List of urban legends explained

This is a list of urban legends. An urban legend, myth, or tale is a modern genre of folklore. It often consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre, superstitions, ghosts, demons, cryptids, extraterrestrials, creepypasta, and other fear generating narrative elements. Urban legends are often rooted in local history and popular culture.

0–9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Z

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kenny . Dianna . Why the 27 club is a myth: Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse may be members but that doesn't make it real . Independent . 22 January 2022.
  2. News: 30 August 2013 . Ignore phone myth, cops urge . Derbyshire Times . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190622045806/https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/crime/derbyshire-ignore-phone-myth-cops-urge-1-5996352/amp . 22 June 2019.
  3. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/black-mask-of-death/ "1962 Halloween Massacre"
  4. Teague, Matthew (8 October 2016). "Clown sightings: the day the craze began" – via The Guardian.
  5. https://www.newyorkupstate.com/capital-region/2016/09/creepy_clown_epidemic_comes_to_upstate_ny_several_sightings_reported.html "'Creepy clown' epidemic comes to Upstate NY, several sightings reported"
  6. Web site: Dead Scuba Diver in Tree . Snopes.com . 2 November 1997 . en-US . 2019-11-09.
  7. Web site: Skeptoid Blog: Alexandria's Genesis. Weaver. Mike. 30 April 2013. 2 July 2021.
  8. Web site: Slasher Under the Car . Mikkelson . David . Snopes . 19 November 1999 . 15 October 2019.
  9. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-mag-april052009-backstory-story.html "The Road to Area 51"
  10. Nicolaisen . W.F.H. . 1997 . The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand . Folklore . Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. . 108 . 134–135 . 1260739.
  11. Web site: The Baby Train . Snopes . 17 May 2001 . 31 March 2018.
  12. https://oddmoes.com/bandage-man/ "Bandage Man"
  13. https://westsideportlandinsurance.com/bandage-man-cannon-beach/ "The Bandage Man of Cannon Beach"
  14. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2007/oct/28/legend-dog-boy-20071028-0/ "The Legend of 'Dog Boy'"
  15. https://www.goiowaawesome.com/iowa-city/2018/03/2670/tales-from-iowa-city-the-black-angel-of-death "Tales From Iowa City: The Black Angel of Death"
  16. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/behead-of-the-family/ "Buckley Family Halloween Beheading"
  17. Web site: Staff Writer. Is Carmen Winstead's Story True?. 2021-12-09. www.reference.com. 4 August 2015 . en.
  18. Web site: Linguist List 11.2186: Phonological Change Driven by Imitation. 2000-10-10. The Linguist List. en. 2020-05-01.
  19. Web site: Did a Royal Edict Give Spaniards a Lisp?. B. A.. Seattle Pacific University. ThoughtCo. en. 2020-05-01.
  20. Web site: The legend of the Catman of Greenock . Shepherd. Jordan. Scottish Daily Express. 18 October 2021 . en. 2023-02-03.
  21. Web site: Do Celebrities Always Die in Threes? . Barnett. Engrid. Ripley's. 9 November 2020 . en. 2021-12-28.
  22. June 2010 . Urban Legends: A Collection of International Tall Tales and Terrors (review) . Journal of American Folklore . 123 . 489 . 360–362 . 10.1353/jaf.0.0145 . 1535-1882.
  23. Web site: Mikkelson . Barbara . 2000-01-21 . Colander Lie Detector . 2024-03-20 . Snopes . en.
  24. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/texas/spookiest-urban-legend-tx/ "The Candy Lady Is The Creepiest Urban Legend In Texas"
  25. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/statue-of-limitations-2/ "Home Intruder Poses as Clown Statue"
  26. Web site: 2016-10-20 . The 8 Most Notorious Urban Legends of All Time . 2023-10-22 . Yahoo Entertainment . en-US.
  27. Web site: 2014-10-31 . The Statue in the Corner . 2023-10-22 . The Morning News.
  28. https://www.mysterytribune.com/tragedy-near-the-corpse-light-or-because-of-it-by-bob-faszczewski/ "Tragedy Near the Corpse Light-or Because of It By Bob Faszczewski"
  29. Book: Zotti, Ed . American Folklore: An Encyclopedia . Brunvand, Jan Harold . 354 . Garland Publishing . New York and London . 1996 . 0-8153-3350-1 . Google Books . May 23, 2016 .
  30. https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2010/07/cropsey-urban-legend-intersects-with.html "‘Cropsey’: urban legend intersects with unspeakable crime at an abandoned Staten Island children’s institution"
  31. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/utah/escalante-petrified-forest-state-park-legend-ut/ "This Utah Legend Will Send Chills Down Your Spine"
  32. https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMPQ8E_Legend_of_the_Buck_Memorial_Bucksport_Maine "Legend of the Buck Memorial – Bucksport, Maine"
  33. https://www.al.com/life/2020/10/the-legend-of-alabamas-dead-childrens-playground.html "The legend of Alabama’s ‘Dead Children’s Playground’"
  34. Web site: เคยได้ยินไหม เบอร์มรณะ 999-9999 ต่อ-ติด-ตาย ที่โทรไปขออะไรก็ได้แลกกับชีวิตของคุณ. Have you ever heard of the death number 999-9999 call-acknowledge-death that you call and ask for anything in exchange for your life?. 2018-10-19. 2022-07-17. thai. Thitikan. Kanchanapakdee. The Standard.
  35. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/wyoming/wy-death-ship/ "A Ghostly Death Ship Has Been Sailing This Wyoming River For More Than 100 Years"
  36. Web site: Dillon . Lauren . 2023-08-29 . Doveland, Wisconsin: The Town That Wasn't There . 2024-01-29 . Historic Mysteries . en-US.
  37. https://theghostinmymachine.com/2021/02/03/the-most-dangerous-games-the-elevator-game-revisited-rules/ "The Elevator Game: How To Play It & (Maybe) Go To Another World". The Ghost In My Machine. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  38. https://books.google.com/books?id=pX32x4BGQIoC&q=Death+at+the+toilet&pg=PA1 Passages from the diary of a late physician by Samuel Warren, F.R ..., Volume 1".pp.166–169
  39. Web site: Heaney . Katie . 2017-05-26 . Is My Electric Fan Going to Kill Me in My Sleep? . 2024-04-13 . The Atlantic . en.
  40. News: Yoon-seung . Kang . Summer death revives fan death myth . The Korea Herald . 4 July 2011 . 2024-04-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111125084109/http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110704000552 . 2011-11-25 .
  41. https://www.cryptopia.us/site/2011/10/felixstowe-fire-demon-england/ Felixstowe Fire Demon: (England)
  42. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91068367/1907-01-22/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=01%2F01%2F1907&index=5&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=coffin+Coghlan&proxdistance=5&date2=04%2F31%2F1907&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=Coghlan+coffin&dateFilterType=range&page=1 The Semi-weekly Messenger 22 January 1907 Image Three quoting the Galveston Dispatch. Chronicling America Library of Congress Accessed 14 October 2018
  43. https://books.google.com/books?id=1IhmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2091 Modern English Biography: (Supplement v.1–3) By Frederic Boase p. 2091
  44. News: Coghlan's Body Found . . Galveston, Texas . 1 . 1907-01-14 . 1907-01-15 . 2023-10-19 . Newspapers.com.
  45. http://kathleenmaca.com/index.php/2016/10/02/the-floating-coffin/ The Floating Coffin Kathleen Maca Tales from Texas accessed 14 October 2018
  46. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/vermont/frozen-hill-people-vt/ "The Obscure Story Of Vermont’s Frozen Hill People Will Give You Goosebumps"
  47. Web site: Fresno Nightcrawlers Are Terrorizing The Dark, And They're Spreading Far From California. 5 February 2022. Ranker. en.
  48. http://www.theoccultmuseum.com/gateway-to-hell-stull-cemetery/ "Gateway to Hell: The Mysterious Legend of Stull Cemetery"
  49. Web site: Mikkelson . Barbara . Barbara Mikkelson . Will Jesus Be Portrayed as Homosexual in an Upcoming Film? . . 25 November 2023 . en . 2017-01-17. April 21, 2000.
  50. News: Simbro . William . That Jesus sex movie never existed . . 18 May 1980 . 1B2B . Newspapers.com.
  51. https://anomalien.com/the-green-clawed-beast-in-the-ohio-river/ The Green Clawed Beast In The Ohio River
  52. Web site: A-Yokai-A-Day: Hanako-san (or "Hanako of the Toilet") Matthew Meyer. 2010-10-27. en-US. 2020-05-01.
  53. Web site: BBC – Derby – The Unexplained – The Ebay Haunted Painting . 2023-05-03 . www.bbc.co.uk . 2021-01-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210125220825/http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/unexplained/2002/haunted_painting/ebay_haunted_painting_01.shtml . live .
  54. Web site: Gilbert . Rowena . Hands Resist Him . 2023-05-03 . www.castleofspirits.com . October 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060319160515/http://www.castleofspirits.com/hauntedpainting.html . 2006-03-19.
  55. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/boughd-out/ "Was a Suicide Mistaken for Halloween Decoration?"
  56. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hanging-munchkin/ "Does 'The Wizard of Oz' Include a Munchkin Suicide?"
  57. How the 'Hat Man' Went From Benadryl Joke to TikTok Horror Villain. Klee. Miles. November 2, 2022. Rolling Stone. October 10, 2023.
  58. Book: Boese, Alex . Hippo Eats Dwarf . 2010 . Pan Macmillan . 978-0330521307.
  59. https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/urban-legends-who-saw-homey-the-clown/ "Urban Legends/ Who Saw Homey the Clown?"
  60. Web site: Schlosser . S. E. . 2009-10-29 . The Hook – American Folklore . 2024-05-06 . www.americanfolklore.net . en-US.
  61. Web site: Mikkelson . Barbara . 1998-12-02 . The Hook . 2024-05-07 . Snopes . en.
  62. Web site: In the Air Tonight. Snopes.com. 12 September 2000 . 2015-11-11.
  63. Book: Bronner, Simon J. . American Children's Folklore . August House Publishers . 1988 . 978-0874830682 . Little Rock . 149 . ... Suddenly, I realized what was happening and did the first thing I could think of. I flashed my brights to warn her. I saw the figure quickly disappear. I followed the car home and flashed my brights each time I saw the figure. After she ran in the house, I told her to call the police... . Simon J. Bronner . registration.
  64. https://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk/news-offers/the-mackenzie-poltergeist "The Mackenzie Poltergeist"
  65. Web site: Bangkok's haunted temple: the ghost story of Mae Nak. Wheresidewalksend. 18 March 2013 . 2021-08-31.
  66. https://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/la_mala_hora.html "La Mala Hora: From Scary stories"
  67. Web site: Instagram Así luce Melody luego de 17 años de El Baile del Gorila . 2018-09-10 . . es . 2019-11-01.
  68. https://www.wkyc.com/article/life/holidays/halloween/3news-investigates-melon-heads-kirtland/95-31c66168-e6b3-4348-a7c6-7a34127b19eb "3News investigates the 'melon heads' of Kirtland"
  69. https://wwmt.com/news/local/michigan-monsters-beware-the-melon-heads-of-saugatuck "Michigan Monsters: Beware the Melon Heads of Saugatuck"
  70. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-melon-heads-of-connecticut/ "The Melon Heads of Connecticut"
  71. Clark, Jerome (1996). The UFO Encyclopedia, Volume 3: High Strangeness, UFO's from 1960 through 1979. Omnigraphics. 317–18.
  72. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/mississippi/most-peculiar-ms-urban-legend/ "This Is By Far The Most Peculiar Mississippi Urban Legend Of All Time"
  73. https://coffeehousewriters.com/north-dakotas-miniwashitu/ "North Dakota's Miniwashitu"
  74. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/giant-killer-hornets/ "Mutated Fukushima Giant Hornet Responsible For Multiple Nebraska Casualties?"
  75. https://slate.com/culture/2016/10/evil-clowns-have-been-sighted-all-over-america-since-1981.html "Evil clowns have been sighted all over America since 1981"
  76. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/montana/hitchhiker-of-black-horse-lake-mt/ "The Hitchhiker Of Black Horse Lake Is One Of Montana’s Most Mysterious Urban Legends"
  77. Web site: Myth of the "phantom P-40" shot down in China . warbirdforum.com.
  78. Book: Thongdaeng. Wityada. ชุมทางตลิ่งชัน ย่านเก่า [ก่อน] กรุงเทพฯ. Saran. Thongpan. Taling Chan Junction old neighbourhood [before] Bangkok. 2012. Muang Boran Journal. Bangkok. 978-9747727937. 112–113 . Thai.
  79. Web site: Good . Owen S. . 2017-06-17 . Was Polybius real? . 2023-04-23 . Polygon . en-US.
  80. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/colorado/most-haunted-road-cd/ "One Of The Most Haunted Streets In America Is Hiding Here In Colorado"
  81. https://1063thebuzz.com/have-you-heard-about-the-mysterious-bermuda-triangle-in-oklahoma/ "Have you Heard About the Mysterious Bermuda Triangle in Oklahoma"
  82. https://jeanmariebauhaus.com/2018/04/10/restless-oklahoma-shamans-portal/ "Restless Oklahoma: Shaman's Portal"
  83. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oklahoma/sinister-beaver-dunes-park-ok/ "The Sinister Story Behind This Popular Oklahoma Park Will Give You Chills"
  84. Book: William Griffith. American Mafia: Chicago: True Stories of Families Who Made Windy City History. 2013. Globe Pequot Press. 978-1493006045. 15–.
  85. . 2002 . The Black Hand – Terror by Letter in Chicago . Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice . 18 . 4 . 397 .
  86. Book: Sifakis. Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. 2006. Infobase Publishing. 0816069891. 415. registration. 14 March 2018.
  87. Web site: Siren Head: Anatomy of a Monster - Incidental Mythology .
  88. News: 2010-01-06 . Proposed Work at Fort Recovery May Solve Some of its Mysteries see the letter in Comments by James L Murphy dated 7 January 2010 citing the story "Lost Sir Massing berd" . en-US . Ohio Historical Society Archaeology Blog . 2018-02-24.
  89. https://smalltownmyths.com/skinned-tom/ "Monday Monster: Skinned Tom"
  90. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/arizona/slaughterhouse-canyon-az/ "A Visit To This Haunted Canyon In Arizona Will Make Your Hair Stand On End"
  91. Curlew . Kyle . 2017 . The legend of the Slender Man: The boogieman of surveillance culture . First Monday . 22 . 6 . 10.5210/fm.v22i6.6901 . free .
  92. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/skinned-flick/ "Did the Ghosts of Two Teens Return to Kill and Skin Their Parents?"
  93. https://coffeehousewriters.com/west-virginias-snarly-yow/ "West Virginia's Snarly Yow"
  94. http://occultherald.com/index.php/2021/05/24/urban-legends-the-bite-of-the-spider/ "Urban Legends: The bite of the spider"
  95. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nevada/pyramid-lake-legends-ny/ "This Bizarre Urban Legend From Nevada Will Keep You Awake At Night"
  96. https://ss-times.com/urban-legends-the-vanishing-hitchhiker-graveyard-watcher-and-ladies-in-black-or-white/ "Urban legends: the vanishing hitchhiker, graveyard watcher and ladies in black or white"
  97. Web site: Wat Arun. 2012-12-26. 2021-08-31. PATT. My Thousand Miles.
  98. News: "Dead" Wrestler Of The Week: The Ultimate Warrior . Deadspin . 1 April 2010 . en-us.
  99. Web site: Legend: The Vanishing Lady and the Vanishing Hotel Room – Quote Investigator . O’Toole . Garson . 14 September 2010 . Quote Investigator . 23 October 2018.
  100. https://hot1047.com/creepiest-urban-legend-in-south-dakota/ "Creepiest Urban Legend in South Dakota: Who is 'Walking Sam'?"
  101. Web site: Was Walt Disney Frozen? . 19 October 1995 . 10 January 2022.
  102. Web site: How a strange rumor of Walt Disney's death became legend . . 17 December 2018 . 10 January 2022.
  103. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/idaho/massacre-rocks-id/ "The Sinister Story Behind This Popular Idaho State Park Will Give You Chills"
  104. Web site: The Well to Hell . Mikkelson . Barbara . 9 January 2016 . Snopes.com . 20 December 2020.
  105. Web site: Background on the Drilling to Hell story. 20 December 2020. Rich Buhler. 16 March 2015 .
  106. https://allthatsinteresting.com/wendigo "Meet The Wendigo, The Cannibalistic Beast Of Native American Folklore"
  107. https://wvexplorer.com/2014/04/03/five-west-virginia-monsters-0005/white-thing/ "The White Thing"
  108. Web site: Cut Into Pieces: The Haunting of Wat Samian Nari . Khaosod. 2016-10-31. 2021-08-31. Chayanit. Itthipongmaetee.
  109. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/missouri/zombie-road-mo/ "Exploring Zombie Road In Missouri"