12 Creepy Texts to Send Your Friends at Night to Scare Them

GIFs, chain texts, and more scary ideas to text friends

Co-authored by Maryana Lucia Vestic, MFA, M.Phil.

Last Updated: June 26, 2025 Fact Checked

Want to keep your friends up at night? Sending them creepy texts is a great way to freak them out and also have some fun. If you’re looking for that perfect scare, we’ve got you covered. We’re here to help with a guide on how to creep your friends out over text, from sending a creepy photo of yourself (with no context) to sharing “fun” facts about diseases and urban legends.

A word of caution: The ideas in this article are both thrilling and chilling, ensuring everyone has a fun time! Still, consider sending these kinds of texts to close friends only and/or friends who you know delight in spookiness. Respect your friends' wishes if the texts make them uncomfortable, and be sure to apologize if they find your texts too alarming.

Scariest Text Ideas to Creep Out Your Friends

Text them a creepy photo without context.
Share fun—and spooky—paranormal stories.
Offer up unsettling facts about creepy diseases.
Freak them out by relaying an urban legend.
Share a link to a creepy website.

1

Text them a creepy photo.

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Take a spooky pic and share it with your friends. You might not even have to leave home! Find a tattered old doll in the attic or snap a shot of the dark hallway that leads to your basement. You’ll scare them even more if you send the image without any context: let the image speak for itself and keep them wondering what’s going on where you are! No spooky dolls on hand? Try snapping a shot of these other chilling things:
- Abandoned buildings with missing windows and overgrown lawns.
- A spider’s web close up (extra points if you include the spider!)
- A random hand resting on someone else’s shoulder.
- Your own face with a frightening (and/or goofy) expression on it—perhaps lit from beneath with a flashlight in classic spooky campfire story-style!

2

Send them a scary voice note.

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Use your own voice to send shivers down your friend’s spine. By sending them your voice in a message instead of simply text, you can use audio to freak them out. They’ll be expecting to hear your voice, but instead they’ll hear you doing the most frightening voice you can muster. If you get someone else whose voice they’re less familiar with to leave the voice note, it’ll be even more effective. Some ideas are ahead:
- Make your voice gravelly like you’re a ghost or spirit; tell them something like, “I’m haunting your house from your attic. Can you hear me?”
- Talk in a high-pitched baby voice that’s equally unsettling; say something creepy like, “I want to play with you. Please come play with me!”
- Get someone else to act scary using a voice they haven’t heard before; your grandma’s voice is an example of one that could be scary to them, even if she is just saying “Hello? Is anyone there?”

3

Talk to them about the paranormal.

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Ghosts, vampires, demons, and aliens are all more than a little creepy. Sharing a story about the supernatural with your friend over text can lead to some scary fun, especially if you text them when they’re drunk. Send them a message that reminds them that there might be things out there that we can’t understand, like:
- “Do you ever think about how 1 in 5 Americans have seen a ghost?”^{[1]
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  Pew Research Center
  Nonpartisan thinktank conducting research and providing information on public opinion, demographic trends, and social trends
  
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- “Have you heard about Betty and Barney Hill? They were abducted by aliens, and the weirdest part is that they didn’t remember anything until they started having medical problems and underwent hypnosis.”^{[2]
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- “Did you know The Blair Witch Project is based on the Bell Witch from the 19th century? Apparently, she caused all kinds of problems for the Bell family in Tennessee.”
- “Have you ever read about skinwalkers? They’re Native American witches who can shapeshift into animals and mimic the voices of others. What would you do if you thought you saw one?”
- Warning: Not everyone appreciates gruesome or horrifying topics, so use good judgment when sending these facts to your friends; respect their wishes if they ask you to stop.

4

Freak them out about diseases.

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Creep out your favorite hypochondriac with medical facts. Microscopic viruses can be even scarier than big monsters. If you’ve got a friend who is a little squeamish around germs, sending them photos or info about real diseases can really freak them out. Send them a message saying something like:^{[3]
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- “How crazy is it that hypochondriacs die before those who don’t worry about their health. Maybe it’s time to stop worrying, right?”^{[4]
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- “The human body contains 38 million bacteria, so you’re never really alone.”^{[5]
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- “No one ever survives rabies if you don’t get treated within 48 hours. The worst part? If something small bites you, like a bat, you might not even know you have it.”^{[6]
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  Respected Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal
  
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- “Certain kinds of amoeba can travel through your nose and eat your brain; you can catch it by swimming in a lake on a hot summer day.”^{[7]
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- Warning: If your friends experience actual anxiety about being a hypochondriac, this may not be the best choice for creepy texts. If they tell you it bothers them a lot, choose another option or don’t try to freak them out altogether.

5

Send them strange messages on a regular schedule.

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Anything can be creepy if it happens enough times. Sending your friend the same message over and over again is a great way to creep them out a little. The content of the message isn’t that important—what’s creepy is the buildup from weird to annoying. Pick one of these messages and send it to your friend throughout the day:
- “Something’s coming”
- “...”
- “Are you home alone?”
- “Who is this?”

6

Dare them with an urban legend.

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Urban legend dares aren’t just good for sleepovers. Tell your friend about a scary urban legend, and dare them to try it out—most of these dares don’t need anything but a bathroom mirror and possibly some candles. Even better, ask them to videotape themselves doing it—it’s a creepy challenge that’ll definitely freak them out. Dare them something like this:
- “Go to your bathroom, turn off the lights, and bring a candle. Then, say ‘Bloody Mary’ 13 times, and see if she appears.”
- “Say ‘Candyman’ into the mirror 5 times and you die. If you don’t believe me, I dare you to try it out.”^{[8]
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- “Have you ever played ‘Devil Face’? Set a timer for midnight, and go to your bathroom with all the lights off. Light 12 candles, and close your eyes. When your timer goes off, open your eyes, and you’ll see the face of the devil.”^{[9]
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- Get into an elevator and press these buttons in this exact sequence: 4, 2, 6, 2, 10, 5. If you see a woman on the 5th floor, don’t talk to her. If you make it to the 10th floor, you’re in another dimension. Good luck getting back!”^{[10]
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- Warning: Urban legends, though not based in fact, can be very scary to some people. Consider your audience before trying to send scary texts for fun.

7

Send them a chain text.

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Chain messages have been around forever, and they’re still scary. Sending your friend a chain message that instructs them to forward it to more people so something bad doesn’t happen is a good way to freak them out. There are plenty of creepy chain messages around, but here are a couple that will really scare your friends:^{[11]
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- “Hello, I’m Cordelia. I died in a fire 10 years ago. Send this message to 5 people, or I’ll never be at rest.”
- “A bank robber has escaped from jail. Now that you have read this message, he’s looking to rob more banks. If you want to stop him, send this message to 5 other people.”
- “Don’t stop reading or your feet will turn purple. My name is Ofelia Heras. I am 16 years old and am a witch. You have 900 seconds to send this to 5 people, or I’ll make it so you have purple feet for the rest of your life.”
- “My name is Ann, and I live inside an old Raggedy Ann doll. Send this message to at least 10 other people in the next 2 minutes, or I’ll be stuck living in the doll forever no matter what.”

8

Use a creepy text generator to alter texting fonts.

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Anything is scarier when it’s written in a scary font! Using a text or font generator will transform any text you send into something terrifying to look at (or at least something gothic). Creepy font generators use gothic or scripted styles of font to look vintage, and can often create an aesthetic to go along with the font, like a haunted castle background or text that drips blood. Try it with some of these text generators:

9

Send them frightening horror film quotes.

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Text them your favorite bits of horror movie dialogue. Make sure they know you’re just quoting from a movie—for instance, quote a horror classic that most people are familiar with, like The Sixth Sense, or mention the name of the film beneath the quote. If you really want to keep the scary fun going, ask them to text you back another famous line from the film (or their favorite horror film dialogue). Hint: if they don’t text you back, they may not be in the mood for horror film dialogue texts.
- “I see dead people.” (The Sixth Sense)
- “Be afraid, be very afraid.” (The Fly)
- “They’re heeeeerrreeee.” (Poltergeist)
- “Do you like scary movies?” (Scream)

10

Make them flinch with a major jump scare.

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Send them a text that startles them into tossing their phone. Horror movies use jump scares all the time to frighten audiences. Use your text to make them think that something horrible is about to happen to them. They’ll be looking over their shoulder for a long time afterwards. This trick works even better when you can see them react! Some jump scare ideas are ahead:^{[12]
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- “There’s a spider on your neck!”
- “Turn around—someone’s at the door.”
- “Look out for that car!”
- “OMG, what is that clown doing behind you?”

11

Send them a disturbing GIF so they can’t look away.

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GIFs are the perfect way to be creepy without words. They’re normally used to make others laugh, but if your friend opens up their phone and sees a super disturbing GIF, they’ll probably be unable to get it out of their mind. Better yet, send it to them a few times so it becomes something you’re known for. Just be sure not to send a super scary GIF to a friend who you know hates horror movies, as that’s a little cruel!

12

Link them to a creepy wikiHow page.

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The internet is full of creepy things to send to your friends. Send your friend a link to a website that’ll have them scared to go to sleep. It’s a lot of fun to see their reactions, too, so tell them to text you after, or try out these sites yourself and see how you feel. You can freak them out by linking them to the following chilling articles:

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What if I don’t have a scary website?

Raven

Community Answer

You could search for creepy or unsettling images on the Internet and use them instead.

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To scare someone, you just need to suddenly act emotionless and start saying questionable stuff. Just don't keep the joke going on for too long!
Be careful! You shouldn't use these tricks on sensitive friends, because they may take it too seriously.

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Warnings:

Be mindful of your friend’s personality or state of mind when pranking them with creepy texts. They shouldn’t feel abused or harassed; avoid continuing to send them scary texts if they’ve told you it bothers them.

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