40 Scary Wikipedia Pages That Are For Adults Only

Buzz Feed

02-05-2025

Have you ever found yourself awake, unable to sleep, and scrolling down a deep internet rabbit hole on Wikipedia? Well, many people have, especially on the CREEPY Wikipedia pages. In fact, here are some that were so creepy that people on Reddit, as well as our BuzzFeed Community, just HAD to share them:
Warning: This post contains disturbing stories including mentions of death.
1. The horrifying murder of Cara Knott, who was killed by a police officer:
"Cara Knott was an American student who disappeared on Dec. 27, 1986. On December 28, her body was recovered at the bottom of a ravine. Her killer, a police officer, was interviewed while covering the investigation of the murder, and scratches, that were inflicted by Knott, are seen on his face."
— u/trissle_hippie
2. Armin Meiwes, who gained international notoriety as the "Cannibal of Rotenburg":
3. The cryptic and unsettling Prophecy of the Popes, a controversial and widely debated series of cryptic Latin phrases that are believed to predict the succession of Roman Catholic popes:
"Originally published in 1595, this document is a series of cryptic phrases said to predict the order of Catholic popes until the time of 'Peter the Roman,' a pope who will proceed the destruction of Rome."
— TheNavidsonLP
4. The injury of gymnast Elena Mukhina that left her paralyzed:
"…her first thought as she lay on the floor with her neck severely broken was, 'Thank God, I won't be going to the Olympics.''
— u/zetsv
5. Black-eyed children, a kind of urban legend that will leave you feeling creeped out.
6. The death of actor Carole Lombard and a group of Army soldiers:
Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Via Getty
"On Jan. 16, 1942, 33-year-old actor Carole Lombard won a coin toss that determined she and her group would return home from a war bond tour by plane instead of by train. Their flight wound up crashing into a mountain outside Las Vegas, killing all 22 on board, including 15 US Army soldiers."
— u/Go_To_Bethel_And_Sin
7. The unsettling "screaming" Mummies of Guanajuato:
"Due to the cholera pandemic, many bodies were buried immediately to control the spread of the disease. It is thought that in some cases, the dying may have been buried alive by accident, resulting in horrific facial expressions."
— u/unknownerror1916
8. The Disappearance of Asha Degree, who went missing on Feb. 14, 2000, in Shelby, North Carolina under strange circumstances:
WCNC / Via youtube.com
"Asha Degree was 9 years old when she left her family's house in the middle of the night and during a storm, only bringing her book bag with her. She was last seen walking along a roadway by passing motorists. To this day she has not been found. Further interesting points, over a year later, her book bag would be found at a construction site wrapped in a plastic bag. So far, leads in the case have turned out to be dead ends. Every year her family organizes a walk from their house to the spot she was last seen in order to bring attention to her case."
— EphemeralTypewriter
9. The tragic case of Aeroflot Flight 593 that crashed because of an innocent accident:
"On Mar. 23, 1994, a captain of a commercial airliner had his children in the cockpit of an Airbus A310 wide body jet aircraft during a revenue flight. One of them accidentally bumped the autopilot switch. There were no survivors."
— u/ViolenceForBreakfast
10. David Parker Ray, known as the "Toy Box Killer," an American kidnapper, serial rapist, and suspected serial killer:
"This scares the shit out of me. Ray, commonly known as the 'Toy-Box Killer,' would drug his victims, who would then wake up strapped to a gynecology examination chair, and a tape would be played for them explaining Ray's 'rules.' It's terrifying."
11. The Disappearance of Brian Shaffer which remains unsolved:
"In 2006, an Ohio State medical student named Brian Shaffer entered a bar with friends. After being recorded entering through the bar's only publicly accessible entrance by security cameras, Shaffer was never seen exiting the bar and has never been seen or heard from since."
— u/LivingRaccoon
12. The earthquake you can hear during a recording of Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond":
Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music / Getty Images
"A man was recording a copy of 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' when an earthquake hit. The recording starts to bump as the shockwave arrives, and then the audio switches to the rumble of the earthquake along with the voices of the scared people inside the house."
— u/slinkslowdown
(You can hear the actual recording here.)
13. The Posthumous Beheading of Mata Hari:
14. The Murder of Helle Crafts, which inspired the movie Fargo:
15. Smile mask syndrome, which sounds like the premise of a horror film:
"Smile mask syndrome is a psychological disorder in which subjects develop depression and physical illness as a result of prolonged, unnatural smiling. It can lead to severe physical strain of the mouth and can result in an inability to stop smiling, even when upset or agitated."
— u/ratandparrot
16. The Persian Princess, a mummy sold on the black market:
"A sarcophagus sold on the black market that contained a mummy claimed to be that of an ancient princess, later discovered to be the body of an unidentified woman murdered in the 1990s."
— u/silversunshinestares
17. The Disappearance of Jamie Fraley who was sick with stomach flu and last heard from at the hospital before telling a friend "someone" was picking her up there.
"Suspected serial murderer, and father of Jamie's fiancé, Ricky Simonds, was an initial person of interest in her disappearance. In 2008, he was found dead of heat stroke in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car. Investigators on the case believe Simonds was waiting in the trunk to ambush and murder his ex-girlfriend, when he became locked in the vehicle."
— u/Shaun_Ryder
18. The Killing of Henryk Siwiak, the last person killed in New York on 9/11:
ABC7NY / Via youtube.com
"The last person killed in New York on 9/11 was Henryk Siwiak, a victim of an unsolved murder, killed shortly before midnight. His homicide is the only one recorded in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, since the city does not include the deaths from the attacks in its official crime statistics."
— u/noonoonomore
19. Sogen Kato, thought to be Tokyo's oldest man:
"Sogen Kato was thought to have been Tokyo's oldest man until July 2010, when his mummified corpse was found. He died in November 1978, aged 79, and his family never announced his death in an attempt to preserve his longevity record."
— u/slinkslowdown
20. Eben Byers, who drank bottles of radium-spiked tonic:
Based On / Via youtube.com
"Eben Byers: Wealthy American playboy and amateur sportsman who was so thrilled when a radium-spiked tonic seemed to cure his chronic pain that he drank 1,400 bottles in two and a half years, besides sending cases to girlfriends and dosing his racehorses. Then his bones started to disintegrate..."
— u/Shoereader
21. The Kids for Cash scandal:
CNBC / Via youtube.com
"TIL about the Kids for Cash scandal: Two judges were convicted of taking bribes to ensure that for-profit juvenile detention centers were profitable."
— u/black_flag_4ever
22. Lizzie Borden, who was widely suspected of brutally killing her father and stepmother with an axe.
"Lizzie Borden's page scares the crap out of me. Not only is the story of what she did so twisted and inconsistent, but the pictures of her literally look hellish."
— m40957e3b9
23. The practices of Carl Tanzler who became obsessed with a woman, embalmed her, and lived with her corpse:
"Carl Tanzler, a radiologist who had fallen in love with a woman named Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, who was dying from tuberculosis. Eventually, when she died, Tanzler had embalmed her body and had taken it home with him, where he would perform necrophilia on her body for seven years until being discovered."
— u/West-Emu-8696
24. Blanche Monnier, who was secretly held captive by her mother:
"Blanche Monnier was a French socialite held captive by her mother for 25 years. When she was found by the authorities, she was lying in a bed coved with feces and leftover food. She only weighed 55 pounds. Twelve years after her rescue, she died in an insane asylum, having never regained her sanity."
— u/oldnips
25. Fred and Rosemary West, a serial killer couple who committed some of the most heinous crimes:
Universal History Archive / Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
"The scariest one was about Fred and Rosemary West, who killed at least 10 young women and girls, some of them their own daughters. Most of the murders involved rape, bondage, torture, and mutilation."
— arcticmankeys
27. The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion in the '80s, which creeped the heck out of people at the time and remains unsolved to this day:
Wikipedia, jonrev / Via youtube.com
"The Max Headroom broadcast hijacking thing is creepy on its own level."
— victoriae4a50957ed
28. Joyce Vincent, whose corpse was found in a London apartment after she'd reportedly been dead for more than three years.
Channel 4 News / Via youtube.com
"She died and was left in her apartment for three years."
— mollyc4dc773567
29. Ultimate fate of the universe, which will mess with your head:
Science Photo Library - MEHAU KU / Getty Images
"Just reading about how the world is probably gonna end scares me even if I'll be dead by then."
— secludedanxiety
30. The deadly Balloonfest '86 in Cleveland, Ohio:
Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
"Cleveland Balloonfest '86, with 1.4 million balloons and 2 deaths."
— u/noonoonomore
31. Project MKUltra, a human experimentation program created and run by the CIA from the 1950s to the '70s.
Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
"Check out anything regarding MKUltra — aka the CIA's mind control program. These horrifying experiments actually inspired Stranger Things!"
— alisons4b9dda6ba
32. The disappearance of Maura Murray in New Hampshire, which remains unsolved:
CBS Boston / Via youtube.com
"Maura went missing in 2004 and there are a lot of strange details about her disappearance, including fake family deaths, a car crash she abandoned, and strange phone calls."
— dominickk2
33. June and Jennifer Gibbons, aka "The Silent Twins", whose wild story inspired a 2022 film:
PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images
"They were twin sisters who only spoke to each other. They became criminals and were eventually sent to a psych ward for 11 years. One sister killed herself in order for the other to start living a normal life. Eerie and interesting!"
— chrisjay
34. The Hinterkaifeck murders, a gruesome and still-unsolved multiple homicide that took place in Germany in March 1922:
Heritage Images / Getty Images
"A farmer noticed footprints in the snow going towards his farm but none going the other direction, family members heard strange noises in the attic, keys went missing, and a newspaper that no one in the family read was found on the farm. The maid quit because she thought the place was haunted. On the same day that the new maid arrived, the entire family, as well as the new maid, was murdered. No one ever figured out who the mysterious intruder was or if/why he killed the family."
— imafreakokay
35. The Villisca axe murders, a gruesome and still-unsolved mass killing that took place in Villisca, Iowa, on the night of June 9–10, 1912:
legis.iowa.gov
"The unsolved, violent murder of the Moore family and their two houseguests in the middle of the night."
— monikap6
36. Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a convicted child molester and suspected serial killer with cannibalistic tendencies:
KRTV / Via youtube.com
"He was a monster who combined such atrocities as kidnapping and cannibalism. He was apparently working on a recipe book containing body parts. I read that Wiki last year after watching the series Real Detective (last episode of Season 1, available on Netflix). Still scared shitless from it."
— patrickp497b6e839
37. Charles Domery, whose story has been documented as one of the most extreme instances of polyphagia (excessive hunger) in medical history:
Campwillowlake / Getty Images
"He was a Polish soldier who had a bizarre appetite. Doesn't sound scary until you find out he ate cats, leather, candles, a human leg, etc. He never got full, he was never sick, and it is an unsolved medical mystery."
— dmmoore13
38. Karl Patterson Schmidt, who recorded his own horrible death from a snake bite:
TAK / Getty Images
"He was a distinguished herpetologist and the world's top expert on coral snakes. Then one day he was sent a small snake to identify. The snake, a boomslang, bit him but he didn't believe the venom could kill him. So he decided to keep a journal of his symptoms. He kept recording everything he experienced almost until he collapsed unconscious and died of severe internal bleeding."
— nickm427c0c808
39. List of unusual deaths, which is fascinating and terrifying at the same time:
Vyasphoto / Getty Images
"So this is really scary, but addicting. I've read them all, so now, when the mood fancies me, I'll go to the page and scroll right to the 21st century for updates. But every now and then more older ones are added so you have to do a quick once-over."
— khjakubec
40. Finally, the very sad term "endling":
Topical Press Agency / Getty Images
"An endling is the last known individual of a species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct."
— u/ActualGiantPenguin
What's the creepiest Wikipedia page you know of? Tell us all about it in the comments or via the totally anonymous form below!
Note: Some responses and submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.