How to Scare Yourself

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Last Updated: December 12, 2024 References

Fighting a terrible case of hiccups? Bored at a sleepover? Whatever your reasons, giving yourself a scare can be both a challenge and (when you finally get it to work) a thrill. Scaring yourself requires a little creativity — you can't simply scream in the mirror and expect to be sincerely scared. Whether you're looking for a sudden shocking jump scare or the slow burn of a feeling of creeping dread, using smart, tested strategies will help you get the scare you need!

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Giving Yourself a "Jump Scare"

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Watch a jump scare video online. If you're looking for a "jump scare" — that quick jolt of fear that you get when something suddenly surprises you — there's probably no quicker way to get it than this. Shocking "popup" and "screamer" videos came to popularity in the early days of the internet and have been a staple online prank ever since. Usually, these videos show a simple, pleasant scene or animation to lull you into a false sense of security, then have a horrifying image suddenly appear, accompanied by loud noise. It's cheap, but effective, and if you've never seen a jump scare video before, it's almost impossible to not be scared by one.
- Ready to be scared? Here's a short list of videos to watch — some have jump scares and some don't. Click at your own risk! For best results, watch alone in the dark with headphones in full-screen mode.
  - Video 1
  - Video 2
  - Video 3
  - Video 4
  - Video 5
  - Video 6
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Watch a scary movie packed with jump scares. Good scary movies pack a lifetime's worth of scares into two hours or less. Want a fun, scary way to spend the evening? Invite a few friends over for a movie night and watch a scary movie no one has seen before — if you're lucky, you may experience dozens of excellent jump scares in a single night!
- Here is a brief list of horror movies that contain at least one truly shocking jump scare — many contain more.
  - Insidious
  - The Descent
  - The Ring
  - The Exorcist III
  - The Thing
  - Audition
  - Mulholland Drive (this is not a horror movie but contains a single profoundly scary jump scare early in the film)^{[1]
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Play a scary video game. While it may once have seemed unlikely that video games could ever compete with horror movies, some games today are seriously scary. Even more so than with scary movies, scary video games allow you to personally experience the events happening on screen — since you have some control over the events of the game, you're naturally invested in what's happening (and, thus, you're extra-vulnerable to getting scared!) Some games that are considered to be among the scariest of all time are listed below (there are many more):^{[2]
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- Slender (Windows, Mac) (Free to download)
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Most games in the Silent Hill series (many platforms — consult the wiki for more information)
- Five Nights at Freddy's and its sequels Five Nights at Freddy's 2,3,4, and Sister Location (Windows and mobile)
- Condemned: Criminal Origins (Xbox 360 and Windows)
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If possible, visit a haunted house. Is it late September or October? If so, there may be chance that there are one or more haunted houses open around you. Haunted houses can be great fun with friends or significant others (they can even make great dates if your sweetheart has the right temperament.) If you're truly brave, consider going through on your own, but be ready to be scared witless — many haunted house owners take great pride in their ability to shock visitors in new, inventive ways.
- If you do go to a haunted house, be sure to use proper etiquette even as you're being scared. Luckily, this is mostly common sense: don't touch the actors, don't try to ruin scares before they happen, and so on. See our article How to Avoid Ticking Off the Actors in a Haunted House for more information.
If you're willing to put your jump scare in someone else's hands, consider enlisting the help of a trusted friend. Tell your friend that you want to be scared sometime in the next few days and that you don't want to see it coming, then simply go about your life. Beware — assuming your friend remembers to uphold his or her part of the bargain, a nasty scare will be waiting for you just around the corner in the near future!
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Put yourself in a situation with a false sense of danger. Some people enjoy the thrill of being scared so much that they'll actually deliberately seek out things that make them feel like they're in danger but are actually safe. Sound ridiculous? If you've ever gone on a roller coaster, you've done the same thing! Below are just a few ideas for perfectly safe activities that may make you feel like you're in mortal peril:
- Going on a roller coaster or amusement park ride.
- Standing next to the railing on the observation deck of a tall building.
- Rock climbing (indoor; with a harness)
- See a thrilling IMAX movie
- Going in a full-body computer flight simulator (these are often at science centers, museums, and other educational facilities)
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Face a phobia. Phobias are intense, irrational fears that are centered around certain specific things or activities. Almost everyone has something that seems to freak them out more than it freaks out others, but about four to five percent of the population have clinical (medically significant) phobias. If you have a mild phobia (but not a severe one), consider exposing yourself to the thing you dread to give yourself a quick jolt of adrenaline. Only do this if you have no previous history of experiencing fainting or anxiety attacks from your phobia.
- Unsure whether or not you have a phobia? The most common phobias are arachnophobia (a fear of spiders), ophidiophobia (a fear of snakes), acrophobia (a fear of heights), necrophobia (a fear of dead things), cynophobia (a fear of dogs), and claustrophobia (a fear of tight spaces). If any of these make you feel a deep dread, you may have a phobia.^{[3]
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- Note that, unlike all of the other activities in this section, this one has a small (but real) risk of causing lasting distress. People with severe phobias may be paralyzed with traumatizing fear if they attempt to confront their phobia head-on. In this case, the phobia is an issue to seek psychological help for — not something to use for a cheap thrill. See our "overcoming phobias" article for more information.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Creeping Yourself Out

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1
Make your surroundings dark and silent. If you're less interested in a single quick jump scare and more interested in the sort of creeping, protracted scare that keeps you up all night, you'll want to start by setting the scene. Wait til nighttime (or go somewhere very dark, like a basement or cellar) and eliminate all sources of ambient noise. Ideally, you want to be able to hear a small object like a marble fall to the floor — this way, you'll find yourself jumping at minor noises you wouldn't normally notice.
- Darkness is a very effective "scare enhancer" — that is, almost anything that's scary is more scary in the dark. Philosopher William Lyons proposes that people are afraid of darkness not because of the absence of light but, rather, "because one does not know what might be out there in the dark."^{[4]
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  Research source} Silence enhances this effect — hear a bookcase shift in the darkness and it's only natural to assume that a serial killer is creeping into your room.
- Likewise, being alone can greatly increase the feeling of being creeped out. If you're alone, you have no one to help you when the some unknown terror comes for you in the night — not a comforting thought.
2
Read ghost stories. Though it may at first seem cheesy or childish, getting sucked into a good ghost story is a fantastic way to put yourself ill-at-ease for hours on end. Ghost stories range from mild to absolutely bone-chilling — it's up to you to determine how ready you are to be scared. A few suggestions are listed below:
- If you have time to spare, try reading a classic scary novel or short story. Old favorites like The Shining by Stephen King and Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe are famous for a reason.^{[5]
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- Looking for something a little quicker? Try browsing online ghost story collections like this one from Americanfolklore.net. There are literally hundreds of these types of stories online that can be found with a simple search engine query.
- If you want to read a story that you've definitely never encountered before, try visiting sites like Reddit's "No Sleep" subreddit, where users are free to share their scariest stories and experiences.
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Read stories of real-life paranormal phenomena. Made-up ghost stories not doing the trick for you? Try the real thing. There are numerous instances in history of death, disappearance and worse with unknown explanations, making them essentially real-life ghost stories. Reading these stories can sometimes be worse than reading the darkest fictional ghost story — these things did happen and no one knows why. Some recommendations are listed below:
- The Dyatlov Pass Incident: Nine hikers suffered violent deaths in the Ural mountains in Russia in the late 1950s under mysterious circumstances. Their tent appeared to have been cut open from the inside. Some had nonsensical injuries, like burnt hands and skull fractures with no apparent cause. Some of the hikers' clothing was even found to contain significant levels of radiation. No official explanation has ever been given.^{[6]
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- Elisa Lam: A 21-year-old Canadian tourist was found dead in the rooftop water tank of a Los Angeles hotel after disappearing for almost a month. It is unknown how and why she got into the water tank. In addition, security footage shows her acting erratically in an elevator, leading some to think that she believed herself to be possessed.
- The Bell Witch of Tennessee: This apparent haunting inspired The Blair Witch Project. John Bell, a man from North Carolina, moved to Tennessee in the early 1800s and began to experience a wide range of unexplained phenomena on his property before suffering an untimely death from illness. It is unclear how much of John's story is fact and how much is fiction.
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Get "out of your own head". Once you've started to become unnerved, amplify the effect by putting yourself into a paranoid mindset. This is very hard to explain exactly — essentially, you want to give yourself the sense that what you're seeing and sensing is "unreal" and that what you perceive to be the world around you doesn't actually exist. Many people find this easiest to trigger by staring at their reflection in the mirror for a long time in a dark, silent room. Eventually, you should get the strange sensation that you're "out of your own head," which can be very chilling, especially if you're already on edge.
- Another good way to do this is to try to imagine things that, by their very nature, are impossible to imagine. For instance, sit in a dark room and try to concentrate on what it feels like to be dead. Alternatively, try to imagine what your vision would look like if you had eyes on every side of your head. You won't be able to do these things, but they should help get you into the paranoid, introspective mindset that you want to be in.
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Think about every terrible thing that could happen this very second. Once you're sufficiently creeped out, all you have left to do is to keep the fire burning by imagining every horrible possibility that could conceivably happen to you. Below are a brief list of suggestions — feel free to add your own deepest, darkest fears. Pleasant dreams!
- A serial killer could, at this very moment, come out of the closet and abduct you. It's possible!
- You could slowly start losing your mind and fall into dementia. Or have you already?
- You could conceivably die while you are asleep and never realize it, making these your very last thoughts ever.
- Nuclear war may have already started and you may have minutes before bombs start falling and civilization ends.
- The entire universe could, without warning, collapse into nothingness in a fraction of an instant. Scientist already believe that it may have spontaneously been created from nothing.^{[7]
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Have you bitten off more than you can chew in terms of scares? Don't worry — everything is fine. You're not in any danger. You are sitting in a dark, quiet room alone and freaking yourself out. There is not a monster in the closet. You will live through the night. Take deep breaths and try reading How to Calm Down for a change of mood.

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Question

Okay, I'm done getting rid of my hiccups. Now, I want to really deal with my fear. What should I do?

Susan Pazak, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist & Professional Life Coach
Dr. Susan Pazak is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist & Professional Life Coach. With more than 21 years of experience, she specializes in treating adolescents and adults with psychological issues using cognitive behavioral therapy, symptom reduction skills, and behavior modification techniques. She has been featured in numerous media outlets and shows, including “My Strange Addiction". Dr. Pazak holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Communications from The University of Pittsburgh, an MA in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Alliant International University.

Susan Pazak, PhD

Licensed Clinical Psychologist & Professional Life Coach

Expert Answer

Overcome your phobia, or fear, by meeting with a psychologist, life coach or hypnotist. Make a list of all the emotions or thoughts associated with your fear. Read, watch, listen and study materials related to what frightens you to better understand your fear and how it manifests in your life. Seek help by joining a support group or enrolling in a class that specializes in phobias.

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Are any of the videos about ghosts?

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Yes.

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How can I get scared without actually witnessing something frightening?

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You could just think about horrible things that could happen, or things that scare you.

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Tips

Give yourself a break between jump scares — fraying your nerves with scare after scare can make it hard to concentrate for the rest of the day.

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Warnings

Once again: if you have a serious phobia, consult a psychiatrist before attempting to confront it head-on.

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Don't tempt fate with a fear that is dangerous, like jumping off a building.

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