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Nov 17, 2022 · Learn about the scary stories that have been told and retold for decades, from haunted houses to serial killers. Discover how urban legends have influenced movies, TV shows, games, and fiction tropes.
An urban legend, myth, or tale is a modern genre of folklore. It often consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre , superstitions , ghosts , demons , cryptids , extraterrestrials , creepypasta , and other fear generating narrative elements.
- Rats in The Toilet Bowl
- Cropsey
- The Leaping Lawyer
- The Body Under The Bed
- The Maine Hermit
- Candyman
- The Fake Cop Trick
- The Legend of The Bunny Man
- The Legend of polybius
- Charlie No-Face
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You stagger into the bathroom at 3 a.m. to relieve yourself. Groggy with sleep, you lift the lid and position yourself over the toilet. You hear splashing. Turning on the light, you see a rat looking back at you from the bowl. You’re never the same again. Urban legends about animals in sewers have been a staple of scary stories, particularly the on...
For years, kids living in and around Staten Island raised goosebumps by relatingthe tale of “Cropsey,” a boogeyman who lived in the woods and made a nocturnal habit of disemboweling children. Parents no doubt eased their kids’ fears by telling them no such monster existed. But he did. In 1987, Andre Rand was put on trialand convicted for a child ab...
Sooner or later, Toronto residents hear the tale of a lawyer who had a peculiar fondness for running full-bore into his office windows to demonstrate how strong they were. This practice caught up with him eventually, as he crashed into a window and went sailing to his death. This hobby was actually practiced by Garry Hoy, a senior partner in an are...
Vacationing couples. Newlyweds. Disneyland guests. All have been the subject of an urban legend involving hotel occupants who fall blissfully to sleep, only to wake up to an awful stench coming from either under the bed or inside the mattress. Closer inspection reveals that a dead body has been stashed away. Presumably, not anyone who has died of n...
For decades, people who vacationed in central Maine’s North Pond area were puzzled by items that would go missing. Batteries and food from cabins, flashlights from camping tents. Rumors spread that a permanent fixture of the area would forage for sustenance and supplies. They were right. For 27 years, Christopher Knight lived alonein the woods, kee...
Released in 1992 (and reimagined in 2021), Candyman—based on a short story by Clive Barker—remains a potent horror tale of the revenge undertaken by a Black artist (Tony Todd) murdered in the 1890s for having a relationship with a white woman. While it’s not likely you’ll be able to invoke him by saying his name several times in a mirror, the pants...
You may have had an overly concerned parent or friend warn you of people impersonating police officers, using that veneer of authority to attack victims who have let their guard down. While there aren’t many who are in full patrol uniform or traveling in marked vehicles, there have been many documented cases of assailants posing as law enforcement....
If you lived in or around Virginia in the 1970s, you were probably exposed to the story of the Bunny Man. In the tale, an escaped mental patient takes to gutting bunnies and hanging them from a bridge underpass. Later, the man is said to have graduated to gutting and hanging teens in a similar manner. Locals were cautioned to never be caught near t...
Vintage video gamers have long traded stories about a coin-operated arcade game circa early 1980s Portland that had strange effects on its players. The game, titled Polybius, was allegedto have prompted feelings of disorientation, amnesia, game addiction, and even suicide. The machine’s cabinet was said to be painted entirely black, and it was rumo...
Imagine finding yourself outside and alone in the dark on a residential street. You hear footsteps approaching. Suddenly, a man with a misshapen face appears. You run, terrified beyond words. You spread the story of the man with no face throughout Pennsylvania. “Charlie No-Face” (also called the Green Man) was actually a man named Ray Robinson, and...
Do you believe in rats in the toilet bowl, Cropsey, or the Maine Hermit? These and other terrifying tales are based on real events that happened to people. Learn the facts behind these urban legends and how they became popular.
- Candyman. In 2021, director Nia DaCosta’s new vision of Candyman—the popular 1992 horror hit about a vengeful spirit who is summoned to reality by saying his name five times—arrived in theaters.
- The Killer Calling From Inside the House. For decades, stories have circulated about a babysitter home alone who receives harassing phone calls. When the call is finally traced by police, the babysitter is horrified to discover it’s coming from inside the house.
- The Goatman. The Goatman was a purported half-man, half-goat fond of devouring dogs and attacking people in Prince George’s County in Maryland. While the Goatman had been whispered about for years, he got an explosion of publicity in 1971 after a reporter named Karen Hosler delivered a one-two punch lending credibility to his existence.
- The Mothman. No urban legend rundown is complete without mention of the Mothman, a strange creature who purportedly terrorized West Virginia in the 1960s.
Urban legends (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
Mar 6, 2021 · Do you believe in urban legends? Learn about 10 real-life stories that sound like myths, from a man who flew on a lawn chair to a giant squid that terrorized sailors. Discover the facts and folklore behind these intriguing myths.
Feb 26, 2018 · Learn the truth behind common myths and stories that spread through word-of-mouth, such as Mr. Rogers' ex-killer rumors, Hoover Dam bodies, and Friday the 13th superstition. Stacker explores the origins, sources, and debunkings of 25 urban legends that fascinate and intrigue.
