What’s your favorite urban legend, Pandas? Is it Slenderman, the creepy entity that lurks in forests and kidnaps children? Maybe it’s evil clowns with their unsettling costumes and makeup who target adults and children alike? Or perhaps there’s a local urban legend where you live: a version of Old Man Marley from Home Alone with a big snow shovel whose backstory is so convoluted that people don’t even know what’s true anymore?
Local urban legends are the best: they’re not as well-known as, say, the Loch Ness Monster, but they’re still creepy enough to give people the heebie-jeebies. We recently came across an online thread where folks were sharing the most unsettling and ridiculous stories that still make people where they live lose sleep.
“What is a famous Urban Legend of your country or town?” one Redditor asked, and people came with tales of tanks that supposedly shoot off when a virgin graduates from a university, a goat man, and the green eyes of a soldier that you can see at night in the Chickamauga Battlefield.
#1
Overtoun Bridge.
There’s a old house to the north of my hometown in Scotland called Overtoun House, and the legend goes that walking your dog along the bridge that leads up to the house will cause it to spontaneously leap from the bridge.
This is an observable thing that actually has happened at least 50 times.
People will refuse to cross the bridge, as there are also people who report feeling suddenly and unexpectedly depressed after crossing. There was even a man who threw his baby son off the bridge in a fit of insanity after claiming his son was the Antichrist.
There’s an old Scottish myth of a “Thin Place” where the afterlife and the physical world are very close together; Overtoun Bridge is said to be one of these places.
Image source: Connelly90, dave souza / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)
#2
The chupacabras, which is spanish for “goat sucker”.
Weirdly enough, most chupacabra legends involve farmers finding their chickens deceased and drained of blood, without any visible wound. Why it is not called chupagallina is beyond me…
But anyway, growing up Catholic, my parents used to tell me that the chupacabra isn’t real. It was just a satanic cult using chickens for their rituals. Yeah… thanks mom, that’s way less terrifying.
Image source: anon, Jeff Carter / HowStuffWorks / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)
#3
Kiev, Ukraine.
There’s a ww2 monument with an old tank near main building of one of the universities. They say when a virgin graduates the tank makes a shot. Up to this day I’ve never heard of it shooting once.
Image source: usernamefromscratch, Ferran Cornellà / Wikimedia (not the actual photo)
#4
Goat man of PG County, MD.
Goatman was literally a cross between a Goat and a man, from either some science experiment or some ritual, and has supposedly been kidnapping people and unaliving animals in weird ways. I think it’s been around since the 40s or so, and has been sighted for the past several decades.
Image source: Justicles13, Pearson Scott Foresman / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)
#5
Bristol UK
At the city zoo a parking attendant dutifully tended the car parks taking fees and wishing people well.
After 35 years one day he didn’t turn up for work and so the zoo called the local council to ask for a stand in.
The council said they had never provided a parking attendant and he must be a zoo employee.
The zoo had never employed a parking attendant either.
This rouge who no one seemed to know by name had been collecting parking charges for 35 years unquestioned.
It is estimated he made in the region of £2,000,000 over the years and decided to retire.
Probably somewhere much nicer than Bristol.
Image source: FunkyDaJunky, Bristol Live (not the actual photo)
#6
Here in Ireland there’s ruined castles scattered all over the place. In the walls of one of them, near a small rural town called Blarney, there’s a stone which is supposed magically make you an eloquent speaker (ie the ‘gift of the gab’) if you kiss it. Its not easy to get to. You have to climb to the top of the castle, and then lie on your back with your head hanging over a sheer drop. I kid you not, millions (literally) of tourists have undergone this farcical ritual. Apart from the hygiene issues, how can any sane person believe that a lump of rock could possess this ability. Needless to say, I’m not one of the locals who is profiting from this paddywhackery.
Image source: WeNeedMoreWater, Petra15 / Wikipedia
#7
St. Michaels, Maryland. The legend is that when the British came in the war of 1812, we hung our lanterns from the trees instead of our houses and their cannonfire overshot our town entirely. The only house hit, the “Cannonball House”, is a tourist destination. We are referred to as “The Town That Fooled The British”, right on our sign welcoming you into the town.
Sadly, none of that happened. We’re the town that fooled the tourists.
EDIT: The House totally got hit, I meant the bit about the lanterns didn’t happen.
Image source: unknown, SJ Objio / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#8
Our university campus has an old homeless man that lives on it, he is absolutely harmless, never speaks but always gives you a smile and a nod. He gets free meals and coffee in the canteen and spends his day ambling about the campus. There are loads of origin stories. He was a professor who had a break down, or he saved a girl from being [attacked] one night and has since been the silent guardian of the university. When the restaurant came under new management they refused to feed him for free, the entire student body boycotted the place and he got his dinners. No one knows who he is, what he did or why the university lets him stroll about. Every new generation has a new story and everyone loves “old man Belfield.”
EDIT: Getting lots of questions asking “Why doesn’t someone just speak to him?”. In the 20 odd years he’s been about many people have tried, he never talks, just smiles and nods.
Image source: Quail_eater, imgur.com
#9
Green eyes. I live near the Chickamauga Battlefield and there is an old story of a ghost soldier. You can ride through the battlefield at night and sometimes you’ll see a pair of green eyes and that’s the soldier. It’s actually just deer.
Edit: it’s a fun story that parents tell their kids so when they drive through at night, they look for green eyes and then freak out when they see them. I LOVED driving through at night trying to spot ol green eyes.
Image source: Thugzz_Bunny
#10
I grew up in a small rural village in Ireland (still in Ireland, just in the city now). There’s some woods up the hill across from my parents’ house that has a fairy ring it. Our elderly neighbour Jim once told us that he wandered into the woods one night when he was a teenager, and wasn’t able to find his way out until morning because the fairies trapped him. There’s also a story of a banshee residing there, which terrified my sister.
Image source: anon, Josimda / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)
#11
We have this huge rock very close to our church, but there isn’t really any mountains close by so it is said a giant threw it there when it got annoyed by the church bells. Porvoo, Finland.
Image source: quzimaa, small oaks
#12
Location: Basel – Switzerland
We have this “urban legend” which came up somewhere around the 11th century. Some poems still survived and it still is our city’s crest animal.
It says that under a certain fauntain we have some kind of “Chamber of Secrets” where, once upon a time, a basilisk has made his nest. He had a chicken’s head and feet, and a lizard-ish body with Dragon-like wings. It was said that he was born when a chicken abandoned an egg, which got adopded and hatched by a snake. He used to roam the streets at night and hunt for his chicken mother who abandoned him, but wouldn’t make hold for a human either.
Today we still got basilisk-statues on every fountain in the city.
Image source: NastyArok
#13
The library in my hometown is attached to a 200+ year old mansion that was said to be haunted. Specifically, the attic, which is huge and shadowy and tends to collect deceased pigeons. The local paper even did a story about the supposed haunting, with photo ‘proof’. The library did lock-in nights in the summer and they’d tell scary stories in the attic, which wasn’t so bad because you were with a group…later on I ended up working at the library and would have to go up in the attic, alone, at night to make sure no one stayed behind after we closed. The attic had a gated stairway with a lock, and a few times when I was up there, alone in the house, I’d hear it bang shut.
Image source: wwhart, tinasanflippo4 / freepik (not the actual photo)
#14
Greyfriars Bobby, Edinburgh. The story goes that a dog refused to abandon its master when he [passed away] and was buried in Greyfriars. He lay by his graveside, and always returned after being chased out by groundsmen. Eventually the city council voted to buy the dog its own license, so it would have the freedom to stay by its master’s have until he [passed away]. A bronze statue of the dog was put up outside the cemetery, and if you rub its nose, you’ll have good luck.
In reality, the dog lay outside the graveyard, not by the grave, probably because it was fed by the priest. The statue was never meant to be rubbed on the nose. Tourists keep doing it, so it has to be touched up, to prevent damage. The council have now decided to stop refixing it, so now we wait for the slow erosion of that dog statue’s face.
Image source: MrCMcK, Michael Reeve / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)
#15
Supposedly in the 1800s, a young boy was separated from his family’s caravan as they tried to escape the flooding creek. The boy stayed in the woods along the creek and became a hermit who would scare off any travelers who entered his domain. Eventually he got himself trampled by horses, and now the ghost of the Hairy Man haunts the area that Hairy Man Road now runs through.
Image source: kirokatashi, JorensSeins / freepik (not the actual photo)
#16
In Ireland, we have the urban legend of the banshee, an old lady who can be heard screaming in the woods. If you hear the banshee wailing, someone you know will [pass away]. If you see a banshee, it’s too late.
Image source: TusShona
#17
In my town we have The Cult.
It’s a really big house with super tall fences topped with barbed wire. There’s hedges planted around it so you can’t see into the property, gates with cameras and guards at the front. Armed guards walk around (or at least used to, I haven’t been out there in ages) the fences and none of the neighbors mow all the way to the fence line. Supposedly vans come and go out of the place all hours of the night certain times of the year.
The place has been an urban legend here since my mom was a kid, and for the life of me I’ve never been able to figure out who owns the place.
Image source: KGRanch
#18
Good old Black Annis!
Black Annis, also known as Black Agnes, is a bogeyman figure in English folklore. She is imagined as a blue-faced crone or witch with iron claws and a taste for humans (especially children). She is said to haunt the countryside of Leicestershire, living in a cave in the Dane Hills, with an oak tree at its entrance.
She supposedly goes out onto the glens at night looking for unsuspecting children and lambs to eat, then tanning their skins by hanging them on a tree, before wearing them around her waist. She would reach inside houses to snatch people. Legend has it that she used her iron claws to dig into the side of a sandstone cliff, making herself a home there which is known as Black Annis’s Bower. The legend led to parents warning their children that Black Annis would catch them if they did not behave.
Image source: PM-ME-YOUR-POEM
#19
There’s a legend around where I live, about the “bunnyman”. An escaped mental patient who hung people off a bridge and wore a bloody patchwork suit of rabbit skins. Of course, it has no evidence or historical backing at all.
Image source: HowdoIreddittellme
#20
Urban Legend of Kuldhara, India.
Kuldhara village in Rajasthan, India was abandoned overnight leaving behind an entire village of crumbling homes and buildings. Legend has it that the ruler of the region took a keen interest in the daughter of the subjugated village chief, and to escape humiliation the entire village of 1500 disappeared overnight. It is said the village chief cursed the abandoned village, in a way that anyone who tried to inhabit it would [pass away]. Even today, visiting the village is only something the brave would try and staying the night is at one’s own risk.
Members of the Paranormal Society of Delhi stayed the night and reported supernatural happenings such unexplained moving shadows, footprints, noises and touching.
Image source: Urban_Aghori
#21
Vermont has Emily’s Bridge.
Emily was planning to elope with her boyfriend. They decided to meet at the Gold Creek Bridge, near Stowe, VT. He never showed up, so she jumped off the bridge. People say if you drive across the bridge at night you’ll hear some weird noises, or see things, or you’ll find some new scratches on your car. Never tried it myself.
Image source: saxy_for_life
#22
Hull, England. There’s apparently an evil six foot tall werewolf called ‘old stinker’ here. He’s been sighted multiple times; funnily enough, always at night, when the people who saw him/her/it were on their way home from the pub.
We’re European city of culture next year so hopefully he’ll show up and everyone in attendance can have a real sighting of the one and the only ‘Old Stinker’.
Image source: TheGapTooth
#23
There was supposedly a janitor at my high school who got into a freak accident and crashed his truck into the walls of the school twenty years before I went there. The myth was that he haunted the halls of the school, and his ghost could be seen mopping the floors if you went into the school at night.
Being dumb high schoolers, we both bought into it and didn’t. Some kids in my grade, the bad kids, the dropouts, the ones who always gave the staff a tough time decided to break into the school one night and see if the rumor was true.
I don’t know what they saw in there. They never talked about it. But they came clean about everything throughout the next week. Stopped doing [illegal substances], stopped drinking and smoking, stopped back-talking to the teachers, stopped making a mess of the cafeteria every day, told the police about all the [things] they’d done. I think it might have been legit.
Image source: anon
#24
We have competent politicians who are doing their all for the city.
Image source: CoSonfused
#25
Poland: Black Volga (czarna wołga). This is quite an old one, from the communist times, so people born in the 90s or later might not know it.
Basically, the legend goes that there is this black car, called Volga, cruising Poland and abducting children. There are multiple versions of this urban legend, but in the one I’ve heard the Devil himself drove the car.
It was used as a bit of cautionary tale, told to kids so that they don’t get into cars with strangers, I think.
Image source: ice_nt
#26
In my town in Missouri, there’s a windy road and if you travel down it you’ll come to a road that has no trespassing signs issued by the government. This is where the supposed Bubbleheads live. No one knows what kind of crazy stuff is going on in there. Are they a family of radiated mutants or is the house a lab for “testing.”
The world may never know.
Image source: nickeltini
#27
I am from Lower Bavaria, Germany and there is this city Zulling, which also has a church. Next to the church there are two spots in the grass, where nothing grows. People claim that back in the days, some guy robbed the church and [unalived] the pastor. He fled thought the window and the moment he touched the ground outside the church, he got struck by a lightening and [passed away]. Since this day nothing grows were he touched the ground. This spot is called Teufelstritt (literally devil’s step)
Image source: anon, herr_blaschke
#28
I’m not sure if it classifies as an urban legend as such, but anyway.
The majority of my state truly believes an animal officially declared extinct still roams around in various parts and sightings are still often reported. There is also some secrecy among small communities and locals who have had sightings or encounters with the animal.
Yes, I live in Tasmania and it’s the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine).
Image source: Maccas75
#29
State: Pope Lick monster, Fisherville Kentucky.
County: Crybaby Bridge, where a mom in the 70s threw 2 kids off a bridge for crying and now if you go alone at night you can still hear them crying.
House: We think there’s a rabid badger in the basement but no one wants to check.
Image source: UnsafeMuffins
#30
Raymond “Ray” Robinson (October 29, 1910 – June 11, 1985) was a severely disfigured man whose years of nighttime walks made him into a figure of urban legend in western Pennsylvania. Robinson was so badly injured in a childhood electrical accident that he could not go out in public without fear of creating a panic, so he went for long walks at night. Local tourists, who would drive along his road in hopes of meeting him, called him The Green Man or Charlie No-Face. They passed on tales about him to their children and grandchildren, and people raised on these tales are sometimes surprised to discover that he was a real person who was liked by his family and neighbors.
Image source: plax1780
#31
People from my home county of Wiltshire are sometimes referred to as “moonrakers”. There’s a legend stating that during the 18th century when smuggling was common in the west country, smugglers would hide barrels of French brandy in a local pond or lake, which they would fish out of the water after dark using rakes.
One night, the smugglers were caught in the act by the police and when asked what they were doing, they said that they were trying to rake in the wheel of “cheese” that was floating in the water. The “cheese” was actually the reflection of the moon in the water and assuming the smugglers were simpletons, the police went on their way, oblivious to what the smugglers were really doing.
Image source: anon
#32
Jersey Devil. Mrs. Leeds had 12 children. Cursed the 13th when born. It was born, changed into a devil, flew up the chimney and has haunted Jersey since.
Image source: aMMoClip89
#33
In Paducah, KY there is a legend that nearby in the KY dam, there are catfish as big as VW Bugs. Story goes that divers doing work down there swore to never go back down again.
Image source: thorndawg1337
#34
The Ghost Of Minney Quay
*One would never recognize the small “drive-by” town of Forester today as it were when the Quays lived here. Their little blue house still stands today, empty, with the famous windows looking past the Inn and surveying the coast of Lake Huron.*
*The Quay family lived in the Michigan town between bustling ports, quite active in the late 1800s of course, and had a wonderful daughter: Minnie. Like most women of the area she wound up meeting a boy and fell in love, but the boy was a sailor!*
*James, her father, full of pride forbade his daughter from continueing the relationship. Minnie and her lover proceeded to date in secret in hopes that her father would come around.*
*The sailor was leaving for a long trip that night when Minnie’s father discovered the deception. She was locked in her room on the second story, left to gaze out the window as she watched the ship leave without a goodbye.*
*Months passed, and Minnie had heard no word from her lover. She asked the men at the docks every week until word came that a ship had suck to the bottom of Huron in a storm, carrying the body of her beloved.*
*Minnie wept uncontrollably back to her home and looked out her window to the lake. Distraught and miserable she walked along the beach to the nearest dock. Minnie is said to have looked down into the cold thrashing water, declaring her undying adoration for her lost love… and jumped, joining him in his final resting place.*
*Her body was found, recovered, and buried in the small cemetary near her home. There have been sitings of her ghost crying and calling for him in the window of the home, along the beach near the home, and the dock from which she jumped.*
The home still bears the family name, though it is rumoured you will lose your loved ones if you touch it.
Image source: anon
#35
There’s an old manor house about a 5 minute walk away from my house that’s supposedly haunted by a ghost of a tall shadowy woman in mourning clothes known as “The Black Lady.”
It was founded in the 12th century and later rebuilt around 1587 by Roger Seys. The Seys family moved out in the 17th century and it fell into decay. Legend states that the Black Lady was spotted by men working on the castle in the early 19th century.
#36
In Switzerland we have the “Dahu”.
Our country is very mountainous, so it should be no surprise that there is an animal that evolved to be more comfortable on high slopes. Indeed, the Dahu has shorter legs on one side than the other, which allows it to walk along slopes with ease (as opposed to humans, for example).
Hunting a dahu requires some careful thinking due to how well adapted they are to mountainous terrain, but it gets easier if you sneak behind one and whistle.
Image source: Milleuros
#37
The Ghost of the Buttermilk Girl. I live in a medieval city in Belgium. There’s a specific street corner just next to a bridge over one of the city’s many streams. According to legend, every night around midnight, you can encounter the ghost of a young girl at this streetcorner. The legend says that on that corner there used to be a milk/cheese shop. The girl used to work for that shop, but one night some passengers-by caught the girl at the nearby stream adding water to buckets of milk, you know, to cheat customers. The girl noticed that she had been seen, and in a moment of distress, or maybe shame and fear of punishment, she threw herself into the stream and drowned. However, her ghost never found rest, and is said to still haunt that street corner. If you meet her, she only says one thing: *”Buttermilk….buttermilk….”*.
Image source: belgiangeneral
#38
The Devil’s Tree
Big old tree sitting in the middle of a field. Legend has it that anyone who tries to cut it down comes to some untimely end. Went to see it in highschool with friends at night of course and everyone dared each other to touch it. All our hands were black from where we touched the tree. It is also warm to the touch and no snow falls around it.
Image source: anon
#39
Ninove, Belgium. During the middle ages Ninove had a row with Aalst a nearby city. When the people of Aalst decided to besiege Ninove they couldnt find the key to close the city gate so they used a carrot to close the gate. Then a donkey saw it and ate it, opening the gate the people from Aalst where surprised and decided to stop the attack because they thaught we weren’t scared.
The carrot is an important symbol in our city and we have a nickname with the dutch word for carrot in it.
Image source: compurterboy
#40
Philippines.
The tale of the snake under the mall.
According to the legend, a rich businessman fathered a set of twins, set to inherit his businesses. One was a girl (who is now a well-known businesswoman just like his father) and the other a boy. The boy was no ordinary boy because it allegedly had snake like features and and instead of feet it had a tail with scales. The family kept the boy away from the public and only introduced the girl as their child. Years passed and keeping the snake man inside their house started to put a toll on the family . So the plan was to build a large mall that will serve as a front for the underground living space for their snake son. The “secret” was revealed to the public when allegedly a popular celebrity was trying out clothes inside one of the fitting rooms when the snake dragged her from her fitting room to his underground lair. He was allegedly enamored by the beauty of the celebrity. The family tried to hide the incident but tv stations actually picked up the story but the celebrity allegedly kidnapped by the snake man refuses to talk about it til this day.
If you want more info, just google “Robina twin snake” or “alice dixson abducted by snake”
I laugh everytime I recall this story because you just can’t believe that people actually bought that myth. And no wonder people involved would refuse to talk about it because it was that stupid.
Image source: gingangguli
#41
Purple Aki.
This one is really strange since EVERYONE in Liverpool has heard of or has stories of meeting purple Aki. It’s even weirder that he’s not really a myth, he actually exists. But everyone “knows someone” who was [attacked] by him at one point or other. He’s basically a huge gay black dude that’s obsessed with bodybuilders and the likes who once made some young men literally squat him and that’s where his infamy came from. It led to him being banned from a whole town and also not allowed to visit any gyms.
Edit: My purple aki story is I saw him at a petrol station in Toxteth, round the corner of where I live. My brother nodded up at someone and said “Lad, that’s purple Aki”. I looked up quickly, saw some huge black dude and just told him to shut up. Then, in line he turns round and I see his face, exclaim “It is, as well”, look at my brother and me and him are just pissing ourselves laughing, fella nearly jumped out of the shop, almost felt bad for him.
Image source: AzzanderN
#42
Campbelltown NSW,
There is a ghost story where four months after the mysterious disappearance of local farmer, Fred Fisher, in 1826 a strange occurrence took place in a local hotel. A wealthy and respectable farmer, John Farley claimed he had seen the ghost of Fred Fisher sitting on the rail of a bridge over a creek. The ghost pointed to a paddock down the creek then faded away. The body of Fred Fisher was later discovered in the paddock where the ghost had pointed.
Now every year there is festival on the paddock where the body was found. But the only people that go are 12 year olds that think they’re cool (I use to be one of those)
Image source: Marsboy_17
#43
Washington DC here
There’s this idea that there’s a building height limit to make the Capitol and Washington Monument the biggest buildings in the city. Thats not true, its actually that there are so many streets that there are no city blocks big enough to build skyscrapers (plus the geology is weak for foundations). Plus, if you go around Dupont Circle, there are buildings taller than the Capitol.
Image source: BlatantConservative
#44
St. Leonard’s Forest, near Horsham, West Sussex in the UK has lots of stories surrounding it.
My favourite is about the ‘Mick Miles Race’ the story goes a local man called Mick Miles was challenged by the Devil to race for his soul in St. Leonard’s Forest. The pair raced so fast they burnt a track through the forest where, to this day no trees grow. You can visit the spot, it’s a popular walking route and a neat story for the area. Some people also claim to have seen a headless horseman at night on this forest stretch!
Image source: madben15
#45
Broken Hill, NSW – Australia.
A boundary rider by the name of Charles Rasp discovered in 1884 an area so rich in ore and minerals they were just sitting on the surface. They set up shop and started mining the area and found further ore bodies that are still being mined today. The main deposits were lead, silver and zinc (though nowadays mainly just lead is mined).
Apparently though he wasn’t named Charles Rasp, he was a deserter from the French army or some other such tale depending on who’s telling the story. The truth, he confessed, and sealed inside a piece of artwork called “The Silver Tree” made from the silver miner in the area. The sculpture is still on display in the local art gallery.
Image source: BIllyBrooks
#46
There are more turkeys here than people… I live in a suburb of Massachusetts.
Image source: lisamarinara
#47
Where I grew up in the corn belt/rust belt, there was a local thief named Jack who was a living legend. Jack had a speech impediment that made him sound incredibly stupid and possibly wasted drunk, but stories abounded of his smooth talking heists. Everybody knew of his robberies but the stories were all about him putting one over on some business, so he was actually seen as somewhat untrustworthy but also somewhat of a Robin Hood figure. I think Jack stories became kind of a local genre of tall tales for a while, the kind of lies crafted over a pitcher of beer.
This guy had done time at least once but he was still trusted to coach my little league team. He would show up to games with cases of gator aid in his trunk, sometimes even brand new baseball gloves, and the parents would all just have that “Oh, Jack!” reaction. I never witnessed him stealing anything but the guy was a hell of a baseball coach, I played under him for 4 years and won 3 league trophies.
His legend kind of soured, though, when he finally stole the league registration fees from a team’s parents. That was the end of his coaching, and really I don’t remember any good stories from after that period either.
Mind you, this was the 90’s.
Image source: somewhatstaid
#48
In my hometown in Southeast Saskatchewan and short drive away there is a place called Roche Percee. It is a small beautiful village. Up the hill is the rocks. It’s old native grounds. There is said to be a Skinwalker there. I’ve been during the day and when you end up alone you feel very uneasy. Some of my friends have gone and heard noises that gave them the creeps. Lots of these guys were your typical riggers to.
In my hometown there is an abandoned shop that might have a demon or something. We used to go there and take pictures a lot. Or we would hang out and smoke. Connected to the shop was a set of offices. This was the scariest place I’ve ever set foot in. It was all ripped apart and looked as if it was out of silent hill. You would hear footsteps and feel this crazy chill like no other. I distinctly remember being dared to run to the stairs and back (the office had a second floor) and it sound like someone jumped off of something high and was high tailing it at me down the stairs. I don’t think I’ve ever ran so fast in my life. We have cougars sometimes in our area but I doubt it was that. It sounded like hooves or something. I was also high as a kite so I like to blame it on that but it was a really scary place. Teens used to love going there to play ouija too. Spooky stuff.
Image source: anon
#49
There’s a whole bunch of legends regarding the city where I grew up (Kampen, the Netherlands), so much that they have their own name and Wikipedia page. Although the citizens are often portrayed as very dumb in these tales, not in my favorite one.
There used to be a strong rivalry between the two Hanseatic towns of Zwolle and Kampen. People from Zwolle called the people from Kampen “Sturgeons”, but the people from Kampen did not have such a pejorative nickname in return. When the (poor) city council of Zwolle tried to sell a bell from their tower to Kampen in order to get some funds, Kampen paid in all dimes. As Zwolle was poor, they accepted, and spent a long time counting them all. In fact, they counted until their fingers were blue! That’s why citizens of Zwolle still call themselves ‘bluefingers’ (blauwvingers).
Image source: anon
#50
Our town graveyard has what is called the “Witches Grave”. Complete with corner posts, connecting chains and a plaque stating her name, dob-dod (late 1800 something) and that she was declared a witch. Legend has it that if you spit, step, anything on her grave she’ll come back and [end] you.
But really though, next to hers is her daughter’s smaller grave. She really just lost it after her daughter [passed away] and they thought she was a witch and just locked her up.
Image source: Apock93
#51
My hometown is a coastal town in the south of England called Seaford. The story goes that in the 16th Century, the local townspeople gained a habit of luring ships to the bay and looting them when they ran aground. They would light fires on the cliffs and ships, mistaking them for the harbour lights in Newhaven a few miles down the coast, would run aground and the people would steal all the cargo. The townspeople were known as “cormorants” or “shlobogod” and apparently it was a terrifying place. Share this post 10 times or shlobogod will come and eat you in your sleep.
Image source: oliver654
#52
I’m from Malta — one of our islands, Gozo, is said to be the location of Calypso’s cave in Homer’s Odyssey. Gozo also hosts the world’s oldest free standing structure, which is called Ggantija because it was believed to have been built by giants (“gganti” in Maltese).
Edit: I forgot to mention that the alleged cave isn’t actually that impressive, even though Gozo is full of beautiful stone formations — the most notable being the Azure Window in Dwejra, which served as the backdrop of Dany and Drogo’s wedding.
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#53
In Sofia that there are literally hundreds of underground passages all over the city. Some even big enough to fit trucks in.
Idk if it’s true but it sounds plausible.
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#54
I grew up in Prestbury, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, supposedly the most haunted village in the UK. One of the many tales is of the Headless Horseman. He was a Cavalier rider who was on his way from Sudeley Castle to Gloucester during the civil war and was beheaded by a thin wire tied across the road by Roundheads. Another version is that he was knocked off the horse and subsequently executed by beheading after interrogation. The legend is that on certain nights you can hear – but never see – a horse galloping and the scream of a man (or horse) as they hit the wire. I never heard it but I know people who claim to have done.
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#55
Ogopogo. It’s kinda like the Loch Ness Monster, only in Okanagan Lake, BC.
Big sea snake.
Just to get it outta the way: something something Tree Fiddy.
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#56
I wouldn’t call it famous, exactly, but some people in New Zealand firmly believe there are moose living in the South Island, despite there never being any firm evidence to suggest it. I come from a family of bushmen/hunters, many of them believe this.
Image source: anon
#57
Stockton, CA
Next to Victory Park there’s a huge deserted manor. It a grey building with a tall wrought iron, a few towers, and tall glass windows, some of them stained. No one has lived there for as long as anyone can remember, and whoever owns the land can’t sell it because it’s supposedly haunted.
I don’t know about that house, but my friend moved in a few doors down and her place was definitely a bit on the creepy side no matter what her family tried to do with the interior. They eventually moved out because the whole family bought into the idea that they were haunted too. It hasn’t followed them at all since they moved, so hey.
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#58
Chicagoland area has the tale of Resurrection Mary. I live near the cemetery she haunts and the ballroom she was said to come out of recently burned down.
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#59
Meon Hill in Lower Quinton UK.
Valentine’s Day and witchcraft – date of 14th February 1945.
Nice old chap called Charles, who was always suspected of Withcraft, was tending to some ground at the bottom of Meon Hill with a trouncing hook.
Dude was found later with the trouncing hook embedded in his throat, pinned to the floor by a pitchfork and a large cross carved into his chest. (Erk)
It’s one of those myth/rumour things now that folks visit Meon hill on Valentines or Halloween and get a visit from Charles )Or his Scooby Doo villain counterpart).
There’s also supposed to be a Puma living on the hill as well that mauls people.
Surprisingly I’ve never been brave enough to go.
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#60
Here in Mexico, basically every, and I mean EVERY office building has a “child” who appears at night and makes noises, turns on/off electronics and basically wrecks havoc.
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#61
In New Jersey we have the Jersey Devil.
Basically a woman has a baby who becomes corrupted by Satan and becomes a man beast thing and eats a bunch of people in the Pine Barrens.
Our hockey team is named after it
LET’S GO DEVILS.
Image source: anon
#62
“Gravity Hill”. A specific hill in a specific neighborhood where, if you put your carl in nuetral, it will go up the hill.
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#63
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The Ottawa jail. Many people believe that the old jail is haunted. It’s not really used anymore for criminals but they always do tours of the old jail (part of it is a hostel for travellers). They always do a Halloween tour to scare people.
Staff who have been there at night always lock the upper floor before it gets dark because if you’re up there at night, it’s rumored that the cells will close on their own and you’ll be stuck in there overnight to be tormented by the people who died or were hung by the jail.
People were actually hanged at this jail. I remember a few years ago when they were putting in some new buildings and a road, they found a bunch of bodies buried of prisoners who had died and/or been hung there.
Image source: anon
#64
I come from a small town near the Schwarzwald (Germany) the myth goes that if you go into the forest at night you will see the GroßMann literally means tall man he is our version of slender man except WAY older he has no face and has shadows coming out of his back, he also brings [demise] and sorrow. The scariest part is that he remains consistent throughout the centuries and is even found in German books and paintings. Großman has been mainly forgotten but he is also known as schlankerman (skinny man) I tried finding a Wikipedia page for it but I can’t srry guys. If ur intrested u can search up any of the names above or “Der Erlking” a poem by Goethe describing a similar figure or you can search up Hans baldungs painting
He supposedly drew the großman and later the extra limbs were erased but X-rays supposedly reveal them.
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#65
There is a road in the middle of the woods that is now guarded by security cameras. When I was younger, people would ride down it before the installation of the cameras. It is said that you pass over three bridges on this road and then arrive at a church. The church is said to be haunted, and your return journey can leave you in a loop, where you ride over seven bridges on the way back. “Seven bridges road”
I’ve always wanted to go down it because instead of being haunted, I think it’s where the aliens are..
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#66
My old home town of Stanton Kentucky has one called “John Swift’s Silver Mine”.
Supposedly a man named John Swift came from England during the 1800’s sometime, and found large veins of silver in the mountains of Stanton and proceeded to open one of the biggest silver mines in the North. He went back to England to take care of his sick mother and closed the mine. While over there, he contracted a severe fever and went 100% blind in both eyes. He came back to Stanton to find his Silver Mine and could not locate it again due to his illness. He [passed away] sometime in the late 1800’s. There is supposed to be well over a million dollars worth of Silver in this “Lost Mine”.
Image source: RumbleDumblee
#67
There’s a guy where I grew up (Oshawa, Ontario) that has worn bunny ears every day for as long as I can remember. Kids used to make a big deal of seeing him in the mall or out and about. Never says a word to anyone. During the holidays he wears reindeer ears. Basically everyone in the city has seen him at least once
ALLEGEDLY he lost his family in a car accident around Easter time and the last time he ever saw his young daughter, she was wearing the same pink bunny ears he wears every day.
I’ve also heard he’s just kinda insane. Who knows.
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#68
There’s a swimming hole in our town that’s made from a filled up limestone quarry. There’s a legend that a bunch of kids dive from too high up and got caught on the debris down there.
Image source: anon
#69
The man in the brown coat in the Old newspaper building.
Hes a gentle ghost who has been seen many times by many people and just keeps an eye over the building. Its no longer a newspaper building tho after being that since it was built. (My mum was a copywriter who worked there and saw him a few times)
Its probally our most famous ghost stories.
A lesser known one is a semi circle of trees about 2 hours out of town on a farm. Bad vibes there man. Bad vibes.
Image source: ssfgrgawer
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