History NightmareFuel / TheElderScrolls

* The Oblivion Thieves' Guild quest "Ahdarji's Heirloom" has your character infiltrating Castle Leyawiin to steal the Countess' ring. During the information gathering stage of this quest, it's possible to have other characters tell you about the Countess' "secret torture chamber." Turns out? Those rumors are all true. As you make your way through the dungeon, you encounter [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-place-Leyawiin_Castle-Secret_Room.jpg this room,]] which is strewn with forks, sickles, and a warhammer. But it gets worse: this isn't some Necromancer layer in the middle of nowhere; this is the Countess of Leyawiin doing this in her own castle! And even worse, it's implied that the only reason this room exists is because [[FantasticRacism she doesn't like Argonians.]]

* BrokenHelmHollow, a cave east of Riften, is a very small lair with only a few bandits around. However, it's less of a bandit lair and more of a ''[[VideoGame/Fallout3 Raider]]'' lair -- you find a pull chain that leads to what can only be described as a torture chamber, with a bloody chopping block with an axe buried in it, a Flame or Sparks spelltome on the cabinet, a weapons rack, and a corpse lying on the ground. Oh, and the chief of the cave, he has a bucket of human skulls in the corner and more skulls on display on his dress. The bandits aren't simply killing people they attack, they're dragging them back here to torture them, and then the leader keeps the skulls as trophies. [[IAmAHumanitarian The possibility of cannibalism only makes it worse]].

* Occasionally there is a bug which causes some of the Mannequins to be [[UncannyValley animated and/or move around with basic NPC AI]]. Even worse, sometimes they will move off-screen and [[ParanoiaFuel freeze when their model is rendered]]. [[OhCrap Holy Shit]], [[Series/DoctorWho The Weeping Angels]] are now in Skyrim.

* Occasionally there is a bug which causes some of the Mannequins to be [[UncannyValley animated and/or move around with basic NPC AI]]. Even worse, sometimes they will move off-screen and [[ParanoiaFuel freeze when their model is rendered]]. [[OhCrap Holy Shit]], [[DoctorWho The Weeping Angels]] are now in Skyrim.

* Occasionally there is a bug which causes some of the Mannequins to be [[UncannyValley animated and/or move around with basic NPC AI]]. Even worse, sometimes they will move off-screen and [[ParanoiaFuel freeze when their model is rendered]].

*** There's another thing that makes a Vampire Lord Dovahkiin all the more terrifying - nobody can recognize you while in Vampire Lord form, assuming they have not seen you transform, which means you can kill as many people as you want and not get any bounty on your head. This opens up a whole new array of possibilities for an [[VideoGameCrueltyPotntial evil-inclined,]] [[AxCrazy murderous]] Dovahkiin, and a whole new source of ParanoiaFuel. One night a terrifying bat-beast can glide silently into your city, mercilessly slaughtering anyone in its way, draining them dry of blood, raising corpses to fight by its side, summoning nightmarish gargoyles. Eventually it mercifully escapes into the night. The next day, the legendary Dragonborn walks into town, receiving greetings fit for a hero. Sure, there is something ''off'' about him... a sort of paleness, an eerie light in his eyes... but this is the Dragonborn, savior of Skyrim, vanquisher of dragons! Surely someone so virtuous cannot have evil intentions deep within, right? '''Right?'''

** It's lampshaded by NPC's saying they hear screaming coming from the house at night, also if you're high enough level there will a f***ing Ancient Lich in there! But the creepiest thing of all, the wizard who originally lived there, his fate is never explained. All we know is his house is full of zombies and he's nowhere to be found.

* The Sixth House bases are generally pretty dark and creepy, first take the ash creatures previously mentioned, then add things like those giant voodoo doll looking things, bells that are capable of producing [[BrownNote near-BrownNotes]], and at least one of them features bizarre furniture arrangements that brings to mind {{Poltergeist}}.

** A similar example happens in a Dunmer ancestral tomb. When exploring such tombs, at times you will come across an intact skeleton, laid to rest. Nothing unusual, these are tombs, after all. In one such tomb however, after picking some loot, one of the skeletons is awakened and attacks you. It's a little unsettling in that the skeleton is in a different room when this happens, so you'll be treated to the combat music without an enemy in sight, only to walk out of the room and find that the skeleton you just walked past have been reanimated.

* Dawnguard also adds the Castle Volkihar tower leading to the Soul Cairn, at which point the game essentially becomes [[DarkSouls Dark Souls lite]]. You're making your way up the dark tower, which only has about 3 healing potions in it, fighting very high level skeletons, in addition to a few death hounds. But the worst part is when [[NothingisScarier there are no skeletons]], and you're wandering around the shadows, wondering which of these gargoyles is going to [[JumpScare come to life]]...

** You are told to hunt down a traitor to the brotherhood. First of all, you'll find that the traitor, in what seems to be a homage to Alfred Hitchcock's ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', keeps the severed head of his mother in his basement. Once found, you're told to return to the quest-giver, Lucien Lachance. However, [[spoiler:by the time you return to him, your bosses (including the traitor) have ''killed him, skinned him, and hung him from the ceiling.'' Granted, you've seen rotting corpses in the game plenty of times. What makes this so unsettling is that you actually ''knew'' the deceased. This is made even worse by the fact that this was done by your ''allies.'' Who go on to talk about how fun it was.]]

** For massive nightmare fuel. When you take their heads, [[http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Glenmoril_Witch_Head this is what you see in your inventory]]. Sweet dreams.

** And in ''Dragonborn'' [[spoiler: you get to go to his real Apocrypha, filled with all sorts of Lovecraftian horrors.]] Enjoy!

** To add to their vileness, they don't simply hatch from cocoons like butterflies. Instead, the normal chauruses (chauri?) ''are'' the cocoon, and the hunters burst out of them [[{{Film/Aliens}} chestburster-style]]. Sweet dreams!

* In the Dawnguard add-on, if joining the Volkihar Vampires, you may be sent on a quest to recover a petrified ancient vampire's HEAD. Sweet dreams.

** In one particular Dwemer ruin, you may stumble upon leftovers of an expedition that tried to explore it (not long) before you. Outside the actual ruin, the remains of a campsite contain the expedition leader's log, detailing those involved[[note]]The leader, eager scientist-explorer; a warrior tasked with defending the group; a mage; a sorcerer; a female orc overseer, two Khajiit brothers as manual labour and a few others not detailed further[[/note]] and the events of their first few days, including a snowstorm that forced the group to retreat into the ruins. As you wander in yourself, their grueling story unfolds: The ongoing storm traps them inside, supplies run low, they happen upon their first Dwemer machines. A drug addiction that his brother was trying to slowly get him down from drives one of the Khajiit mad; you find him standing over the body of the other, attacking you on sight. Apparently he also slaughtered various members of the team beforehand. The sorcerer and overseer were captured by Falmer deeper down, managed to escape, but were killed by Dwemer mechs and pursuing Falmer, respectively. The mage is found dead, strapped to one of their torture racks. After you've combed through the entire place and defeated the Centurion at its end, the leader and warrior emerge and will, if left undisturbed, get into an argument over whether to keep exploring or leave this forsaken place forever, eventually starting to fight to the death. This alone would be enough for a decent horror movie...

* The Falmer. They look creepy enough, but add to that the fact that they blend in with the shadows, and that odd chattering noise they make, and you've got yourself some Grade-A horror. Worse, they often appear with Chaurus, utterly nasty insectile horrors which are tough to kill, deal ugly damage with their bites, and use health draining poison that will often do for you in seconds, especially if you're foolish enough to get into melee with them.

* The Dovahkiin is, in his/her own way, a walking MookHorrorShow just waiting to happen. Just imagine that you're sitting in your camp, on watch for a caravan or some roaming monster or a military patrol that might fall upon the home you've carved out. It's the dead of night. Then, coming up the trail, you see a single person, alone. They're wearing nice armor and wielding a nice weapon, but they're by themselves. Easy prey for a dozen bandits, right? That armor and sword will make for a great haul! And even better, they're walking right toward your camp! You call your buddies, and they ready the ambush, and just as you leap out to strike, you hear '''"FUS RO DAH!"''' The next few minutes is a horrifying blur as you and your companions throw everything you have at this lone warrior, while lightning and fire and demonic beasts and even a freaking ''dragon'' comes swooping in and around you. You companions are being torn apart, blasted to ashes, or decapitated one by one, and this unstoppable warrior just keeps coming, periodically shouting at the top of his/her lungs and moving impossibly fast, striking with terrifying precision, hurling armored warriors through the air like feathers, or just making people keel over and ''die''.

** They didn't just stop at deforming the Falmer, the Dwemer did something to them that [[MindRape changed their souls from black (sentient) to white (animalistic).]] Even worse, Dwemer society was very big on enchanting, and white soul gems are much more common than black ones. They were literally using the Falmer as ''fuel''.

** [[LastOfHisKind The last]] [[spoiler:dwemer]] is so horribly twisted by corprus that he's no longer considered by magic to be a member of his race [[spoiler:and didn't die suddenly with the rest of the dwarves]].

*** The ancestral tombs in general, the background ambiance is a faint whispering that never stops. This troper was only in there for five mintues and felt like he was losing his mind.

** A similar example happens in a Dunmer ancestral tomb. When exploring such tombs, at times you will come across an intact skeleton, laid to rest. Nothing unusual, these are tombs, after all. In one such tomb however, after picking some loot, one of the skeletons is awakened and attacks you. It's a little unsettling in that the skeleton is in a different room when this happens, so you'll be treated to the combat music without an enemy in sight, only to walk out of the room and find that the skeleton you just walked past have been reanimated.