The best (and scariest) urban legends about hostels

Somewhere between horror and comedy, you’ll find… hostel myths and legends!

Everybody knows somebody, who knows somebody, who heard somebody else tell a story… this is how urban legends are born: curious, weird stories spread by word of mouth and, of course, through the darkest corners of the internet.

Hostels have their fair share of legends and myths – just check Eli Roth’s “Hostel” movie (by the way: was it a true strory? We investigated...): a group of backpackers ends up in a small Slovak town, where the owner of the hostel they sleep in sells them to his manic friends to be killed in various, hilarious ways. Not exactly your dream holiday, right?

Well, get ready for 5 other horror stories that (allegedly) took place in hostels around the world.

THE STINKY ROOM

A true classic, this story was first heard in hostels around Las Vegas, and then spread to all of the US, and the world. A couple decides to celebrate their anniversary in Las Vegas (why in the world you would bring your partner, of all people, to a weekend in Vegas is another story). Once they get in their hostel room, however, they can’t help but notice a strange, piercing smell. They complain to the owner, who offers them dinner at a nearby pace to buy himself some time, while the room gets cleaned.

The couple then returns to the room, in the state you may return to your room after a night out in Las Vegas, ready to finally “celebrate” the anniversary. They lie on the bed, start kissing, start to undress each other… only to notice that the smell is still there, possibly even stronger than before, making it impossible to think about anything else, let alone making love. Understandably pissed, they start to look everywhere in the room for the source: the bathroom, the sink, the toilet, the curtains, the floor, the sheets, until one of the decides to check under the bed… and finds himself eye-to-once-was-eye with the decomposing corpse of a woman!

THE TOOTBRUSH AND THE CAMERA

This story originated from hostels in Spain, but variations can be found all around Europe, before the era of digital photography (keep this in mind). An American girl books a place in a hostel, gets to her room after a long day and immediately heads to the bathroom for a nice shower. Then, she proceeds to get out, to have dinner and some beers.

When she returns from the dinner, all her stuff is gone. Somebody stole all of her luggage: her towels, her clothes, her backpack… the only two things the thief left behind are the girl’s toothbrush and, surprisingly, her (analog) camera. She is befuddled that the thief left it behind – it is one of the most valuable items she has, after all. She reports the theft to the police, hopefully buys some new clothes, and goes on touring Spain and Europe.

She then returns home, tells everybody about her holiday and her little hostel incident – luckily she still has her camera and her pictures: actually, she can’t wait for the film to be developed, to show the pics to her friends! But just as she is finally flicking through the photos, between a shot of the Ramblas and a panorama of the Sagrada Familia, she notices some pictures taken by the thief: he is using her beloved toothbrush to clean an orifice that really does not look like his mouth!

THE SPECIAL INGREDIENT

A weird, hostel kitchen story is heard throughout Hungary. A student had booked a cheap hostel in the outskirts of a Hungarian town: the hostel was not the best, but it offered free breakfast and dinner, making it a good deal for a poor student… or so he thought!

Following in the great Hungarian culinary tradition, goulash with potatoes was served for dinner. The young student was enjoying his typical local meal - sure, it tasted a little bitter, but it was the ultimate local experience! You have to taste the local food before you get back to noodles and mac and cheese, right? The poor student must have thought this, until he chewed something too hard to swallow. He spit it discreetly in his hand… and saw a human phalanx complete with nail and bone!

The story does not say if he vomited all his dinner on place, or managed to reach the bathroom: there are, however, different versions regarding the origin of the finger; from the less scary “it is the chef’s finger, he cut it off while cooking”, to the totally unsettling “it comes from a former guest who complained about cleanliness in the hostel”. There is also a less notorious version in which, after the guy spit the phalanx, a local man missing a piece of a finger looks him in the eye form across the table…

MONEY IN THE LOCKER

In hostels across China you might hear this grotesque story. The owner of a hostel used to slip a 100-yuan note in the lockers of the girls’ room. Girls who happily pocket the money would be treated rudely by the owner, but those honest enough to return it would have it even worse!

The hostel owner turned out to be a paranoid single man, frantically looking for the woman of his dreams: in his twisted view, a girl honest enough to return the money was good enough to be his princess. The problem is, he would then proceed to stalk the unfortunate girl for the length of her stay! According to the legend, the hostel was shut down after many reports of sexual harassment and assault on the female customers!

THE GAP YEAR

The last “urban legend” happened in a hostel in Portugal. The main character was a “gap year” student, taking a year to travel the world before settling down. He had already visited Greece, Sicily, and Morocco before reaching Portugal.

As legend has it, he spent his day visiting ruins of ancient castles and abandoned palaces where no one else went for centuries. When evening came, however, he started feeling tired and a bit sick. Thinking it was just flu, or a fever, he took his pills and went to sleep. The hostel staff started to worry when he did not leave the room for two days, and was heard coughing all day long. When they finally decided to get in, the whole room smelled extremely bad, and the guy was on his bed, alive but unable to move, his body covered in horrid pustules.

The hostel staff quickly called an ambulance, and the doctors diagnosed the guest with an acute form of bubonic plague, an illness unheard of in Europe for more than 300 years! He probably got sick in one of the abandoned places he visited. It is unclear for how long the hostel had to remain closed after the fact! Possibly, it became just another abandoned place, waiting for the next tourist to explore it.. and then get back to his room in another hostel…

Luckily, these are just (allegedly, again) urban legends, just like the stereotypes about hostels that many people still have. Hostels have changed for the better in the last years, and are modern, clean, friendly places offering all kinds of services and facilities - just as good as hotels, with a much friendlier atmosphere and cheaper prices (check out our gallery on design hostels if you still have doubts!)

So, just laugh about these legends and book a hostel for your next trip!