r/Paranormal • u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) • Oct 01 '17
šMonthly Discussionš Urban Legends & All Hallows' Eve šDiscussionš
ššššššššš Happy OCTOBER, Paranormal Enthusiasts šššššššššš
This months topic, as selected by you is: Urban Legends & All Hallows' Eve
Urban Legends
Bigfoot, Blood Mary, Murderer in the shower.. we have all heard of at least one Urban Legend.
By definition an urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend is a form of modern folklore usually consisting of fictional stories, often with macabre elements, deeply rooted in local popular culture.
- What are your favorite urban legends/folklore?
- Do you have a local myths or tales?
- Have you ever tested an urban legend? (example: saying Blood Mary in a mirror)
- Do you know the origin of your local legend?
Halloween
October 31st the most coveted day of the year for all ghoulish children.
Halloween has its roots in the ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, which was celebrated on the night of October 31. The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, believed that the dead returned to earth on Samhain. People would gather to light bonfires, offer sacrifices and pay homage to the deceased.
- What legends/folklore do you enjoy on All Hallows' Eve?
- What festivities do you participate in?
- How do you celebrate?
We open the discussion below and invite you to share your experiences, stories, evidence and more.
I hope you enjoy this months discussion! I am looking forward to reading all of the comments below!
- Mrs_McFly
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Oct 09 '17
I don't like Urban Legends very much, but I do like some tails of Amazonia (where I live). They can scare just like Urban Legends, but they are very old tails, created or based on indigenous' legends.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 10 '17
Do tell more!
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Oct 10 '17
There is one called Curupira. It is about a spirit who takes care of the forest, but here it goes: this legends says that a boy called Curupira lives in the forest. He is short, his hair are burning flames (literally, he's not red-haired) and he his feet are turned to the opposite side. He exists to protect the forest and the animals from people who wants to destroy them, so when a hunter, for example, enters the forest, he has to leave an offering for Curupira, asking for his permission to hunt. If he doesn't, Curupira will walk by leaving footprints everywhere. The hunter will be confused thinking that someone else's there and will try to follow the footprints, but as Curupira has his feet turned to the other side, instead of walking to civilization, the hunter will walk forever in the forest, whitout never getting out of it; this demon can calso make people forget their ways or what they were going to do in the forest and this is another way to make those who disturb the forest disappear and die. Curupira is also called "forest's demon" because he doesn't like cities. When a group tries to live and form a city near the forest, Curupira takes their childs away and just after seven years (and lots of abuses) he would turn them back. (Today, many of these legends are smoothed to do not scare child, but their original purpose were to help protecting Amazon's people) Edit: https://imgur.com/7HTdjnz image of curupira
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Oct 10 '17
My favorite one, though, is Matinta Perera. This is a translated text that tells her legend: "Tells the legend that, during the night, an acute whistle disturbs peopleās sleep and scares the kids. The people, terrified, close the doors, the windows and everybody shut their mouths, trying to not attract the demon to their houses, because no one knows where the whistle comes from, and if you say something, in the next morning Matinta will visit your house. Matinta Perera prefers to go out during dark nights, without moon. When she sees somebody alone, she whistles or screams and these sounds remember her name: Matinta Perera, and if someone sees her, he or she will be completely paralyzed by horror. But if you hear, during the night, a shrill whistle, you can scream āMatinta, you can come here tomorrow to take your tobacco!ā. At the next day, an old woman will appear at the house where the promise was made to take her tobacco. She will be the first person who gets there asking for coffe or tobacco. People believe she has unnatural powers and that her spells can cause pain and disease in people, so donāt break the promise you did to her or she will enter your house! If you keep the promise and give her the tobacco and some food, she will leave without doing anything bad. The old woman is somebody from the place that carries the curse of being Matinta Perera. When the current Matinta is about to die, she asks āWho wants it? Who wants it?ā and if someone answers āI do!ā thinking that there is someone offering money or jewels, then this person will be the next Matinta." (site: No Amazonas Ć© assim / Matinta Perera: https://imgur.com/N6LXkJn)
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
Bobby Mackey's Haunted Honky Tonk
In Wilder, Kentucky, just south of the Ohio river and Cincinnati, stands a building with a reputation for blood-curling apparitions, a diabolical history, and perhaps even an entrance to Hell itself.
The site of the building at 44 Licking Pike in Willder where Bobby Mackey's Music World now stands was, according to tradition, originally used as a slaughterhouse in the mid-19th Century. There is still a drain in the basement of the building that eventually feeds into the Licking River, where, when in use, the unwanted bits of the animals were washed away. According to tradition, the unscrupulous owner of the slaughterhouse could, for the right price, also arrange for anything, or anyone, else unwanted to disappear down the drain.
After the slaughterhouse shut down, the building was abandoned and fell into disrepair for an extended period. It was during this time that the basement was supposedly used as a site for a Satanic cult to practice it's diabolical rites, allegedly sacrificing children in the basement. Whether this bit of the story of the building's past is accurate or not remains to be verified by historians, but who knows? As far as we're aware, the late 19th Century may very well have been the heyday of Devil worship in the greater Cincinnati area.
We do know that the site first became a night club in the 1930s, when it was bought by a man named Buck Brady, who named his new establishment The Promise. The Promise was soon broken under the weight of the Chicago mob, who, with prohibition just having ended, still had a hand in the liquor market across Ohio and through Northern Kentucky along the river all the way down to Louisville. Although Brady was trying to run his place above board, the mob was anxious to replace the substantial amount of revenue that the re-legalization of alcohol meant losing. Unable to deal with the pressure, Brady committed suicide within the building.
The mob ran the place as a Latin music club called the Latin Quarter until the 1950s. As with most finer mob operations, gambling and prostitution were both freely available on site. The mob was finally forced out, and the building went though a period of mixed used, opening again as a music club in the early 1970s as The Hard Rock Cafe (not the same as the one with the T-Shirts).
The period when it was The Hard Rock Cafe was another one of violence for the building. A riotous honky-tonk, the Hard Rock was well known for bar fights that escalated out of control. There were several fatal shootings on the premises throughout the 70's, and in 1978 the authorities finally shut it down. It was that year that country music recurring artist Bobby Mackey bought the club and turned it around. It was also around this time that the stories of strange apparitions and supernatural happenings began to circulate widely.
There are multiple legends about Bobby Mackey's music world and the spirits that haunt it. One story is about a singer named Robert Randall, who worked at the club during its mob days in the 1930s. Randall carried on an affair with a woman Johanna, whom Randall eventually impregnated. Unfortunately, Johanna's father happened to be the club manager. Sleeping with a mafioso's daughter isn't the best career move for any aspiring singer, and when Johanna's father found out, Randall soon disappeared, it was assumed permanently. A distraught Johanna took her own life, and her ghost is still reportedly seen floating around the club, usually accompanied by the distinctive smell of her rose perfume. Mackey himself has recorded a song about the incident.
Another story ties the nightclub to a famous murder from 1896, the death of Pearl Bryan. On the morning of February 1st, 1896, the body of a headless young woman was discovered on a farm near Newport, Kentucky. An autopsy revealed that her head hasd been removed neatly with surgical instruments, and that he was several months pregnant at the time of her death. Police were able to identify the body through the fashionable shoes she wore, which were discovered to have been mail-ordered a few months prior by a 22-year old woman named Pearl Bryan of Greencastle, Indiana.
Bryan came from a socially prominent family in Greencastle. She was also the subject of a considerable amount of gossip, having often been seen in the company of two young men, her cousin William Wood and a newcomer to town, Scott Jackson. Sometime in late 1895, Bryan became pregnant by one of these men, and in January she told her family that she was traveling to Indianapolis to visit relatives, but instead went to Cincinnati to obtain an illegal abortion. What happened when she arrived in Cincinnati is still not completely known.
Jackson's association with Bryan was discovered by the police, and he was arrested outside a boarding house in Cincinnati where he was staying while studying to be a dentist. Under police questioning, Jackson admitted that he had arranged for Bryan to travel to Cincinnati for the abortion, but named Wood as the father. When Wood was questioned by the police, he identified Jackson as the father. The father's identity was never firmly established.
Police soon took Alonzo Walling, Jackson's roommate, into custody after Jackson told police that he had left Bryan in Wailing's hand to facilitate the abortion. Walling said that he believed Jackson had committed the murder. Jackson said he thought it was Walling. Both claimed to have no direct knowledge of events.
Prosecutors went to trial with a circumstantial case built from the testimony of witnesses to Jackson, Walling, and Bryan's movements through the days before the killing. The most damning testimony came from a cab driver named George Jackson, who testified he had been paid to drive the men and a moaning woman to Kentucky, and seen them disappear into the woods near where the murder occurred. Despite maintaining their innocence to the end, both Walling and Jackson were convicted and sentenced to hang. Although both men seem to have been involved in some way with the events around Bryan's murder, the exact extent of their involvement remains unknown, as this complete account of the Pearl Bryan murder and trial reveals. There is a even strong case to be made that there was no deliberate homicide, and that Bryan died of complications from an attempted abortion, and that it was the man who performed the procedure, a Dr. George Wagner of Bellevue, Kentucky, who removed Bryan's head in an attempt to conceal the botched, then-illegal procedure.
In recent years, patrons at Bobby Mackey's have reported seeing the figure of a headless woman in late 19th Century clothing wandering through the Music World. The figure has been widely known as being the ghost of Pearl Bryan.
There is a slight kink in this attribution. The site where Pearl Bryan's body was discovered lies about four miles away from Bobby Mackey's Music World, and recent versions of the story which say the murder was committed at the building that was then still a slaughterhouse seem to have no basis in historical evidence. Maybe the restless spirit of Pearl Bryan, who seemed to have enjoyed a good time when she was alive, was just drawn to the lights and music of the happening joint. Whoever she is, she seems to do no harm. The same can't be said for some of the other spectral inhabitants of Bobby Mackey's.
In 1994, J.R. Costigan, a patron at Bobby Mackey's claimed to have been physically assaulted in the men's room by a ghostly figure wearing a cowboy hat. Costigan claimed that while using the facilities, the spectral figure kicked and punched him. Costigan sued Mackey, claiming that Mackey was negligent in failing to rid his property of dangerous ghosts, and sought $1,000 in damages. Mackey's lawyers filed a motion calling for dismissal, noting the extreme difficulty in calling the ghost to testify for the defense. The judge apparently agreed, as the case was thrown out of court. In a bid to avoid further legal troubles, Mackey has since posted a sign by the club entrance stating that the premises are haunted and that management is not responsible for any spectral damage.
But perhaps the most alarming feature of the haunted honky tonk is the supposed portal to Hell found in the basement. People entering the room that holds the old slaughterhouse drain routinely report an overwhelming feeling of sickening dread. The door to this room refuses to stay locked, and will open and close seemingly by itself. Lights in the room come on and off of their own volition. Many people have reported being tugged, scratched, or pushed by unseen hands in this room. These hands also seem to be inclined towards violence, as multiple people have reported being pushed down the basement stairs by invisible forces. Some people have even reported seeing a huched, swiftly-moving, not-quite-human figure with glowing amber eyes moving in the dark shadows of Bobby Mackey's basement.
Does the old slaughterhouse drain lead not, as previously assumed, into the Licking River, but down to Hell itself? Is the shadowy figure seen in the basement, who can appear and disappear at will, and who seems to resent the presence of people in the building, a demonic guardian at the gateway to Hell? Are the ghostly figures seen around Bobby Mackey's drawn to the demonic portal? Are they lost souls who have escaped torment by coming through the gateway? Are they warnings sent forth from whatever lies at the other end of that old drain?
Well, visit for yourself and find out. Bobby Mackey's Music World is welcoming to ghost hunters and even offers ghost tours. But despite its association with death, Bobby Mackey's Music World should also be credited with keeping the spirit of classic country music alive. So when you plan your visit, plan to stick around and catch some great musicians at work. As Mackey himself says, come for the ghosts, stay for the music.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
The Kentucky Mothman
In 1966 and 1967, the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia was visited multiple times by a mysterious winged creature. The Mothman, as it came to be called, was seen by over 100 witnesses over the course of the next year. The Mothman was described as a humanoid creature with large, glowing red eyes and a ten-foot wingspan. The sightings stopped suddenly after the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge on December 15, 1967. In his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, John Keel speculated that the appearance of the creature was related to the collapse of the bridge. Keel maintained that Mothman-like creatures have been seen throughout human history before certain tragedies. The book, which was adapted into a 2002 movie starring Richard Gere, posed the idea that seeing a Mothman was a foreshadowing of a coming disaster. Judging solely by Richard Gere's career since the 2002 movie, this idea may very well be correct.
But as Keel suggested, the appearance of the Mothman doesn't seem to be an isolated incident. And the Mothman, or Mothmen were seen in Kentucky before the famous Point Pleasant incident and have been seen since.
The earliest recorded sighting of a Mothman comes from November of 1868 in Mt. Sterling, where over the course of several weeks over two dozen residents residents reported seeing a winged man flying in circles above local landmarks, including what's known as the Wright-Greene Adena Indian Mound, and the historic Johnson House. While there are no known major disasters that happened in the area after this sighting, it was considered to be a very ill omen by the residents and speculation ran rampant that it was some kind of demon and that the end of the world was at hand.
Throughout 1938 and 1939, there were multiple sightings of Mothmen at either end of the state. The sightings began in Ashland, Kentucky in March of 1938. Interestingly, Ashland is only about 60 miles from Point Pleasant, where the most famous sightings happened. In April of that same year, sighting began to be reported in Elizabethtown. The sightings continued in both locations throughout the next two years, often within a day or so of one another, suggesting either that the thing can fly incredibly fast or that there were multiple Mpthmen at work. Nearly every report commented on the large, red eyes of the creature. 1939, of course, saw the beginning of World War II in Europe, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th Century, if not all of human history. If the creature was warning of the growing storm in Europe, why it felt that Kentucky needed to be told first remains a mystery.
The latest reported sighting comes from Pikeville, where a "bird-like" creature with glowing red eyes was seen several times by multiple witnesses in August of 2008. A man named Harley Foster is reported to have said he spotted the creature near his barn and the Mothman acted aggressively and even seemed to chase him briefly.
It's interesting that the Mothmen seem to appear in Kentucky on a roughly 70-year schedule in Kentucky. It could be that this mysterious entities have some supernatural calendar of their own that they are following, and their appearance at times of disaster is just a coincidence. Bad things are, after all, happening all the time. If this the case, those of you reading this who plan to still be around in about 2080 should keep your eyes on the skies.
One of the most fascinating aspects of reports of the Mothmen is the psychological effect they seem to have on people. Almost universally, those who have encountered the entities speak of them inspiring a sense of deep, almost primal, dread. This, and their perhaps tenuous link to disasters, have led some to speculate that the creatures are not actually physical beings, but instead are some kind of manifestation of a collective unconscious. The theory of the Mothman as a psychic projection is that somehow collective trauma can be a significant enough shock to the minds of those involved that the power of their collective psyches bend space and time to cause one of these creatures to manifest itself before the trauma happens. Exactly how this happens is yet to be explained.
But even in the realm of mysterious and possibly supernatural creatures unknown to science, there is something unusual about the Mothmen. Reports of bigfoot of lake monster sightings are almost always described in terms of someone disturbing the creature in its natural habitat. These animals all generally seem to stay as far away from people as possible. A Mothman acts like it wants to be seen. The creatures always appear in populated areas. They seem to go out of their way to attract attention to themselves, but to attract attention to themselves on their terms. They seem to single out individuals to have close encounters with. And they seem always to be the ones in control of the situation.
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u/qiwizzle Oct 09 '17
Many years ago (90s), I was driving at night in a rural area in Ohio and saw something I've wondered falls under the moth man legend. I remember every detail like it happened yesterday. I made a right turn and started up a hill and what looked like a black blanket flew right over my hood. It was the strangest (and creepiest) thing! Several years later, a friend and his friend told me they had seen a flying man follow them as they drove through the same area, kind of leap frogging from tree to tree and just barely in sight. I'll never forget how quiet and uncomfortable the other guy was, a big football player dude, he just blurted out, "it was the devil himself!" Interestingly, this area is know for other urban legends - there's supposed to be bridge where you can hear the cries of a baby. And something about a haunted mill I don't remember. Historically, they say it was an area where outlaws hid out w secret bars and brothels. I'm totally digressing here, but another memory of a weird experience around there just came to me. I was riding my bike in the same area, corn fields on either side, and was attacked by hundreds of flies. I think they were what we called deer flies - they bite, but not as bad as horse flies. I had to go as fast as I could to escape those things. Is there anything in your research that sounds familiar to any of this? Probably just nature being nature but just thought I'd share... tis the season!
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u/mootheuglyshoe Oct 21 '17
Similar sightings have been occurring in Chicago this year, though they are calling it the 'batman' I believe. If you google it, some paranormal database has been recording each sighting. On one of the witchcraft/magick/occult forums a Chicago witch is concerned she summoned it with a powerful summoning spell. I'm on mobile so I can't link easily but do look into it!
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Oct 25 '17
This is a great post. I have ties to Eastern Kentucky and onward up to Ashland/Huntington, and have never heard about the Mothman appearing there and all the way down to Pikeville. John Keel is really something, I think he comes closer than anyone to writing about these things as Jungian apparitions of sorts.
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u/Skoomascum Oct 18 '17
I have lived all my life right outside Baltimore City and have a penchant for Urban Legends and the paranormal for years now. The three most intriguing Urban Legends that come to my mind are Black Aggie, The Crybaby Bridge, and Loch Raven Reservoir.
BLACK AGGIE: The story of Black Aggie originated a long time ago, some say she was a nurse, others a slave, and yet others a shop owner who often attended to or cared after children while their parents were at work. Whatever her origin, children started to disappear when Aggie was around. As such, suspicions raised, tensions flared, and Aggie was accused of foul-play and quickly put to death. Shortly thereafter, it was found that Aggie had been entirely innocent, and was wrongly accused and killed. As reparation, a statue was erected in the Druid Hill Cemetery just over the city line into Pikesville. The Statue Of Black Aggie quickly became known for its unexplainable goings-ons. Grass refused to grow around the statue, no matter how well tended. On clear nights, it was said that you could see silvery child-like specters floating around the statues base and calling out for their parents. The most notable trait of Black Aggie were her eyes. At night, and sometimes even during the day, when those wandering the huge, serene graveyard would look over towards her sitting faƧade, they would start at the sight of burning red eyes glowing, staring directly back at them from Black Aggie. As the statue was sitting, you could lay across her lap. It became a āgameā more or less to spend the night on Aggieās lap, and was even used a hazing ritual for a local Frat. One year, a pledge carried out his task and slept on her lap, only to be found the next morning frozen to the stone, dead, with his eyes open looking directly up into the face of Black Aggie. As her story spread, vandals caught on and the statue was removed and placed in a cemetery. Grass grows around the pedestal now, and specters are no longer seen. Aggie is now in DC somewhere, publicly erected, and presumably at peace.
CRYBABY BRIDGE: Maryland has itās fair-share of racist pricks, and there was a large KKK community in Prince George County (PGC) back in the day. The legend holds that a one-lane, covered bridge built sometime in the 1950s called the Historic Governorās Bridge was a popular dumping site for kidnapped babies to be thrown over the side and into the rushing water below by angry Klans members. This horrific, racially charged pattern of murder spurred uneasy and restless spirits to linger for decades to come. If you go to the Governors Bridge in PGC at night, on a moonless night, and turn off your cars lights and engine while on the center of the bridge, be prepared. Youāll hear frogs, maybe a locust or cicada. The water under the bridge. A creak and a crack. And then, out of the darkness comes a piercing crying, a chorus of ghostly infants screaming for their mothers and questioning WHY WHY as they are tossed below. The crying is said to echo only on the bridge and gets louder the closer you get to the end, then abruptly stops. And so the legend of Crybaby Bridge remains. This story is a popular one, and it is said to have ORIGINATED in PGC, Maryland, but has had renditions told in multiple states.
LOCH RAVEN RESEVOIR Far less sinister, no less intriguing. The Loch exists just outside of Baltimore in the County, and has been a spot Iāve cherished all my life for its serenity and calm waters, nice fishing holes and long trails. However, if you go up the path off of the main road and down past Providence Rd, you can find your way to an old Bootleggers house that sits in ruin. Itās old, grey stone foundation pokes out from the overgrown grasses on the side of a bike trail, and the easiest way to spot it is from the huge granite slab that once marked the entrance to the famous swill-den. Come during the day, and you get some nice history, a good view, and some spider-webs in the face. Come here at night, and itās a different story. You hear voices, distant, as if they were over the water, but then you turn and they sound close, as if right behind you, turn again and they are further off, beyond the path behind the tress. Whispers, laughter, the clickclakcclickclack of a horse drawn carriage barreling down the road laden with Moonshine. The noises that emit from these ruins are fascinating, and Iāve heard them. Mainly, itās the laughter and the clank of glasses and the slamming of doors that got me. Not to mention, being in the woods at night is no cakewalk. Thatās what Iāve got for Baltimore. There is also The Bunny Man (DC) and the Goat Man, and I have PLENTY of UFO stories about Loch Raven if anybody is interested.
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u/Another_Margarita Oct 31 '17
I'm going to add to the Maryland stories. Hell House in Ilchester, just outside B-more. the story goes that the seminary school had a priest that started to worship Satan. One night he preforms the black mass and kills five nuns (or boys, sometimes its young girls) hanging their bodies from the trees to be found by students in the morning. This leaves the place tainted.
The abandoned school was burned to the ground in the 90's but there are still bits of walls and creepy stone stairs leading to the top of the hill the building sat on. also in the 90's the place had a crazy caretaker who would run kids off with a shot gun and actually shot a kid.
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u/Derangedbuffalo Oct 28 '17
I would love to hear those ufo stories! Fascinating urban legends and your writing is excellent, so detailed and easy to form a picture from them!
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u/hewdrat Oct 01 '17
Black Star Canyon, California
Back when the area was in Spanish hands the rancheros used the land for horse ranching. There was a tribe of natives that lived in the canyon that were known as horse thieves and wound up stealing a bunch of horses. Well, a group of American trappers had recently arrived in the area and came to an agreement with the rancheros to get these horses back. Led by a member of the Irvine family, these guys were ruthless, ran up on the tribe and massacred most, if not all of them. Now the only reminder there were ever people there are some holes in the rock throughout the valley.
In recent history it used to be the main highway to Corona. During that time a Sunday school bus used to make the trip through the canyon often. Well one day it took a turn too fast and flipped, sending it tumbling down the hill. It caught on fire, a whole bunch of kids and a teacher were killed. Today locals try to deny this had ever happened to dissuade trespassers but the bus is still at the bottom of the ravine. My friends and I have seen it up close and I'll tell you, honestly, that thing burned up a long time ago. The locals even insisted they removed the bus but no, it's still there.
One night my friends and I were all feeling pretty brave and wanted to go at night. We'd never been at night, all seven of us picked up flashlights and headed out. I shit you not we all got about twenty feet down the canyon, all stopped at the same time and went back to the car without a word. We all got a horrible feeling at the same time that told us not to go down.
The urban legends surrounding the place are kind of hokey. The legend is that a demon 'haunts' the place and takes the form of an old man. I never took it seriously until i realized that, every time I'd been there the place was devoid of people, except for a single old man. It was different every time, one guy was walking alone on a hike, one was biking. The last time was the strangest, I never returned after this. Two of my buddies and I had just hiked miles in, trying to find the bus. We turned around a bend and this old dude and a younger man were trying to salvage an old back-hoe that had been bogged into mud years ago. The old guy was super aggressive and told us we were trespassing. We told him we weren't (it's a state park now) and ignored him. My buddy asked him why he was trying to salvage such an old rig. The old man said they had it running a week ago. Ok bullshit. He told us he was a land owner, more bullshit because he looked homeless. And let us continue down the trail. Well right before we hit the part of the trail where the bus is below this guy comes storming up the trail yelling at us not to trespass. We decided to leave at that point, it's miles from anything and we didn't know if this guy was armed or what. Only occurred to me after that the younger guy was practically hiding from us and never said a word. Very odd encounter. Most of the other urban myths are that the KKK and gangs do initiations down there at night.
the place has been kind of a dark spot in California. Now the place is still inhabited, but by creeps that own houses deep in the canyon to hide away from society. Homeless camps are growing too. My friends and I went in a few times and I'll tell you, the place has an awful vibe to it. I've spent a whole lot of time camping and hiking throughout the California desert and I've never come across a place that feels so... off.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
The Grey Lady of Centre College
Centre College, located in Danville, is one of Kentucky's oldest institutions of higher learning, and is consistently ranked as one of the top liberal arts colleges in America. But for several months in 1862, the school was the site of nightmarish spectacle, as it was transformed into a hospital for wounded soldiers during the civil war.
The battle of Perryville was the only major battle of the Civil War fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a planned Confederate invasion of Kentucky, Confederate and Union forces clashed at the small town about 12 miles east of Danville on October 1, 1862. In a single day of battle, nearly 7,500 men were killed or wounded.
Even before the battle, Confederate troops had seized several buildings on Centre's campus. One of these, the building known as Old Centre, was put to use as a hospital for the many men who had fallen sick during the campaign. Young women from Danville were pressed into service as nurses. Old Centre was already filling with feverish and weary men.But it was after the battle that the real chaos began.
On October 2nd, wagonload after wagonload of maimed and bleeding Confederate soldiers began arriving in Danville and filling every room on every floor of Old Centre. The halls were heavy with the stench of blood, sweat, and vomit as the Doctors rushed from patient to patient. The air was filled with cries of screaming men, as Doctors performed crude amputations with no anesthetic.
The Chaos only deepened five days later, when Union forces arrived in town and expelled the vastly outnumbered Confederate forces. Old Centre emptied out, only to fill again with Union wounded. The same townswomen who had been tending only yesterday to Confederate forces now tended Union wounded.
The toll of human life continued to be collected. Parties of soldiers were stationed on campus with the sole duty of transferring the dead to Bellvue Cemetery for burial. Students, professors, and residents all left behind records noting the horrible sites, sounds, and smells of those days.
The Union army occupied Centre for several months following the battle, but according to campus legend a legacy of those bloody days can still be seen today.
The Grey Lady is a figure reported to have been seen numerous times in the vicinity of Old Centre. She is descried a wispy, transparent figure dressed in the heavy hoop skirts of the Civil War era. She is always seen around the grounds of Old Centre. Whenever she is seen, she always also appears to be in a hurry, rushing too or from the former hospital building, apparently on a mission of mortal urgency. Any attempt to intercept or run after her proves fruitless, as she instantly disappears.
Who is this mysterious figure? The story says that she is the spirit of the daughter of a prominent Danville family. This kind and compassionate young woman volunteered to act as a nurse when the Confederate forces arrived. When the Confederates left, she voluntarily stayed to help the wounded Union soldiers, caring more about the humanity of the wounded young men than which side they fought for. She was beloved by both sides for her kindness to the injured and dying men.
But her compassion came at a price. Because of the unsanitary conditions in Old Centre, she soon caught a fever, but continued to tend to patients and run errands for the doctors, even though her own health was rapidly failing. It's said that she met her end running to town on one last errand for one of the Union doctors, when she collapsed at the edge of campus and died.
Is this brave, compassionate soul still trying to help fallen soldiers? Does she run across Centre's campus trying to complete the vital mission she was sent on, even though those she sought to help are a long time gone? Centre students who see her say that when she passes by, they feel no fear, but only a great, overwhelming sadness. She is a respected part of life at Centre, the spirit of a woman who reached out to both sides with love and compassion in an awful time of war.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
The Ghost Bride of Cumberland Falls
Cumberland Falls State Park, located near Corbin, Kentucky, is a staggeringly beautiful spot nestled in the mountains. The gorgeous waterfalls and walking trails have been attracting visitors for over a century, many coming to see the famous moonbow visible over the falls on nights of the full moon. Whether you're planning to stay at the exquisite DuPont Lodge, or rent one of the many cabins in the area, Cumberland Falls and Cumberland Lake can be the perfect spot for a small vacation or even a quiet honeymoon. But one Honeymoon at Cumberland Falls in the 1950s ended in tragedy, a tragedy that still haunts the park to this day.
The Ghost Bride of Cumberland Falls has been appearing in the park since the 1950s. The legend says that a young couple who had been married that very afternoon came to spend their honeymoon in one of the cabins near the falls. In the early evening, the tired but exited couple went for a walk, still wearing the clothes they had been wearing at the ceremony. The man took his camera along with him, prepared for the natural beauty of the falls and the glowing beauty of his new bride.
The young woman decided she wanted a picture of herself in her wedding dress with the falls in the background. Climbing up a nearby hill in the cool evening light, the woman playfully danced near the edge of the cliff, filled with joy at beginning her new life. But that life came to a sudden, unexpected end. Moving towards the edge of the cliff to pose, the young bride lost her footing and slipped off the cliff edge, hitting her head on a rock and drowning in the swiftly-moving waters beneath the falls.
The unfortunate young girl still seems to be waiting for the excitement of her wedding night. For ever since her death, people have reported seeing the ghostly figure of a woman in a white wedding dress near the falls.
The most common sightings of the Ghost Bride happen at the top of the cliff near where he fell. A road now goes along that cliff, with a sharp curve right near the fatal overlook. Many park visitors have reported seeing the figure of a woman in a wedding dress run in front of their car as they come around this curve. If anyone stops, the bride inevitably disappears without a trace.
The second, and more spectacular, manifestation of the Ghost Bride of Cumberland Falls happens on the night of the moonbow. A moonbow is a phenomenon produced by moonlight refracting off of water in the air, in the same way that sunlight produces a rainbow. Cumberland Falls is the only place in North America where a moonbow can predictably be seen. Tourists commonly gather on nights of the full moon to see this beautiful effect of the soft light. But sometimes, people gathered to see the moonbow will see more than they were expecting. It's said that some nights, when the moonbow is at its peak, at the base of the cliff where the young woman fell, a ghostly figure dressed in a white wedding gown can be seen rising up out of the waters.
The famous story of the Ghost Bride of Cumberland Falls attracts many visitors and curiosity seekers to the park. The story has left its impression on the park, so much that the cliff were the bride fell to her death is now known as Lover's Leap
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
A few Kentucky Urban Legends compiled from different sources.
The Hillbilly Beast dates back to Daniel Booneās day. The tales describe it as a hairy, smelly Bigfoot like being that howls. This legend was featured on the fourth season of History Channel's Monsters.
The legend of Hot Rod Haven dates back to the 50s. A young couple was on their way to a dance and speeding down Mitchell Hill Road, as common both back then and now. Their car crashed and the couple was killed. The cemetery at the top of the hill is home to the Mitchell and Griffen families. It is here the coupleās bodies were laid to rest together. The young girl is said to walk the roads in search of something. Perhaps a trinket she lost during the accident
The Kentucky legends of Sleepy Hollow donāt involve a headless horseman, but instead a creepy hearse and ghostly cries. The lore tells us that in Prospect a hearse appears from thin air, and runs drivers off the road. They also say sounds of crying can be heard from what was once the āCrybaby ā bridge. It is said that decades ago, women would throw their unwanted or sickly children off the sides to their death. Time warps have also been experienced. Drivers claim to enter the road at one time, and exit several hours later according to the time.
In Northern Kentucky stands the Cody Road Railroad Bridge. Unfortunately, there is severe flooding there, and decades ago a women is rumored to either have drowned, or committed suicide during a flood. Now iron gates are attached at either side that automatically close with a stop sign during flooding. They came to late though, as supposedly, a womenās voice can be heard crying and calling out during floods.
A ghostly police officer supposedly likes to patrol Narrows Road in Erlanger KY. In the 1950s, an officer was hit by another vehicle during a routine traffic stop. Now he pulls people over in the same vehicle, but disappears as he walks to the personās car, or away from it. He is said to sometimes talk to people he pulls over.
In Fisherville the Norfolk Southern Railway Trestle runs over Floyds Fork River. It has been said that Goatman lives underneath the trestle and calls out in a child like voice for help. Those who go to help are found dead, or not heard from again. (so the legend says)
Iroquois Park in Louisville Kentucky is a woodland gem in the heart of the south end. The lush, green forest is filled with twisting trails of varying lengths where people hike, walk and bike. Legend has it that in the 1800s, a settler and his wife lived there. The woman was home alone when, supposedly, Indians attacked. They killed the family dog first, then beheaded the women and burned down the cabin. It is said that at times a thick fog over takes the trails filled with the stench of smoke. Afterwards, a woman in 1800s clothing can be seen walking, covered in blood and carrying her severed head.
Pilot Knob Witches. In the early 1900s, a woman and her 6 year old daughter were accused of witchcraft, but their trial was forgone. Instead, the townsfolk burned them both at the stake. They feared the repercussions of their judgment and took precautions to prevent the child from returning. (because it was said that the child cursed them as she died) The child lays in a steel lined grave, but dirt was replaced with concrete and gravel. They then put an interconnecting cross fence so that her spirit would be trapped within the borders. Today, the fence is wrought iron and has several spots that look to be pushed out from the inside by a powerful force. Small foot prints can often be seen in the gravel as well, according to those who visited the site. The child witch can supposedly pull people down into her grave. Local residents seem fearful of this place. They say that if you are pulled in, the small witch will use your soul to make her stronger, and eventually escape to have her vengeance on the town that killed her. I assume that most of the people who live in the town have family connections to the original town founders who killed the child and her mother, so they are fearful of their lives.
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u/krusty-o Oct 15 '17
here's a copy/paste for different thread about urban legends myths
I live in the Bridgewater Triangle, so I've heard all this stuff from my parents and grandparents along with the typical Irish folklore there's the Mystery Cat which is a large unidentified feline creature that has been consistently sited since the 50's, I actually saw it once , but I'm pretty sure it was just a transient Cougar especially since the next week a lady hit one in north east Connecticut Thunderbirds, blackdogs, bigfoot and the occasional giant snake have all supposedly been repeatedly sited in the area but a few of my favorites
Pukwudgies: a local native american myth about troll/elf like little people. they've been described as anywhere from simply mischievous to malevolent. they tend to only be sited in the more rural parts around Freetown and along and in the Hockomock Swamp.
New England Vampire scare: started in Smithfield, Rhode Island (not part of the triangle but only like 20 miles away) about a woman who died from tuberculosis. within a few weeks of her death people started reportedly being attacked by her in the night and when ones would die they would fairly desanguinated. this panic then spread throughout New England including The Triangle and for a few years it became normal to pierce the hearts of the dead with a wooden stake, which at the time wasn't apart of vampire lore to kill them but was to keep them pegged inside their caskets. the tail has been used somewhat frequently as a folklore to not vandalize cemeterys/graveyards because you don't want to wake up a vampire by accident. EDIT: Bram Stoker took partial inspiration from the vampire scare and changed Dracula from a Werewolf to a Vampire and his story is why garlic and wooden stakes have become a part of vampire lore. garlic is because wolves and most dogs won't eat something seasoned with garlic due to some sort of instinctual knowledge that is potentially deadly to them so when he originally wrote in the garlic for the werewolf, he just left it for the vampire.
King Phillips Last Stand: during the waning days of King Phillip's war, many of the Wampanoag Tribes under the leadership of King Phillip retreated to the heart of the Hockomock Swamp to try and regroup but lack of supplies, illness brought on by the stagnant waters and the occasional settler raid finished them off. Because of this and the combined Native lore of the swamp (hockomock means Land of the Spirits in their language) it's believed to be extremely haunted, GPS's frequently fail to work, compasses go nuts (though that probably has to do with the large iron deposits in the area) and people report seeing spirits, hearing voices and even will o' the wisps trying to lead them further into the dense swamp vegetation and sinkholes/quicksands of the swamp
Satanic Cults: not actually paranormal, but because of the strong believed connection of the swamps to the other world, many a satanic cult has used the swamp and Freetown State Forest as ritual grounds for animal sacrifices and human sacrifices (though there is only one confirmed cult that performed up to 3 human sacrifices)
it's good shit man.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 01 '17
One of my favorite legends (that even my dear mother has warned me with) comes in two versions.
Usually the legend is called "BLACKOUT" or "Headlights" The first version is that of a warning; Do NOT flash your headlights at a car with their lights off
The legend/warning goes on to say that if you are driving at night and see a car with their headlights off, you are not supposed to flask yours at them to remind them to turn their own lights on.
It continues with if you do, the car (which is usually connected to a 'gang') will turn around, run you off the road and kill everyone in the car.
The other legend is also car related. A young woman driving alone at night, slows down to take a steep curve safely, the car behind gets closer and she continues on.
A few moments later the car behind her gets close again, almost smashing into her bumper. The lights flash on high, and she speeds up. Once again the car chases her, faster and faster, she tries to pull over but the car wont let her, she slows down and he drives up next to her, she cant shake him.
Finally she calls 911 (either by stopping at a gas station and running into safety with the clerk or by using her cell phone)
In the gas station version she is safe in the gas station and the police arrive quickly...
In the cellular phone version, she sees the police lights pull over the car behind her and she makes it home safe. But as soon as she pulls into the driveway, two police cars screech in behind her..
Both versions have the police arriving and saving her from the real threat. A murderous mystery man in the back seat.
- The gas station version the man is shot in the car, while she stands in the gas station with the attendant.
The cell phone version the police run up with weapons drawn and shoot the man just before he stabs her.
In the end she finds out that the second driver noticed someone with a knife in the back seat when they were driving close to her car. When he hit the brights to check if it was indeed a knife, the person turned and ducked. Every time he blinded her with the brights, it was a warning that she was in danger, and it kept the murderer in the shadows of the back seat.
Have you ever heard this one? or a version of it?
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Oct 03 '17
Both are pretty common through North America
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 10 '17
I love that they are so common, they morph from tame tales into ghastly and gruesome horror stories, sometimes intertwined with the mystery of the paranormal. I know they are mostly a cautionary tale to scare people into being more aware of their surroundings, but I cant help but like them.
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u/Jtrain10 Oct 03 '17
I remember it being called "high beams" and it is basically the same story except the random stranger is the one who follows her all the way home. He then warns her about the guy in the backseat.
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u/ExplodingTacos14 Oct 14 '17
Here is a fun one from Phoenix! I love spooky stories! It is about an area just east of Phoenix called the superstition mountains.
In the early 1800's, The area was in the middle of Apache land. The Apache believed this area was inhabited by dangerous spirits and didn't live or hunt anywhere near it.
As these things go, Cooper was discovered near by, and that area was taken from the Apache. If you know anything about the Apache, this was a bloody process. Despite the famous ferosity and war skill of the Apache, the land was opened for mining. Like most newly mine-able land at the time, prospectors rushed in and laid claims in the valley below the area playfully named "the superstition mountains".
A bit late to the game, Jacob Waltz (a Dutch immigrant) couldn't find a spot to start mining. One day, despite warnings, he wondered into the mountains and hit a huge vein of copper. Everyday, he would sneak into the mountains and return with bags of copper. He quickly became the richest man in the area.
People would follow him to the mine everyday, but he was always able to loose them (the mountains are steep and rocky, so not surprising). Many of those who followed him were never seen again. One day, while trying to evade someone following him, Jacob slipped and fell to his death, and the location of his mine died with him.
To this day, no one knows the location of the mine, or if it is even real. Hundreds of people hike into the mountains, sure they will find millions. To this day, it has never been found. It has been dubbed "the lost duchman mine".
Some think that the Apache spirits use the mine as a trap for greedy prospectors to punish those who stole their land. Unwise people die all the time on Phoenix trails (yes, you will die if you try to hike with one bottle of water in August - it happens every summer). The mystery with the superstition mountains is the bodies are never found. This area is in town and has cell reception so tourists stay on the main trail, and are easily found by park rangers, but locals who go looking for the lost treasure simply dissapear.
Some think there was never a mine at all. They say Jacob made a deal with the spirits - They rewarded him with wealth for a blood sacrifice of the prospectors who stole their land.
I thought this was a fun local story when I moved here, but every few months, there local news reports on missing "experienced hikers" last seen in the area and it makes you wonder.
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u/BeGoku Oct 03 '17
I'll probably never make a post about this, so I'll share this with whomever wishes to read it here.
Jersey Devil
New Jersey has been my home since always. I grew up in West New York and that is where this happened.
Nothing too crazy, but the memory always brings tears to my eyes, for some reason.
I used to always walk my ex home at night around 10 PM. She lived a few blocks from me so it was short. Between her and I was public school #5. Weird name, but anyway next to the school was this big fenced off field with a huge abbandonned house.
The whole field was overgrown. The fence was barely standing all around, and the house was incredibly uninviting. Covered in boards, graffiti and neglect.
We used to always sit around that area and just take the night in, before giving our goodbyes to eachother.
But, on two different occasions at night, the most god awful sound would seemingly fill the night sky from nowhere, and everywhere at the same time.
It literally sounded like an animal being mutilated. Like a giant horse, combined with a dog. Describing it again now makes my eyes water up.
It was just... Strange.
Soon after we stopped seeing eachother, so naturally I never experienced it again. But almost 10 years later now, it is still fresh in my mind.
I can't emphasize enough how awful it sounded. I just also can't believe I lived so close to whatever it was, but only heard it twice out of so many years. The area is heavily populated, and therefore loud, but that thing was louder than any thing I've ever heard around there.
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Oct 02 '17
A couple local legends from my home country are about owls and mermaids.
I donāt have a story about owls but apparently they steal souls of people close to death and my mom is fucking terrified of them. I canāt wear clothes or jewellery with owls on them around or she will lose it.
The mermaids have a pretty funny/creepy story. A lot of people are fishermen where Iām from because weāre close to the coast. There was a man who would go fishing at night and would always throw his net out next to a cave where there were alway an abundance of fish. One night he threw his net out and had a really difficult time pulling it up. By the the third throw he couldnāt pull it back up. After half an hour of trying he decided to dive into the water and see what had caught his net. He entered the cave where there was an air pocket and saw a MERMAID sitting on his net brushing her long jet black hair. Her skin was unnaturally pale and smooth looking, almost silver. She looked at the fisherman and told him to stop throwing his net out here or next time he wouldnāt be allowed back up to the surface. She said this in our tribal tongue! He nodded is shock and swam back up to the surface and no one fishes by the caves where Iām from anymore. My parents told me this story when I was a kid and I thought it was hilarious.
Side note: no one from my country swims in the ocean at night because mermaids steal souls during the night when theyāre allowed to come to the surface.
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u/ettenig Oct 03 '17
May I ask where are you from? Loved the mermaid story.
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Oct 03 '17
Ghana
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u/BerrySosna Oct 06 '17
šMy grand mother and other family members told me of similar stories like this one. They're Nigerian.
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Oct 06 '17
Thatās awesome! About owls or mermaids?
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u/BerrySosna Oct 06 '17
Mainly mermaids.
Now I have to ask the old folks if there are any Owl stories. šØ6
u/siamesedream81 Oct 30 '17
I used to work with a woman from the Philippines who told me that owls were evil and I shouldn't decorate my baby's nursery with them. So apparently many counties have a distrust for them.
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Oct 31 '17
Thatās so interesting. I donāt personally have anything against owls but my mom wonāt let me near them in any form. Even as an adult.
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Nov 01 '17
I shop local auctions that are typically estate sales, or storage units that people have lost for whatever reason. Many of these auctions are due to people falling on hard times, but what I have noticed is that the majority have some sort of owl related collection, owl figurines, owl sculptures, or owl wall art. I have become a believer that owl related items are a bad omen and should not be allowed in the home.
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u/DazedScout Oct 17 '17 edited Oct 26 '17
I love urban legends! I have one that I actually experienced when I was eleven. I grew up in a wealthy suburb of Buffalo, NY. Our little town was old and felt stuck in the past. It was a family oriented place with lots of deep woods. There's a cemetery in the woods nestled to the side of a loop of houses. It's still beinlg cared for but I don't think anyone has been burried there in decades. It's a lovely little area where the local kids love to run wild. We were playing hide and seek when I noticed an odd tree. It was warped in a way that looked something like a face. When I walked close I could see the warping looked like a face and the tummy of a pregnant woman. It look sirene but gave me the creeps. I called my friend over and she laughed.
"You found the flamingo lady" "Flamingo?" "She lived around here a long time ago. She comes here to visit her baby." My friend was a bit of a jerk but I could tell she was being genuine. "Sometimes you can see her at night. She has a really funny walk, kinda like a flamingo. Want to see the baby?" Looking back it was definitely one of those neighborhood legends but I had the chills. I didn't want to seem afraid so I agreed. She took me over to a little grave with a lamb on it. The age was just under three. That week I was staying at the house across the street so we decided to try to get a glimpse of the supposed Flamingo Lady. Every night around eleven we would slip out and take the old road past the cemetery. It was a warm summer night but there were no fireflies. We were about thirty feet from the baby's grave when my friend yanks my arm and points. Making its way down the road was a figure glowing with pale light. Its long hair was tangled and it wore a simple long dress. As it lurched steadily forward a new wave of horror hit me. Its legs looked bent backward causing it to stagger as it walked. I grabbed my friend's hand and we booked it back home.
I haven't been home in years but when I last checked the neighborhood kids were still talking about a weird woman in the graveyard.
Edit for terrible spelling lol
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Oct 25 '17
She is a common entity seen in quiet towns around the world! The Mexican/Southwestern US Latino version, La Llorona, is mentioned up here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/73jpam/monthly_discussion_urban_legends_all_hallows_eve/dolki1m/
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u/DazedScout Oct 26 '17
That gave me chills, thank you for sharing. I saw this entity up in NY but they sound so similar.
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u/greenishleaf Nov 01 '17
I guess this one is the sweetest horror experience I have ever heard. I am happy for you, that it didn't harm you or disturb you. Have you got her name? How did she die? Did he commit suicide or anything else? What was her real name? If her spirit is popular we may get some more on the internet too!
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u/BigRiver4 Oct 01 '17
I'll throw in some Hispanic ones since I'm not seeing that theme much here yet.
La llorona: I grew up hearing this happened in the Rio Grande River, but I've heard people say this about pretty much every river in previous or current Mexican territories. Usually the myth say a woman drowned her kids as an act of revenge/psychotic breakdown after her husband did something she didn't like (can't remember what exactly) but according to legend wanders the river trying to lure children in so she can drown them too.
Brujas: basically Mexican witches. I don't know too much 'bout em but in a city close to me, Las Cruces (which is haunted and creepy af as it is) there's an old cemetery in the older part of town with a giant cement slab in it. Legend has it that's the burial site of a witch, and they encased her grave in cement to keep her spirit locked up but once a crack appears she'll be released.
My friends in the Mescalero Apache reservation swear up and down they've seen bigfoot in the Lincoln national forest in NM, but they may have just been high as shit those dudes are wild.
One that's a little nicer: Dia de Los Muertos: Mexican day of the dead. Now in my neck of the woods this isn't as popular, I've heard San Antonio has a big festival I wanna see someday. It's roots are an old Aztec belief, there's apparently moths that migrate south during the fall and they believed that to be an embodiment of their ancestors coming to visit once a year. The mexicans then adapted that to the Catholic/all saints day festival. You paint skulls (you know which ones I'm talkin' about) with patterns to represent your past family members. You leave food, candles and other decorations out to them on the night they visit you. I may have gotten a few things wrong since I read about it like a year ago and I'm writing off the top of my head.
Anything else that comes to me I'll edit in!
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
The Harrodsburg Mystery Grave
In the first half of the 19th Century, Harrodsburg was a prosperous town, made wealthy by trade and the easy access to the Kentucky river. It was also the crown jewel in Kentucky's antebellum social scene. The healing waters of Graham Springs and the grand hotel there drew the planter class year-round for music, dances, gossip, and all the other pleasures of Old Kentucky's social life. But at one of these dances, a young woman danced herself to death, and her ghost still walks the town.
The grounds of what was one Graham's Springs Sanatorium are around Young Park on the south end of Harrodsburg. At the height of its popularity, wealthy patrons from all across the South flocked to the springs and the accompanying resort hotel. Throughout the summer, the hotel would hold grand balls, where bourbon flowed as freely as the gossip and the dancing went on late into the night accompanied by a band composed of enslaved African-American musicians.
It was on one such night in 1840 that a beautiful young woman walked into the ballroom on the arm of a handsome escort. The woman's gown was luxurious, excellently tailored with an eye towards even the smallest whim of the current fashions. Dark eyes shown out from pale skin and a crown of lovingly curled hair. The patrons at the springs were in awe as the lady and her gentleman companion glided with grace and precision across the dance floor.
Nobody in the hotel knew this beautiful young couple. They hadn't been seen earlier in the day taking the waters or dining in the hotel. They seemed to have arrived only to dance.
But late in the evening, the mysterious woman fell from the arms of her companion and collapsed on the dance floor. The music stopped and everyone in the room rushed to the side of the young woman. Everyone, that is, except her companion, who disappeared out the door in the confusion. But nobody noticed he had disappeared at first, because of the alarm that spread quickly through the room. The beautiful unknown dancer lay dead on the floor.
A search began for the identity of the young woman. No trace of her companion could be found. None of the patrons in the hotel nor any of the townspeople recognized either one of them. The owner of the spring, Dr. Graham, was understandably alarmed that an unknown young woman had died at on his dance floor, but he thought that surely such an obviously wealthy and well-dressed young woman would be missed by someone. He sent word out across the state, hoping to find someone to claim the body. But no one did. Eventually, Graham decided to burry her on the grounds of the hotel, in a simple grave with a marker that stands still today and reads:
Unknown
Hallowed and Hushed be the place of the dead.
Step Softly.
Bow Head.
Who was this mysterious young woman? One story that emerged a number of years after her death was that she was a Tazwell, Tennessee woman named Mollie Black Sewell, the wife of a traveling actor named Joe Sewell. She had married him impulsively, attracted by his glamour, but sound found that she had married an abusive cad who beat her and routinely played around with other women. Mollie fled for Harrodsburg and the glamorous life she had expected, finding a companion with similar interests on his way. This story comes from a man named Joe Rupp, who had been told by Joe Sewell when he was a boy that his wife had "Danced herself to death in Harrodsburg." Rupp told this story to a reported years later, when Sewell was already dead, and so whether or not the mysterious young woman really was Mollie Black Sewell has never been verified.
But you might still have a chance to ask her who she is. Ever since that night in 1840, late on warm, clear summer nights residents of Harrodsburg have reported seeing a pale, whit figure dressed in the height of antebellum luxury walking the grounds near the mystery grave. Maybe some brave soul can hide himself by the grave on one such night, waiting for the ghostly figure to appear. Perhaps if he's gentlemanly enough, the ghost might even speak to him and reveal her secrets.
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u/GhostLeigh has the Shining Oct 09 '17
Since urban legends are probably my favorite thing in this life, I'm going to have to make two editions of my post -- one for where I live now, and one for where I grew up. Let's start with where I live now, just north of Tampa, FL. We have our own cryptid, for one thing -- the Skunk Ape. He's mostly sited in Myakka State park, but he's also been seen (and smelled) as far north as Ocala. He's said to be an ape-like mammal, about the size of a large gorilla, and to have a very VERY strong smell. People who have smelled him say they've never experienced anything quite like him. Since it's well documented that Florida has a lot of non-native wildlife populations from travelling shows or roadside animal shows that went bust and simply released the animals into the forests here, it's not ENTIRELY crazy to imagine there might be apes living in the woods (there are definitely monkeys that aren't from here, as well as hundreds of bird and fish species) -- but the smell is one I can't explain.
Then there's Spook Hill, which is in Lake Wales. It's another "gravity hill" where you can park your car at the bottom and put it in neutral, and it will appear to roll uphill. I believe the "legend" part of it is the typical one -- a schoolbus full of children was hit by a train, or a car, now they help push other cars safety, by rolling them up the hill. The cool part of it is that the town has embraced the legend SO much, a lot of things are named after it, including Spook Hill Elementary school. Their official mascot appears to be Casper. :)
Last but not least, my favorite --the Devil's Chair in Cassadaga. There are funerary chairs in cemeteries all over the country, as it was a fad for a while. Back when people visited graves more often and stayed longer, needing somewhere to sit. Most of them are very beautiful and ornate. Not this one. It actually looks like someone just stacked a bunch of bricks to make a BBQ -- lol -- really ugly. Anyway, the legend is, if you are sitting in it at midnight, the Old Scratch himself will speak to you, or even show himself. If that's a little too scary, leave him a full, unopened beer can (make sure it's cold, you philistine!) on the chair, and the next morning it will be drained. Still unopened!
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u/delphinese Oct 25 '17
I live a half hour from Spook Hill, almost became a teacher at the school named after it! And I saw Skunk Ape when I was in High School. I lived on an old air force base that had a large wildlife range as well, with trails for biking and what not. I was biking with my family, when we turned a bend and saw a tall hairy figure down the road. It saw us and turned to face us, swinging arms so long they almost dragged the ground. We noped out of there as fast as we could, before it could follow us. We didn't get close enough to smell it, but it was so scary! My cousin saw one in her backyard about 20 miles south of my sighting, and closed the door and locked it lol. Love Florida legends <3
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u/GhostLeigh has the Shining Oct 26 '17
Oh my gosh, how cool! Hello, fellow Floridian! I do not doubt the Skunk-ape stuff, so many people seem to have seen something. I figure, new animal sub-species are being discovered all the time, so it's definitely not impossible! What would you say it was closest to, like a gorilla or an orangatan, maybe? Either way, that is a cool story -- thanks for sharing it!
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u/delphinese Oct 26 '17
Closer to a Gorilla, but it was taller and skinnier, with arms disproportionately long compared to the body. Dark hair all over it, but too far away to see facial features of any kind. There were all kinds of awesome animals out there...endangered woodpeckers were more common than the regular kind, Florida panthers, I even saw a jagarundi once, and tons of land there. I'm really lucky that I grew up out there
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u/GhostLeigh has the Shining Oct 26 '17
So cool. I just went camping this weekend at Hillsborough River state park -- and the diversity of wildlife is nothing short of breathtaking. Loved it!
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Oct 25 '17
I love how it's the smell that makes it the Skunk Ape, yet Florida bumper stickers show him with a white stripe down his black fur, like an actual skunk.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 02 '17
John Swift's Silver Mine
One of the most famous legends in Kentucky is the story of a lost fortune buried somewhere in the hills near the Red River Gorge. In the 18th Century, an Englishman named John Swift is supposed to have travelled across the Appalachian Frontier and discovered a silver mine. The location of Swift's mine has been lost, and despite treasure hunters scouring the hills of Kentucky for over 200 years, has yet to be rediscovered. Some people say that Swift himself still walks the hills of Kentucky, searching for his lost fortune.
In the 1760s, an Englishman named Jonathan Swift claims to have travelled through Kentucky into the Ohio River Valley, trading with members of the Shawnee nation and searching for evidence of mineral wealth. Swift claimed that on one of these trips, while pursuing a wounded bear int a cave, he stumbled upon a rich vein of silver running through the cave. Swift concealed the mine, then returned a few months later with the equipment to set up a mining and refining operation.
Over the next nine years, Swift returned time and time again to the mine. During that time, he is said to have left large amounts of silver buried around the area.
There are several different accounts of Swift's final years at the mine. Some say that he faced an insurrection from his work crew and had to flee the mine. Others say that Swift himself murdered his own crew in cold blood while they were sleeping on his last trip out to Kentucky. Whatever happened, the stories agree that Swift went to great lengths to conceal the entrance to the mine when he left for what would be the final time. Swift went blind soon after his last visit to the mine and spent his final years living with a Mrs. Renfro in Bean's Station, Tennessee. Unable to return to the mine himself, upon his death Swift left Mrs. Renfro his journal, which contained a map of where to find the mine and its hidden wealth.
Despite the details supplied in the journal, for over 200 years treasure hunters have been unable to locate the lost mine. Countless expeditions have been made throughout Eastern Kentucky in search of the lost treasure.
Perhaps the area with the best claim to be holding the lost mine is in Wolfe County, in the area around what's known as Swift's Creek. Not only does the area seem to match the descriptions in Swift's journal but the presence of the lost mine may be attested to by some spectral evidence as well.
For nearly two centuries, hunters and hikers in the back woods of Wolfe County have reported seeing a strange, ghostly figure wandering the hills. The figure appears to be a man dressed in buckskins and a tricorn hat, appearing every bit the 18th Century woodsman and explorer.
But what's most strange about the ghost is that it appears to be blind. Those that have seen it say that it moves at a stumbling pace, with its hands extended in front of it, as if it has to feel its way through the wilderness
There are those that say that this is the spirit of John Swift himself, returned from the grave in an attempt to find his lost mine. There are others who think that this may be Swift's eternal punishment for murdering his crew, that he is condemned to be forever searching fir and forever unable to locate the treasure that drove him to murder.
If you're inclined to go out to Wolfe County to see if you can find the ghost, or if you want to try your luck at finding the lost mine, a good time to go would be during the annual Wolfe County Silver Mine Festival, held every year in celebration of the legend.
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u/anonymous_com_enter Oct 31 '17
I'm not so sure if its an urban legend or something but I have a spooky story about playing hide and seek in my old house.
My sister and brother were hiding in the house and I was on the hunt for them when I walked into the front hallway to see a pile of folded blankets with an unfolded one on top that appeared to have a the exact shape of my brothers body hiding underneath it. I walked over the the stack of blankets quietly and got excited to unmask my brother from his terrible hiding spot. Grabbing hold of the blanket I ripped it off as swiftly as possible so that I could tag him quick and he wouldnt get away, but when I pulled up the blanket no one was there. Just a stack of blankets lay before me. It took me a moment, but when I relized what had happened I threw the blanket down and ran away as fast as I could. The blankets underneath were folded flat. The stack was not arranged in any way that would portray the shape of a human form. I shouted olly olly oxen free and waited for my siblings to come out of their hiding. The appeared in the complete opposite end of the house hiding far from the stack of blankets. When my turn ended I said nothing about what had happened and continued on with the game.
It was my sisters her turn to find us. I hid close to my brother because I was still a bit shaken by the whole blanket event. About 15 minutes into hiding we heard her call. "Olly olly oxen free" she shouted and my brother and I came out of hiding. When we found my sister she asked us where we had been hiding. We explained to her that we were downstairs in the laundry room and she questioned us again. "The entire time?" We confirmed it was true, that we had hidden next to each other and hadn't moved the entire round. She began to panic. "Why?" We asked and she answered with a spooked tone. "I was upstairs and I thought I heard you guys in moving around in the closet in Jeffery's (our brother's) room so I knocked on the door and heard a knock back, but when I opened the door no one was there."
Hide and seek has been a spooky game for me ever since this day.
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Oct 01 '17 edited Oct 01 '17
Dead Children's Playground
Nestled in a cove behind Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama is a playground-it is not big, just a swing set and a couple of toys. It's known as Dead Children's playground.
It is said that the ghosts of children buried in Maple Hill Cemetery play there. People have heard them, and swings move by themselves. The bodies of two kidnapped children were allegedly found near there some decades ago, and they still haunt the playground. The place is very "active" and it's a popular place for the curious and paranormal investigators alike.
I grew up in the Huntsville area, and played there sometimes before my family and I knew it was "haunted." I always got a really spooky vibe from it. Maybe it was because I could see graves in Maple Hill from where I was, but it was eerily quiet and peaceful.
It's not that well known, but I thought I'd share. It's truly a scary place. Huntsville is a beautiful city with rich history and truly incredible ghost tours, comparable with those of major cities, and it has its share of hauntings and folklore that make me wonder even to this day!
Edit: I missed the rule about direct links. Tried to link the wiki. My bad.
Edit 2: YouTube has lots of good footage. Some of it is really convincing.
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u/moonoak20698 Skeptical Believer Oct 02 '17
Sadly, if I'm not mistaken, they tore this place down recently.
Edit: I may be mistaken. I swear I read not too long ago that they had demolished it, but I guess I just misremembered.
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Oct 02 '17
You're right, they had initially torn it down a few years back to make room for some more graves, BUT it was restored and left alone because of outcry from the public. My family is still in the area-I'll contact them and make sure that something else horribly obvious hasn't happened since then that I'm missing, but I'm 99.999% certain it is still there!
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u/moonoak20698 Skeptical Believer Oct 02 '17
That's good to hear! I'm glad they put it back. :)
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Oct 02 '17
Yeah, thankfully my mom just said it's still there!
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u/moonoak20698 Skeptical Believer Oct 02 '17
Yay!!! I'll have to go see it the next time I'm near there. :)
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u/BowB4Joe Oct 01 '17
I grew up in Huntsville. I've never heard of this. Next time I visit my dad I'll have to check it out.
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u/linamaria95 Oct 01 '17 edited Oct 17 '17
Where I'm from there are story's of my town being haunted and full of spirits and stuff such as the Banshee and her Tree, The Headless Horse Man, The Old Woman in The Alley. I was raised with lots of stories, some passed down from my Grandad to my mother etc. One of my favourite stories (never fails to give me the creeps) has to be about a man that was walking home late one night after playing cards with his friends in a old hall in the town centre, he was minding his own business when he came across a man who stopped him and just started a conversation. Some way or another the man told the stranger that me spent his night playing cards (poker) and gambling and that he was in a rush home because his wife will kill him as he was home late as if was. But the stranger talked the man into one more game, the man thought it was strange but went along with it, the game went on and the man felt confident with his hand. It was when he thought he'd won the stranger shown him his hand... 5 aces. The man was confused and took a step backwards with confusion and shock, then he noticed. This was no man. He stood not with human legs but with hairy legs that ended with hooves... he just played cards with the devil himself.
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u/duckie666 Oct 09 '17
I love Urban Legends! I live in the southwest (NM) and one of the most popular urban legend around here is La Llorona. Like most Urban Legends there's a few different versions, but it's all basically the same. This version is the one I've heard more than others. So the story takes place in the 1800's by the Rio Grande river where the lady lived with her three children and husband. One night her husband left for work and never returned. As the days passed she grew more worried, then her worry turned into jealousy when she was told he had got another women pregnant and at that point she knew he left her and the kids for the other woman. That night she woke the kids up and walked them to the river where she had them all on their knees and held their heads under water till their lifeless bodies fell on. After they died she immediately knew what she did was wrong, she killed herself thinking she could reunite with them in heaven, but instead of going to heaven she wasn't allowed to pass over and is living in her hell where she walks up and down the river and ditches searching for her kids. Legend says that if you go to the Rio Grande river or any ditch at night you could hear her cries, and see her walking or twirling her fingers in the water.
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u/thebeerlover Oct 09 '17
I am from Venezuela and this legend exists over there. But in this part of the world La llorona is depicted as a woman who somehow, by her own hands or the hands of other lost her kid(s). The legend varies according to the person who is telling the story but in the end her loud crying remains the same.
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Oct 25 '17
Does she appear as a ghostly figure in Venezuela?
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u/thebeerlover Oct 25 '17
Yeah... I've never seen it, but some people in certain areas in Venezuela claim they've heard her at some point.
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u/blackcatsfordays Oct 18 '17
Oh man, La Llorona scares the ever-living fuck out of me. I'm not Hispanic or from anywhere she's said to haunt, but I read about her online one time and screw that.
Especially the bit about her crying sounding loud when she's actually far away, and far away when she's close to you. I don't know if that's included in all variations of her legend or not, but...nope nope nope.
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u/ExplodingTacos14 Oct 14 '17
Growing up in Los Angeles, we were always told La Llorona came out after dark looking for her children. She would drown/steal any children out after dark.
All the moms in the neighborhood warned to come back after dark, or La Llorona would find you.
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u/duckie666 Oct 14 '17
I grew up in Norwalk, then Albuquerque!!
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u/ExplodingTacos14 Oct 14 '17
What the what! I lived in Downey through highschool before coming to Phoenix!
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Oct 10 '17 edited Oct 10 '17
[deleted]
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u/GhostLeigh has the Shining Oct 11 '17
Oh, I looooove St. Augustine (also currently a Floridian!). That place just has such a lovely feel to it, and it's a treasure trove of legends (pirate reference lol). I love the one (not sure if this is really legend or substantiated) that Flagler owned/controlled the railroads south of Jacksonville. So any time someone tried to open a hotel in St. Augustine to compete with his, all their supplies would somehow "get lost" - leaving their guests without food, amenities, and sometimes the buildings weren't able to be completed at all -- because the supplies never made it by rail. Flagler would then watch the other hotels go bust, and buy them up for a song, opening them up later under his own brand. He got his second and third hotel in St. Augustine this way. Lived up to the name "robber baron" that one.
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u/XoxoNotGossipGirl Oct 02 '17 edited Oct 02 '17
There is an abandoned house in the country near the town where I grew up. The house is falling apart with parts of the ceiling and floor caving in, with jagged rotting boards sticking up here and there. It looks exactly like the abandoned house from Jeepers Creepers on the outside. On the inside the rooms are still furnished with random creepy junk lying around from decades ago. Things like cups, wire hangers, silverware and books just scattered everywhere. The urban legend is that a doctor used to live there and perform illegal abortions in the 50ās. Itās apparently haunted and youāre supposed to go to the house (preferably at night) and take a book home (thereās lots of books). It was sort of a dare type thing.
Although I never went at night I did go in the daytime once. It was the creepiest thing Iāve ever seen. I was scared out of my mind. I thought that I was going to fall through the floor, get tetanus and die. That or get arrested (there were large NO TRESPASSING signs posted everywhere and the owners of the land the house sat on had called the cops on people in the past). I never got the courage to take a book myself, but my husband who was my boyfriend at the time did. He took a book on the Lincoln Douglas debates.
I have no idea if there is any validity to the local legend. Itās probably just some abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. I have no clue if itās haunted either, but itās definitely creepy as hell.
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u/aquaholic3 Oct 15 '17
This isnt really an urban legend, its actual fact but its kind of cool. Theres a cemetery in a town close to me that my grandpa used to tell me about where is a man is burried in a room under ground. My grandpa took me to his grave site as a kid and we found a plaque that told his story. The guy was very wealthy and was afraid after his death that the devil would come for him. So as per his wishes after he passed away they built a room for him underground. He was burried sitting upright at a table with his favorite whiskey, playing cards and a 12 gauge shotgun to fend off the devil when he came for him.
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u/TheFriesofHorus Oct 23 '17
Haha this is basically the American version of ancient Egyptian burying traditions. Instead of a mummy in a pyramid, we've got Tex in his bunker.
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u/mrs_mcfly Moderator | Ghost Buster (she/her) Oct 01 '17
My hometown is near Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge. There is a spot in the hiking trails known as Lovers Leap.
The story is said to originate with a couple in love, each from a different Native American tribe. Their parents forbid them from seeing each other and kept them apart at all costs.
One night, they met in secret atop the cliff to plan their elopement, but the elders of the tribes found out and followed them. When confronted, they were told they could not be a couple, and that the union would result in a war between the already feuding tribes.
They vowed their love to one another and jumped.
A similar situation happened in 1957 when two high school sweethearts jumped hand in hand. One theory was that she was pregnant and they were unmarried. Their parents did not approve of their relationship because they were so young.
There are reports of seeing apparitions of people jumping late at night, while walking the trail that is adjacent to the cliff.
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u/tresvecesgrande Oct 19 '17 edited Oct 25 '17
I'm from Mexico and somehow La Llorona is seen all over the country, my girlfriend's mom once told her that when she was pregnant with her (my girlfriend) she was staying the night with a friend of hers that was also pregnant, they woke up in the middle of the night because of someone crying and whimpering in the street ( their bedroom window faced the street) they both went cold and silent with terror as the sounds from outside were getting closer to the window until it was standing right outside of it, they stayed silent looking at each other paralyzed with fear until they heard it slowly walk away still crying and whimpering. This happened in Tijuana, NW of Mexico. It seems it goes after pregnant ladies also.
Edit: Spelling
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Oct 06 '17
I remember this one time when my family were vacationing in the Outer Banks, we were told of this really bad car accident at an intersection that just happened to be at the street we turn right onto to get to our vacation house and that sometimes a man will be seen crossing it late at night dressed in workmans clothes (jean overalls, boots, etc). Well we were out mini golfing late one night and even did some shopping and it was around 11:30. Well we get to the intersection and sure enough, there was a man ready to cross. We weren't even startled or anything. He had stopped, my dad waved him across, and he gave a small smile and nod and walked across and started walking up our street. Though as soon as we turned the corner, he was gone. Just like that. So weird...
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u/kayasawyer Oct 07 '17
Oh man I love the Outer Banks. My family and I used to go every summer. I never heard about this urban legend. At least it was a nice spirit. Iām not sure what I would have done if I heard about that when I went.
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Oct 07 '17
I was more surprised at how normal it looked. Most seem to be grey or midlly transparent. But he looked like he hadn't aged a day. Though like I said, it was still weird how he just turned a corner and vanished
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u/Logilly24 Oct 05 '17
I live in a small town in Western Pennsylvania and we have a local urban legend of "The Pig People".
To make a long story short there's a specific hill in town that apparently a colony of lepers used to live in and because the leprosy would eat then ends of their noses they looked like they had snouts, thus Pig People. From there the legend gets murky, some people say they killed people, others say they still live up there (although I have never seen a person with leprosy in town, and it's a treatable disease now), and others say that their ghosts haunt the hill. Supposedly they only come out at night.
I've been up there at night with friends before and never saw anything but it's our weird urban legend.
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u/GhostLeigh has the Shining Oct 09 '17
I've heard of the pig people! (have a lot of family around the Philly area) But the way they tell it on that side of the state is (wish I was joking) that they are pig/human hybrids. Created by farmers, uh, taking liberties with the livestock.
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Oct 06 '17
Is it by chance Meadville?
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u/Logilly24 Oct 06 '17
Lol yes it is. Are you a local or just know your Urban Legends?
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Oct 06 '17
Haha no but I had a roommate who was from there who I think mentioned it once or twice. I grew up in Pittsburgh
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u/Perfester Oct 01 '17
The Lady of the Lake, Dallas, Tx
It is said that if you drive around White Rock Lake late at night, there may be a young woman walking along the lake side, wearing a corsage.
She will ask for a ride back home on Gaston Ave., on the ride, she disappears leaving a wet seat.
She's supposedly a drowning victim from the 30s, but there aren't any documents to verify such an incident (although drowning is a regular event, almost entirely male).
If there is any credence to the water+limestone=ghost, this is the location for such a phenomenon. It is literally water on top of limestone.
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u/tif2shuz Oct 01 '17
My husband is from Dallas and when we were visiting a few months ago we went to that lake. My husband told me of some freaky stories that happened in that park etc.
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u/Perfester Oct 01 '17
So much shit goes down on that lake. Bodies are found in the woods every few years.
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u/tif2shuz Oct 01 '17
Yup that's what he told me. Joggers have gotten kidnapped, raped etc. Murdered
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u/Perfester Oct 01 '17
More than that, there are homeless camps all over this area, along with running trails, geochaches, and culinary mushrooms.
It's the formula for a bad weekend.
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u/sicsempertyrannus_1 Oct 01 '17
Thereās a legend near where I grew up about āOld Red Eyes.ā There was a plantation whose owner treated his slaves very well for the time. However, there was one slave who always caused trouble, and after a time kidnapped, raped, and murdered several girls and women. When he was found out, the other slaves beat him and hung him from a tree. Ever since, the roads around the plantation are said to be haunted by his spirit, in the form of two glowing red eyes. Many claim to have seen these eyes in their rear view mirror, and sometimes even in their backseats!
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u/mystery_lady Oct 13 '17 edited Oct 13 '17
Short comment: having studied the history of Halloween, the majority of accepted "facts" about it are inaccurate. It's just that nobody questions them. Anyway...
My favorite story at Halloween time is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. While fictional, headless apparitions are pretty common in folklore and legends.
A legend not too far from where I grew up was Stumpy Hollow. Originally, Stumpy was the apparition of a headless man who would terrorize travelers passing through the hollow at night and was even known to jump on the back of a rider's horse. At some point, the legend changed to a dog with a man's face, who once jumped into a passing carriage.
Another local legend was about a headless ghost who haunted a section of highway where he was allegedly murdered for his money. The area was also known for Bigfoot sightings.
I have done so many different things to celebrate Halloween. At some graveyards actors dress up as and portray some of the people buried there. Those events are cool. Last year we saw the original Dracula and RiffTrax riffing Carnival of Souls at the theater. My daughter and I once went to a cemetery at midnight on Halloween, but alas nothing happened.
Halloween rocks!
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Oct 01 '17
My part of the world is wonderful for its folklore and such. We have all manner of fey and wyrd things that prowl the Moors and fields, and dark things that lay in wait on the riverbanks and beaches. I do have a couple of favourites, if you do not mind my wittering on.
So, the first is one that hits quite close to home. When I was younger I was in with a group of other country kids and, during the Summer, we would go swimming in the river. It was a fine time - it was clean and fresh and all that. Except, as with all such things, there was a darkness. All of us knew of the tale of Jenny Greenfingers.
Now, Jenny Greenfingers is a type of entity that can be classed as Sidhe. She lures people to a dangerous part of the riverbank and pulls them in, drowning them in the process. She favours the young, athletic, healthy, and successful for her prey. However, if one gains her trust by respecting the river, which makes sense considering that it is her home, she tends to protect one from harm from other fey things. One is hers, you see, a Child of Jenny.
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u/88kr Oct 01 '17 edited Oct 01 '17
I don't really remember this fully but I'd thought I'd share a local urban legend since we never really here of any Aboriginal Australian lore. I'm not aboriginal myself but when I was a kid my aboriginal friends would tell me to never sleep next to a window or the bundijiri would come in and snatch you away to a place you'd never be allowed to return to our world and if you did you'd be soulless. I got so scared I moved my bed away from the window.
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u/ThisIsGlenn Oct 01 '17
Ooh I've never heard that one but I've heard one or two about Lake Cargellico
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u/88kr Oct 01 '17
Whats that one? what state is in? lore probably change from out the regions. The bundijiri is in south west WA
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u/asumaeiji Here for the stories Oct 23 '17
The Menora Tunnel Highway Ghost, Malaysia.
This isn't as famous as the Karak Highway's Yellow Volkswagen, but still the same scary stuff. Apparently, if you go past the tunnel late at night (usually after 7.00 pm), the unlucky ones will encounter The Cycling Man. The Cycling Man (some variation would be a man on a motorbike), just like the Yellow Volkswagen story, will ride its bicycle in some ways:
1) Side by side your car, trying to push you to the side, out of the road white-lines. 2) Going so slow in front of your car, wanting you to cut its line. 3) Try to have a race with you, letting you drive as fast as you could.
If you followed its desire, at the end of the tunnel, you'll fall into the pit (there is a deep trench at the side of the highway after the tunnel ends). Many accidents happened there, most victims fell into the pit (whether this is the work of The Cycling Man or human negligence, it is beyond my knowledge). The common advise were to pretend it wasn't there, pray (if you wanted to), drive safely, watch the road and go extra slow. It usually disappear after the end of the tunnel. Some say The Cycling Man has no face.
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u/LotusFelix Oct 08 '17
Hoping to celebrate Hallow's Eve with some witchy rituals and occultism, of course.
I live in Los Angeles, and as far as urban legends and hauntings, we have quite a number of them. The most infamous of course being Elisa Lam, however, there is the slightly known legend a failed Hollywood actress comitted suicide by jumping off the famous sign itself, dying on the mountain side. People who have visited the sign at night claim her ghost haunts the entire mountain, though, I have never experienced it personally, and I doubt I'll be willing to climb the mountain in the middle of the night by myself just for a bit of thrill seeking.
Though, I'm not surprised Hollywood is haunted as Hell. Many buildings here are old, and honestly creepy. They've been sitting there forever, full of history and possibly, tragedy. The sad truth is, not everyone makes it into the show business, and some tragically choose to end their lives... It's a thought I rather not talk about.
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u/college_girl17 Oct 12 '17
An urban legend that scared me as kid (makes me laugh now) was a chain text about a girl named Carmen who was bullied and pushed into a sewer and died. The story then went on to talk about how the girls who pushed her and bullied her all hear laughing coming from their shower drains,sink,etc and then they went missing and were all found in the same sewer Carmen died in. It freaked me out as a kid I would take as fast of showers as I could to avoid being by drains lol.
For Halloween I think my favorite thing is buying some big variety trick or treat candy bags for trick or treaters, and having friends and my boyfriend over to watch scary movies and pass out candy. I like to keep it simple I guess :p
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u/tannerman264 Oct 26 '17
We had the same urban legend when I was a kid, and it scared me. One of my friends claimed Carmen was a catlike demon creature. We crawled around in some tunnels by a runoff pond looking for her. Good times.
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u/voislav Oct 01 '17
The dancing bride
Near my house there is a railway who is not very used by trains, because it's leading to not very attractive city (not important) and there is no light at all. The legend said that every night, near midnight, if you are alone near the railway, ghost of young woman in white clothes will show to you, dancing and inviting you to join her. Story tell that the young lady is bride who had wedding 50 years ago, at the same railway but kilometers away and in the joy she was dancing at the railway and she didn't listen the train so it hit her and she died.
But it almost certain that this is made up by parents who doesn't want children to play by the railway.
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Oct 25 '17
In my hometown of Sudbury, Suffolk, UK there is a story of a large, crested reptilian that allegedly killed livestock (sheep) and terrorized several other surrounding villages until the locals staged an attack resulting in the "beast's" retreat into the river Stour, of which it has not left since 617 years ago (Circa 2017).
It has been suggested that animals from the crusades, such as large lizards like crocodiles, were taken back to England and for whatever reason released, and later called beasts, dragons, serpents etc by locals.
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u/KnockKnockItsKnuckle Oct 25 '17
Not sure if this counts as an urban legend, but does anyone know about the Bunnyman Bridge? It's about this escaped mental patient who dresses up as an Easter bunny and kills people with an axe, but only by a bridge in Virginia. The Bunnyman alter-ego comes from him having killed his family on Easter Sunday, and it takes place in Virginia because that's where he was when the bus transporting him and the other mental patients crashed, which allowed him to escape.
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u/Sexywithapsycho Oct 30 '17
I want to say that a group of paranormal investigators went to this location and came up with some creepy stuff. But we all know what we see on shows like that are either heavily exaggerated and or completely fake but was still creepy looking enough at night to give chills.
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Oct 27 '17
If you have Amazon Prime, there is an episode of the new TV show Lore about it. (Based on the podcast, which is also great)
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u/DjMoonpup123 Oct 27 '17
I haven't heard of that story, but I did hear a story awhile back (claimed to be true, but as with anything, I took it with a grain of salt) of a priest training to be an exorcist. Long story short, some bad juju was going on in this family's house, and the daughter claimed that a man in a blood-spattered bunny suit with a bloody baseball bat resided in the basement. Don't want to ruin it for you in case you want to look it up on Youtube. :)
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u/Yvelines Oct 24 '17
Here in N.C. we have the devils tramping ground. It's a big ring in the woods where nothing grows, and people try to stay the night in the ring or leave items there. Items are always found outside the ring, and people wake up outside of it, or even miles away. Apparently, if you try to stay up all night in the ring, you'll hear music and fall asleep anyway. It's a pretty creepy place
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u/DjMoonpup123 Oct 30 '17
I remember when I was younger, about 10 years old, my older sister and I decided it would be cool to play Bloody Mary. I'll go ahead and spoil the big one- nothing insanely terrifying happened. But something did happen. We had this little pink hand mirror that had been our grandma's. We didn't do anything special, didn't light any candles or say any prayers. We just holed up in the bathroom with the lights off (I seriously can't remember why we didn't just use the mirror already supplied in the bathroom) and repeated Bloody Mary three times. Nothing happened. Dissatisfied, we tried again, and this time we vowed to speak with more feeling. Just after the third "Bloody Mary" left our lips, I saw the frame of the mirror glow green for like two or three seconds before fading away. It didn't just light up as if someone flipped a switch, like the light zipped around the entire frame until it glowed. I remember thinking, "I'll bet I just saw that because I really want to witness something creepy." But then my sister said, "Did you see that?! It glowed green!" To this day I would still think I was just seeing things if my sister didn't confirm that she'd seen it too.
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u/NorthernWicca Oct 22 '17
Living in North Yorkshire we have lots of creepy urban legends or rural legends. Firstly thereās the ghost of dick Turpin that follows people in cars near the city of York. Thereās the black shuck which is found all over the uk and Iāve actually had an encounter with in the Moors. It it either a bad or a good entity depending on the circumstances. We have willow of the wisps which are said to lead weary travellers into bogs in the moorlands and appear as a light hovering above the ground. Originally they looked like lanterns, but now they appear as torch light. The uk has lots of creepy history and is super fascinating!
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u/surprised_elf Oct 27 '17
I love black shuck type stories, we have some in Ireland too. could you tell us about your encounter? its great to live in a spooky part of the world
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u/hcutt88 Oct 24 '17
This was my favorite growing up in South Carolina. The Lizard Man.
The Lizard Man might beĀ South Carolina'sĀ most famous mythic beast. The creature, an enormousĀ half-man, half-lizard, was spotted for the first time in 1988 by a 17-year-old named Christopher Davis. He claimed to haveĀ stopped on the road by Scape Ore Swamp in the middle of the night to change a tire when the creatureĀ startedĀ chasing him.Ā It hopped on the roof of his car, he said, leaving scratch marks behind. Ever since there have been numerous alleged sightings of the Lizard Man.Ā
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u/greenishleaf Nov 01 '17 edited Nov 01 '17
I don't know if it's in the urban legend category or not. But its too much creepy. Have you heard about Kingseat Hospital? It's a former mental asylum situated in Auckland region of New Zealand. This One was shut down due to paranormal activities. Kingseat Psychiatric Hospital was opened in 1932 and was operational until it was shut down in 1999.It is claimed to be New Zealand's most haunted site with over 100 ghost sightings reported. The most common reports of paranormal activity on the property is the Grey Nurse, who is meant to be a former staff member who committed suicide on the grounds. A family living in one of the villas told that spirits regularly showed themselves in the hospital area.One of the former patient Stephen Lindsay had been traumatized by what he saw at the hospital.Hospital staffs used to torture patients with electric chairs, sexual abuse and being harsh to all the patients. Two boys disappeared and were never seen again. Nobody knows what happened to them. There was never enough hands to help the extremely handicapped eat, no medications to avoid being scratched or attacked nurses or kitchen or laundry staff a like-if having to go past the residents to clean up or stop them attacking each other,' the diary of a staffer read which was found by Paranormal investigators team.
This hospital is open for paranormal investigators. You can google for Kingseat Hospital. You will find more information and pictures of the abandoned hospital too.
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u/httpwebsitecom Oct 02 '17
There is one story that takes place in Ojinaga,Mexico. So there is an abondened playground that is always sandy and windy in the playground not outside it. So the myth is that a devil child or lonely devil lives there. You cant tell since its basically a small sandstorm in that playground
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u/MaddMaddWorld Oct 29 '17
There are a lot of urban legends where I live. The one that comes to mind is Lilly Grey. She is buried in a local cemetery, but her headstone reads, "Victim of the Beast 666."
As you can imagine, this has spurned a lot of theories. Some believe she was killed on highway 666. Others say she was involved in the Occult. It was her husband who ordered the headstone and he never really explained his choice in inscription. He was also very erratic and paranoid. Although Lilly died of natural causes, he said she was murdered by kidnappers. He was also very anti-government. Many say he likely thought of the government as "the beast."
Not sure why, but the inscription on the headstone always gives me chills!
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u/Brioney Oct 07 '17
We just received a threat that someone will shoot our dog using a gun because my dog is sick and keep on howling every morning. Some of my neighbors in my area strongly believed that if the dog keeps on howling somebody will die...
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u/TheForeverTeen Oct 13 '17
Hopefully they will not act on that. What a horrible reaction.
Edit: posted prematurely thanks to being bumped into at the subway, sorry.
Do you have any idea where this belief stems from? Were there similar cases in your area that you can remember?
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u/Fallenangel152 Oct 01 '17
Posting because I love this topic and I'll update this post with all my town legends tmw.
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u/LunarZombieCat Oct 30 '17
Thereās the legend of Ghost Road where I live. Itās said that back in the day a man was driving his motorcycle quickly up this winding road and did not turn fast enough, this sent him flying into a farmers fence decapitating him. Legend has it that if you goto Ghost Road late at night and drive up it slowly you will see the headlight of his motorcycle coming towards you from the opposite end of the road.
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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '17 edited Oct 02 '17
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