The 1962 Halloween massacre was an urban legend about a photo of a Halloweencostume party in 1962, in which seven people were purportedly killed.[3]
The 2016 clown sightings were urban legends that rose in popularity during 2016 about an individual or group dressed up as clowns who stalk, harass, or otherwise scare random people.[4][5]
Anastasia Romanov's survival is a popular urban legend claiming that the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia survived after her family was killed in 1918. The legend originated from the fact that Anastasia's remains weren't buried with the corpses of her family. It remained a mystery for many years, until the truth was uncovered in 2007: Anastasia didn't survive, but was in fact buried in another place than her family.
Alexandria's Genesis is a purported genetic mutation that gives its carrier purple eyes, shimmering pale skin, a lack of body hair, and a lack of menstruation while still remaining fertile. The legend originated in a Dariafanfiction written in 1998, and since the 2000s has seen circulation on internet forums and social media.[7]
The Ankle slicing car thief (or the man under the car) is an urban legend that tells of a driver that keeps hearing noises under their car when they are driving. When they step out of the car to investigate, their ankles get sliced open with a knife. While they are rolling around on the ground in pain, a car thief emerges from underneath the car and steals it.[8]
Area 51 is another name for a portion of the Nevada Test and Training Range that UFO enthusiasts have theorized contains evidence of visitors from outer space. There is disputed evidence for these claims.[9]
B
Baby Train is an urban legend which claims that a small town had an unusually high birth rate because a train would pass through the town at 5:00 am and blow its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in the mini baby-boom.[10][11]
The babysitter and the man upstairs (also known as the babysitter or the sitter) is an urban legend dating back to the 1960s about a teenage girl babysitting children who receives telephone calls from a stalker who continually asks her to "check the children", all while secretly being in the same house as the babysitter.
The Bandage Man is an urban legend about a logger who died in a grisly sawmill accident that attacks cars and terrorizes teenagers.[12][13]
The Beast of Bladenboro (colloquially known as the Vampire Beast of Bladenboro or Vampire Cat) were a string of wildlife deaths caused by an reported big cat-like animal from the Winter of 1953–54, appearing in Bladenboro, North Carolina.
The Beast of Bodmin Moor is a folklore legend that describes a phantom cat purported to live in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Bodmin Moor became a centre of purported sightings after 1978, with occasional reports of mutilated slain livestock; the alleged panther/leopard-like black cats of the same region came to be popularly known as the Beast of Bodmin Moor.
The Beast of Exmoor (also known as the Exmoor Beast) is a folklore legend that describes a phantom cat said to roam the fields of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset in the United Kingdom.
The Bell Witch is a folklore legend from 1817 to 1821, when farmer John Bell Sr., his family and the local area supposedly came under attack by a mostly invisible entity that was able to speak, affect the physical environment, and shapeshift, and was located in Robertson County, Tennessee.
Jarrell Bettis (also known as the Dog Boy, sometimes known as Gerald) was an urban legend that describes a sinister young boy in Quitman, Arkansas.[14]
Bigfoot (also commonly referred to as Sasquatch) is a folklore legend that describes an ape-like creature that is purported to inhabit the forests of North America.[citation needed]
The Black Angel is a folklore legend that describes a statue in Iowa City that is said to be cursed, based on the death of Teresa Feldevert.[15]
Black Annis (also known as Black Agnes or Black Anna) is a folklore legend that describes a blue-faced hag or witch with iron claws and a taste for human flesh (especially children).
Black Volga refers to a black Volga limousine that was allegedly used to abduct people in Eastern Europe, especially children.
Black-eyed children (or black-eyed kids) are an urban legend of supposed paranormal creatures that resemble children between the ages of 6 and 16, with pale skin and black eyes, who are reportedly seen hitchhiking or panhandling, or are encountered on doorsteps of residential homes. Tales of black-eyed children have appeared in pop culture since the late 1990s.
Bloody Mary is a folklore legend consisting of a ghost or spirit conjured to reveal the future. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called multiple times. The Bloody Mary apparition may be benign or malevolent, depending on historic variations of the legend. The Bloody Mary appearances are mostly "witnessed" in group participation games.
The Blue star tattoo legend refers to a modern legend that LSD tabs are being distributed as lick-and-stick temporary tattoos to children.
Boo hags are an African-American folklore legend of the Gullah culture telling of evil souls who stay behind after death and become skinless, vampire-like witches who take other people's skin for a "ride".
The Buckley family story is an urban legend about an old photo of two children who murdered their mother one Halloween.[16]
Bunny Man is an urban legend that probably originated from two incidents in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1970, but has been spread throughout the Washington, D.C. area. There are many variations to the legend, but most involve a man or ghost wearing a rabbit costume ("bunny suit") who attacks people with an axe.
Carmen Winstead (also known as Jessica Smith) is a chain letter that describes the story of a girl who was pushed down a sewer drain.[17]
Castilian lisp is an urban legend claiming that the prevalence of the sound /θ/ in European Spanish can be traced back to a Spanish king who spoke with a lisp, and whose pronunciation spread by prestige borrowing to the rest of the population. This myth has been discredited by scholars for lack of evidence.[18][19]
The Catman of Greenock is the urban legend since the 1970s of a man in Greenock, Scotland who eats rats with his hands. He earned the name 'Catman', due to rumours that he lived with and cared for a group of wild cats.[20]
The Celebrity Death Rule of Threes is a superstition that movie stars, celebrities, and politicians die in groups of three.[21]
The Chaneques are creatures of Aztec mythology, entities associated with the underworld whose main activity is to care for mountains and wild animals. It presents different aspects, of which the one of small men (or women) stands out.
The Choking Doberman is an urban legend that originated in the United States. The story involves a protective pet found by its owner gagging on human fingers lodged in its throat. As the story unfolds, the dog's owner discovers an intruder whose hand is bleeding from the dog bite.
The "Colander lie detector", a story originating in the 1960s about a group of police or army investigators who would hook up a colander to a photocopier, and then place it on a suspect's head. Should the suspect give an answer the investigators found unreliable, they would make the photo-copier print paper out that said "he's lying".[22][23]
The chupacabra (Spanish pronunciation:[tʃupaˈkaβɾa], from chupar "to suck" and cabra "goat", literally "goat sucker") is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas, with the first sightings reported in Puerto Rico. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.
Clara Crane (also known as the Candy Lady) is an urban legend thought to be the inspiration behind an actual missing children case in Terrell, Texas.[24]
The Clown doll (also known as the Clown statue) is an urban legend somewhat based on "the babysitter and the man upstairs" legend, due to the similar concept of a babysitter being attacked by an intruder (here being a murderer disguised as an inanimate clown doll).[25][26][27]
The corpse light is an urban legend that describes a symbol of false comfort, a phantom light located in Cape Henlopen State Park.[28]
Cow tipping is the purported activity of sneaking up on any unsuspecting or sleeping upright cow and pushing it over for entertainment supposedly popular in rural farming communities.[29]
Cropsey is a folklore legend that describes a boogeyman-like figure, before segueing into the story of Andre Rand, a convicted child kidnapper from Staten Island through the 1970s–80s.[30]
Crybaby Bridge is a nickname given to some bridges in the United States. The name often reflects the belief that the sound of a baby can be, or has been, heard from the bridge.
The Crying Boy is a mass-produced print of an allegedly cursed painting by Italian painter Giovanni Bragolin. This was the pen-name of the painter Bruno Amadio. It was widely distributed from the 1950s onwards.
The Cucuy is a folklore legend that describes a mythical ghost-monster, malevolent and equivalent to the bogeyman of Latin American countries.
The curse of the Bambino was a superstition evolving from the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 to 2004. While some fans took the curse seriously, most used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
The curse of Escalante Petrified Forest is an urban legend that claims those who take petrified wood from Escalante Petrified Forest State Park in Utah risk bad luck, job loss, sickness, and accidents.[31]
The cursed memorial of Jonathan Buck is an obelisk featuring a stain in the shape of a woman's boot or stocking-clad foot located in Bucksport Cemetery, Maine.[32]
D
The Dark Watchers (also known by early Spanish settlers as Los Vigilantes Oscuros) is a legend from Santa Lucia Range, California concerning a group of large, silhouette-like entities reported to have observed travelers from a distance.
The Death Number 999-9999 is an urban legend claiming that if someone calls 999–9999 after midnight, they will be able to request anything they wish, but at the cost of their death. The legend was adapted into a horror movie, 999-9999, in 2002.[34]
The Death ship of the Platte River (or the ghost ship of the Platte River) is an urban legend about an old sailing ship that appears grey and unnatural, crewed by phantom sailors, sighted between Alcova and Torrington, Wyoming since the mid-1800s.[35]
The Death of James Dean in a car accident spawned many urban legends related to his Porsche 550 nicknamed "Little Bastard". The most common one (often described as a "curse") states that any individual who took a part from Dean's car after the accident later died in an accident of their own. Other stories include the wreck itself being involved in accidents causing loss of life or heavy destruction of property and its unexplained disappearance in 1960.
The Devil's chair (or haunted chair) is a folklore legend that describes a class of funerary or memorial sculpture common in the United States during the 19th century.
Doveland, Wisconsin is an urban legend about a Wisconsin town called Doveland that according to the legend, disappeared entirely in the 1990s, with many people saying they remember the town yet it does not exist.[36]
Dudleytown is an abandoned settlement in Connecticut in the United States, best known today as a ghost town. Due to vandalism and trespassers, the site is not open to the public.
The Dybbuk box (or the Dibbuk box) is a folklore legend that describes a wine cabinet claimed to be haunted by a dybbuk, a concept from Jewish mythology.
The Enfield poltergeist was a claim of supernatural activity at 284 Green Street, a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, London, England, between 1977 and 1979 involving two sisters, aged 11 and 13.
The Elevator Game is a ritual that purportedly sends the participant to an alternate world if done correctly, and involves a mysterious woman that may enter the elevator with them. The legend is said to date back to 2008 on the Japanese website 2channel.[37]
F
Fair Charlotte is a legend of how a foolish New England girl froze to death during a sleigh ride to a New Years ball because she was too vain to put warm clothing over her silk dress. The source was a 1838 morality tale of a vain girl who froze to death in London.[38]
'Fan Death' is the purported phenomena of people dying supposedly as a result of an electric fan running in a closed, windowless room.[39] Originating in South Korea during the 1920s and 1930s, the myth had persisted in the country (and to a much smaller extent, Japan) well into the early 21st Century; with the most recent example of its continuation into the public consciousness being a July 4, 2011 edition of The Korea Herald claiming that a 59-year-old man had died while sleeping, with a fan directly pointed at him.[40]
The Felixstowe fire demon was an extraterrestrial sighting that took place in the English town of Felixstowe, England, on the evening of September 20, 1965.[41]
The Flatwoods monster (also known as the Braxton County monster, phantom of Flatwoods, or "Braxxy") is an alien entity reported to have been sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States, on September 12, 1952, after a bright object crossed the night sky.
The Floating Coffin of Charles Coghlan, Coghlan died November 27, 1899; his coffin was placed in a vault of Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston Texas. During the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, his coffin was washed out to sea. A 1929 Ripley's Believe It or Not Cartoon claimed that the coffin was washed ashore on Prince Edward Island, Canada. In fact, Coghlan's coffin/remains was eventually found in January 1907[42] by a group of hunters who discovered it partially submerged in a marsh some nine miles from Galveston along the east coast of mainland Texas.[43][44] The 1907 news reports of the recovery of his coffin/remains do not tell of the disposition of his remains; he was certainly not reburied on Prince Edward Island.[45]
The Fouke Monster (also known as the Boggy Creek Monster and the Swamp Stalker) is a folklore legend that describes an ape-like creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, that was allegedly sighted in the rural town of Fouke, Arkansas during the early 1970s.
The Frozen Hill people (or the deep frozen old folks) was a folklore legend that describes an extremely poor family of hill farmers isolated in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont since 21 December 1887.[46]
The Fresno Nightcrawlers are cryptids first spotted in Fresno, California on CCTV footage. They appear to be white long-legged creatures, compared to "walking pairs of pants".[47][48]
G
The gateway to Hell is an urban legend and located in the Stull Cemetery, Kansas, the stairs in an old demolished church open to the other side on Halloween and the spring equinox.[49]
The ghost boy of Clinton Road is an urban legend that describes a dead young boy who hangs out under a bridge and returns coins to you after you throw them in the water.
Goatman is a folklore legend that describes a creature resembling a goat-human hybrid often credited with canine deaths and purported to take refuge in the woods of Beltsville, Maryland.
Golem is a folklore legend that describes a large humanoid creature made from rock or clay who is clumsy or slow and in modern Hebrew the word Golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid".
The Green children of Woolpit were two children of unusual skin colour who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, some time in the 12th century, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen.
The Green Clawed Beast is a green clawed humanoid beast lurking in the Ohio River to attack unsuspecting women in the city of Evansville, Indiana since August 14, 1955.[50]
H
Hanako-san is a Japanese urban legend of the spirit of a young girl who haunts school bathrooms, and can be described as a yōkai or a yūrei.[51] To summon her, individuals must enter a girls' bathroom (usually on the third floor of a school), knock three times on the third stall, and ask if Hanako-san is present.[51]
The Hands Resist Him is a painting that was created by artist Bill Stoneham in 1972. It depicts a young boy and a female doll standing in front of a glass paneled door, against which many hands are pressed. There is a myth that the characters in the painting move during the night and sometimes leave the painting.[52][53]
The Hanging Man of Halloween was a 42-year-old woman who hanged herself in a tree along a busy road in Frederica, Delaware.[54]
The Hanging Munchkin is a small shadowed figure seen during the film The Wizard of Oz, purportedly an actor (portraying a Munchkin) caught in the act of committing suicide. Snopes.com finds no evidence of any such death, and instead identifies the figure as one of several large birds allowed to roam the set.[55]
Haunchyville is an urban legend that describes a mythical village of dwarves in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is rumored to be located near Mystic Drive in Muskego.
The Hat Man is an urban legend based around a humanoid shadow person who appears after someone takes too much medicine, particularly Benadryl. He is described as a tall, dark, silhouette, with the outline of a trench coat and a fedora. The legend was popularized on TikTok.[56]
Headless Rider is a Japanese urban legend about a motorcycle rider whose head was cut off by piano wire when he crashed into it at high speed.
The Haunted Pillar (or the Cursed Pillar) was a landmark left standing near the remains of a farmer's market that once stood at 5th and Broad Streets in downtown Augusta, Georgia.
The Highgate Vampire was a media sensation surrounding reported sightings of a vampire and other supernatural phenomena at Highgate Cemetery in London during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Hippo Eats Dwarf is an internet-spread urban legend about a circus performer being accidentally swallowed by a hippopotamus.[57]
HMS Friday is an urban myth concerning a disastrous attempt by the Royal Navy to dispel the superstition against sailing on a Friday.
The hodag (or the Rhinelander hodag) was a fearsome critter resembling a large bull-horned carnivore with a row of thick curved spines down its back. The hodag was said to be born from the ashes of cremated oxen, as the incarnation of the accumulation of abuse the animals had suffered at the hands of their masters in the city of Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
The disappearance of Harold Holt. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in the sea in 1967. While it is generally agreed that Holt drowned, a number of conspiracy theories surfaced, most famously the suggestion that he was a spy and had been collected by a Chinese submarine.
Homey the Clown was an urban legend (specifically Chicago) surrounding a killer clown, predating the "Creepy Clown Craze" by several years, originating in Chicago, Illinois in 1991.[58]
The Hook, also called Hookman, is a highly famous urban legend revolving around a deranged murderer with a hook prosthesis in place of a hand escaping from a mental asylum and terrorizing a teenage couple while parked at a lover's lane.[59] Originating in the post-war United States during the 1950s and 60s, it has been theorized by some folklorists and writers that may have been based (although loosely) on actual events,[60] such as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders in 1946.
The hundredth monkey effect is a hypothetical phenomenon in which a new behavior or idea is spread rapidly by unexplained means from one group to all related groups once a critical number of members of one group exhibit the new behavior or acknowledge the new idea.
I
The Ilkley Moor UFO incident was a supposed extraterrestrial sighting by a retired police officer in the moorland of West Yorkshire, England since December 1, 1987.
"In the Air Tonight" is a song by Phil Collins that is allegedly about a drowning incident in which someone who was close enough to save the victim did not help them, while Collins, who was too far away to help, looked on. Increasingly embellished variations on the legend emerged over time, with the stories often culminating in Collins singling out the guilty party while singing the song at a concert.[61]
J
JATO Rocket Car started as a Darwin Award winner where a driver strapped a pair of Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) units to the rear of his car and ended up smashing into the side of a hill in Arizona. No police agency in Arizona took a report of this type of accident. The Arizona Department of Public Safety even issued a press release on their website debunking the report. This myth was also tested on the Discovery Channel show MythBusters multiple times.
The Jersey Devil (also known as the Leeds Devil) is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. The common description is that of a bipedal kangaroo-like or wyvern-like creature with a horse- or goat-like head, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, legs with cloven hooves, and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly and is often described as emitting a high-pitched "blood-curdling scream".
Robert Johnson was a Mississippi blues singer and songwriter who, according to legend, sold his soul to Satan "at the crossroads" in exchange for his remarkable talent on the guitar.
K
The Killer in the Backseat (also known as High Beams) is a common car-crime urban legend well known mostly in the United States and the United Kingdom. The legend involves a woman who is driving and being followed by a strange car or truck. The mysterious pursuer flashes his high beams, tailgates her, and sometimes even rams her vehicle. When she finally makes it home, she realizes that the driver was trying to warn her that there was a man (a murderer, rapist, or escaped mental patient) hiding in her back seat. Each time the man sat up to attack her, the driver behind had used his high beams to scare the killer, after which he ducked down.[62]
The Licked Hand (also known as Doggy Lick or Humans Can Lick Too) is an urban legend popular among teenagers. The story describes a killer who secretly spends the night under a girl's bed, licking her hand when offered, which she takes to be her dog.
Lighthouse and naval vessel, describes a humorous encounter between a large naval ship and what at first appears to be another vessel, with which the ship is on a collision course, which is later revealed to be a lighthouse.
La Llorona is a folklore legend that describes a vengeful ghost who roams waterfront areas mourning her children whom she drowned before drowning herself in regret.
Love Rollercoaster Scream is an urban legend that during an instrumental portion of the song, the scream is a sound effect borrowed from an emergency call.
The Loveland frog (also known as the Loveland frogman or Loveland Lizard) is a folklore legend that describes a legendary humanoid frog described as standing roughly 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, allegedly spotted in Loveland, Ohio.
M
The MacKenzie poltergeist is the supposed restless spirit of George Mackenzie, an infamous figure in Scottish history who engaged in merciless oppression of religious minorities, to the extent a portion of the graveyard of Greyfriars Kirkyard he haunts is dedicated (somewhat ironically) to his countless victims.[64]
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon (also known as the Anesthetic Prowler, the Phantom Anesthetist, or simply the Mad Gasser) was the name given to the person or people believed to be responsible for a series of apparent gas attacks that occurred in Mattoon, Illinois, during the mid-1940s.
Madam Koi Koi (Lady Koi Koi, Miss Koi Koi, also known in Ghana as Madam High Heel or Madam Moke, Tanzania as Miss Konkoko, South Africa as Pinky Pinky) is an African urban legend that describes a ghost who haunts dormitories, hallways and toilets in boarding schools at night, while in day schools she haunts toilets and students who come to school too early or leave school late. She is often depicted wearing a pair of red heels or wearing a single heel.
La Mala Hora (also known as la Malora or la Malogra) is a folklore legend from New Mexico that describes an evil spirit that haunts the crossroads at night, hunting those who travel the roads alone.[66]
The manananggal is a folklore legend that describes an old mythical creature in the Philippines that separates from their lower part of body and their fangs and wings give it a vampire-like appearance.
Melody is dead is an urban legend claiming that Spanish singer Melody (not Melodía, which is the singer's real name) died in an airplane accident.[67]
Melon heads are beings generally described as small humanoids with bulbous heads who occasionally emerge from hiding places to attack people.[68][69][70]
Men in black is an urban legend and conspiracy theory claiming that there are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses or victims of alleged alien abductions to keep them quiet about what they have seen.[71]
Mercritis is an urban legend that was an infectious disease that, among other things, transformed women into homicidal maniacs.[72]
The Miniwashitu (also known as the Water Monster of the Missouri River) is an aquatic bison-like creature found swimming in the Missouri River in central North Dakota.[73]
Momo the Monster (also known as the Missouri Monster) is a folklore legend that describes a purported ape-like creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, that was allegedly sighted by numerous people in rural Louisiana, Missouri in 1972.
The Monkey-man of Delhi was a mysterious creature or criminal that was reported attacking locals near New Delhi in mid-2001. Most sources consider the monster an urban legend, and creation brought on from exaggerated media hysteria, often compared to the Spring-heeled Jack epidemic from 19th century London.
Edward Mordake (sometimes spelled Mordrake) is the apocryphal subject of an urban legend who was, according to the legend, born in the 19th century as the heir to an English peerage with a face at the back of his head.
The Mothman is a folklore legend that describes a humanoid creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967.
The Mowing-Devil of Hertfordshire is the title of an English woodcut pamphlet published in 1678. The pamphlet tells of a farmer in Hertfordshire who, refusing to pay the price demanded by a labourer to mow his field, swore he would rather the Devil mowed it instead.
The mutated Fukushima giant hornets (or the radioactive hornets) is a recent urban legend that describes how giant mutant killer hornets created by exposure to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster have killed several people in Nebraska.[74]
The Nain Rouge is a legendary creature of the Detroit, Michigan area whose appearance is said to presage misfortune.
The Nale Ba are malevolent spirits or witches said to take away children, primarily in Karnataka, India. By writing "naale baa" (which means "come tomorrow") on doors or walls prevents the spirit from entering the houses.
The nightmarchers (or the night marchers) are the deadly ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors. The nightmarchers are the vanguard for a sacred King, Chief or Chiefess.
The Niles Canyon ghost is an urban legend within the vanishing hitchhiker archetype, about the ghost of a girl who had died in a car accident.
O
The Owlman (sometimes referred to as the Cornish Owlman or the Owlman of Mawnan) is a folklore legend that describes an owl-like creature said to have been seen in 1976 in the village of Mawnan, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Ong's Hat is a folklore legend that describes a group of mystics and Princeton scientists the developed interdimensional travel technology in the abandoned town of Ong's Hat, in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
The Parson and Clerk is a tale focusing on a clergyman and the devil set near a natural arch located near the towns of Teignmouth and Dawlish, Devon, England. Along the coast towards Dawlish where the railway runs through the Parson's tunnel can be seen the twin stacks of the Parson and Clerk.
Julia Petta (also known as the Italian Bride) was a woman who died in childbirth. Her mother dreamed she was still alive and had her body exhumed six years after her death. When the casket was opened, her body, with the exception of the arm holding her stillborn child and the child itself, was still intact.
The phantom clowns were first sighted in 1981 by described as being dressed as clowns, with white faces, red noses, and colorful clothing in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts.[75]
The phantom hitchhiker of Black Horse Lake is an urban legend that describes a Native American man with long black hair wearing an outdated, baggy jacket and jeans collides with cars, suddenly appearing on their windshield, only for him to vanish without a dent.[76]
Phantom P-40 Airplane/pilot in its original form the pilot is a survivor of the 1941 Battle in the Philippines who wages a one-man war against the Japanese until his heavily damaged aircraft crashes in China;[77] a modern variation is that he crashes after flying from the Philippines to Pearl Harbor.[78]
Phi Yai Wan is an urban legend about the ghost of a pregnant woman similar to renowned Mae Nak Phra Khanong, but her story takes place in Taling Chan in the 1970s.[79]
Pigman Road is an urban legend of a butcher from Angola, New York who would place the heads of pigs on stakes in front of his home on Holland Road to ward off trespassers. Allegedly, he killed a man and hung his body on a meat hook in his shop.
Polybius is a fictitious arcade game; there is no physical evidence for the game's existence, and it has served as inspiration for several free and commercial games by the same name.[80]
El Pombéro (also known as Pomberito) is a folklore legend that describes a mythical humanoid creature of small stature in Guaraní mythology.
The Ratman of Southend is an English urban legend originating in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The story of the Ratman tells of an old homeless man, seeking shelter from the cold in an underpass, was set upon by a group of youths and beaten to near-death, cold and blood loss doing the rest. As he died, the numerous vermin who inhabit the area gathered, and were found to have devoured his face. After this, a ghostly figure was spotted in the underpass, with people hearing rat-like squealing, and scraping, as if large claws were moving across the walls.
The Red Room Curse (赤い部屋) is a Japanese early Internet urban legend about a supposed red pop-up ad which announces a forthcoming death of the person seeing it.
Riverdale Road, a winding 11-mile path between Thornton, Colorado and Brighton, is associated with several supposed hauntings and paranormal phenomena.[81]
Raymond Robinson (also known as the Green Man and Charlie No-Face) was a severely disfigured man whose years of nighttime walks made him into a figure of urban legend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Roswell incident is an urban legend that describes a UFO encounter and its extraterrestrial crew crash-landed in the New Mexico desert near Roswell on July 2, 1947.
The rougarou (alternatively spelled as roux-ga-roux, rugaroo, or rugaru) is a folklore legend that describes a legendary creature in French communities linked to traditional concepts of the werewolf in Acadiana, Louisiana.
La Sayona is a legend from Venezuela, represented by the vengeful spirit of a woman that shows up only to men that have love affairs out of their marriages.
Serbian dancing lady is a modern urban legend located in the Zvezdara, Serbia. She is a woman who dances in an empty road and if she sees you looking at her she will chase you with a knife.
The Seven Gates of Hell is a modern urban legend regarding locations in York County, Pennsylvania. Two versions of the legend exist, one involving a burnt insane asylum and the other an eccentric doctor. Both agree that there are seven gates in a wooded area of Hellam Township, Pennsylvania, and that anyone who passes through all seven goes straight to Hell.
Sewer alligators is an urban legend based upon reports of alligator sightings in rather unorthodox locations, in particular New York City.
The Shaman's Portal is an urban legend and located in Beaver Dunes Park, Oklahoma due to the strange disappearances that have occurred over the years.[82][83][84]
Shotgun Man is an urban legend of organized crime: as an assassin and spree killer in Chicago, Illinois in the 1910s, to whom murders by Black Hand extortionists were attributed.[85] Most notably, Shotgun Man killed 15 Italian immigrants from January 1, 1910 to March 26, 1911, at "Death Corner," the intersection of Oak Street and Milton Avenue (now Cleveland Avenue) in what was then Chicago's Little Sicily.[86] In March 1911, he reportedly murdered four people within 72 hours.[87] However a check of the Northwestern University website on "Homicide in Chicago" shows shotgun killings in Chicago – but none in Jan–March 1911 – and only one killing at Oak and Milton Streets between 1900 and 1920 (reference only).
Showmen's Rest is a mass grave where phantom elephants buried in Woodlawn Cemetery are said to trumpet late at night.
El Silbón (also known as the Whistler) is a folklore legend that describes a spirit found in Venezuelan legends, He was a former farmer who become a damned soul after he killed his father.
Siren Head is an urban legend and creepypasta created by Canada-based artist Trevor Henderson.[88] It depicts a creature 40 ft tall, with withered, mummified skin, and instead of a head, a pole with two sirens. It was reported to lurk in forests, luring hikers to their deaths with garbled voices or sounds.
Skeleton in a tree is an urban legend alleging that years after the defeat of St. Clair in 1791 at Fort Recovery, Mercer County, Ohio, the skeleton of a Captain Roger Vanderberg was found in Miami County, Ohio inside a tree, along with a diary. However, no one of this name was a casualty of the 1791 battle; the story originated in 1864 from a Scottish novel.[89]
The Skin-walkers (or the Skinwalkers) is a Native American legend from the Navajo culture that describes medicine men who have become evil and are able to shapeshift into animals and other people. One of the original places where they were sighted was Skinwalker Ranch, in Ballard, Utah.
Skinned Tom is an urban legend from Walland, Tennessee about a young man named Tom and a bogeyman-type figure who came to a grisly end.[90]
The skunk ape (also known as the swamp ape and Florida Bigfoot) is a folklore legend that describes an ape-like creature that is purported to inhabit the forests and swamps of some southeastern United States, most notably in Florida where sightings have been reported from as far north as the Georgian border, south to the Florida Keys.
Slaughterhouse Canyon (or Luana's Canyon) is a valley in Arizona and has an elevation of 3,428 feet; the myth takes place during the Gold Rush.[91]
Slender Man (also known as Slender man or Slenderman) is a fictional character that originated as an Internet meme created by Something Awful forums user Victor Surge in 2009. It is depicted as resembling a thin, unnaturally tall man with a blank and usually featureless face and wearing a black suit. The Slender Man is commonly said to stalk, abduct, or traumatize people, particularly children. The Slender Man is not tied to any particular story, but appears in many disparate works of fiction, mostly composed online.[92]
The Smith sisters is an urban legend about two young girls who were murdered anonymously while they slept in their bedroom.[93]
The Snarly Yow is a folklore legend that describes a mysterious giant black dog, who has been sighted at various spots on West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.[94]
Snuff films (footage of actual murders and other depraved acts of cruelty being created for profit and/or personal entertainment) have been rumored for decades within the American film industry, with one of the first known films to be accused of the practice being the 1976 exploitation horror film Snuff.
El Sombrerón (also known as the Goblin and sometimes Tzipitio and Tzizimite) is a folklore legend that describes a legendary character and one of the most infamous legends of Central America.
The Spider Bite (or The Red Spot) is a modern urban legend that emerged in Europe during the 1970s. It features a young woman who is bitten on the cheek by a spider. The bite swells into a large boil and soon bursts open to reveal hundreds of tiny spiders escaping from her cheek.[95]
The Spiteful Mermaid of Pyramid Lake is a man from the Paiute tribe claimed that he fell in love with a mermaid in the lake who cursed the lake in her vengeance.[96]
Spook Hill is an urban legend that describes a gravity hill, an optical illusion in Lake Wales, Florida, where cars appear to roll up the spooky hill.
The Spooklight is a legend that is a ghost light reported to appear in a small area known locally as the "Devil's Promenade" in Missouri and Oklahoma.
Spring-heeled Jack is a British urban legend from the Victorian era involving the alleged sightings of a humanoid creature capable of leaping at great lengths and for reportedly assaulting several women in the streets of London. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban London, the Midlands and Scotland.
Stingy Jack is a legend from Irish folklore describing a mythical character who cheated the Devil and was cursed to roam the Earth for all eternity with a small ember burning inside a carved turnip as his only source of light. He is sometimes associated with the holiday Halloween while also acting as the mascot of the holiday, with his story possibly serving as the basis for the modern Jack-o'-Lantern.
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Teke Teke (テケテケ) is the ghost of a young woman or schoolgirl who was tied to the railway line by bullies, which resulted in her body being cut in half by a train. She is an onryō, or a vengeful spirit, who lurks around urban areas and train stations at night. Since she no longer has lower extremities, she travels on either her hands or elbows, dragging her upper torso and making a scratching or "teke teke"-like sound. If she encounters a potential victim, she will chase them and slice them in half at the torso with a scythe or other weapon.[97]
Teufelstritt (also known as the black kick, the devil's kick or the Devil's Footstep) is an imprint on the floor of the entrance hall of the Frauenkirche.
Tha Tian, where legend has it that two temple guardian giants clashed. The Giant of Wat Pho borrowed money from the Giant of Wat Jaeng (Temple of Dawn) and refused to pay it back. They fought fiercely in the midstream of the Chao Phraya River near Phra Nakhon. As a result of the battle, the around area was completely flattened, hence the name "Tha Tian", which means "flat pier".[98]
El Trauco is a folklore legend that describes a repulsive dwarf-like creature with hypnotic powers that is known to prey on and impregnate unmarried women.
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The Ultimate Warrior was an American professional wrestler whose death was the subject of numerous urban legends. Stories existed that he either tied his arm tassels too tightly and cut off the circulation to his body, overdosed on steroids or was killed in the ring while wrestling. Warrior eventually died in 2014 from a heart attack.[99]
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The Vanishing hitchhiker (or variations such as the ghostly hitchhiker, the disappearing hitchhiker, the phantom hitchhiker or simply the hitchhiker) story is an urban legend in which people traveling by vehicle meet with, or are accompanied by, a hitchhiker who subsequently vanishes without explanation, often from a moving vehicle. Vanishing hitchhikers have been reported for centuries and the story is found across the world with many variants. The popularity and endurance of the legend has helped it spread into popular culture.[97]
The Vanishing Hotel Room a.k.a. Vanishing Lady: During an international exposition in Paris, a daughter leaves her mother in a hotel room; when she comes back her mother is gone and the hotel staff claims to have no knowledge of the missing woman. It is later revealed that the mother was dying of plague and, fearing for the negative impact on the hotel's public image, the staff just disposed of the mother, redecorated the room and pretended as if nothing had happened. This served as inspiration for the movie So Long at the Fair, and was based on a turn-of-the-century Philadelphia newspaper story.[100]
W
Walking Sam (or Tall Man) is an urban legend that describes a 7-foot-tall specter whose job it is to collect the souls of suicide victims and stalks lonely, depressed adolescents.[101]
Walt Disney's Cryo Chamber is an urban legend claiming that after his death in December 1966, Walt's body (or in some versions just his head) was placed in a cryostasis chamber located somewhere beneath Disney World or Epcot.[102][103]
The Water Babies of Massacre Rocks (originates from Idaho) are a Native American legend that are found in a couple of different places in America, but most famously in Pocatello at the Massacre Rocks State Park.[104] They are said to be mischievous or malevolent baby- or dwarf-like creatures, with some tales placing their origins as drowned Native American babies during a famine.
The Well to Hell legend holds that a team of Russian engineers, purportedly led by an individual named "Mr. Azakov" in an unnamed place in Siberia, had drilled a hole that was 14.4 kilometres (8.9 mi) deep before breaking through to a cavity. Intrigued by this unexpected discovery, they lowered an extremely heat-tolerant microphone, along with other sensory equipment, into the well. The temperature deep within was 1,000 °C (1,832 °F) – heat from a chamber of fire from which (purportedly) the tormented screams of the damned could be heard.[105][106][107]
The Duke of Wellington at Pau, France first appeared in a 1907 publication coinciding with the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Pau Hunt, and quickly developed into a tale about the origins of Fox hunting in Béarn. After the Peninsular War, Wellington spent just one night at Pau, May 18, 1814, stopping on the route from Toulouse to Madrid. The tale of a more lengthy and marked presence developed 90 years later as a prank that regular winter colonists played on newcomers. The tale found its way into touristic marketing publications, memoires and academic publications during challenging times, and then, despite contradictory historical evidence, it has developed into Bearnesefolklore. Worldwide, is difficult to find any 21st century historical passage about the 19th century "English" colony at Pau that does not cite some form of this legend as fact.
The wendigo is a Native American folklore legend that describes a mythological creature or evil spirit which originates from the Algonquin culture based in and around the East Coast forests of Canada, the Great Plains region of the United States, and the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, grouped in modern ethnology as speakers of Algonquian-family languages.[108]
White Things (or sometimes White Devils or Devil Dogs) is a fictional "bear ape" or "sheepsquatch" of the Kanawha River region of West Virginia.[109]
The Women in Black of Wat Samian Nari is the story of the ghosts of the beautiful Thipsuksri sisters, Chulee and Sulee, in black dresses. The sisters are believed to have been crushed by a train until their bodies were torn in two in front of Wat Samian Nari temple, Chatuchak, Bangkok in the 1990s. Their spirits haunt people at night, especially taxi drivers. Most often it is said that a taxi picks up two sisters in black from the entertainment district, Ratchadapisek Road, or RCA past midnight. The sisters ask the driver to bring them to the Wat Samian Nari temple. Thinking they would go home after hanging out there, the driver notices that they sit quietly, not speaking to each other or even reciprocating with him. As the taxi approaches the destination, they mysteriously vanished from the back seat. The cab driver steps out of the car in a daze, suddenly seeing the two sisters lying on rail tracks in front of the temple, cut in half, and dragging their bloodied torsos in pain.[110]
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The Zombie Road (now called the Rock Hollow Trail) is an urban legend and abandoned gravel road located in the Al Foster Memorial Trailhead, Missouri.[111]
^Nicolaisen, W.F.H. (1997). "The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand". Folklore. 108. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.: 134–135. JSTOR1260739.
^Bronner, Simon J. (1988). American Children's Folklore. Little Rock: August House Publishers. p. 149. ISBN978-0874830682. ... Suddenly, I realized what was happening and did the first thing I could think of. I flashed my brights to warn her. I saw the figure quickly disappear. I followed the car home and flashed my brights each time I saw the figure. After she ran in the house, I told her to call the police...
