Halloween is just around the corner, and apparently, it’s not the only thing creeping up on us. What if we told you that tingling on the back of your neck, that creaking sound on the staircase, or that monster under your bed isn’t all in your head? What if we told you that boogeymen are real?
Well, these true crime series prove that not only are boogeymen real, but they might also be even closer than you think – as close as, say your next-door neighbor, your friend from high school, or maybe even your own family member. Horrifying. So lock your doors, and watch your back because these five real-life “boogeymen” true crime series will keep you looking over your shoulder all spooky season long.
Jeffery Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story
There is a reason Netflix’s Monster has been sitting comfortably at the top of the charts since the day it came out – because it’s horrifying. The series follows the story of the real-life boogeyman and notorious serial killer Jeffery Dahmer who is played by American Horror Story‘s own king of creepy, Evan Peters.
Jeffery Dahmer’s crime spree was unlike any seen before, or really since. He lured unsuspecting victims back to his apartment (or sometimes his grandmother’s house) and would drug, murder, and mutilate them. When police raided his Milwaukee apartment they found body parts in his fridge, full corpses in his bedroom, and remnants of flesh on his cookware. He had been storing and eating his victims. Dahmer killed 17 people over nearly a decade. However, his unprecedented crime spree wasn’t the only thing that made him notorious.
We think we know evil when we see it, but Jeffery Dahmer was about as average as they come. He was a tall, thin, blonde man with glasses. He was educated and well-spoken and from a fairly normal family and upbringing. Yet below his calm demeanor and average exterior lay horrors beyond the imagination. Dahmer may not have looked like your run-of-the-mill boogeyman, but that was exactly what made him so dangerous. He could have been the boy next door, the friend from school, or that person standing a little too close behind you at the grocery store. Chills.
For this reason, Dahmer and the series following his life have secured a spot in our nightmares, and on your watchlist.
John Wayne Gacy – Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes
Creepy clowns, serial murders, bodies in the basement, if horror had a name, it would be John Wayne Gacy.
Gacy owned a construction company in Chicago which proved to be little more than a ruse to meet young men. He lured innocent men and boys back to his average-looking home in order to perpetrate unbelievable horrors. He then would bury them in the crawl space of his home and various other rooms of his house. Intimate details of Gacy’s horrific crimes are documented in the Netflix series Conversations With A Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes. The series tells Johny Wayne Gacy’s story in his own words with hours of never-before-heard footage, from the mouth and mind of a murderer.
One of the more horrifying things about Gacy — of which there are many — is his complete lack of remorse. The tapes reveal horrifying details of his crimes and his victims’ last moments, and Gacy explains it all as simply as if he is reading out the morning paper. He even finds moments of his hideous crimes entertaining.
Gacy would often dress up as an alter ego, a clown he named “Pogo.” He would visit sick children, entertain kids’ birthday parties, and do various events around town as Pogo. He told investigators that he created Pogo because “clowns could get away with anything” and that “clowns could get away with murder.” which is exactly what Gacy did, for years.
It was eventually discovered that Gacy had murdered 33 young men over nearly a decade. Many of the bodies were stored in his home and many of the victims had endured unimaginable horrors. It turned out that the man behind the clown makeup wasn’t really a man at all but a monster. A real-life boogeyman if we’ve ever seen one. Check out this true crime series on him – if you dare.
Lori Vallow – Sins of Our Mother
If you can’t trust family, then who can you trust? Apparently, no one, as this horrifying true crime documentary series reveals.
Sins of Our Mother details the Lori Vallow story as told through the eyes of her sole remaining child, eldest son Colby Ryan. Colby reveals the horrifying details of how the mother he loved turned into someone he didn’t even know and didn’t want to. He details how Lori’s slow descent into madness began with her spouting very odd religious viewpoints and that when she met Chad Daybell, everything changed.
Chad Daybell was a self-proclaimed religious leader and prophet who believed he could see things others couldn’t, including zombie-possessed humans. When he and Lori met, their religious zeal turned into a wildfire, burning down everything and everyone around them, including their respective spouses.
Before Colby knew what was happening his two younger siblings were missing, his stepfather was murdered and his mother was re-married in a secret Hawaiian ceremony to Chad Daybell. The investigation eventually came to a terrifying end when the ultimate betrayal between mother and child was discovered.
Lori Vallow is the ultimate real-life boogeyman, the woman next door, the perfect mother-turned-perfect murderer.
Keith Raniere of NXIVM – The Vow
Keith Raniere comes across as a quiet, reserved, almost shy individual, but beneath his geeky exterior lies a monster. He is the exact embodiment of the concept of “the banality of evil” which is exactly what made him so effective.
Keith Rainere is the founder of the self-improvement group NXIVM, which was revealed to be little more than Rainere’s own twisted fantasies come to life. The whole sordid story is unraveled in the HBO hit series The Vow, which reveals how much of a master manipulator Raniere truly is.
What makes him such a boogeyman is that he was able to hone in on women’s insecurities to prey upon them. He took their heartfelt desire for acceptance, freedom, and empowerment, and used it to manipulate them. He would put women on near-starvation diets, force them into sexual practices, and even brand them, all under the guise of “women’s empowerment.”
What is even more alarming about his practices is that they worked. Raniere was able to manipulate thousands – including some very high-profile celebrities. Big names include Allison Mack, Nicki Clyne, Sarah Edmondson, and even the Bronfman sisters Clare and Sara, heiresses to the Seagram’s liquor company fortune. The two sisters even managed to arrange for him to have a sit-down with the Dalai Llama.
Raniere also was able to wrangle India Oxenberg — daughter of Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg and granddaughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia — into the folds of the group. But he met his match with her mother, Catherine, who fought tirelessly to get her daughter back and was actually key in Rainere’s downfall and in bringing him to justice.
Rainere is the worst kind of boogeyman because he is the kind that gets into the mind. He found his victims’ vulnerabilities and used them against them in the most insidious of ways. He is living proof that all that glitters is not gold and that boogeymen are often hiding in plain — and public — sight.
The real-life watcher – The Watcher
How well do we really know our neighbors? After all, we don’t choose them, we just happen to move next door to them. How well do we know our own homes? After all, we often don’t build them, we just move into them. We tend to think of our homes as safe places, but sometimes they can be anything but. This is exactly the situation the real-life Braddock family — portrayed in the Netflix series The Watcher — found themselves in.
When they first received a creepy anonymous letter from a neighbor identifying themselves only as “The Watcher”, they became increasingly uncomfortable and were forced to question their security in their new home. Over the next few months, the family watched in horror as the home of their dreams turned into a nightmare. They were taunted with letters asking them if they knew what was in their basement and walls, telling them they were being watched and thanking them for bringing “new blood” into the house.
The Netflix series stars Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale as Dean and Nora Brannock, and while there are some creative liberties taken with the series that veer off from the true story, the basic premise is still terrifying. In fact, with the addition of some very sinister plotlines, we dare say even more so.
The creepiest part of all is that the watcher was never caught. The real-life watcher has never been discovered. Which means they are still out there, free to do this to another unsuspecting family. Have you checked your mail today?
If you are looking to get into the spooky spirit, add these five true-crime series to your Halloween hit list. They are sure to keep you checking your doors and looking over your shoulder all season long. Watch if you dare, but don’t say we didn’t warn you!