Urban Legends

leia1979

Inspired by Jen's "Do you see dead people" thread, let's keep going with the Halloween-ish theme.

Tell me about a local urban legend in your area.

In my city, there's a road that goes up into the hills (where houses are few and far between) called Marsh Road. Local legend and many high school students claim this road is haunted by the ghost of a local teen who was murdered by her boyfriend in 1981. These days, you have to trespass to get to the murder site, so there are also tales of people being shot at by the landowner. The murder was real and was made into a movie called "River's Edge" with Keanu Reeves. It was also said that you couldn't rent the movie in my city (or at least none of the video rental stores carried it), so I've never seen it.

bethsmiles

My hometown has a couple urban legends but there is only one that actually creeps me out. There was a serial killer when I was really young. He lived down the street from the house I lived in till I was 5. He was caught and put in prison (actually he was executed last Christmas). Everyone says he had an accomplice but the police could never pin anyone as the accomplice. Anyway, nobody has ever bought the house he lived in. It's supposedly haunted and I know I stay the hell away from it but kids like to dare each other to run up to the porch and look inside. People have claimed they hear noises coming from inside, muffled screams. Some people think whoever the accomplice was goes back there sometimes and people get really edgy if someone ever goes missing.

psychbabe314

@bethsmiles, that is super creepy!

My hometown had an urban legend that our school was haunted. Supposedly, three kids left the overnight trip and wandered down to the cafeteria and into the kitchen to try and get a snack. A teacher came looking for them and they crawled into a cupboard. Well, the cupboard got stuck and apparently the cafeteria ladies forgot to turn off the stove. Oil dripped from the oven cover caused a huge fire and the kids were killed.

It was said that if you did the overnight trip at the school (the 3rd grade spent the night ever year) and woke up in the middle of the night and walked down to the cafeteria, you would hear the three children screaming for help. Yep... it kept me in the classroom!

blabla89

I can't think of any urban legends from the Atlanta area but we have a lot of crazy characters - which, incidentally, make excellent halloween costumes. There's a 50 year old stripper named Blondie who's known for crushing soda cans between her...cans. SHE is legend. There's also a guy known as Pickle Man, a middle aged man who is always seen at a particular corner wearing spandex shorts that expose his junk. And Baton Bob, a flamboyant street performer who brings joy to the streets of Midtown in all manner of crazy outfits.

Now that I think of it, I have heard one urban legend - there's a concert venue that was originally a mill or factory of some sort, which is allegedly haunted. Supposedly the ghosts have been known to turn the heavy equipment upside down.

tuarceatha

ouuu creepy topic! @leia1979

I dunno of any local urban legends. One of the stories from the ghost tour was that this one lady was accused of killing everyone in her family with arsenic. Including her two young kids, one by one. And they couldn't prove she did it because they didn't have the ability to prove they all died from arsenic and that she was definitely the source. Apparently once she got out of jail she left town and changed her name so there is no record of her after the trial.

buddysmom80

I just moved to the town I live in so I haven't heard any urban legends yet. There's a whole haunted town in Connecticut called Dudley Town. The town I grew up in, there was a road that allegedly used to have a home for the insane tucked away and you can see orbs and stuff, but I've never witnessed anything since I used to drive through that road all the time to get from one side of town to the other.

Swazzle

I'm not sure if this counts as an 'urban legend' but the only thing I can think of is the Jersey Devil. 

As per Wiki: 

"It was said that Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, stated that this one would be the Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings and a forked tail. It growled and screamed, then killed the midwife before flying up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exorcised the demon for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890."

While I didn't move here until 6 years ago, I spent my childhood summers in NJ and would always stay away from fields and wooded areas because of the Jersey Devil. 

doubleSS07

leia1979 said:

Inspired by Jen's "Do you see dead people" thread, let's keep going with the Halloween-ish theme.

Tell me about a local urban legend in your area.

In my city, there's a road that goes up into the hills (where houses are few and far between) called Marsh Road. Local legend and many high school students claim this road is haunted by the ghost of a local teen who was murdered by her boyfriend in 1981. These days, you have to trespass to get to the murder site, so there are also tales of people being shot at by the landowner. The murder was real and was made into a movie called "River's Edge" with Keanu Reeves. It was also said that you couldn't rent the movie in my city (or at least none of the video rental stores carried it), so I've never seen it.

I remember going up to Marsh Road!  There was also the White Witch in Tilden park in Berkeley.  It always got SO incredibly foggy up there and people would say that you'd come around the corner and she'd be standing in the middle of the road in a long white gown.  There were several different stories about how she got there but one of them was that her and her husband lived up there and a couple of men came up there, killed her husband and raped and murdered her.  They say she walks the road hoping to find the men.  There was alsoa  gravity road in Antioch.  It didn't work. lol

[Deleted User]

@lalalaurita -I'm in Atlanta too and so is @lmhollister, what part are you from? We are outside the Perimeter. I've heard of Blondie before lol!

I believe there is this old abandoned mental hospital somewhere in Atlanta that a lot of kids will attempt to access on Halloween. I've heard that once you're in there you here screaming, and noises of past patients. I've never been there myself but this is coming from friends of mine so who knows, they could just be trying to scare me.

KateJ16

Ooo there is one in my area - it's actually been features in several TV shows and news articles.

On Archer Avenue there is a portion where the whole things is almost in a tree tunnel because of the long-standing nature in the area.  Right there is Resurrection Cemetery.

Legend has it that a girl named Mary was out with her boyfriend dancing at the Willowbrook Ballroom.  They got into an argument at some point in the evening, and Mary stormed out to walk home rather than be with her boyfriend any longer.

She left the Willowbrook and started walking along Archer Avenue, where she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.  Her parents were grief-stricken and buried her in Resurrection Cemetery in a white dancing dress and matching shoes.

There have been several people who have almost hit Mary (who was wearing a white dress) while driving on Archer near the cemetery - and there are also a few instances where she apparently appeared at the Willowbrook in an old-fashioned white dress, danced with a man, asked for a ride home, and disappeared from the car right as they would pass the cemetery.

Supposedly her handprints are also burned into the gate at Resurrection Cemetery.

And - I will add - the Willowbrook is where my prom was held.  FREAKY.

csousa1

* Edited for clarity*

In the town where I went to school, there was a story people told about a young girl that went to hang out at her friend's house one night. Her friend lived in walking distance through the woods so she walked over after school. Those woods had allegedly been very active during the Underground Railroad and legend had it that it was haunted by ghosts of runaway slaves that had died there. Normally her friend's parents would drive her home but this particular night they were out later than normal, so she decided she would just walk home so that she wouldn't miss her curfew. She was really nervous walking through the haunted woods at night, and kept thinking she was hearing things and thought she saw the outline of a man standing by a tree.

A few days later, a man was arrested who had robbed several houses in the vicinity of the woods and attacked a few people. After being interrogated about all of his whereabouts, he said he had seen the young girl walking through the woods on her way home that night. When the police asked him why he didn't attempt to attack the girl, he said, "Why would I approach a girl who had a 6'5'' black dude protectively walking beside her and staring at me?"

cowgirl8238

Oh so many for me...Long Island is a haunted place!!!!!

1: The Amityville Horror House.  - On Novemeber 13th 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family (His mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters) within the house.  All fo teh victims of the murdered were found face down in their beds with no signs of struggle, which made many question how Defeo could have murded all 6 family members with a gun without any of them awaking and knowing.  The house remained empty for just over year after the murders before a new family moved in.  However upon moving in they claimed many strange happenings, including walls oozing green, the windows closing themselves and doorways disappearing.  There have been several stories and major movies written on the topic.

2: Kings Park Psychitatric Ward.  -The "Psych Center" operated officially from 1885 to 1996.  Many rummors swirl around the deserted buildings including that hundreds of murdered patients still wander the halls.  A quick drive past the looming empty buildings will give anyone the creeps, and those brave enough to enter can atest to the strang vibes you get there.  I have (as most teens) driven past the area, and even in the daylight it is a strange site.  One time I heard a scream comming from within the main building and I have never gone back!

3: Mount Missery. - Mount Misery is at the top of narrow winding road along the North Shore of Long Island.  Driving up at night there is risky, as many people go to the end of the road and into the woods to perform animal scrafices, do drugs or do other illegal things.  However the legend that surrounds it is more interesting. 

On the way to Mount Misery there is a bridge that goes over the roadway, legend has it that if you put your car in nuetral the child spirits from a fatal school bus accident will push your car up the hill.  It is belived that if you cover the hood of the car with baby powder their fingerprints will be captured in the powder.  This is just a warning.

It is believed that somewhere on Mount Misery a young girl named Mary was murdered and buried in an unmarked grave.  Although there is much debate about where Mary was buried many people have claimed to see her ghostly figure walking along the side of the road.  However when you stop or turn around she is gone!  Also there are many reports of people being chased down the road by an old car.  This car will just appear behind you and all you can see are the headlights chasing you down the road.  However when you finally get to the end of the road the car will be completely gone! 

Those are my favorite three but there are a ton more.  If you really like ghost stories there is an entire website dedicated to it here. (clicky)

csousa1

cowgirl8238 said:

Oh so many for me...Long Island is a haunted place!!!!!

1: The Amityville Horror House.  - On Novemeber 13th 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family (His mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters) within the house.  All fo teh victims of the murdered were found face down in their beds with no signs of struggle, which made many question how Defeo could have murded all 6 family members with a gun without any of them awaking and knowing.  The house remained empty for just over year after the murders before a new family moved in.  However upon moving in they claimed many strange happenings, including walls oozing green, the windows closing themselves and doorways disappearing.  There have been several stories and major movies written on the topic.

2: Kings Park Psychitatric Ward.  -The "Psych Center" operated officially from 1885 to 1996.  Many rummors swirl around the deserted buildings including that hundreds of murdered patients still wander the halls.  A quick drive past the looming empty buildings will give anyone the creeps, and those brave enough to enter can atest to the strang vibes you get there.  I have (as most teens) driven past the area, and even in the daylight it is a strange site.  One time I heard a scream comming from within the main building and I have never gone back!

3: Mount Missery. - Mount Misery is at the top of narrow winding road along the North Shore of Long Island.  Driving up at night there is risky, as many people go to the end of the road and into the woods to perform animal scrafices, do drugs or do other illegal things.  However the legend that surrounds it is more interesting. 

On the way to Mount Misery there is a bridge that goes over the roadway, legend has it that if you put your car in nuetral the child spirits from a fatal school bus accident will push your car up the hill.  It is belived that if you cover the hood of the car with baby powder their fingerprints will be captured in the powder.  This is just a warning.

It is believed that somewhere on Mount Misery a young girl named Mary was murdered and buried in an unmarked grave.  Although there is much debate about where Mary was buried many people have claimed to see her ghostly figure walking along the side of the road.  However when you stop or turn around she is gone!  Also there are many reports of people being chased down the road by an old car.  This car will just appear behind you and all you can see are the headlights chasing you down the road.  However when you finally get to the end of the road the car will be completely gone! 

Those are my favorite three but there are a ton more.  If you really like ghost stories there is an entire website dedicated to it here. (clicky)

One of my good friends in college grew up in West Islip. She was friends with the girl whose family lived there at the time, I'm not sure if they still live there. She said weird things happened there when she visited a few times.

cowgirl8238

csousa1 said:

cowgirl8238 said:

Oh so many for me...Long Island is a haunted place!!!!!

1: The Amityville Horror House.  - On Novemeber 13th 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family (His mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters) within the house.  All fo teh victims of the murdered were found face down in their beds with no signs of struggle, which made many question how Defeo could have murded all 6 family members with a gun without any of them awaking and knowing.  The house remained empty for just over year after the murders before a new family moved in.  However upon moving in they claimed many strange happenings, including walls oozing green, the windows closing themselves and doorways disappearing.  There have been several stories and major movies written on the topic.

2: Kings Park Psychitatric Ward.  -The "Psych Center" operated officially from 1885 to 1996.  Many rummors swirl around the deserted buildings including that hundreds of murdered patients still wander the halls.  A quick drive past the looming empty buildings will give anyone the creeps, and those brave enough to enter can atest to the strang vibes you get there.  I have (as most teens) driven past the area, and even in the daylight it is a strange site.  One time I heard a scream comming from within the main building and I have never gone back!

3: Mount Missery. - Mount Misery is at the top of narrow winding road along the North Shore of Long Island.  Driving up at night there is risky, as many people go to the end of the road and into the woods to perform animal scrafices, do drugs or do other illegal things.  However the legend that surrounds it is more interesting. 

On the way to Mount Misery there is a bridge that goes over the roadway, legend has it that if you put your car in nuetral the child spirits from a fatal school bus accident will push your car up the hill.  It is belived that if you cover the hood of the car with baby powder their fingerprints will be captured in the powder.  This is just a warning.

It is believed that somewhere on Mount Misery a young girl named Mary was murdered and buried in an unmarked grave.  Although there is much debate about where Mary was buried many people have claimed to see her ghostly figure walking along the side of the road.  However when you stop or turn around she is gone!  Also there are many reports of people being chased down the road by an old car.  This car will just appear behind you and all you can see are the headlights chasing you down the road.  However when you finally get to the end of the road the car will be completely gone! 

Those are my favorite three but there are a ton more.  If you really like ghost stories there is an entire website dedicated to it here. (clicky)

One of my good friends in college grew up in West Islip. She was friends with the girl whose family lived there at the time, I'm not sure if they still live there. She said weird things happened there when she visited a few times.

@csousa1, My FI is from West Islip!!!!  I wonder if they know one another? Also, I have never been to that house, but the other two sites I have been to (along with most from that site I linked) and some of them are very freaky!  There are some things that happen there that you cannot explain.

KateJ16

I don't know if it's really an urban legend... but I also used to leave near the old Joliet Prison (used in Blues Brothers, Prison Break, etc.).  I know that place is said to be WAY haunted. 

Apparently when they were filming Prison Break there, people would hear dripping water constantly, and only one person was capable of actually standing in John Wayne Gacy's cell for more than a couple minutes (everyone else got nauseous and sick right away).  Ew.

csousa1

I'm just gonna leave this right here....

http://www.cracked.com/article_16721_6-more-creepy-urban-legends-that-happen-to-be-true_p2.html

GoldenPenguin

cowgirl8238 said:

csousa1 said:

cowgirl8238 said:

Oh so many for me...Long Island is a haunted place!!!!!

1: The Amityville Horror House.  - On Novemeber 13th 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family (His mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters) within the house.  All fo teh victims of the murdered were found face down in their beds with no signs of struggle, which made many question how Defeo could have murded all 6 family members with a gun without any of them awaking and knowing.  The house remained empty for just over year after the murders before a new family moved in.  However upon moving in they claimed many strange happenings, including walls oozing green, the windows closing themselves and doorways disappearing.  There have been several stories and major movies written on the topic.

2: Kings Park Psychitatric Ward.  -The "Psych Center" operated officially from 1885 to 1996.  Many rummors swirl around the deserted buildings including that hundreds of murdered patients still wander the halls.  A quick drive past the looming empty buildings will give anyone the creeps, and those brave enough to enter can atest to the strang vibes you get there.  I have (as most teens) driven past the area, and even in the daylight it is a strange site.  One time I heard a scream comming from within the main building and I have never gone back!

3: Mount Missery. - Mount Misery is at the top of narrow winding road along the North Shore of Long Island.  Driving up at night there is risky, as many people go to the end of the road and into the woods to perform animal scrafices, do drugs or do other illegal things.  However the legend that surrounds it is more interesting. 

On the way to Mount Misery there is a bridge that goes over the roadway, legend has it that if you put your car in nuetral the child spirits from a fatal school bus accident will push your car up the hill.  It is belived that if you cover the hood of the car with baby powder their fingerprints will be captured in the powder.  This is just a warning.

It is believed that somewhere on Mount Misery a young girl named Mary was murdered and buried in an unmarked grave.  Although there is much debate about where Mary was buried many people have claimed to see her ghostly figure walking along the side of the road.  However when you stop or turn around she is gone!  Also there are many reports of people being chased down the road by an old car.  This car will just appear behind you and all you can see are the headlights chasing you down the road.  However when you finally get to the end of the road the car will be completely gone! 

Those are my favorite three but there are a ton more.  If you really like ghost stories there is an entire website dedicated to it here. (clicky)

One of my good friends in college grew up in West Islip. She was friends with the girl whose family lived there at the time, I'm not sure if they still live there. She said weird things happened there when she visited a few times.

@csousa1, My FI is from West Islip!!!!  I wonder if they know one another? Also, I have never been to that house, but the other two sites I have been to (along with most from that site I linked) and some of them are very freaky!  There are some things that happen there that you cannot explain.

One of my former basketball players was from Amityville, and when we played on LI, we went to her house for dinner, so we drove by the house. There are people living there now. It looks very unassuming from the outside, but knowing what happened there creeped me out as we drove by. 

[Deleted User]

I don't have any that I can think of (except one of the buildings at my H's work was an old morgue, and his coworkers complain of creepy happenings, but that's not an urban legend really).  there have got to be some, I just need to hunt them down.

in the meantime, TELL ME MOAR!

GoldenPenguin

buddysmom80 said:

I just moved to the town I live in so I haven't heard any urban legends yet. There's a whole haunted town in Connecticut called Dudley Town. The town I grew up in, there was a road that allegedly used to have a home for the insane tucked away and you can see orbs and stuff, but I've never witnessed anything since I used to drive through that road all the time to get from one side of town to the other.

YEAAAAA Dudley Town. Is that where the cemetery is too? We used to go up there in college, but I can't remember if it's the same place or not.

leia1979

Swazzle said:

I'm not sure if this counts as an 'urban legend' but the only thing I can think of is the Jersey Devil. 

As per Wiki: 

"It was said that Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, stated that this one would be the Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings and a forked tail. It growled and screamed, then killed the midwife before flying up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exorcised the demon for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890."

While I didn't move here until 6 years ago, I spent my childhood summers in NJ and would always stay away from fields and wooded areas because of the Jersey Devil. 

This would make a great episode of "Sleepy Hollow." The Jersey Devil would just have to travel to NY. And now I know where the NJ Devils get their name from.

blabla89

southernpeach89 said:

@lalalaurita -I'm in Atlanta too and so is @lmhollister, what part are you from? We are outside the Perimeter. I've heard of Blondie before lol!

I believe there is this old abandoned mental hospital somewhere in Atlanta that a lot of kids will attempt to access on Halloween. I've heard that once you're in there you here screaming, and noises of past patients. I've never been there myself but this is coming from friends of mine so who knows, they could just be trying to scare me.

I'm in Virginia Highland! Are you talking about the Briarcliff estate? It is totally creepy. There's a mansion built by the heir to the Coca Cola family, complete with gardens, greenhouses, swimming pools and a fountain, all of which are now falling apart. Later it was used as a mental institution, and they built little cottages and a large office building. There’s a network of underground tunnels connecting the cottages and the main building. Incidentally the setting of American Horror Story: Asylum was called Briarcliff...connection?

It’s owned by Emory now and the main building is used for offices and such, but the rest is crumbling. My bf and I went exploring once – it was super creepy but otherwise pretty cool. But then we got busted by an Emory cop as we were driving away…I played the alumni card.

There was also an abandoned psychiatric facility as well as a larger hospital in Brook Run park in Dunwoody, but I think the hospital was demolished recently.

[Deleted User]

@lalalaurita -Ok you're much closer to the city than we are. We live towards the Alpharetta/Cumming area. Briarcliff sounds really familiar though, that must be what I heard about. I've never been there myself though, I'll have to ask FI if he knows about it.

Beads921

Ugh - these are creepy and DH isn't home and it's getting dark :S

Mine isn't very good. There is a big old house in my town that has been dubbed a "castle" and heritage site. It's a museum now. Anyway, rumour has it that a little boy haunts the upper floor and staircase and can be heard walking around and giggling, but never seen. He died in the home after tumbling down the stairs over 100 years ago.

bride2b71614

I know I am late to the party, but here is what I know: Our courthouse is attached to an old jail. It is rumored that two ghosts haunt that specific building. I've had to go into that building a few times now and it gives me the creeps. 

The jail held some of Pittsburgh's most dangerous criminals who were sentenced to death. One serial killer committed suicide and allegedly haunts the building (allegedly other criminals were creeped out after it happened, and apparently you can hear him moaning and screaming late at night). The second ghost is the wife of a warden who attempted to break two criminals out of jail, and attempted to kill her husband in the process. The warden's wife allegedly haunts the fourth floor bathroom. Being pregnant, I forced myself to pee in my office building before heading into that particular building so that I would avoid using that bathroom.