Our understanding of the past is in a constant state of flux—it is forever changing based on new clues and new ideas. Since a lot of historical writings aren’t especially reliable, we often end up dismissing ancient claims as mere stories. Occasionally, though, the opposite happens. Something that we presumed to be just a myth turns out to be true. Here are ten such cases of myths and legends that may well be grounded in fact.

10Sverris Saga

Between 1184 and 1202, Sverre Sigurdsson reigned as King of Norway. Despite being one of the nation’s most significant rulers from that time, most of our information about him comes from a single source: the Sverris Saga. This chronicle was written by abbot Karl Jonsson who was a contemporary of King Sverre and attended his court. While his account of Sverre’s reign seemed plausible, there was little evidence to corroborate it apart from minor references in some letters between Norwegian bishops and the Pope.

That changed recently when at least one portion of the saga was confirmed in remarkable detail. In 1196, Sverre engaged in civil war with a faction known as the Baglers who wanted to overthrow him. The following year, the Baglers sacked his Castle Sverresborg in Trondheim. They destroyed the walls, burned every building, seized all the valuables and, lastly, threw a man down the well and filled it with stones to ruin the water supply. Incredibly, archaeologists now believe they have found that man.

The site of the castle has been known for a while, but only recently have archaeologists discovered the location of the well. After some excavating, they found a skeleton. Recent carbon dating tests have shown that the skeleton is roughly 800 years old. This puts the Sverris Saga not only in the realm of the “firmly believable”, but also makes it unique, given how rare it is for centuries-old stories to be backed up by physical evidence.

9Bow & Arrow Wars

Quinhagak is a small town in Alaska with a population of less than 1,000. It became quite notable a few years ago when it proved to be an invaluable treasure trove of Yup’ik artifacts. The Yup’ik are a group of Eskimo people related to the Inuit who first settled in Alaska around 3,000 years ago. They inhabited the area around Quinhagak starting with the 14th century and recent archaeological discoveries show that they lived there continuously for at least three centuries.

The archaeological site called Nunalleq is actually located outside the town of Quinhagak and has already proven to be the biggest collection of pre-contact Yup’ik artifacts in the world, excellently preserved in permafrost. Thousands of items have been recovered but it seems that the bulk of the collection might already have been lost. Archaeologists are racing against the clock as the site is located along the coastline which is steadily eroding, washing away more artifacts with each passing day.

So far, the empirical evidence confirmed many tales of Yup’ik culture that have been passed down through oral tradition. Most notably, the evidence shows that the dig was once the site of a massacre in the mid 17th century described during a period of bloody inter-village battles known as the Bow & Arrow Wars. According to the legend, attackers burned the village and everyone in it, including the dogs. Anyone who survived the fire was shot with arrows and dismembered. Archaeologists found human and dog remains from that time with burn marks, as well as dismembered skeletons.

8Monster Waves

For hundreds of years, sailors shared stories of giant waves appearing out of nowhere, taking ships and their entire crews to their watery graves. Given how many legends are born out of a life at sea, this was also dismissed as another salty story. It actually wasn’t until 1995 that we had concrete evidence for the existence of these monster waves.

Today there can be no doubt. These giant waves, referred to as rogue waves, are real. Besides their massive size, rogue waves are characterized as unpredictable and spontaneous. While they are not the biggest waves in the world, they are unusually large for a given sea state and appear as a result of a combination of factors such as strong currents and high winds.

Rogue waves were confirmed on New Year’s Eve, 1995. A giant 25.6 m (84 ft) monster wave hit the Draupner platform in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. The Draupner wave became the first of its kind to be recorded by instruments, providing scientific backing to the anecdotal evidence collected over centuries.

Confirmation of the existence of rogue waves forced oceanographers to reconsider our understanding of the sea. Prior to this, they used a linear mathematical model to predict wave height. This resulted in a Gaussian curve that anticipated monster waves with extreme rarity such as once every 10,000 years. Now we know that is not the case and that rogue waves could have been behind many mysterious maritime disappearances that we must now re-evaluate.

7La Ciudad Blanca

La Ciudad Blanca (the White City) is a legendary city said to be hidden away somewhere in the Mosquitia region of Honduras. Similar to El Dorado, La Ciudad Blanca, also known as the City of the Monkey God, was said to hold untold riches and word of it first reached Europeans through the Spanish conquistadors.

Interest in La Ciudad Blanca was rekindled at the start of the 20th century when several people attested to its existence. Most notably, adventurer Theodore Morde claimed to have found the lost city in 1940. He never told anyone else of its alleged location and, just to add fuel to the conspiracy fire, he died of an alleged suicide under suspicious circumstances.

Decades later, archaeologists have found a pristine site that was once home to an as-yet-unidentified civilization. This site was first found in 2012 using state-of-the-art LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology and investigations of the dig started last year. Already dozens of artifacts have been excavated which have been dated between A.D. 1,000 and 1,400.

Other archaeologists have criticized the coverage of the discovery as being sensationalist. However, the team in charge has defended its findings, specifying that it never claimed the site to be La Ciudad Blanca or the lost city allegedly found by Morde. Indeed, it is looking more likely that there never was one single mystical city in the heart of the Honduran jungle, but many such sites throughout Mosquitia that point to something far more captivating—a lost pre-Columbian civilization.

6Pirate Booty

Legends of sunken pirate riches have excited treasure hunters for centuries and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future. In the modern age, the most significant discovery happened in 1984 when we found the shipwreck of the “Whydah Gally” once captained by “Black Sam” Bellamy. Not only did we find concrete evidence of its identity, but also genuine pirate treasure consisting of over 100,000 pieces of gold.

In 1996 a private firm found the wreck of the infamous “Queen Anne’s Revenge” (QAR). Once helmed by the notorious Blackbeard, The Revenge was one of the most heavily-armed ships to prowl the seven seas. Salvaging it from the watery depths is a slow and ongoing process. Unlike the “Whydah Gally”, QAR didn’t have any treasure aboard and historians believe Blackbeard might have even sunk it on purpose.

In 2012, a wreck though to be the “Port-au-Prince” was found in Tongan waters. According to legend, King Ulukalala and his men massacred the crew and scuttled the vessel and most of its treasure after salvaging the iron. If this turns out to be true, it will confirm an important chapter of Tongan history.

The Holy Grail of piracy remains the treasure of Captain Kidd and last year people thought they might finally have found it. A wreck believed to be Kidd’s Adventure Galley was found along with a 50-kg (110 lbs) silver ingot. Unfortunately, it later turned out that the ingot was 95% lead lost during port construction.

5Ancient Water Cleaning Trick

You would think that modern technology and medicine would render any practices used thousands of years ago obsolete. Actually, ancient Egyptians might have used a trick to clean their water which would definitely come in handy today.

It involves using the seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree. Archaeological evidence suggests that Egyptian women used to rub the seeds against the insides of their clay water pots and this was supposed to keep their water clean and fresh. Fast forward a few thousand years and researchers at Penn State University proved that the ancient Egyptians were on the right track.

We’ve known about the purifying potential of moringa seeds for a while, but it wasn’t until last year that scientists figured out why. The seeds contain a positively-charged protein called Moringa Oleifera Cationic Protein (MOCP). It has the power to kill bacteria and to clump them together so they fall to the bottom of the container. Researchers even worked out that the seeds should be harvested when they’re mature during the rainy season for maximum potency.

The Egyptians didn’t figure it out completely and this method, if used at all, worked only temporary. As the organic matter from the seeds remains in the water, it can become a food source for surviving bacteria which means that the water doesn’t stay clean in storage. However, the same research team showed that a mixture of sand and seeds can be used as a filter to pass water through it, clean it and store it for later.

4Secret Underground Tunnels

There has long been talk of secret ancient tunnels hidden underneath the Mexican city of Puebla. Late last year, this popular urban legend became a reality—the tunnels were found by city officials while performing regular public works maintenance.

The discovery is still very recent and there are a lot of details still to be uncovered, but experts believe the tunnels to be approximately 500 years old, built around the time of the founding of the city in 1531. So far, four separate entrances have been found with tunnels stretching between some of Puebla’s oldest forts and churches. This points to the tunnels being used for defensive purposes against invading forces.

As one of the oldest Spanish colonial cities in South America, this isn’t the first discovery of its kind made in Puebla. Years ago, defensive trenches were found that dated back to the Franco-Mexican War of 1861.

Workers also found an old bridge that was completely buried after a flood hundreds of years ago. As for the tunnels, they were filled with mud and silt and work is still underway to excavate them. Once they are finished, city officials hope to turn the 500-year old tunnels into a tourist attraction. At the same time, they will continue their search for more passageways as they believe that dozens of other tunnels may still hide under the city of Puebla.

3Bloodthirsty Vikings

For centuries, Vikings have been considered bloodthirsty barbarians who pillaged towns all over the world. Legends spread of their cruelty which has earned them quite a fearsome reputation. However, in recent times there has been a movement to portray them in a gentler light.

Just as soon as this new idea arose, other scholars began to dismantle it by examining two new aspects of Viking life—slavery and human sacrifices.

New clues suggest that slavery played an important role in the Viking economy. One Arab geographer made mention of the Viking slave trade in A.D. 977. Other sources talk of Scandinavia being a hub for northern European slaves that extended into the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Some historians believe that slavery was one of the primary motivations for their raids. The maritime nature of Vikings created a demand for wool for sails which shifted them towards a more agrarian society. Certain ancient great halls are now thought to have been plantations powered by slave labor.

Tales of Viking human sacrifices have long been debated. Nordic sagas mention Odin demanding sacrifices, but this was regarded as legend. Except that archaeologists found a sacrificial site at Trelleborg where children and animals were killed and thrown down a well with jewelry and tools. And Viking tombs were found to contain decapitated skeletons that were not kin to the other remains. This makes it likely that slaves were sacrificed when their masters died and buried with their bodies.

2Secret Pyramid Chamber

There are probably no burial sites on the planet that have spawned more legends than a pharaoh’s tomb. And when it comes to pharaohs, none are more famous than Tutankhamun. Which is why this all sounds like the plot of a new B-movie starring Nicolas Cage, but archaeologists genuinely believe they have found a secret chamber hidden away in the young pharaoh’s tomb.

As if that wasn’t enough, they believe the chamber holds the answer to one of ancient Egypt’s biggest mysteries—the location of the burial site of Queen Nefertiti. She ruled over Egypt during one of its most prosperous periods and helped her husband Akhenaten institute a new monotheistic religion that replaced the old gods with the sun god Aten. Her death and burial have been the subject of many debates among experts.

This new hypothesis about Tut’s tomb has been put forward by English Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves. He claims that thin cracks in the decorative paintings showed that there were more rooms behind the walls. He has found support from Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities who believes with near certainty that the tomb hides secret chambers. However, Reeves’ idea that one chamber might hold the mummy of Nefertiti has been met with skepticism.

There is no way that Reeves or anyone else would have been allowed to drill holes in the tomb’s wall to prove this idea, so the next best thing was to use ground-penetrating radar. Those results have proven controversial and have also divided experts.

1Carthaginian Child Sacrifices

For centuries, stories of Carthaginians sacrificing their children have been dismissed as propaganda disseminated by the Greeks and Romans. However, at the start of last century archaeologists began excavating Carthaginian sites and found cemeteries known as tophets. The cemeteries contained cremated children’s bones placed into urns and buried under tombstones. Up until recently, scholars asserted that these were the remains of beloved infants that died during or soon after birth. To be fair, there are still scholars who believe this.

Even so, researchers who claim the cemeteries served a more sinister purpose have presented compelling evidence in recent years. They point to inscriptions on tombstones of people being blessed by the gods. While certain urns contained animal bones which were undoubtedly offered as sacrifices to the gods, these were presented in the exact same way as the urns with human remains.

Supporters of the hypothesis also point to a statistical anomaly. While hundreds of these remains have been found, they are nowhere near enough given the high infant mortality of that time if tophets were really just cemeteries for departed children. Carthage was one of the biggest cities of ancient history, but these burials averaged out at 25 per year. While child sacrifice was uncommon in the ancient world, it wasn’t the unthinkable taboo that some historians try to portray using our modern standards. Some even think that the first Carthaginians left their original home in Phoenicia to be able to practice this unseemly religious custom.

Radu is into science and weird history. Share the knowledge on Twitter or check out his website.

As soon as humans discovered leisure time, they discovered something else, namely boredom. Clearly in an effort to improve this situation, booze was invented and good times were had by all. Booze, of course, lowers inhibitions and thus usually makes people a lot more talkative and sociable. This combination has led to many fantastic tall tales about the cocktails we know and love.

10 Harvey Wallbanger

The Harvey Wallbanger has an extremely funny name, and that should be a feat in its own right considering the ridiculous names given to some drinks. This cocktail is in essence a screwdriver—a combination of vodka and orange juice—with Galliano, a yellow liqueur, added to the mix. The drink was probably invented in the 50s by a world-champion mixologist by the name of Donato Antone. However, according to the legends it has a much different origin. The stories say there was a dude named Harvey who liked to surf and he would drop into the bar for a couple of quick ones after work pretty much every day. Apparently the guy liked to add Galliano to his screwdriver and would sometimes stumble around the bar smashing into things, especially the wall. The legends say that the drink thereafter became known as a Harvey Wallbanger, quite literally because of Harvey’s drunken antics. It has become associated with the summer months, presumably because of the surfing connection.

9 Bloody Mary

The Bloody Mary is an extremely famous cocktail and needs little introduction. It is often the go-to hangover “cure”, and is generally consumed early in the morning for that purpose. The Bloody Mary has many variations, but they all include vodka, tomato juice, and a selection of spices for flavor. While most people attribute the creation of the drink to a restaurateur in the early 1900s, some people have come up with a much more fanciful explanation. Apparently some people attribute at least the name of the drink to Queen Mary, who was often known by her much more sanguinary nickname due to her brutal attempts to return Catholicism to England—some suggest that the tomato juice is supposed to represent blood. However, there isn’t any real evidence to support this theory.

8 Gin and Tonic

Some of the stranger legends actually turn out to be completely true, and this is one of them. You see, according to the stories, British soldiers fighting in the Indies were constantly dealing with a little problem called malaria, which at the time—or any time for that matter—was not really such a little problem. The British at the time had tonic water that contained a compound called quinine, which was extremely effective at fighting malaria. The only problem was that tonic water tasted pretty much as awful as anything can, so the British soldiers mixed their gin with it to make it palatable. After the war, many British men ordered it upon returning home and a famous cocktail was born. Unfortunately, while there is still enough quinine in today’s tonic water to make it glow blue in direct sunlight, there is not enough of the compound anymore to effectively fight malaria.

7 The Manhattan

The Manhattan, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, is basically a Martini for those who really like their whiskey over vodka. A Martini usually consists of vodka or gin, vermouth, and is served with an olive. A Manhattan consists of whiskey, vermouth, bitters, and is often served with a maraschino cherry as a garnish. Long before the Second World War, Winston Churchill’s mother lived in the United States and, according to the stories, was celebrating in New York. Supposedly she had quite the sweet tooth and the drink was invented to fit her palate. While the story fits with our love of Winston Churchill and his wacky antics, it unfortunately has no basis in truth. Historical evidence points to his mother being in England at that point, actually pregnant with the future wise-cracking guy we all came to know and love.

6 Irish Coffee

While much cocktail lore is shrouded in mystery, this particular story is probably true, or at least much closer to the truth than many legends. Many people assume that Irish Coffee gets its name because the Irish like to drink, so it seems likely that if anyone were to dump alcohol in their coffee, it would be those drug-addled boozers. However, the Irish in general are much bigger tea drinkers. Long ago in Ireland a flight was delayed and the bartender put whiskey in the coffee of the stranded American passengers, thinking it would warm them up.The passengers were delighted with his creation and wondered if it was Brazilian coffee, to which he retorted that it was Irish. In fact the drink was such a hit with the passengers that word of it was taken back to the United States, where it achieved great popularity. It should be noted, though, that in the original legend whipping cream and sugar are not mentioned, so the cocktail likely went through much more evolution before it reached its current form. Even today it is still evolving as people are more likely to use already whipped cream, as opposed to doing the job by hand to get the right consistency.

5 Mojito

The Mojito is a rum-based cocktail that has long been popular with sailors. The drink makes use of mint leaves by first using a muddler to release their flavor. These mint leaves are then mixed with lime juice, sugar, and soda water. As with many famous cocktails, its origin is shrouded in mystery, but its birthplace was definitely Cuba. One feature the various stories seem to have in common and that makes perfect sense is the Mojito’s ability to help to fight off scurvy, which would explain its popularity among sailors. Long before modern medical science had figured out all that jazz, sailors often had to deal with a scurvy problem, and citrus was one of the best preventatives.

4 Screwdriver

The Screwdriver is a drink that hardly needs any introduction at all. In fact, as a combination of vodka and orange juice, it’s about as simple as cocktails get. However, its origins are not as simple. The most popular story goes that the Screwdriver came to be when miners or other blue-collar workers started mixing vodka and orange juice using their screwdrivers. However, it is hard to be certain whether there is much veracity to this legend. Another story says that the Screwdriver, along with other vodka-based beverages, was first invented and pushed by one John Martin, who was trying to make Smirnoff Vodka a big brand in the United States. Not only is he credited by some with inventing the Screwdriver, but legend says he once filled a tanker with his Screwdrivers and handed them out on Hollywood Boulevard to promote his business.

3 Cosmopolitan

The Cosmo is a vodka-based cocktail perhaps best known for being the drink of choice among the characters on the popular television series Sex and the City. Its iconic place on the show has cemented its reputation as a “girly” drink. However, despite its reputation, it’s hardly one of the fruitiest cocktails the world has ever seen—in essence it’s just vodka and cranberry with triple sec and lime juice to make it more interesting. The legends say the drink was created by the gay community in Massachusetts in the 1970s. However, recipes have been found from long before with slight variations—such as gin instead of vodka—and its true origins are likely to remain a mystery. Still, the strangest truth of the Cosmopolitan is that it would probably never have achieved its status as an iconic cocktail without the television series with which it is associated.

2 Zombie

The Zombie is a drink that doesn’t really have a standard recipe, except for the fact that it usually includes rum and some kind of fruit juice. This is because the drink was originally invented by a man known as Don the Beachcomber, and was so popular that he kept the recipe a closely guarded secret. He told only parts of the recipe to different bartenders, so no one but him knew the entire method to his madness. This secrecy unsurprisingly led to many variations and opinions on the drink, some of them quite vociferous. However, one author believes he has found an original version of the recipe written by its inventor, which utilizes three different types of rum and enough alcohol to make you believe you are a zombie by the time you’ve drunk it. Perhaps with this new-found recipe, the zombies will rise from the earth once more to feast upon the living.

1 Pina Colada

The Pina Colada is one of the most famous cocktails in existence, featuring in a song that anyone reading this can probably sing at least a couple bars from. It is made from pineapple juice, rum, and coconut. What may be more surprising to know is that the all-important third ingredient, cream of coconut, was essentially responsible for the drink. The Pina Colada was more than anything a mark of success for a businessman named Don Ramon Lopez, who owned a company that sold a premade cream of coconut drink called Coco Lopez. He made sure to get the cream of coconut into the hands of as many bartenders as possible and encouraged them to experiment with it. One of the bartenders eventually hit upon the famous combo beloved by so many today and the rest was sweet, corporate history.

For every new follower on Twitter, Gregory Myers will take a shot, but he won’t do it in any way you can prove.

Music and mythology seem to be many worlds apart. Yet, fascinating stories have emerged to prove that music is an art laced with mysteries. From satanic messages in “Hotel California” to Robert Johnson’s alleged pact with the devil, it seems that urban legends are an inherent part of fame.

Some songs, however, have more horrifying tales to tell. Here are some lesser-known myths hidden in 10 of the most cryptic songs ever written.

10 Famous Urban Legends Come To Life

10 The Forest Ogre
“The Erlking”

In 1782, young German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a ballad that soon launched a terrifying urban legend. Entitled “The Erlking,” the musical piece tells the story of a sinister creature who preys on travelers and children.

Also known as the “King of Alders,” this forest monster is said to be a mistranslation of the original Danish “elf king.” Still, it has remained a haunting reminder of our childhood fears and the dark underworld hiding in the jungles.

Legend has it that a man was riding on a horse with his young son one eerie night. As they passed through the dark corners of the forest, the young boy suddenly heard whispers from the unknown. Terrified, he told his father about the ominous sign. However, the father reassured his child that it was just the wind “rustling with the dead leaves.”

The voice grew louder. But with his father ignoring him, the boy had no other choice. As they finally reached home, the father got the shock of his life. He found his poor son lifeless, with his soul allegedly consumed by the Erlking.^[1]

The story of the malevolent creature soon found its way into different communities and folk legends. In Dartmoor, for instance, a demon huntsman named Dewer is known to kill innocent children, hide them in sacks, and deliver the corpses straight to their parents. Another Erlking-inspired child killer is Ireland’s Tuatha De Danann, an evil creature known for leaving changelings in cradles to replace the poor infant victims.

9 Devil’s Dance
“Asereje” (“The Ketchup Song”)

In 2002, Spanish girl trio Las Ketchup conquered the international music scene with an unexpected hit. The song “Asereje” (“The Ketchup Song”), accompanied by awkward dance steps, became one of the best-selling singles of all time. But not long after it became an overnight sensation, rumors of backmasking and satanic references began to emerge.

It all started when an email message—allegedly from a newspaper in Chihuahua, Mexico—exposed hidden messages behind the song’s lyrics. The controversy focused on two major areas: the title and the song’s lead character named Diego.

If broken down and translated into English, “Asereje” also means “a being of heresy.” On the other hand, the alternative title, “Ketchup,” can be divided into two parts: “Up” (meaning “heaven”), and “chet” (loosely translated as “dung” or “sh–t”).

When combined, the resulting word can mean “heaven is sh–t” or a direct attack on the sky. Backmasking also applies to the rest of the lyrics—allegedly to conceal clues which describe Diego as Satan’s messenger.^[2]

The singers denied the rumors and repeatedly said that the song was based on the 1979 rap hit “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang. Turns out, Asereje is an example of mondegreen, in which a foreign song is reinvented due to a linguistic difference.

However, some international groups didn’t buy these explanations. In Dominican Republic, Mango TV banned all Asereje video clips. Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), an influential Christian sect in the Philippines, followed suit by preventing all its members from listening to the controversial song.

8 Texas Serial Killer
“Possum Kingdom”

Possum Kingdom Lake is a man-made body of water near the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It had remained an uneventful fishing spot until alternative rock band Toadies put a bizarre twist on its name.

In the mid-1990s, the band hit it big with their single “Possum Kingdom,” inspired by a string of creepy events linked to the lake. Lead vocalist Vaden Todd Lewis, the son of a preacher, wrote the song in a way that opens it up to various interpretations.

One theory suggests that “Possum Kingdom” recounts the story of a serial killer who lured young girls into his boathouse. Legend has it that he would rape and murder his victims inside the boathouse which supposedly still exists within the lake.

Another account revealed that the song was loosely based on a kidnapping and killing spree that happened near the Possum Kingdom Lake during the early 1980s. Local authorities allegedly hid all evidence of the past crimes to avoid turning off the tourists who frequented the lake.

In 1995, RIP Magazine interviewed the band to further explore the urban legends surrounding their song. Although the story was a mishmash of true events and folk legends, Lewis admitted that the lake holds a certain enigma.^[3]

He also shared the true story of a local stalker who had a strange habit of peeping into windows and breaking into people’s houses. The lake is also home to a popular spot—aptly named “Hell’s Gate”—where some tourists either went missing or died from drowning.

7 Ester’s Last Scream
“Love Rollercoaster”

The Ohio Players’ 1975 album, Honey, gained notoriety for two reasons: its provocative cover art and a creepy story hidden underneath. Legend has it that a woman was viciously murdered while the group was recording the album. As the story goes, the victim’s hair-raising scream can be heard between the first and second verses of the song “Love Rollercoaster.”

Several versions of the urban legend came out afterward. One story revealed that the scream actually came from the album’s cover model, Ester Cordet.

Rumor has it that she was required to wear an acrylic substance that looked like real honey during the photo shoot. However, some of the staff removed the paint rather hastily, tearing off Ester’s skin. She screamed—and eventually died—from the agonizing pain caused by the injury.

Other stories, however, claimed that Ester was raped and murdered while the group was busy recording the album. There were also other sources suggesting that the victim was a cleaning woman stabbed to death by a stranger outside the recording studio.^[4]

But members of the band denied the rumors once and for all. Turns out, keyboardist Billy Beck just wanted the listeners to relive the thrilling experience of a rollercoaster ride. So he belted out a diva-like scream (yes, it came from a dude), hitting the high notes the way Minnie Riperton did.

6 The Blood Libel
“Sir Hugh” (aka “The Jew’s Daughter”)
(Child Ballad No. 155)

“Sir Hugh” (aka “The Jew’s Daughter”) is a traditional British folk song dating back to a legend from the 12th century. It is a fine example of a ballad in which the lyrics tell a story of the song’s origin. But in this case, the background story falls between disturbing and macabre.

The song originated from a dark blood ritual considered to be a common practice among ancient Jews. To celebrate the Easter holiday, they allegedly murdered Christian infants and mixed the blood with unleavened bread (aka “matzo”). This bloody murder was also mentioned in an English variation of the song where a child named “Hugh of Lincoln” was purportedly killed by Jews in 1255.^[5]

Later, “Sir Hugh” (aka “The Jew’s Daughter”) began to popularize the legend in other countries, including the US. In fact, the song, without its anti-Semitic references, is said to have inspired another recurring legend called “The Mutilated Boy.”

In this story, young boys were allegedly castrated and left bleeding to death inside the comfort rooms of shopping malls. The culprits belonged either to a homosexual gang or a certain minority group who committed the crimes as part of their initiation rites.

10 Creepy And Outrageous Urban Legends That Turned Out To Be Completely True

5 Ode To The Black Plague
“Ring Around The Rosie”

Most people remember “Ring Around the Rosie” as a simple playground nursery rhyme. But according to legends, this song contains direct references to one of humanity’s darkest periods. Its origin dates to 1347–1350, when an estimated 25 million people died from bubonic plague.

Critics disagree, indicating that it was only in 1881 that “Ring Around the Rosie” first appeared in print. Still, the words from the song are strikingly relevant if put in the context of the Black Plague.^[6]

The “ring around the rosy” refers to one of the first signs of the bubonic plague: a reddish ring surrounding a rosy bump in the skin. At that time, people believed that the epidemic was airborne and that putting posies (flowers), incense, or scented oils into someone’s pocket would help neutralize the “foul air.”

The third line “ashes, ashes” is said to be an imitation of the sneezing sound. Again, this is strangely accurate as sneezing and coughing are two of the fatal final symptoms of bubonic plague. The final statement obviously refers to the massive death toll caused by the epidemic.

So, is it really an ode to the Black Plague?

Turns out, there are a gazillion versions of the song existing today. Some of them—including William Wells Newell’s 1883 version—even lack the last two phrases linking to the Black Plague. Whether or not the creepy version of the song predates the rest is still unknown.

4 The Kleenex Curse
“It’s A Fine Day”

Released in 1983, “It’s a Fine Day” is a classic song written by Edward Barton in collaboration with his then-girlfriend Jane Lancaster. It’s basically a feel-good song popularized by a Kleenex commercial that aired in Japan in the mid-1980s.

Looking back, the ad was something you wouldn’t expect from a company selling tissues. It featured a red baby demon sitting alongside a beautiful actress, later identified as Keiko Matsuzaka. They played the English (and probably the creepiest) version of “It’s a Fine Day” in the background—something that only some Japanese audience members could understand.

Soon enough, a very dark urban legend was born.

Rumor has it that local TV stations received multiple complaints from people who found the commercial too disturbing. Some even claimed that “It’s a Fine Day” originated from a German folk song and possessed a demonic curse.

Other stories are even more unforgiving. Supposedly, by nighttime, the voice in the commercial would suddenly change into a raspy version of an older woman and bring bad luck to anyone who heard it.

The people directly involved in the commercial were not spared, either. After the initial airing, all the staff and actors purportedly met unfortunate fates one by one.

For instance, the actor who portrayed the baby ogre died from a sudden organ failure. Depending on the version of the story, Keiko Matsuzaka either ended up in a mental institution or hanged herself. Other stories claim that Matsuzaka is still alive today but gave birth to a strange, demonic infant.^[7]

3 Hungarian Suicide Song
“Gloomy Sunday”

We’re all familiar with depressing songs driving some people crazy. The premise is the same for “Gloomy Sunday” except that it is deadlier than all other melancholy songs combined.

Its original Hungarian version, “Szomoru Vasarnap,” was written by composer Rezso Seress and lyricist Laszlo Javor. The song tells the story of a depressed woman who is thinking of ending her life after the loss of her lover. Upon release, the song was moderately successful. It wasn’t until 1936 that it gained sudden notoriety.

The Budapest police department reported at least 18 suicides directly linked to “Gloomy Sunday.” One of the fatalities was shoemaker Joseph Keller. According to reports, his suicide note included the lyrics of the song. Other victims listened to the song either from a recording or a Gypsy band before taking their own lives.

Although no known suicide related to “Gloomy Sunday” has been recorded in the US, as many as 200 cases worldwide were linked to the song’s disturbing contents. Most of the victims were young jazz fans who allegedly went into deep depression after listening to Billie Holiday’s 1941 rendition.

Another story tells of how Javor’s breakup with his girlfriend inspired him to write the song. Sadly, the girl ended up poisoning herself and left a note with only two words: “Gloomy Sunday.”

Reszo Seress was not spared from the curse. In 1968, he jumped to his death from his Budapest apartment allegedly due to his failing career. He was 68 years old.^[8]

2 Game Of Death
“Kagome, Kagome” (“Circle You, Circle You”)

“Kagome, Kagome” is a nursery rhyme usually sung in a popular Japanese children’s game. By simply looking at the lyrics, one can conclude that “Kagome, Kagome” is one of the most cryptic songs ever written for children. Several interpretations were made to explain its origin. Most involve grim details ranging from murder to a bloody treasure hunt.

In one story, the “bird in a cage” is seen as a direct reference to a prisoner waiting to be executed. The “evening of the dawn” has been interpreted as “the dawn patrol,” a person assigned to escort convicted prisoners on their final walk.

Another version claims that “kagome” is derived from kagomi (“pregnant woman”). Legend has it that during the time the song was written, an unborn child (i.e., the “bird in a cage”) was seen as a threat to in-laws greedy for an inheritance. So they either pushed the mother down the stairs or used other methods to forcibly abort the baby.

One of the most compelling interpretations, however, reveals that “Kagome, Kagome” holds the clues to finding a lost Tokugawa treasure. In February 1867, Prince Mutsuhito replaced the Tokugawa clan to become the new emperor of Japan. However, for the new empire to rebuild, it had to depend on the gold reserves stored in the government’s vault. Too late, they discovered that all the treasure was gone.

Oguri Tadamasa, a former finance governor of the Tokugawa clan, purportedly buried the treasure. Unfortunately, he was beheaded during the fall of Edo, taking all the secrets to his grave.^[9]

“Kagome, Kagome” suggests that the treasure might be buried somewhere in Nikko Toshogu Shrine. Despite excavation attempts, no link to the Tokugawa treasure has been found yet.

1 The Michigan Dogman
“The Legend”

As part of a 1987 April Fools’ Day celebration, deejay Steve Cook of WTCM-FM radio wrote a song called “The Legend.” As the goal was to intrigue his listeners, he wrote the lyrics by fabricating a story of a half-man, half-dog monster roaming the Michigan forests. He even added fascinating details such as the seven-year interval between reported “Dogman” sightings.

Written in a traditional Native American style, the ballad hit the airwaves just in time for the holiday. However, Cook later found out that the joke was really on him.

After playing the song, the WTCM-FM radio station received an overwhelming number of phone calls. The majority of the callers shared their own chilling tales of encountering a real “Dogman.”

Although most eyewitnesses didn’t know what to call it at first, the bizarre creature they had once encountered shared the same description as that of Cook’s fictional Dogman.

Such was the case with Robert Fortney, a resident of Cadillac, Michigan, whose first and last Dogman encounter dated back to the late 1930s. Fortney described the humanoid creature as a huge, black canid with “slanted, evil eyes and the hint of a grin.”^[10]

Another notable encounter happened in Big Rapids, Michigan, during summer 1961. One night, a man was sitting on a porch across from the manufacturing plant where he worked as a night watchman. At exactly 3:00 AM, he saw the frightening figure of a tall, brown-haired creature walking toward the driveway.

It alternated between walking on its four legs and standing up on two. A photography buff, the man instinctively took his Kodak Signet 35mm camera and captured a few shots of the mysterious creature. At that point, the Dogman rushed toward the woods, leaving no trail behind. To this day, the photo remains the strongest evidence yet that could prove the Dogman’s existence.

10 Bone-Chilling Urban Legends

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. But it seems that people will always prefer myth and mystery over the truth. Legends evoke a sense of wonder and fascination, especially when they mention famous places or even people. On this list are 10 famous landmarks surrounded by awesome legends.

10The Sphinx

Some of the only facts agreed upon by experts regarding the Great Sphinx of Giza are that it is one of the biggest and most ancient statues in the world and that it has the body of a lion and the head of a man resembling an Egyptian pharaoh. The rest all comes down to speculation and legend.

One of the most retold legends of the Sphinx is the one about a prince of Egypt, known as Prince Thutmose. The prince’s grandfather was Thutmose III who descended from Queen Hatshepsut. According to the legend, Prince Thutmose was the apple of his father’s eye, making him the target of extreme jealousy when it came to his siblings. Some even plotted to murder him.

Because of the turmoil in his personal life, Thutmose preferred to be away from home and started spending a lot of time in upper Egypt and the desert. Being a strong and skilled man, he enjoyed hunting and archery. One particular day during a hunt, Thutmose left his two servants behind in the heat of the day to go say his prayers near the pyramids.

He paused in front of the Sphinx, known in those days as Harmachis—god of the rising sun. The massive stone statue was up to its shoulders in desert sand. Thutmose stared up at the Sphinx, praying that it would take away all his problems. Suddenly, the great big statue seemed to come to life and a loud voice sounded up from it.

The Sphinx beseeched Thutmose to release it from the sand that was weighing it down. As it spoke, the Sphinx’s eyes grew so bright that as Thutmose looked into them he couldn’t bear it and fainted. When he woke, the day had already started growing long. Thutmose rose slowly and then made an oath to the Sphinx as he stood before it. He promised that if he became the next Pharaoh, he would rid the Sphinx of all the sand covering it and immortalize the event in stone. He went on to do exactly this.

As all good legends would have it, Thutmose indeed became the next ruler of Egypt, his problems long left behind him. The story gained notoriety as little as 150 years ago when an archaeologist cleared away the sand from the Sphinx and found a stone tablet between its paws describing the story of Prince Thutmose and the oath he made to the great Sphinx of Giza.

9The Great Wall Of China

A tragic romance is just one of the many legends associated with the Great Wall of China. The story of Meng Jiangnu is one of the most infamous tales and heartbreaking right from the start. It is said that a man and woman with the family name of Meng lived next to another couple who went by the family name of Jiang. Both of these couples were very happy, but neither had children. As the years went by, the Meng couple decided to plant a gourd vine. The vine grew successfully and ended up sprouting a gourd on the property of the Jiang couple.

Having been friends for a long time, the two couples decided to share the gourd. To their absolute amazement, when they split the gourd in the middle they found a baby inside it. It was a beautiful little girl. Just as with everything else, the two amazed couples decided they would share the upbringing of the little baby. They called her Meng Jiangnu.

Meng Jiangnu grew up to be a very beautiful young woman. She married a young man named Fan Xiliang after finding him hiding away from officials who were trying to force young men to start building the Great Wall. However, he couldn’t hide forever, and a mere three days after they wed, Xiliang was taken away to help others with the construction of the wall.

Meng was alone for an entire year, having received no news of progress on the wall nor of her husband’s well-being. After having a disturbing nightmare about Xiliang, Meng decided she couldn’t bear the silence anymore and went looking for him. After a long journey that saw her trawling through rivers and climbing hills and mountains, Meng reached the wall only to hear that Xiliang died of pure exhaustion and his final resting place was underneath the wall.

Meng could not control her grief and, after crying for three days straight, the part of the wall she was next to crumbled and collapsed. The emperor at the time felt that Meng needed to be punished for damaging the wall, but once he saw her beautiful face he asked for her hand in marriage instead. She agreed but requested three things from the Emperor in return. She wished mourning for her husband Xiliang (including the emperor himself as well as his servants). She wanted a burial arranged for Xiliang, and she expressed the need to see the sea.

Meng Jiangnu never married again. After she attended the burial of Xiliang, she committed suicide by throwing herself into the ocean.

Another version of the legend says that as Meng Jiangnu cried and cried, the wall collapsed to the point where the skeletons of those workers who died were protruding from the ground below. Knowing that her husband was down there somewhere, Meng cut her fingers until they bled profusely and watched as the blood dripped over the bones of the dead. When her blood suddenly started centering around a particular skeleton and flowed into it, Meng knew she had found her husband. She then had him buried and ended her own life by jumping into the ocean.

8Forbidden City

Back in the day, you couldn’t just show up at the Forbidden City. If you did, you’d most likely have left without your head. Literally. The Forbidden City consists of several ancient building and palaces and is the largest of its kind in the world. It couldn’t be visited under Qing rule, and no one but emperors and their servants saw the inside of the city for over 500 years.

At least in modern times, visitors are allowed to explore the ancient complex and perhaps hear about some of the legends surrounding it. One such legend has it that the four watchtowers in the Forbidden City were built as the result of a dream.

Allegedly, the Forbidden City under Ming rule had only very high walls, but not a watchtower in sight. The Yongle emperor was in charge in the 15th century and, at one point, had a vivid dream about the city. In his dream, he saw fantastic watchtowers decorating the four corners of the city. When the emperor awoke from his dream, he immediately set his builders to task to transform the dream into reality.

The tale goes on to say that after a failed attempt by two sets of builders (and their eventual execution by beheading), the master builder of the third set of builders was very nervous about taking on the job. However, after modeling the watchtowers after a grasshopper cage he had seen, the emperor could not be happier.

The master builder also took care to include the number nine in the design of the building in order to please the emperor even more. The number nine is said to represent emperors. Also, the old man selling the grasshopper cages that inspired the master builder of the watchtowers was said to be Lu Ban, who just happened to be the grandfather of all Chinese carpenters.

7Niagara Falls

The legend of “The Maiden Of The Mist” may have been the inspiration for a boat ride being launched with the same name at Niagara Falls. This legend, as is the case with most legends, has many different versions.

The most well-known one, however, tells of a Native girl named Lelawala who was offered to the gods in order to appease and please them. The offering came in the form of the girl being thrown down Niagara Falls. One of the original legends states that Lelawala was out in a canoe when she was swept down the waterfall by accident.

She was then rescued from certain death by the thunder god named Hinum, who afterward gave her a lesson in defeating the huge monstrous snake that inhabited the river. She relayed the message to her village, with the people then declaring war against the snake. Many believed that the fighting that ensued caused the Niagara Falls to form in the way it is seen today.

Misdirected versions of this legend have been in print since the 17th century, with many blaming the several flaws on one Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who was an explorer from Europe. Robert made fantastic claims such as that he visited the Haudenosaunee people and witnessed the chief’s virgin daughter being sacrificed, with the chief falling victim to his own conscience at the very last minute and then falling to his own death alongside her. The daughter, Lelawala, then became “The Maid of the Mist.”

However, Robert’s own wife turned against him and accused him of depicting the Haudenosaunee people as ignorant so that he could take their land from them.

6Devil’s Peak And Table Mountain

Devil’s Peak is one of the most infamous mountain spires in South Africa. And it has a great legend to tell (so to speak) every time fog rolls in from the ocean and covers it along with Table Mountain. Capetonians and others from around South Africa still relay the tale to their children and grandchildren.

It is said that a pipe-smoking pirate by the name of Jan van Hunks settled in the Cape in the 1700s, eager to leave his pirating ways behind him. He married and then found himself a house at the foot of the mountain. His wife hated his pipe-smoking habit and would chase him out of the house whenever he lit his pipe.

Van Hunks got into the habit of going some ways up the mountain and then finding a good spot to smoke in peace. On a perfectly normal day, van Hunks started up the mountain again only to find a strange man sitting on his usual spot. He couldn’t see the man’s face as he was wearing a very large hat and was dressed in all black.

Before van Hunks could say anything, the stranger greeted him by name. Van Hunks then sat down next to the man, and they started up a conversation that inevitably led to Jan’s smoking habit. Jan van Hunks liked to boast about the amount of tobacco he could handle, and he did so with the stranger as well after he asked van Hunks for some tobacco.

The stranger mentioned to van Hunks that he could very easily smoke more than the pirate could, and this immediately led van Hunks to challenge him in proving who could smoke the longest without getting sick.

With massive plumes of smoke surrounding the two men and much of the mountain, the stranger suddenly became agitated and couldn’t go on smoking. As his hat fell from his head, van Hunks suddenly gasped. He was facing the Devil himself. Being very annoyed that a mere mortal had showed him up, the Devil snatched both himself and van Hunks away in a lightning flash to an unknown destination.

Now, every time fog rolls over Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain, it is said that van Hunks and the Devil have retaken their spots on the mountain and are gearing up for another go at the smoking competition.

5Mount Etna

Mount Etna, located on the eastern coast of Sicily, is one of the highest and most active volcanoes in Europe. The first recorded eruption occurred in 1500 B.C., and the volcano has erupted at least 200 times since then. In a single eruption that lasted four months in 1669, the lava covered 12 villages and destroyed surrounding areas.

Greek legend has it that the eruptions are caused by none other than a 100-headed monster (the heads resemble dragon heads) that spews massive fire columns from one of its heads when it becomes angry. Apparently, this huge monster was known as Typhon and was the son of Gaia, the goddess of Earth. Typhon became quite the rebellious kid and was then banned by Zeus to live under Mount Etna. So, every now and then, his anger takes the form of boiling hot lava that shoots into the sky.

Another version has a terrible one-eyed monster known as Cyclops that lived inside the mountain. Odysseus was sent to battle the monster and he managed to reach Cyclops even though the monster threw huge boulders at him from the top of the mountain. Odysseus also managed to defeat Cyclops by lancing him in his only eye sending him into the depths of the mountain. The legend further states that the Mount Etna crater is actually the damaged eye of Cyclops and the lava spewing forth from it is the flowing blood of the monster.

4Avenue Of Baobabs

It is not just the lemurs in Madagascar that make the island resonate with people around the world. The island’s main claim to fame is the breathtaking Avenue of Baobabs situated in its western part. Known as the “mother of the forest,” 25 massive baobab trees line a dirt road on the island. They are indigenous to Madagascar and also the largest of the baobab trees. Naturally, their strange appearance has paved the way for legends and myths aplenty.

One of the legends surrounding the Avenue of Baobabs is that the trees kept running off while God was making them, so God decided to plant them upside-down. This would explain their root-like branches. Others tell a different story. Apparently, baobabs started out as really magnificently beautiful trees. However, they became so full of themselves and bragged so much about their beauty that God promptly turned them upside-down so only their roots would show. It is also said that, for this reason, baobabs only have flowers and leaves for a couple of weeks every year.

Legend or not, six of the baobab species belong in Madagascar alone. However, deforestation poses a serious threat even amid all the conservation and reforestation efforts implemented there. If more isn’t done to protect them, the subjects of these legends will disappear, likely forever.

3Giant’s Causeway

Picking a fight with a giant led to the inadvertent creation of the Giant’s Causeway, located in northern Ireland. Or so legend would have you believe, anyway. Whereas scientists believe that the perfectly formed hexagonal basalt columns are the result of 60 million years worth of lava, the legend of Benandonner the Scottish giant is a little more entertaining.

The legend tells of Irish giant Finn McCool, who had a long-standing feud with Scottish giant Benandonner. On one particular day, the two giants were yelling at each other over the Sea of Moyle when McCool became so enraged he grabbed a handful of earth and tossed it at the Scottish giant. The clump of earth landed in the sea and is now known as the Isle of Man while the spot where McCool dug into the ground is known as Lough Neagh.

The feud grew between the two giants and Finn McCool decided to build a causeway for the Benandonner to reach him since the Scottish giant couldn’t swim. This way they could have a real fight and see who was the bigger giant. After spending some time on building the causeway, Finn was tired and he fell asleep easily.

At some point while he was sleeping, Finn’s wife heard extremely loud thundering sounds outside and she realized she was hearing Benandonner’s footsteps coming closer and closer. When the Scottish giant reached the couple’s house, Finn’s wife immediately saw that Benandonner would spell the end for her husband as he was much bigger than Finn. Thinking fast, she wrapped a massive blanket around Finn and placed the biggest bonnet she could find on his head. Then she opened the front door.

Benandonner yelled into the house for Finn to come out, but the woman shushed him, warning that her “baby” would wake up. Legend has it that when Benandonner saw the size of the “baby,” he didn’t care to stick around to see the size of its father. He swiftly ran back to his own home, destroying some of the causeway as he went along, so that no one could go after him.

2Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is a massive volcano located in Japan. It is not only a huge landmark, but it has become intertwined with Japanese culture, so much so that it is the subject of many songs, movies, and of course, legends and myths. In what is believed to be the oldest story originating from Japan, an explanation is also given for the fires of Mount Fuji.

A bamboo cutter was going about his daily task when he stumbled across something very strange and unusual. A tiny baby no bigger than his own thumb was gazing up at him from inside the bamboo he was busy cutting. Seeing how beautiful the tiny baby was, he took her home to his wife so that they could raise her as their own.

Soon after, the bamboo cutter started making more discoveries while working. Every time he cut a piece of bamboo, he found a gold nugget inside it. After a short while, the bamboo cutter and his family were very rich. The little girl grew into a stunning young woman. The bamboo cutter and his wife had learned in the meantime that the girl named Kaguya-hime was sent from the Moon to Earth so that she would be protected from a war raging there.

Because of her beauty, Kaguya-hime had several marriage proposals, even from the emperor, but she declined all of them in her quest to get back home to the Moon. When her own Moon people finally came to take her home, the emperor was so distressed at the prospect of losing her that he sent his own men to fight Kaguya-hime’s true family. However, a blinding light sent them reeling.

As a parting gift, Kaguya-hime (the Moon princess) sent the emperor a special letter and an immortality elixir which he refused to drink. He, in turn, wrote her a letter and requested that his men take it to the highest peak in all of Japan and burn it and the elixir together on it, in the hopes of it reaching the Moon.

However, all that happened when they burned the letter and the elixir on Mount Fuji is that the fire they started could not be extinguished. And this is, according to legend, how Mount Fuji became a volcano.

1Yosemite

Half Dome at Yosemite is a major challenge when it comes to hiking, but hikers and rock climbers absolutely love it. When the Native Americans lived close to Half Dome, they named it Cleft Rock. At some point due to the repetitive thawing and freezing of the rock, a large chunk of it fell away, which gave it the look it has today.

The origin of Half Dome has been the subject of a great legend still being told today: the legend of Tis-sa-ack. The tale also seeks to explain the strange silhouette of what looks like a face that can be seen on the side of Half Dome.

The legend tells of an old Native woman and her husband who made the journey to a valley called Ahwahnee. All the while, the woman carried a heavy basket made from grass and reeds while her husband simply swung his walking stick around. This was tradition in those days, and no one would have thought it strange that the husband didn’t offer to carry the basket.

The woman, called Tis-sa-ack, was very thirsty by the time they reached the lake at the mountain because of her heavy burden and the hot sun beating down on her. Therefore, she wasted no time in rushing to the lake and drinking gulping mouthfuls of the water.

To her husband’s dismay, he found that his wife had drunk so much that the entire lake had dried up by the time he got there. And things got worse from that point on. Due to the lack of water, a drought struck the area and all things green withered away. Her husband was so angry that he picked up his walking stick and aimed to strike Tis-sa-ack.

She burst into tears and started running away from him, her basket in her hands. She turned around at one point and threw the basket at him so that she could get away. It was as she looked at him that the Great Spirit residing in the valley turned them both into stone.

Today, they are known as Half Dome and Washington Column. It is said that if you look closely at Half Dome you can see the woman’s face on it, her tears still flowing silently.

Estelle lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. She loves myths and legends of all kinds. She also kinda wishes giants were still around because of their sheer awesomeness.

Urban legends—from little elementary kids telling each other that swallowing a watermelon seed will make a watermelon grow in your stomach from teens daring each other to walk up to the “murder house” of the neighborhood—every one of us has heard them. The thing that makes urban legends so interesting is that they’re spread with the belief that they’re true. Urban legends come to be because of mysterious sightings, real experiences of people, and true historical events, so it makes them much more believable than simple creepypastas and scary stories. Most of them, however, are either completely untrue, remain unconfirmed, or extremely exaggerated. Only a small minority of urban legends have been confirmed as real.

10 The “Maine Hermit,” Christopher Knight

For years, residents of North Pond, Maine noticed the constant disappearance of items in their homes. Instead of watches and wallets, however, it was simple things like peanut butter, or apples. Considering the inconsequential nature of the items, the residents didn’t think much. Not until the break ins happened again, and again, and again—1000s times in fact.^[1] Finally, the police were able to catch and arrest the culprit—the “Maine Hermit,” Christopher Knight. When Christopher Knight was only 20 years old, he purposely stranded himself in the woods and lived without any other human contact for 27 years. He stole what he needed to survive, but avoided all other people. In the end, residents of North Pond finally got the answer to the mystery of their missing items.

9 The Boogeyman of New York, Cropsey

The story of Cropsey was once just a Staten Island urban legend kids told to scare each other. As it was said, Cropsey was an escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand that kidnapped children and murdered them in the underground abandoned tunnels of the Seaview Hospital. Parents would even use the story to scare their kids into keeping curfew or going to bed. In the ’80s, however, the urban legend manifested in real life. A bus full of children was hijacked by Cropsey, and five other children went missing at his hands. One poor child’s body was found in a shallow grave near the Willowbrook State School.^[2] Willowbrook State School, if you don’t recognize the name, was the subject of a national scandal in the 70s—children at the school were exposed to sexual abuse, corporal punishment, unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and even unethical medical experiments. Our boy, Cropsey, turned out to be Andre Rand, the janitor at the school. Rand was convicted for kidnapping and lives in prison to this day.

8 Real Corpse Used as Carnival Prop

Real or not, corpses tend to give many of us the creeps. So to think that the haunted house zombie or the carnival mannequin beside you was more than just a prop? It’s the stuff of nightmares. In 1976, a film crew went to Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California for filming. While filming on one of the “spooky rides” of the park, a crew member reached for a hanged mannequin’s arm, which broke off. Upon examining the dismembered limb however, the worker saw real skin and bone. Turns out, that “mannequin” was no prop. In fact, it was the mummified corpse of outlaw and train robber, Elmer McCurdy. He was killed in a shootout after trying to evade the police. He was taken to a funeral and embalmed, but no one claimed the body, so the undertaker used him for display—people could see the body for dropping a nickel into the corpse’s mouth.^[3] A carnie eventually showed up a claimed to be a relative wanting to “lay the body to rest.” From then on, McCurdy’s corpse was used as a carnival attractions for decades. Eventually, the story of outlaw Elmer McCurdy was lost and the corpse was assumed to be fake. When the TV crew finally discovered the old boy he was laid to rest in Oklahoma. A layer of concrete covers the casket to prevent him from becoming a traveling attraction again.

7 Virginia “Bunny Man” Threatens Trespassers with axe

Many towns have their own share of local scary stories and haunted locations, and Virginia’s Fairfax County was no different. For decades, kids told each other the story of the “Bunny Man,” a threatening man in a bunny suit with an axe. Supposedly, Bunny Man was responsible for the murder of a couple children as well as some disappearances and the scattered presence of mutilated animal carcasses around the county. In truth, the story isn’t quite so wild. In October of 1970, the Washington Post published an article: “Man in Bunny Suit Sought in Fairfax,” after a couple had a hatchet thrown into their car windshield by a man in a bunny suit. The man threatened the couple for “trespassing” and then disappeared in the woods. Only a week later, the same event occurred once again with a separate couple.^[4] Though not quite as extravagant as murder, the bunny man was actually a very real man with an axe and everything.

6 Criminal Big Nose George’s Body was used to make Shoes

It’s not uncommon in horror movies for things made of skin, or bones, or something else more morbid. There was a case, however, where it was more than just a horror trope. George Parrot, or “Big Nose George,” was an ol’ wild west criminal. He stole horses, robbed stagecoaches and trains, and even murdered the local sheriff and detective.^[5] He did, at least, until he got caught. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. After the deed was done, no one came forward to claim the body. Two doctors present at the time asked to have the body for medical study. Though one of the doctors did study his brain, George’s corpse was mainly used for… not medical purposes. In fact, the cadaver was skinned and made into shoes and part of the skull was given as a gift to a medical protege. The rest of the body was buried in a whiskey barrel. The shoes still exist today and can be viewed at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming.

5 Mysterious “Charlie No-Face” Confirmed a Considerate Pennsylvania Resident

Many people near Pittsburg know the story of Charlie No-Face (also called the Green Man). Depending on who you asked, he was a ghost, a monster, or a simple factory worked who had been horribly disfigured as a child and lost his face. This Beaver County bogeyman was more than just a legend, however. He was a real man and resident of Big Beaver, Pennsylvania. His real name was Raymond Robinson and was a normal boy—up until the accident. He was burned by high voltage when trying to climb an inoperative trolley line and, though he survived, he lost his eyes and nose and his lips and ears were horribly disfigured. Wanting to get some fresh air, but knowing his appearance would frighten others, Robinson began walking the roads at night. Word spread to local residents and people began to drive down to try to see him. Some even brought cigarettes and beer.^[6] Eventually, the story of Charlie No-Face was passed on until it became an unrecognizable ghost story, but Charlie was really just a kindly victim of a tragic accident.

4 Missing Woman’s Corpse Found in Hotel’s Water Tank

Have you ever gotten a glass of tap water and thought it tasted a bit funny? Well, this exact thing happened to guests of LA’s Cecil Hotel but with a gruesome twist. Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old Canadian tourist visiting LA. After Jan 26, 2013, however, she went missing. For 2 weeks her whereabouts were unknown. Unknown, that is, until a maintenance man went to check the Cecil Hotel water tank because of “water pressure issues”.^[7] Inside one of the four large tanks he found Lam’s naked corpse. Surveillance from the night of her disappearance showed her acting strangely: pressing all the elevator buttons or getting in and out of cars. The police deemed the incident a tragic accident, and health officials assured hotel guests that the water was not contaminated because of the body. Even so, guests were understandably upset.

3 Mysterious Gas Mask Man of Switzerland, “Le Loyon” photographed

Cryptids are a common thing. Some of them are extremely famous, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Others like mothman or thunderbird are uncommon but still far reaching. Some, like our aforementioned Maine Hermit or Cropsey, are only known locally. Le Loyon is most similar to the latter two. For about a decade, residents of Maule, Switzerland have experienced sightings of a mysterious man in the forest wearing a gas mask, boiler suit, and a cloak. Most who have encountered the mysterious Le Loyon retreated in fear, despite him/her showing no aggression. In fact, one observer even saw Le Loyon holding a bouquet of flowers one time.^[8] Though questions about Le Loyon remain unanswered, one observer was able to snap a picture of the mysterious man, thus proving his existence.

2 Man Actually Makes Himself Fly with Balloons

Many of us have dreamed of flying as children. With movies like Up and Mary Poppins it seems to be a fairly easy task—just get a lot of balloons, or maybe jump down the stairs with an umbrella. Okay, so maybe these methods don’t quite work like we’d hoped, but one man was actually able to accomplish it. In the ’80s, Larry Walter tied 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and was able to soar 3 miles in the air for multiple hours.^[9] To return to earth, he used a pellet balloon to pop the balloons one at a time. Unfortunately, the balloons caught on power lines and caused a 20 min outage in Long Beach. Though he was issued a $1,500 fine, he received international attention and ever appeared on “The Tonight Show.”

1 Woman was Buried Alive and Mangled Her Fingers While Trying to Escape

I think most of us have probably heard the story of someone being buried alive: some person was proclaimed dead and was buried but later woke up, alive in their casket. When the grave is later dug up, the person is found dead by suffocation with horribly mangled fingers and scratch marks on the inside of the coffin. The story of Octavia Hatcher is likely the source of this legend. She fell ill and went into a coma in the late 1800s. Not long after, she was pronounced dead and swiftly buried. Not even a week later, other people began showing similar symptoms to Octavia—falling into a coma with extremely shallow breathing. These individuals, however, woke up. Her husband, worried she had been buried alive, ordered her to be unburied. Sadly, his suspicions were correct. Octavia was found dead in her casket with a scratched face and bloody fingers. The lining had even been torn from the coffin’s lid.^[10] She was shortly reburied.

You can find the student and freelance writer, Elizabeth Boyer, on YouTube at “Lizzie Boyer.”

Halloween is approaching fast. One can just about taste the trick or treat candy and smell the Pumpkin Spice in the air. And of course, no Halloween is complete without a few scary urban legends. On this list are some lesser known, but still spine-tingling spooky stories to keep in your back pocket for those moonless nights around the campfire… or you know, the TV, for the less adventurous…

SEE ALSO: 10 Mysterious Urban Legends Based on Video Footage

7 El Cadejo

In South America, ancient legends tell of spirit dogs that help humans cross over to the other side after death. Now this may sound heart-warming, however one tale was adapted specifically to highlight the difference between good and evil.

According to this legend there are two types of Cadejo (which are ghosts or spirits that take on the form of a dog): the black Cadejo that represents evil and the white Cadejo that represents, you guessed it, good. It is said that God created the white Cadejo to protect people, while Satan created the black Cadejo to fight against the white one and cause havoc.

The black Cadejo stalks those who are out late at night and up to no good. It hypnotizes its victims with its red glowing eyes and steals their souls. The white Cadejo on the other hand protects all believers and shields babies and small children from the black Cadejo. Luckily you don’t have to rely on only the white Cadejo to protect you from the black one. It is said that the black Cadejo is easily scared off by burning incense.^[1]

6 The Curse of Lake Lanier

Lake Sidney Lanier lies in the northern part of Georgia and stretches out over 26 miles. It is the largest lake in Georgia and dates to 1948. It took 5 years for the lake to reach the desired water level. During this time many structures surrounding the lake were eventually abandoned, as the government relocated families and businesses. These structures included houses, buildings, fields, roads and more. Essentially this means that there are entire ghost towns lying underneath Lake Lanier’s surface, including the towns’ desecrated cemeteries.

As time went by, strange things started happening at the lake. People started noticing a high number of deaths including drownings, boating accidents and cars that crash land into the water. Reports surfaced of boats hitting invisible objects in the lake and capsizing. Swimmers who barely survived drowning, reported being pulled or held underwater. Very soon the lake earned the moniker of being cursed. Furthermore, people also disappear around the lake at an alarming rate. One of the most haunting stories that surround Lake Lanier is the disappearance of Delia Parker Young and her friend Susie Roberts in 1958. The two girls had paid a visit to a gas station near the lake and had allegedly driven off without paying. Across Lanier Bridge were skid marks that seemed to indicate the car they were traveling in had gone off the bridge and into Lake Lanier.

A year and a half of searching for the bodies of the girls proved fruitless. Then a fisherman got the fright of his life when a decomposed body appeared to float up from the depths of the lake, right in front of him. There were two toes missing from the left foot of the body and both hands were gone. Assuming the body was that of Delia Parker Young, it was buried in an unmarked grave. Many years later in 1990, when construction workers dredged Lake Lanier to set up pillars for the expansion of Lanier Bridge, they discovered the car with Susie’s remains still inside. She was eventually buried next to Delia.

Soon after, sightings were being reported of a transparent figure wearing a blue dress and missing its hands, walking the length of the bridge. Considering that Delia Parker Younger wore a blue dress the night she died, people claim it is her ghost looking for her lost hands.^[2]

5 Angelystor

In Llangernyw, a small village in Conwy, North Wales, villagers who visit the medieval church in the area do so to find out whether they would die in the coming months. It is said that an ancient supernatural being called the Angelystor appears in the church and recites the names of the parish members who would die soon. The Angelystor appears only twice a year, on 31 July and 31 October.

According to legend, a tailor named Shôn ap Robert mocked the idea of the ancient being while downing a couple of beers at the local watering hole. His drinking buddies dared him to take a walk up to the church, since he was a complete sceptic. ap Robert wasted no time in making his way to the medieval church, scoffing as he went. But his blood ran cold as he heard a voice from within the church reciting names; the first of which was his own. Terrified, ap Robert screamed that he wasn’t ready to die, but to no avail. He died shortly afterwards.^[3]

4 Selborne Dock

Simon’s Town is home to the South African Navy’s Naval Base and is located on False Bay, east of the Cape Peninsula. The town is the fifth oldest in South Africa and rumored to be among the most haunted. Part of its ghostly reputation began back in 1900 with the building of the Selborne Dock at the harbour to accommodate expanded steam propulsion vessels.

It took 10 years to complete construction on the dock and the intense labour of 3000 workers. Indian craftsmen and Italian masons were amongst the labourers. However, when it came to safety regulations, those who ran the building project were more concerned with finishing on time than ensuring all workers were safe. Consequently, because of the lack of safety measures on site, 33 workers died during the building process. Some of the dead included the Italian masons whose graves are located close to Selborne Dock.

It has been said that when visitors pass by the wall of the dock to visit Boulder’s Beach nearby, hands appear out of the structure, desperately grabbing at whoever is close enough. Giving up in despair, the hands fade back into the stone façade of the dock. Naturally, legend has it that these are the hands of the 33 dead labourers trying their best to pull themselves back into the land of the living.^[4]

3 The Last Bus to Fragrant Hills

China is well known for its creepy urban legends and superstitions. One of these legends tells the story of a young man who got on the last bus heading to Fragrant Hills in Beijing on 14 November 1995. The man had just taken his seat when two men outside tried to flag the bus down. As these men were not waiting at a designated bus stop, the bus driver almost sped right past them. However, the conductor on board told the driver to stop as this would be the last trip to Fragrant Hills for the night.

To the bus passengers’ surprise there were actually three men and they were wearing Qing Dynasty robes. One of the men had long, tangled hair. The other passengers felt a little troubled because the men’s faces were ghostly white, and they did not speak. However, the bus journey was uneventful and eventually all the passengers disembarked apart from the mystery men, the young man and one old lady.

Out of nowhere the old lady started yelling at the young man, claiming that he had stolen her wallet. A terrible argument ensued with the old lady insisting that they both get off the bus and go to the closest police station. The young man was livid as he got off the bus, seeing as how he would not get home and there was no police station in sight to clear up the misunderstanding. Just then, the old lady turned to him and said that the wind from the windows in the bus raised the robes of the mystery men and she saw that they had no feet. That was why she insisted that the young man leave the bus with her.

The following day it became known that the bus, which was numbered 302, had gone missing right after the old lady and young man disembarked. It was found three days later, miles away from Fragrant Hills, inside a reservoir. Inside the bus were the bodies of the driver, the conductor and one unidentified man with long, tangled hair. Another version of the tale states that instead of three ghosts on the bus, it was just one female ghost in a red dress. Yet another version says the gas tank of the bus was filled with blood, or that the bus was never found again.^[5]

2 Andrew’s Walk

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Dr Michael Schneider bought a mansion in Adelaide, Australia. Known as Clifton Manor, the mansion sprawled across 40 acres of land and Schneider and his wife and two daughters were very happy with their new home.

Schneider decided to treat patients at home, but away from his family. He saw the ill and diseased and schizophrenic in a cabin on the far side of his land. Five years had passed when tragedy struck and Schneider lost his wife and daughters to an accident. Schneider couldn’t deal with his grief and went insane.

At some point, nearby residents started reporting that they were hearing screams coming from Clifton Manor. Stories began to fly that in his insanity, Dr Schneider had begun performing surgeries on unsuspecting patients without using anesthesia. It was said that Schneider was offering his dying patients to the devil. For some reason no investigation took place at the property, until Schneider himself died. Only then did police descent upon Clifton Manor, to find the body of the doctor surrounded with the remains of his long-deceased family.

Legend has it that Schneider’s ghost and the restless spirits of his victims still reside at the mansion. Those who are feeling adventurous can visit the site, now known as Andrew’s Walk. Just watch out for vengeful spirits crawling from the tree line as you walk up the lane.^[6]

1 Gjenganger

In Scandinavia, the word ‘Gjenganger’ strikes fear into the heart of many. It is said that some who die in Scandinavia are resurrected and become Gjengangers for the purpose of haunting those who are still alive.

Legend has it that the lost souls who become Gjengangers were ordinary people who were plucked from their lives prematurely by means of murder or accident. Once transformed into a Gjenganger, these spirits make it their afterlife’s mission to disrupt the future of those still living and especially those who contributed to their death.

Gjengangers strike in the darkest hour of night, pinching their victims and then fleeing. Once their victim wakes, he or she will notice an unexplained blue mark on their body. This mark leads to illness and eventually death as the victim’s flesh rots until the disease reaches their heart.

Luckily there is a way to stop a Gjenganger in its tracks. If a person dies by murder or accident, it is advisable to bury them in the appropriate manner with a runic inscription inside the coffin which would prevent any resurrection efforts.^[7]

Every state has its own urban legend. Many of these superstitious tales came about during a period of limited scientific enquiry. A figure caught in someone’s peripheral vision became something sinister and shadowy. The guttural noise of a feral animal turned into the battle cry of an unknowable monster. We instinctively feared what we could not explain, and our overactive imaginations did the rest.

See Also: 10 Creepy Urban Legends From Around The World

But our willingness to believe urban legends once served some evolutionary benefit. These stories often had a kernel of truth, warning us against certain real-life dangers. In a world with few answers, it was always more advantageous to err on the side of caution and avoid any potential human-chomping predators. It did not matter whether that predator was a mythical Sasquatch or just an oversized bear. All that mattered was survival.

Many urban legends remain popular to this day. While such tales are often told with a wink and a smile, some continue to believe them. From the Mothman of West Virginia to the Jersey Devil, so-called cryptozoologists remain ever-watchful. So let us explore just some of these weird and wacky urban legends.

10The Dark Watchers (California)

Legend tells of shadowy figures that stalk the Santa Lucia Mountains of Monterey County, California. Spanish conquistadores, who first explored the region in 1602, referred to these otherworldly creatures as the Dark Watchers (Los Vigilantes Oscuros).

The late Thomas Steinbeck, son of the famous writer John Steinbeck, spoke about the Dark Watchers at length. He eventually confided in his friend, artist Benjamin Brode. “The particulars of the account had been told to [Thomas] as a child and authenticated by such credible sources as his grandmother, Olive Hamilton, and Billy Post, descendant of El Sur Grande ranchers,” Brode claimed.

Thomas’ fascination with Dark Watchers ran in the family. John Steinbeck mentioned the mysterious entities in “The Long Valley” – a collection of short stories published in 1938. “Flight” tells the tale of Pepé, a young teen who goes on the run after stabbing a local townsman. Pepé encounters the Watchers while fleeing to the mountains. From the tale: “No one knew who the watchers were, nor where they lived, but it was better to ignore them and never show interest in them. They did not bother one who stayed on the trail and minded his own business.”

John Steinbeck raised Thomas while working as a ranch hand in the mountain region of Big Sur. The writer’s understanding of the Dark Watchers mirrored that of local tales. The humanoid figures usually surface either in the mornings or evenings. And they immediately “disappear like fog” when somebody looks directly at them.

Thomas made contact with local residents Billy and Luci Post, descendants of El Sur Grande ranchers. Post claims the ranchers exhumed the remains of a young girl in the 1920s. After the grave’s desecration, the Dark Watchers disappeared, and the locals were struck by misfortune. According to the Post family, luck was only restored after the ranchers returned the girl to her original resting place.^[1]

9The Haunted Pillar (Georgia)

In 1878, an intense storm ripped through the city of Augusta, Georgia. The event killed two people and laid waste to the Old Market. All that remained was a single pillar. Some of the more superstitious locals believed a higher power was responsible for the devastation. But interest soon died down, and the pillar became just another landmark.

During the Great Depression, city officials paid Lockhart International Inc. tens of thousands of dollars to boost tourism to the area. To do so, Lockhart spread rumors that the lone pillar was haunted. The company shared this fake news with national newspapers. The story goes that a disgruntled preacher foretold of the market’s looming destruction. He claimed that only one of the pillars would survive, and whoever attempted to interfere with the structure would meet a grisly end. The con worked. Tourists flocked to the area to learn of Georgia’s “Haunted Pillar.” Contractors even spoke to city’s mayor about the structure’s removal.

The pillar was eventually toppled after a vehicle crashed into it in 1935. Its restoration was funded by a local market owner. In 1958, a large bale of cotton tumbled from a passing truck, destroying the pillar once more. The city restored it again. But the pillar couldn’t catch a break. It was destroyed for a third time in December 2016. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the pillar is set to return. The city is preparing designs for the next pillar and has already set aside some funding.^[2]

8 Nain Rouge (Michigan)

Every spring, a devil-like monster makes his way through Midtown Detroit aboard a chariot made of hairy cockroach legs. The bizarre spectacle concludes with the fanged beast making a speech in front of the city’s iconic Masonic Temple. The amiable fellow introduces himself as Nain Rouge, the “harbinger of doom.” During the 2015 celebrations, he told the bustling crowd that he was the “living embodiment of everything that holds Detroit back, the red prince of persecution, Cadillac’s folly, the annihilator of hope.”

The Nain’s appearance is supposed to precede some kind of imminent disaster. According to local legend, the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf) dates back to 1701. They say that Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the city’s founder, once beat the creature in a fit of rage. The French explorer then endured decades of terrible misfortune, as did his city.

Today, the Nain is blamed for all manner of problems, from extreme weather conditions to the city’s longstanding economic woes. So every year, thousands of Detroiters chase the scoundrel out of the city. It is hoped the Nain’s exile will bring the city good fortune. The tradition first kicked off in 2010 with the “Marche du Nain Rouge” celebrations. Stores, breweries, and restaurants organized events throughout the week. Parade floats made their way along the city’s rejuvenated Cass Corridor. And revelers dressed up in costumes in a bid to stop the Nain from recognizing them.

But some protesters think Nain Rouge is simply trying to warn the city of its impending doom – not to cause it. Pro-Nainers attend the parade every year and try to spread their own interpretation of the story. The group’s leader, John Tenney, claims the Nain was originally a Native American spirit named Nanabozho. “[W]hen the French came here, obviously it wasn’t a Judeo-Christian god,” Tenney explained, “so they changed it to a red imp or devil and now there’s a parade to drive out, incorrectly, the devil that causes the problems in Detroit.”^[3]

7 The Ship of Death (Wyoming)

In the fall of 1862, a United States Army Indian Scout named Leon Webber stood at the edge of the North Platte River in Wyoming. The animal trapper was building a log cabin, six miles from the Fort Laramie military outpost. Suddenly, a thick fog rolled in across the river. The fog began to take shape, gradually transforming into an ancient ship. The frost-covered sails glistened in the evening light. Webber was transfixed. There on the deck, the phantom crewmen surrounded a lifeless, young woman. A horrifying realization dawned upon the trapper:

“The ship suddenly veered over to my side of the river – and I recognized the corpse of that of Margaret Stanley, my best girl-friend – we were to have been married early the following spring. ‘Margy!’ I shouted, preparing to descend to the water.”

As Webber plunged into the misty waters, the ship vanished. He remained at the river until dusk, patiently waiting for any signs of Margaret. But the ship never returned. Webber made his way back to the Stanley residence a month later to discover that his beloved had died.

Using reports from the Cheyenne Bureau of Psychological Research, the paranormal investigation magazine Fate established that the ship was sighted on two other occasions. A local rancher claims he saw the ship resurface near the town of Casper in 1887. At the behest of the vessel’s captain, the crewmen revealed the corpse of the rancher’s wife, her face disfigured and burned. The rancher returned home to find the scorched remains of his wife. She died while attempting to flee a house fire.

The final sighting occurred in 1903. Victor Heibe recalls seeing a dead man aboard the ship: “As the body swayed to and fro from the rocking of the ship, it turned so that I gazed directly into the face. It was the blackened face of my dearest friend.” It turned out that Heibe’s friend was Thomas Horn. A Cheyenne court had convicted Horn of murder and sentenced him to hang. Unbeknownst to Heibe, Horn was hanged in a prison courtyard on the very same day of the ghostly premonition.^[4]

6 Escalante Petrified Forest (Utah)

All year round, tourists flock to the scenic nature trails of Garfield County in Utah. The Petrified Forest path takes sightseers on a trip around lava flows and along a series of rocky ravines. Fishers take on the rainbow trout at the Wide Hollow Reservoir. And the mesa is peppered with large deposits of beautiful petrified wood. But some visitors have taken some of the wood, much of which is over 130 million years old, and kept them as keepsakes. From this thievery spawned the Curse of the Petrified Forest.

The force driving the curse remains undefined. However, the forest has allegedly inflicted a range of punishments, including marital breakdowns and serious health problems. Many of the thieves eventually confess to taking the rocks in a desperate bid to lift the curse. Every year, park superintendant Kendall Farnsworth receives around a dozen packages of stolen wood, dubbed “conscience rocks,” along with apology letters. A similar tale has spread about the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Since the 1930s, the park has received around 1,200 pages’ worth of apology letters.

The petrified wood is the result of permineralization. The trees were once part of an old floodplain. Millions of years ago, they were buried by floods and covered in sediment. This stopped the normal decomposition process. Instead, the wood was gradually replaced with minerals, effectively turning it into stone. The lush coloring of the specimen is based upon which minerals are deposited in the wood during preservation. For example, minerals containing iron will produce a reddish hue, while manganese deposits are pink.^[5]

5 The Rhinelander Hodag (Wisconsin)

In 1893, Wisconsin businessman Eugene Shepard penned a newspaper article about his encounter with a mysterious dragon-like creature. The formidable monster, known to the locals as the Rhinelander Hodag, stalked the woods near the city of Rhinelander. Shepard said he worked alongside a group of hunters to fell the beast, dispatching it with dynamite. Whispers of the hodag spread throughout the logging camps. The town’s lumberjacks believed hodags were malevolent demons. They arose from the ashes of dead oxen and punished the workers for treating their cattle so poorly.

Shepard’s tales of heroism did not end there. He announced the capture of a hodag in a subsequent column. Mere days later, he showcased the creature at the Oneida County Fair. Of course, it was all an elaborate hoax. Shepard had a puppet built from wood and animal hides. As gullible fair-goers streamed into the poorly-lit exhibition tent, the trickster’s sons did the rest. They moved the horned puppet around while growling at the audience.

The spectacle made headlines across America. The Philadelphia Enquirer, while obviously unconvinced of the story’s legitimacy, ran with the headline, “A Monster with Many Horns.” From the article: “This is not all that is wonderful about the hodag, whose scientific name we are informed is ‘bovine spiritualis.’ It appears that this creature of the bovine species also lays eggs, several of which were found in its nest.”

Shepard’s ruse served a greater purpose. He correctly predicted that Wisconsin’s timber business would go bust. He therefore spread news of the hodag to put Rhinelander on the map. His bet paid off. Today, the Rhinelander High School uses the fictitious creature as its mascot. Statues of the iconic monster are scattered across the city. And local stores sell a range of hodag merchandise, including t-shirts, masks, stuffed animals, and bumper stickers.^[6]

4 Buck’s Cursed Tomb (Maine)

In 1763, Colonel Jonathan Buck founded a small settlement nestled along the Penobscot River in Maine. While the colonel has a storied past, he is often best remembered for something he never actually did. Bizarre stories started to spread soon after Buck’s death. In 1852, his grandchildren placed a monument close to his grave. But an unusual shape, which looked vaguely reminiscent of a woman’s leg, appeared in the rock. Rumor spread that Colonel Buck had previously sentenced a witch to death. Before her death, the witch placed a curse on Buck and said his headstone would forever remind the world of his ill deeds:

“But listen, upon that stone the imprint of my feet will appear, and for all time, long after you and [your] accursed race have perished from the earth, will the people from far and wide know that you murdered a woman. Remember well, Jonathan Buck, remember well.”

In reality, the colonel killed no such person. He was born decades after the hysteria of the witch trials. As justice of the peace, he did not have the jurisdiction to authorize executions. And the strange shape is likely the result of simple weathering.

Regardless, the legend has attracted plenty of tourism. The locals even hold an annual charity event called “Jonathan Buck’s Race to the Grave.” Participants must build their own coffins to qualify for the race. Each team then pushes the coffin towards the finishing line. One of the competitors, a “Jonathan,” must remain seated in the coffin at all times.^[7]

3 Kushtakas (Alaska)

A number of indigenous tribes along the Pacific North Coast believe in a shapeshifting creature called the Kushtaka (Land Otter Man). According to the Tsimshian and Tlingit tribes, the formidable trickster can transform into humans, otters, and wolves. They theorize that all land otters are aligned in some kind of mischievous conspiracy. Otters, they say, are transmogrifying humans into these semi-otter Kushtakas. Once turned, Kushtakas mimic the sounds of babies and children to lure their prey. Others stalk their target and shapeshift into a friend or family member. When a Kushtaka happens upon a lost human, it either takes their soul or turns them into a fellow Kushtaka.

U.S. Navy Lieutenant George Thornton Emmons explored Tlingit culture. Based upon Emmons’ work, the ethnologist and anthropologist Frederica de Laguna described the transformation thusly: “The transformation was slowly accomplished: first hair grew over the body, speech became confused, he began to walk on knees and elbows, a tail grew out, and, in time, he became more otter than human.”

There are very few ways to save the victim’s soul. If quick enough, a skilled shaman can hunt down a missing tribe member and undo the spell. Sometimes these powerful elders entrance a Kushtaka and cut out its tongue. This is the source of the creature’s power. Meanwhile, regular tribe members must rely upon dogs to protect themselves. Dogs see through the many guises of the Kushtaka, and their barking forces the shapeshifters to reveal their true form.^[8]

2 The Tombstone Thunderbird (Arizona)

The legend of the Tombstone Thunderbird started with a small Arizona newspaper. In April 1890, the Tombstone Weekly Epitaph published the escapades of two gun-toting ranchers. The pair allegedly encountered an enormous “winged monster” while trekking across a desert just east of the former mining town of Tombstone. The men quickly grabbed their Winchester rifles and gave chase on horseback. After several miles, the ranchers caught up with the beast and killed it. Upon closer inspection, it was said to look like an alligator with wings.

Joshua Hawley, writer of “The Legend of the Tombstone Thunderbird,” remains skeptical. He believes the story was fabricated in response to the town’s economic downturn. “Tombstone was a dusty little town with very few people left inside, so having good news articles to write became more of a challenge,” he explained.

More recently, paranormal investigators claim they have received dozens of reports of thunderbird sightings across the Pacific Coast and Midwest. It has been suggested that these witnesses were merely observing large birds that are already known to wildlife experts. Some describe the thunderbird as a pterodactyl-like animal, which could match the appearance of the great blue heron. The Tombstone Weekly’s original tale, somewhat implausibly, claimed the thunderbird had a 49-meter-long wingspan (160 ft) and eyes “as large as a dinner plate.” According to Hawley, one of the ranchers eventually came forward and said the paper had published a misleading story. “They never shot it down,” Hawley said. “They never killed it… and it flew away.”^[9]

1 Spook Hill (Maryland)

In 1997, a group of amateur filmmakers began filming The Blair Witch Project in Maryland. The small village of Burkittsville, which has a population of less than 200 people, played host to the unsettling events. Most of the scenes were actually filmed in other parts of Maryland. But that did not stop legions of giddy teenagers from descending upon the surrounding woods, shaky cams at the ready.

Even though The Blair Witch is entirely fictitious, Burkittsville has another star attraction: Spook Hill. According to local legend, Spook Hill is haunted by the spirits of dead Civil War soldiers. In 1862, forces under the command of Robert E. Lee assaulted Maryland. The bulk of the Confederate forces attacked western Maryland, while a small detachment was ordered to stall the Union’s reinforcements from the east. The Confederates blocked a narrow passage in the South Mountain, just outside of Burkittsville. After a 3-hour-long battle, the Confederates retreated. Heavy losses were suffered on both sides and thousands more were injured. “Every house had to have six or seven wounded and when they died they had to be dragged out and put into the fields. Well, spook stories are going to come out of that,” explained Paul Gilligan, the village’s former mayor.

That story was Spook Hill, a short stretch of road along Gapland Road in Burkittsville. When a ball is placed on the road’s surface, it appears to roll up the incline. Even a car put in neutral will slowly roll up Spook Hill, as if defying the laws of gravity. Some believe the spirits of the dead soldiers are pulling the objects back towards the village.

In reality, Spook Hill is just an optical illusion. The objects are actually rolling downhill – not uphill. The driver is made to think they are rolling upwards, as they cannot see the level horizon around them. The surrounding trees and landscape are often tilted at a steeper angle relative to the road. This, combined with the fact that humans are terrible at estimating the angle of slopes, creates a mind-bending effect. Our brains essentially “make up” a new horizon, because the surrounding landmarks are positioned in a way that we are not used to seeing.^[10]

The music industry is filled with larger-than-life figures and tales of debauchery and eccentricity, and the public is usually ready to lap up every juicy detail that they can find in tabloid magazines, interviews, autobiographies, and, more recently, social media. 

It’s not really surprising, then, that the secretive and scandalous nature of the music world has given rise to loads of outlandish myths and urban legends. And today, we’re taking a look at ten of them.

10. John Denver the Sniper

John Denver built an image for himself as a friendly, lovable, and harmless folk musician who cared about nature and his fellow man. But was it all a lie? Was John Denver actually a cold-blooded killer who once served as a sniper for the US Army?

Well, no, but that hasn’t stopped the story from spreading online. It’s true that he came from a military family and his father was an officer with the US Air Force. Denver might have wanted to follow in his footsteps, but that was never in the cards – his eyesight was too poor for him to become a pilot. He was also missing two toes, having lost them in a lawnmower accident when he was a teenager. So even though John Denver did receive an Army induction notice in 1964, his health problems got him classified as 1-Y, meaning that he was only qualified for service in times of war or national emergency. So John Denver never served in any branch of the military. And even if he had, the fact that he was blind as a bat meant that the one position he would never, ever fill was that of a sniper.

9. In the Air Tonight

Fans often argue over the true meaning behind some of their favorite songs, especially when that meaning is not made apparent either by the lyrics or by the artist. Take that overenthusiasm and uncertainty, mix them together, and you get a foolproof recipe for rumors to appear. Take, for example, the song In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. It was his first single as a solo artist and became one of his signature songs, but some of his fans are still unclear on what the song is actually about.

There are a few variations on the story, but the most common version claims that Collins once witnessed a man drown while a third man watched on impassively, refusing to help the dying person. Phil himself was either too far away, too drunk, or too young to help, depending on which version you prefer. But that’s not all, because the most outlandish retellings go a step further and claim that Collins hired a detective to track down the mysterious man who callously let another person drown. The musician then sent him tickets to one of his shows and, during the concert, put the spotlight on him and exposed him to the world at large.

All of this is nonsense, of course, as made clear by Phil Collins himself years ago. He wrote the song following the collapse of his first marriage, but here is what Phil had to say:

“When I was writing this I was going through a divorce. And the only thing I can say about it is that it’s obviously in anger. It’s the angry side or the bitter side of a separation. So what makes it even more comical is when I hear these stories which started many years ago, particularly in America, of someone come up to me and say, ‘Did you really see someone drowning?’ I said, ‘No, wrong’.”

8. Avril Is Dead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAKrBCFYTh0

You’ve probably heard of the “Paul Is Dead” myth – the idea that the real Paul McCartney died decades ago and was replaced by a lookalike and, for whatever reason, the Beatles decided to leave clues to their little switcheroo in the album cover for Abbey Road. That urban legend is too well-known, so we decided to focus on a different celebrity doppelgänger story – that of Canadian pop rocker Avril Lavigne.

According to this particular conspiracy theory, the real Avril died all the way back in 2003, not long after she struck it big with her debut album Let Go. But even before her demise, Lavigne wasn’t a fan of her newfound fame, so she sometimes used a body double named Melissa Vandella for various events. Then, after the singer died, her record company didn’t want to let go of a good thing, so they “upgraded” Melissa to a full-time Avril Lavigne. And, of course, the new Avril started leaving clues to her true identity in her songs and even wrote the word “Melissa” on her hand once in a publicity shot.

Confronted with this “irrefutable proof,” the singer had no choice but to come clean and admit that she was not the real Avril Lavigne…Just kidding. No, for the most part, she ignored the story, although she has acknowledged it more in recent years, dismissing it as a “dumb internet rumor” made up by bored people needing something new to talk about.

7. Jim Is Alive

This one is pretty much the exact opposite of the previous entry – a rumor that claims that a dead musician is, in fact, still alive after faking their own death. Undoubtedly, Elvis is the king of this particular urban legend, with dozens, possibly even hundreds of sightings over the years. Once again, we are not going to focus on the most obvious choice and, instead, examine the idea that Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, faked his death and started a new life.

The unclear circumstances surrounding Morrison’s death made it ripe for rumors and conspiracies. The musician died unexpectedly in his apartment in Paris in 1971, joining the dreaded 27 Club, but more on that later. The likely cause of death was a drug overdose, but his partner, Pamela Courson, fearing that she might be arrested and charged, gave a false statement to the French police, telling them that Morrison died of a heart attack. With no signs of foul play, the authorities dismissed the need for an autopsy, and Jim Morrison was hastily buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery, with his fans informed of the singer’s death after the funeral.

Over the years, conspiracy theories claimed that Morrison had been the victim of various assassination plots, or that he actually OD’d in a trendy Parisian nightclub and his body was brought home to avoid unwanted publicity. And then, of course, there was the idea that Jim faked the whole thing and started fresh, leaving his old life behind. Oddly enough, some of his close friends also believed this, including Ray Manzarek, the keyboard player of The Doors who co-founded the band alongside Morrison.

6. Monkees > Beatles & Stones

If you ever dare to besmirch the good name of the Monkees, you will probably find at least one fan who will huffily inform you that actually, in 1967 the Monkees sold more records than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined. So there… what do you have to say to that? Well, you could tell them that, although their passion is commendable, they are slightly misinformed. Although this “fact” has often been repeated over the decades, it was completely made up by Monkees member Mike Nesmith, who later referred to it as a “complete fabrication, totally bogus, class-A mendacity lie.

It wasn’t until 2015 that Nesmith set the record straight in a podcast, and then again in his own autobiography. It all went back to 1977, to an interview in Australia. Bored with media appearances and a bit weary of the press, Nesmith flat-out warned his interviewer that he would tell him lies and that he would have to do some research to separate the fact from the fiction. But here it is in Nesmith’s own words:

“Then came a point where he asked me about the sales of the Monkees records, and I saw the chance. It isn’t too well known, I said flatly, that we sold over thirty-five million records in 1967. More than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined … he diligently wrote all this down, and I wondered for a moment if I had chosen too outrageous a lie to tell, but it turned out it had been just right.

The next day in the paper, there it was, printed as fact.”

5. Jimi’s Parakeets

You might not be aware of this, but Great Britain has a feral parakeet problem, particularly the ring-necked variety. They are a non-native species and they’re also a non-migratory species. This means that they didn’t just fly from Africa or India on their own. Someone brought them to Britain and released them into the wild where they thrived and multiplied. And if the story is to be believed, then the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of one man… Jimi Hendrix.

Why was it his fault? Because, apparently, in 1968, while on a trip to London, he released a pair in Carnaby Street. This may or may not have happened, nobody knows for sure, but even if it did, Hendrix would still not be responsible for their introduction as a non-native species. Occasional parakeet sightings in Britain date back to the 19th century, and the first large-scale release of these birds might have occurred in the early 1930s, during an outbreak of “parrot fever” which prompted many parrot owners to release their feathered friends into the wild. 

Experts believe there were several such instances where parakeets were released in large numbers that ultimately led to them becoming a feral species in Britain, with the most significant one possibly being the Great Storm of 1987, which saw birdhouses being damaged throughout the country.

4. Getting High at Buckingham Palace

The Beatles were a quintessential part of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and, according to legend, they enacted one of their most infamous acts of rebellion in 1965 when they got high at Buckingham Palace.

Like the aforementioned claim made by Mike Nesmith, this was a rumor started by one of the band members. In 1965, the Beatles went to Buckingham Palace where Queen Elizabeth II presented them all with MBEs, which stands for Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. However, according to John Lennon, the Fab Four got ready to meet the queen by sneaking into the bathroom and smoking a joint to steady their nerves.

So were the Beatles high when they met the queen? The other bandmates dismissed Lennon’s claim, with both McCartney and Harrison pointing out that they just smoked regular cigarettes. And, eventually, Lennon himself walked back his statement, so it seems that this controversial moment in their careers was only a fanciful story.

3. The Rollercoaster Scream

It all started with a scream. There are innumerable songs that have screams in them but, for whatever reason, the Ohio Players’ 1975 hit Love Rollercoaster proved to be different. A rumor started going around that the funk band had unwittingly captured the last cry of a woman being murdered.

How could this even happen? Well, apparently, the woman was killed just outside the studio, or maybe in a different room, or even in the neighboring apartment, just as the band was recording Love Rollercoaster. The scream appears around the halfway point of the song and it is barely audible and quite easy to miss, which further convinced people that it had been recorded accidentally. 

In other variations on the urban legend, the woman wasn’t killed, just badly scalded by hot honey. In this instance, the scream belonged to model Ester Cordet who posed for the album cover naked while dripping honey over herself. It’s a bit unclear how it ended up on the recording, though.

The truth was far more obvious and mundane. The scream wasn’t unintentional and it didn’t even belong to a woman. It was made by Ohio Players keyboardist Billy Beck who just wanted to add a little something extra to the track. And, to give him credit, he did, just not what he intended.

2. Let Him Bleed

Even in a world filled with excesses, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is in a league of his own as his decades of drug abuse have been well-documented. But how come Keith Richards is still alive and kicking while so many of his contemporaries are long gone after partaking in the exact same lifestyle? Is he simply immortal or does he have a different ace up his sleeve? Well, if rumors are to be believed, then Keith Richards’ secret to long-lasting life is replacing all the blood in his body with fresh blood.

Yes, the claim is that the musician went to one of those super expensive, super secret medical clinics somewhere in the Swiss Alps and had a full-body blood transfusion to help him kick his heroin addiction. This is a weird situation because several people close to Richards confirmed the veracity of the rumor, only for Richards himself to eventually admit that he made up the whole thing out of boredom. Here’s what he said:

“Someone asked me how I cleaned up, so I told them I went to Switzerland and had my blood completely changed…I was just fooling around. I opened my jacket and said, ‘How do you like my blood change?

That’s all it was, a joke. I was f***ing sick of answering that question. So I gave them a story.”

1. The 27 Club

What do Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse have in common? They are all part of the accursed 27 Club, the mysterious “statistical spike” that has claimed the lives of famous musicians at the tender age of 27 in far greater numbers than any other age. 

Jimi, Janis, and Jim all died within two years of each other. They were all highly successful and influential, and they were all 27 years old so people did notice the eerie similarities between them, but it wasn’t really until the 90s when Kurt Cobain died that the idea of the 27 Club became a well-defined concept, and people were reminded of it again in 2011 when Amy Winehouse died. These are just the biggest names mentioned whenever the 27 Club is brought up, but there are others such as Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, blues pioneer Robert Johnson, Canned Heat singer Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson, Grateful Dead member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and scores of others.

So is there any truth to the idea that musicians are more likely to die when they are 27? Not according to science. One study examined the deaths of over 11,000 musicians over 60 years and only 1.3 percent of them died at that age. More died at 28, in fact, and, unsurprisingly, the percentage went up with age, with the 55-to-65 range proving to be the highest risk. The deadliest year of all was 56, which claimed 2.3 percent of lives. Even so, it was only slightly higher than its neighboring years, not enough to constitute a spike of any significance.

There likely isn’t a country, city, town, or village in the world that does not have some sort of scary legend that makes up part of its history. Whether loosely based on fact or a story from an imaginative mind, urban legends have been around for a long time.

They will probably continue to be told for generations. On this list are some lesser-known urban legends that may have the potential to raise the neck hairs of even the most fearless readers.

10 Creepy And Outrageous Urban Legends That Turned Out To Be Completely True

8 The Drowned Boy Of Hawaii

A small village on the Big Island of Hawaii is the center of paradise living as well as a tragedy that haunts its residents to this day. It is said that a group of children were playing alongside a pond in the village in 1947 when one boy lost his footing and fell into the water. His friends ran to get help immediately, and rescue divers were on the scene within minutes.^[1]

When the divers located the boy at the bottom of the pond, they were shocked to see his lifeless body propped up on a rock. It was as though the boy was sitting calmly while waiting to be rescued. His eyes and mouth were wide open, and his body swayed along with the movement of the water. The divers shook off the chills creeping down their spines and brought the body back to the surface.

While the villagers tried to forget about the tragedy and move on with their lives, it seemed that the drowned boy refused to let them. Reports soon surfaced of unseen fingers tugging at the pants of those who walked alongside the pond. People became convinced that the spirit of the dead boy had remained in the water. They believed that he wanted to drag the living into the pond to join him in his watery grave.

Years passed without further incident. Then, one day, a young boy was strolling along the shore of the pond when something dragged him in. His father, who was walking ahead of the boy, turned to see his son disappearing into the water. When divers found the youngster, he was also perched on a rock with his eyes and mouth open. Fortunately, the boy was resuscitated once the divers brought him back to the surface.

After this incident, villagers started hearing a plaintive cry from the pond in the darkness of night. It is rumored that the crying will continue until the boy finds a substitute to replace his spirit in the depths of the pond.

7 Beware Of Long Ear

Somalia is famous for crime, piracy, kidnapping, and terrorist attacks. The country is one of the least developed in the world, and over 70 percent of its citizens live in poverty.

Mothers who raise children there go to extremes to keep their kids safe from the threats surrounding them. Hence, these ladies sometimes use the legend of Long Ear to dissuade children and teenagers from exploring the forests in Somalia, especially if they live nearby.

Long Ear (aka Dhegdheer) is a cannibalistic woman who is said to prefer lost children. She hangs around forests, keeping her one long ear on the ground to hear the sound of youngsters who can’t find their way out.^[2]

Should she happen upon a lost young soul, she will eat that child alive in a matter of minutes. To make the story even more terrifying for Somali kids who are thinking of disobeying their parents’ warnings, it is said that Long Ear has a special penchant for eating children who have no manners and do not listen to their parents.

6 The Rolling Calves Of Jamaica

Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean well known for its lush rain forests, fantastic beaches, pungent rum, and world-class coffee. People come from all over the world to experience all Jamaica has to offer, whether it is the breathtaking views or activities such as water sports and hikes in the beautiful greenery.

However, if you find yourself yearning for a nighttime stroll while in Jamaica, keep an eye out for rolling calves. They are said to be the spirits of people who were evil in life (for some reason, butchers in particular).

A rolling calf is exactly what it sounds like—a creature that resembles a calf and rolls along the road. One of its eyes is red and can spew fire. You’ll know a rolling calf is behind you when you hear the rattling of its chains.^[3]

According to other versions of the legend, both eyes are red and fire spews from the creature’s nostrils. Sometimes, its hind legs are those of a goat while one foreleg is human and the other is that of a horse.

Rolling calves block the way of walking travelers. Once a traveler starts running away, the creature will chase the person down with the intent to torture him.

If you come face-to-face with a rolling calf, you can distract it by throwing objects on the ground for it to count. Or you can start running to the nearest crossroads and get there ahead of it.

Alternatively, you can find a tarred whip and keep it handy on those nighttime walks. Beating a rolling calf with a tarred whip held in your left hand will send it running (or rolling) for the hills.

5 ‘The Price Is Three Sacks’

According to legend, a long time ago in an unnamed village in Scotland, a witch appeared from the surrounding forest to warn the villagers to stop cutting down the trees to make way for more farmland. She threatened to make all their land—as well as all the women in the village—infertile if they ignored her warning.

A deal was struck between the villagers and the witch that only a small part of the forest could be cleared. In return, the villagers had to leave one sack of produce at the edge of the forest after each harvest.^[4]

Things remained peaceful for centuries. Then, one day, a new generation of villagers tore down almost the entire forest to build a mill.

The witch returned to promise suffering because of the broken treaty. The villagers grabbed the witch and hanged her. With her last breath, she exclaimed that the price was now three sacks of produce.

The owner of the mill was terrified of the witch even after her death and dutifully placed three sacks of produce at the edge of the forest after each harvest. His crops grew abundantly, and in time, he became a father to three beautiful daughters.

Eventually, however, the mill owner grew complacent and greedy. He stopped paying his due. The very next morning after he failed to pay the three sacks of produce for his harvest, his youngest daughter went missing.

While the village rallied to look for the girl, the mill started running. Suddenly, the workers cried out in alarm. Between the millstones ran rivulets of blood. The mill owner’s daughter was discovered caught and crushed between them.

By the 1960s, an old crumbling silo stood in place of the mill. A young boy was dared to stay in the silo overnight to determine if it was haunted by the witch or the young girl who had died in the mill.

When his friends found him the next morning, they were shocked to see that the boy had broken both his ankles when he jumped from the silo loft. Asked why he had done that, he said that several empty grain bags inside the mill had “come to life” and were dragging themselves toward him to overpower him.

Top 10 Bizarre American Urban Legends

4 Eight Feet Tall

Japan is the center of many creepy legends. Who can forget the Slit-Mouthed Woman or Teke Teke, the ghost of a young woman who fell onto a railway line and had her body cut in half by a train?

She drags the upper half of her body around on her elbows, all the while making a teke teke sound. She chases unwitting victims, and when she catches them, cuts them in half to make them suffer in the same way she did.

Children are seemingly not safe in Japan, either, especially since a demon named Eight Feet Tall uses a masculine voice to call out “Po . . . Po . . . Po” in an attempt to lure kids between the ages of 9 and 11.^[5]

Eight Feet Tall (aka Hachishakusama) often takes the form of a 244-centimeter-tall (8’0”) woman with long black hair. She wears all white and no shoes.

Much like Slender Man, she stalks children for several days or even months. When she spots a gap, she grabs the child to torture and kill him. Sometimes, Eight Feet Tall takes the form of a trusted family member to lure a child away faster.

3 Seven Sisters Road

In the early 1900s, a young man became enraged during a massive argument with his parents inside the house he shared with them and seven sisters. He stormed out without resolving the issue and paced the woods close to home.

A plan formed in his mind, and he waited until his parents left the house. He went back inside and led his sisters out one at a time, hanging each one by the neck from separate trees that stood in a perfect row.

Many years later, the seven trees had to be cut down to make way for a road just a few miles south of Nebraska City. This road became known as the Seven Sisters Road after reports emerged of screams echoing through the night and car headlights dimming on their own as motorists traveled along.

Some drivers claim to have heard bells ringing in the darkness. Others say they have seen red eyes staring at them from the shadows.^[6]

Another version of the legend says that the father is the one who hanged his seven daughters from the trees to get back at his wife for allegedly cheating on him.

2 Check Behind You

It seems like something straight out of a horror movie. Apparently, a legend from Sydney tries to teach drivers to check their rearview mirrors to see if any unwanted passengers have slipped into their back seats without the motorists knowing.

Along Wakehurst Parkway, which connects Seaforth to Narrabeen, lies Deep Creek Reserve. The reserve is known for unexplained murders and paranormal activity.

Several motorists who travel this road have reported their car radios suddenly malfunctioning or car doors locking for no apparent reason. One of the unexplained tales tells the story of Kelly, a girl who was attacked and murdered along Wakehurst Parkway in the 1970s.^[7]

Kelly appears in the back seat of an unsuspecting driver’s vehicle and runs the car off the road if the driver does not notice her. If he does see her, he should yell “Get out, Kelly” to avoid becoming another road accident statistic.

During the filming of the movie The Parkway Hauntings, the cast and crew were left terrified after an encounter with Kelly. A deep glow appeared behind the actor portraying Kelly and remained even after all camera lights were switched off.

The actor started feeling extremely cold and said afterward that she felt frozen to the spot. Producer Bianca Biasi found the experience so disturbing that she vowed never to return to Deep Creek Reserve or drive along Wakehurst Parkway again.

1 The Vanishing Hotel Room

In 1889, a mother and daughter were traveling through Europe when the mother suddenly fell ill. After arriving in Paris, the duo booked a room in a luxury hotel and the mother went to bed immediately.

Her daughter was concerned and sent for the resident doctor. The physician gave the mother a prescription, and the daughter set off on a frustrating journey. She walked around the city, struggling to find an apothecary or anyone who spoke English as she did not speak French.

After finally returning to the hotel with the medicine, the daughter was astonished to find that the hotel room was empty and her mother was gone. What’s more, the room looked completely different.

The curtains, carpet, and wallpaper all sported different patterns. The daughter looked around for their luggage to confirm that she was in the right room. But it was nowhere to be found.

Finding a cleaning lady outside the room, the daughter asked if the woman had seen her mother. The cleaning lady simply stared at her and then turned around and walked away. Approaching other hotel staff elicited the same response. All the staff as well as the hotel manager denied ever having seen the mother and daughter before.

The daughter ran off to the embassy. She hoped that someone would be able to help her, but the officials there decided she was insane and sent her to a mental institution. Being trapped in the asylum with no one who would listen to her story, the daughter went insane for real and died a few years later.^[8]

10 Famous Urban Legends Come To Life

Humans love shiny rocks. This magpie tendency to collect pretty stones is found in most cultures and throughout history. For the shiniest and rarest rocks people will spend fortunes. The Pink Star diamond sold for $71 million in 2017. But the value of gems is not just in their monetary worth – many people have given them legendary powers.

Here are ten tales of gemstones and the myths around them.

Top 10 Rarest Gems

10 Emeralds

Emeralds have long been sought after by humans. Pliny the Elder tells a story that shows the complex psychology of gemstones. Ismenias the flute-player was overly fond of glittering gems and send away for an emerald ring – but the ring-maker returned some of the gold he paid for it. The flute-player was displeased. “By Hercules! he has done me but a bad turn in this, for the merit of the stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in price.”

Even emperors could fall under the sway of emeralds however. Nero is said to have used an emerald as a lens through which he viewed gladiators battling to the death. It may be that Nero was short-sighted and emerald was carved to work like a monocle. It may be however that his eyes were simply tired as the Romans believed that emeralds had the power to soothe the eyes.

The Inca are said to have worshipped a large emerald as part of their faith in the goddess Umina. The emerald was supposed to have been Umina’s heart and sick people who touched it were immediately healed. Smaller emeralds were offered to her at the shrine. When the Spanish arrived many of the emeralds were smashed because the invaders thought real emeralds would withstand being hit with a hammer.

9 Rubies

Rubies have always fascinated people because of their rich, blood red colour. There is not just a symbolic link between the colour of these gems and blood – some cultures thought of them literally as blood. The ancient Rigveda of India describes how a horrible demon called Vala took the throne.

Vala was tricked into taking part in a mock sacrifice by the demigods. When he was in place the demigods really did chop up his body and scatter the pieces across the world. Where his blood settled rubies began to spring up. Another Hindu text says that rubies are a fitting offering to the gods. “He who worships Krishna with rubies will be reborn as a powerful emperor. If with a small ruby, he will be born a king.”

Oddly the Ancient Greeks and Romans thought of rubies as gendered. “In each variety of Ruby there are so called “male” and “female” stones, of which the former are the more brilliant, while the latter have a weaker lustre”.

8 Amethyst

Amethyst is today only a semiprecious stone but in history it was considered one of the most valuable because of its intense purple colour and rarity in Europe. Purple was the colour of Emperors and so it had an aristocratic appeal. It was also said to be magically powerful. Pliny the Elder says that certain dubious sorcerers “tell us also, that if we inscribe the names of the sun and moon upon this stone, and then wear it suspended from the neck, with some hair of the cynocephalus and feathers of the swallow, it will act as a preservative against all noxious spells. It is said too, that worn in any manner, this stone will ensure access to the presence of kings; and that it will avert hail and the attacks of locusts.”

The most common tale told of amethyst is that wearing it can prevent drunkenness. Bishops in the Anglican church are said to wear amethyst rings in commemoration of an event in Acts where St Peter tells a crowd that “These people [the apostles] are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!”

The word Amethyst derives from the Greek “amethustos” — “not intoxicated.” Therefore it is perhaps appropriate that the god of wine Dionysus was presented with an amethyst to help preserve his sanity.

7 Pearls

Pearls are used as gemstones but are not actually stones themselves. Several species of molluscs produce pearls – often as a way to trap and protect themselves from parasites. For their beautiful lustre they have always been prized. The Roman historian Suetonius tells us that one of the reasons Julius Caesar invaded Britain was to get access to the pearls in its rivers. Most pearls at the time were sourced from far away in the Indian ocean. Their distant origins allowed many myths to spring up around their origin.

One of the most common beliefs was that pearls were the tears of a god or goddess. For the Greeks they were produced when Aphrodite shed tears of joy. In Japanese mythology it was mermaids that produced them by crying.

Another Japanese myth has pearls being used to defeat a Korean navy. The Empress Jingo of Japan is said to have prayed with sea water in her hands and been provided with the ‘tide jewels’ from the dragon palace at the bottom of the ocean. One was the “pearl of ebb” and another was the “pearl of flood.” When the pearl of ebb was thrown back into the sea the ocean dried up. With the Korean and Japanese navies on the ocean floor the Koreans left their ships to attack the Japanese. It was then that the pearl of flood was thrown down and the waters rushed back in – drowning all the Korean warriors.

6 Amber

Amber is the fossilised remains of tree resin. It is mostly found with a golden yellow colour but can appear black, green, red, or white. In the ancient world it was mostly found washed up on the shores of the Baltic Sea but was widely traded across Europe and beyond.

To the Greeks and Romans amber was another gem that originated in tears. When Phaeton accidentally drove the chariot of the sun too close to the Earth he risked burning all of humanity and so was cast down to his death in the Eridanus river. When his sisters found his body they wept so fiercely they wasted away and turned to trees on the spot. Their tears kept falling even as trees and turned to amber. This suggests that the ancients were well aware of the connection between tree resin and amber.

According to Lithuanian legend the goddess Jurate lived in an amber palace under the sea. She fell in love with a sailor and the two lived together happily for many years. But when the thunder god found out about their relationship and sent a storm. The palace exploded into millions of pieces. This is why fragments of amber are still washed ashore after a storm.

5 Garnet

Garnets were hugely popular in the Middle Ages. In Britain the Anglo-Saxons used intricately cut garnets housed in gold to decorate their jewellery, armour, and weapons. Legends about garnet go back much further however. Some said that Noah, when out on the ocean in his ark, used a lamp made from garnet to light his way.

The name garnet comes from the Latin “granatus” meaning “seed.” This is probably because garnets are usually found as small nuggets of crystal. When they are deep red in colour they look almost exactly like pomegranate seeds. Because the goddess Persephone was trapped in Hades after consuming pomegranate seeds the gift of garnets was once considered a sure way to make a loved one return to you.

It is said that if you do a good deed while wearing garnets then you will receive good in return. But if you do something evil while wearing one then you will have the evil rebound back on you.

4 Sapphire

Deep blue sapphires are one of the most beautiful of all gems and have fascinated people for millennia. According to some accounts the Ten Commandments that were received by Moses were presented to him carved into two blocks of sapphire. Some saw sapphires as the reason the sky is blue. Ancient Persians thought the dome of heaven rested on sapphire and reflect the colour back down to us.

Sapphires were supposed to have many magical properties. Some said that sapphires could heal by wearing them while others thought they had to be consumed. Powdered sapphire eaten with milk would cure sores. Placing a sapphire on the forehead was thought to stop nosebleeds.

Because of the structure of sapphire crystals they sometimes show a radiant star when polished. These star sapphires were once thought to be particularly mystical. The gems could ward off the ‘evil eye’ and stop people harming you through jealousy.

3 Lapis Lazuli

Many ancient accounts of sapphire might actually be a misidentification of another lovely blue stone – lapis lazuli. Once mined only in the high mountains of Afghanistan lapis lazuli was one of the most sought after stones throughout Mesopotamia and Egypt. Evidence of its mining can be found from the 7th millennium BC.

The ancient Sumerians treasured lapis lazuli and thought it was a material worthy of the gods. The goddess Innana is described in ancient texts as wearing jewellery of lapis and carrying a lapis rod. When she went around the underworld she would use her rod to measure out the length of a person’s life. The Babylonians also spoke of a tree that sprouted with lapis lazuli. The Epic of Gilgamesh is thoroughly adorned with lapis lazuli. The terrible Bull of Heaven had horns covered with it and Innana tried to tempt Gilgamesh with a gold and lapis chariot.

The Egyptians used lapis lazuli heavily in their religious practices. The funerary mask of Tutankhamun is covered in lapis. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead we find that the dead body is turned to lapis. “Lord your upper part is lapis lazuli. Your hair is bestrewn with lapis lazuli. Your visage is covered with gold inlaid with lapis lazuli. Your eyebrows are inlaid with lapis lazuli.”

2 Opal

Opal is a delicate gem but one that has always fetched a high price. Pliny the Elder tells us of one rich man who had to flee with almost no property but still managed to escape with a fortune thanks to his opal. “Nonius took to flight, carrying with him, out of all his wealth, nothing but this ring, the value of which, it is well known, was estimated at two millions of sesterces.” Before the discovery of large amounts of opal in Australia opals were exceedingly rare in Europe.

The superstitions associated with opal are as varied as the many colours they shine with. Some thought that the opal was protective and would turn pale if there was poison nearby. Opals were thought to be tied to their own and would lose their brilliance when the owner died. Others thought that they were evil gems.

Opals were said to give people the gift of invisibility. Perhaps for this reason one Christian bishop said the opal is “the guardian of the thievish race; It gifts the bearer with acutest sight; But clouds all other eyes with thickest night.”

1 Diamond

No gem is more highly desired than the diamond. Its crystal structure reflects and refracts light into gorgeous patterns. Diamonds were also the hardest material, giving them a divine status. In Hinduism the god Indra uses a weapon called Vajrayudham that is made of diamond. All diamonds were once mined in India, until deposits were discovered in Brazil in the 18th century.

Many legends sprung up around diamonds. In Europe many large diamonds were said to have been stolen from Indian statues of the gods. Some thought that the massive blue diamond now known as the Hope Diamond was plundered from the forehead of an Indian statue. It is perhaps because of this sacrilege that the Hope was said to be cursed. The first owner, and maybe thief, is supposed to have been torn apart by dogs after he stole it. Later owners suffered similarly gruesome fates – at least according to legend.

Given the value placed on diamonds there was almost no lengths that people would not go to in order to get their hands on them. In a late legend about Alexander the Great he came up with a novel method of stealing diamonds from the Valley of the Jewels. Because the diamonds were guarded by poisonous snakes Alexander threw bits of meat into the valley. The diamonds stuck to the meat and then birds swooped down to snatch the meat. When they carried the diamond encrusted meat out of the valley the birds were scared off and so the diamonds were gathered up.

Top 10 Reasons Diamonds Are Not As Great As You Think They Are