eyes didn't have that jolly twinkle I remembered from when
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I was a child.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Instead, they seemed cold, detached.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: But I pushed that thought aside, chalking it up to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: my overactive imagination. After all, I was an old woman,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and sometimes I saw things that others couldn't. Go on Dear,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I encouraged Morgan, even though my stomach twisted in.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Knots Oh, say hi.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Morgan clapped and excitedly waddled his way to the podium.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Santa guffawed as he placed him on his lap, but
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the next seconds Morgan's face changed, his smile faltered, eyes widened,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and I swear I saw the color drain.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: From his cheeks. Morgan, I gasped.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Softly, but he didn't respond. His tiny hands were clenched
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: into fists as the man grinned down at him, too
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: wide to forced. Then Morgan flinched. It was subtle, but
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I saw it, a small, almost imperceptible jerk, as if
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: something had startled him. The picture was taken in a flash,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and then the man leaned in close to Morgan's ears.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I couldn't hear what he whispered, but I saw the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: way my grandson's body cowered. The man's smile never wavered
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: as he set Morgan down on the ground and picked
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: another kiddo.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Santa, I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Morgan curled his cold palms around my fingers and dragged
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: us out. He didn't say a word all the way home.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: The sparkle in his eyes had died. His little body
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: was rigid with fear. It wasn't until we got back
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that I noticed how pale he'd become, the way his
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: skin seemed almost translucent.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: That night, he wouldn't go to bed.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: He insisted on sleeping in mine, and no matter how
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: much his parents or eye coaxed or comforted him, he
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: wouldn't stop shaking. Morgan was terrified of something or some one.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: When his mother found him the next morning, curled up
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: on my bed, feverish and mumbling in his sleep, Our
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: hearts nearly stopped.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Kept muttering don't touch me, don't touch.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Me, over and over again, his voice so weak and
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: broken that it made my chest tighten with dread. Morgan's
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: fever broke after two days, but the shivering remained. When
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: we tried to talk to him about Christmas, he screamed
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: so loud the neighbors came.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: His eyes were wild with terror.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Mom, is there something you want to tell us, my
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: son asked, after he had tucked Morgan into bed. Don't worry,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I'll take care of it, I promised. There was only
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: one explanation. Whatever that man had done, it was enough
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: to scar my grandson. Deeply, I couldn't just sit back
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and do nothing, not when I knew something was so
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: horribly wrong. So on the night before Christmas, I went
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: back to the mall. I wanted to confront the man,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to see for myself what kind of monster had terrified
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: my sweet boy. The mall was quieter than before, the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: festive chaos was replaced with a more subdued atmosphere. But
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: there he was, still sitting in that same chair, still
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: grinning at every child he placed on his lap. I
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: observed him from a distance. Everything was usual at first,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: he'd picked kids laugh and promised them presents. But then
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I saw it. He had scooped a little girl around
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Morgan's age into his arms. She was telling him something
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: when his palm wrapped around her tiny thighs and pinched her.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Then he leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: A girl's face went ashen, her tiny mouth quivering as
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: she held back tears.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: That monster.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I stormed over, grabbed a large candy cane decoration from
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the corner, and without a second thought, brought it down
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: hard on that man's head. He recoiled a look of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: shock on his face as I hit him again and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: again until the security intervened.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: You freak, I screamed for everyone to hear.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: The security stormed in and took him away. The parents
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: reported everything to the authorities. Later I found out he'd
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: been arrested and charged with multiple counts of child endangerment.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: But even as they led him away in handcuffs, he
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: turned and smiled at us, No, not at me, but
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: through me, as if he could see something I couldn't.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: And that's when I realized the man in the Santa
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: suit wasn't just some pervert or creep. He was something
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: far worse, something evil that thrived on the vulnerability of children,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: on their innocence and trust. And even though he was gone,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I couldn't shake the knowledge that somewhere around the world,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: another Morgan might be subjected to the same trauma, because
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: evil like that doesn't just go away. It lingers, waiting
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: for the next chance to strike, to spread in like darkness.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: And now every time I close my eyes, I see
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: that smile, that terrible, monstrous grin, and I know deep
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: down that this Christmas won't be the last we hear
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of devils like them. Christmas used to be my favorite
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: time of year, the lights, the music, the cold air
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: filled with the promise of snow. It all used to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: make me feel like a kid again. But that was
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: before last winter, before the night in the cabin that
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: changed everything. Now, whenever the holiday season rolls around, I'm
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: filled with a deep, gnawing dread, and it all comes
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: down to one thing, Santa Claus. It started innocently enough.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: My girlfriend Mollie, our friends Nancy and Buck, and I
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: decided to rent a cabin in the woods for a
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: cozy Christmas getaway. The place was straight out of a
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: horror movie, wooden, creaky and nestled in the middle of nowhere.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Buck even joked that it gave off evil dead vibes.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: We all laughed it off, figuring every cabin in the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: woods felt that way. While Molly and Nancy struggled to
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: get a fire going in the ancient fireplace, Buck busied
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: himself with dinner preparations. I didn't have much to do,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: so I wandered around the cabin, taking in the rustic surroundings.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: That's when I heard it, a hollow thud beneath my
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: foot as I stepped on a corner of the living room. Curious,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I crouched down and noticed a small metal hook embedded
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: in the wooden floor. Hey guys, check this out, I
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: called over, and soon all four of us were huddled around.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: As I tugged at the hook with a creak, A
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: hidden trap door swung open, revealing a dark, musty basement
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: beneath the cabin. None of us were particularly eager to
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: explore it, but we were too intrigued, not till the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: basement was filled with the kind of old junk that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: you'd expect, rusted tools, moldy boxes, and broken furniture. But
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: then we found something strange, a cardboard box labeled confidential.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Inside were a bunch of old videotapes, each one marked
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: with an asset code like sub.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Ten and sub twelve.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Thankfully, lay the cabin had an old VCR, so we
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: decided to watch one of the tapes. Buck popped in
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the tape labeled Sub twelve, and we all settled onto
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the dusty couch.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: To see what it was.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: The screen flickered to life, showing grainy footage of a
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: man dressed as Santa Claus. He stood in front of
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the camera in what looked like the very living room
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: we were sitting in.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: And started singing jingle balls.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: At first, we laughed at how bizarre and creepy it
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: was a Santa singing to an empty room in this
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: creepy old cabin. But the laughter quickly died when Santa
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: suddenly stopped singing. He stared directly into the camera, his
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: eyes dark and hollow, and then he spoke.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Can you hear crying? We all froze.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: The room seemed to drop ten degrees as Santa slowly
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: panned the camera to the other side of the room.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: There, tied to a chair was a woman. She looked terror.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Her clothes were torn, a large chunk of her hair
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: was missing, and her eyes were wide with fear. My
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: stomach turned and I could hear Nancy gasp beside me.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Santa began to.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Hum the jingle bells tune again, this time more slowly,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: more sinisterly. As he picked up a chainsaw from the floor,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: He walked over to the woman dragged her chair out
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: of the camera's view for a moment. The scream just
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: showed the empty room, but the sounds. The sounds were horrific.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: The roar of the chainsaw, a woman's screams, the sickening
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: noise of flesh being torn apart.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: It was all too real.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: We sat there, paralyzed with horror as the sounds finally
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: died down. Then Santa walked back into the frame, his
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: suit and face now splattered with blood.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: He leaned in close to the camera, grinning.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Subject twelve deceased, Merry Christmas. The tape ended abruptly, leaving
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: us in stunned silence. My heart was pounding, and I
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: could feel the cold sweat on the back of my neck.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Buck was the first to speak, his voice shaky. The
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: numbers on the tapes, they're not just tapes, they're women.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: He's numbered them as his subjects. We couldn't stay in
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: the cabin another minute. We grabbed our things and left,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: not bothering to contact the owner. It was obvious that
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: whoever rented out this cabin had something to do with
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: these tapes, these murders. We drove straight to the nearest
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: police station and handed over the tapes. What we learned
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: there made my blood run cold. The tapes reopened an
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: infamous thirty year old cold case, the Christmas abductions. Fifteen
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: women had gone missing in those woods or along the
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: nearby highway, and no one had ever found them. The
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: cabin's owner was questioned, but he denied knowing anything about
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the tapes. Whoever the man in the Santa costume was,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: he was still out there, living free, with no remorse
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: for the lives he'd taken.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: That night changed me Now.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Every time I see Santa Claus, I don't see a
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: jolly man bringing gifts to children. I see a monster.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I hear the screams of that woman in the cabin,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the grinding sound of the chainsaw, the twisted grin on
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: that bloodied face, and I know that no matter how
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: hard I try, I'll.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Never be able to forget it.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: So when Christmas comes around, while others are hanging up
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: stockings and decorating trees, I'm double checking the locks on
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: my doors and staying as far away from anything that
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: resembles Santa Claus as I can, because I know the truth.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Christmas can be a nightmare, and Santa is its darkest figure.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: It's been ten years since that Christmas Eve, but the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: memory of it still haunts me, like a shadow that
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: never leaves. I was just a kid back then, eight
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: years old and still reeling from the loss of my mom.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: She'd been everything to me. The warmth in our house,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the laughter in the air when she passed. It felt
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: like the world had lost its color. That December, I
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: did something I've never told anyone. I wrote a letter
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to Santa, asking him for just one thing to bring
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: back my mom again. I knew it was silly, I
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: was old enough to doubt Santa's existence, but I was desperate.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I wanted her back so badly it hurt. On Christmas Eve,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I placed the letter on my windowsill. But that night,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: as I lay in bed, something strange happened. A shadow
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: appeared on the wall, growing larger and darker until it
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: took the shape of a man.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: No, not a man.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: It looked like Santa, but not the jolly figure I'd imagined.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: This shadow was tall, looming, its eyes glowing like embers,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and the darkness Santa. The shadow nodded, though it didn't.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I was terrified, but also hopeful. I didn't know what
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: was happening, but I felt like my wish was about
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to come true. The shadow stretched out a hand, and
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: suddenly she was there, my mom, standing at the foot
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: of my bed. I could hardly believe it, but something
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: was wrong. She wasn't the mom I remembered. Her skin
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: was pale, almost white, like rice paper. Her eyes were dull, lifeless,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and she didn't smile or speak, just stared at me
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: with an intensity that made me shiver. But I didn't care.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: She was here, she was real. I jumped out of
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: bed and hugged her, but she didn't hug me back.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Her arms hung limply at her sides, cold as ice.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Mom, you're back. I missed you so much.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: She nodded slowly, her movement stiff, and I tried to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: talk to her, to tell her about everything she'd missed,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: but she barely responded. When we went down for breakfast
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the next morning, she sat at the table, staring at
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the food, but not touching it. I couldn't wait to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: see Dad's reaction, but it was strange.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Dad, isn't it great? Mom's back.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: He looked at me, confused, Ethan, what are you talking about.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: That's when I realized that he couldn't see her. She
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: was only visible to me. As the days passed, my
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: mom started asking me for strange things. She wanted locks
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: of my hair, bits of fabric from my clothes, even
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: my favorite toys. Every time I gave her something, she
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: seemed to become more lifelike. Her skin gained a faint
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: blush and her movements became smoother. But with each gift,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: something darker crept into her eyes, a twisted gleam that
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: scared me.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Mommy, why do you need these things?
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: She didn't answer, just smiled a smile that didn't reach
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: her eyes, and every night she would whisper to me
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: in a voice that was not quite hers. Soon ethan, soon,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: we'll be together forever. One night she told me that
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: we were going to celebrate her birthday. She led me
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to the living room, and what I saw there made
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: my blood run cold. The room was filled with symbols
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I didn't understand, drawn in chalk on the walls and floor.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Candles flickered in a circle around us, casting eerie shadows
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: that danced like living things.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Mommy, what is this?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: She smiled again, that twisted smile, and began chanting in
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: a language I didn't recognize. The room seemed to close
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: in around me, the air thick with the smell of
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: burning wax and something else, something rotten. As she chanted,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: her voice deepened, became distorted, until it wasn't her voice
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: at all. It was something ancient something evil. I tried
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to back away, but my feet wouldn't move. I was paralyzed,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: held in place by some invisible force.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: The symbols on.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: The floor began to glow, and I felt myself being
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: lifted into the air. My arms and legs were pulled
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: taunt as if by invisible ropes, and I hung there helpless.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Has my mom?
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: No? The thing that looked like my mom transformed before
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: my eyes. Her skin peeled away, revealing something dark and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: twisted beneath, a creature of nightmares. Its eyes glowed white
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and its mouth stretched into a grin.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: No, please stop, it laughed. I knew then that this
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: wasn't my mom.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: It was some demon, something ancient and terrible, wearing her
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: face like a mask. Looking back, I now realized that
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: I was probably its final offering, the last piece it
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: needed to fully enter our world. Just as it was
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: about to strike, the front door burst open. My dad
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: stood there, his face pale with shock. He took one
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: look at the scene before him and ran straight at
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the creature, clutching a silver cross in his.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Hand and get away from my son.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The creature hissed, recoiling from the cross. My dad grabbed
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: me pulling me down from the air, and we ran.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: The thing that had been my mom screamed and raged,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: but it couldn't follow us beyond the circle of symbols.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: We left the house at night, never to return. We
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: stayed at a relative's place for some time before Dad
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: shifted to a different city. He went to the house
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: just once to gather our belongings, but he remembered that
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: there was nothing there. Whatever that creature was, it was gone.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I don't celebrate Christmas anymore. I know for a fact
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that Santa is not real, But something like Santa is
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: just that it grants you wishes of a darker kind.