Favorite urban legends

[badgeguy]

Ok, it's Halloween time again and our local paper just printed an article about some urban legends. So it got me thinking about what Urban Legends are in your area?

One they listed which can't be proven a hoax yet was the one about the little girl who was home watching TV and said she saw a reflection in the TV of a guy standing outside their patio door, in the snow.....She called 911 and when the police arrived they explained to her that there would be footprints in the snow had someone been standing outside....the story then says that a cop went behind the couch to look at the angle of the TV to see if it showed the patio door....the cop them noticed wet footprints behind the couch!!


What's your favorite UL?

[chi-o_cat]

I've always had a soft spot for the Campus Halloween Murders story. That one hit my campus-hard- in the Fall of 1991. People took it really seriously- a lot of kids went home for the weekend that it was supposed to happen.

[badgeguy]

I remember that one too, I was at Univ. of Cincinnati and it was going around....the guys in my fraternity all stuck around to see if it would really happen......

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

I've always had a soft spot for the Campus Halloween Murders story. That one hit my campus-hard- in the Fall of 1991. People took it really seriously- a lot of kids went home for the weekend that it was supposed to happen.

This one hit Michigan State University hard in '98 or '99, but I haven't heard of it since. I was still in high school then but I remember a teacher warning us about it in case we had older siblings or relatives at State.

Not my favorite urban legend (actually hate it bc it spreads ignorance about the transmission of HIV) but I've seen a lot of people on FB posting "stories" about people putting "HIV infected needles" underneath gas pumps.

[Tulip86]

My favorite is the "Killer in the backseat" story.

Woman drives home late at night after a storm and when driving on a forest road there is a branch blocking the road and she steps out of the car to clear the road. Another car approaches and starts honking.
She's alarmed and quickly gets back in the car, locks the doors and drives away.
But still, the car keeps following her and honking and flashing the lights.
She drives faster, and faster, but still the car keeps following her.
Even when she arrives at her house, the car is still behind her and she's scared to get out.
She musters her courage and jumps our, screaming that she will call the police if he doesn't leave her alone.
A man quickly steps out of the other car and says:
Good! Because when you dragged that branch off the road I saw a man run out of the forest and climb into your back seat!

Turns out there is a man with an axe in her backseat and the man in the other car followed her home to make sure she was safe.

[Sciencewoman]

There is a large, hilly, very wooded park in my town. It's adjacent to the cemetery, and very close to the neighborhood where I was grew up. In this park, there was an outdoor log seating area called "The Devil's Amphitheater." It was off in the woods, and the legend was that a Satanic cult built and used this amphitheater for their nefarious activities.

We talked about this a lot in high school, and one night the teens in our neighborhood decided to go there to check it out, because some of us hadn't seen it. We got flash lights (one kid brought a creepy lantern, and dragged one of his feet, ala Igor), went through the cemetery, and finally found the amphitheater. Nothing happened.

Later we found out it was built by the park for an outdoor children's story hour. What a let down!

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

This one hit Michigan State University hard in '98 or '99, but I haven't heard of it since. I was still in high school then but I remember a teacher warning us about it in case we had older siblings or relatives at State.

Not my favorite urban legend (actually hate it bc it spreads ignorance about the transmission of HIV) but I've seen a lot of people on FB posting "stories" about people putting "HIV infected needles" underneath gas pumps.

Ha ha...it's still floating around FB. One of my techs posted it about three days ago. I told her not to believe everything he reads and another friend gave her a "demerit" for not checking Snopes before posting something so stupid.

[UVA17]

Originally Posted by badgeguy

One they listed which can't be proven a hoax yet was the one about the little girl who was home watching TV and said she saw a reflection in the TV of a guy standing outside their patio door, in the snow.....She called 911 and when the police arrived they explained to her that there would be footprints in the snow had someone been standing outside....the story then says that a cop went behind the couch to look at the angle of the TV to see if it showed the patio door....the cop them noticed wet footprints behind the couch!!

Whoa! I've never heard that one before and it gave me the willies!

[ChioLu]

I've got 2:

The Spook Lights in Northeastern Oklahoma: http://www.prairieghosts.com/spooksville.html
People have seen them for over 100 years, but the source of the lights are a mystery.

Next ... a friend told me this story about someone she knew (so no verification):
A woman had a pet snake (oxymoron) that wasn't eating a lot. She found it laying beside her, length-wise, in her bed a few times. She would put it on the floor but thought it was kind of odd. She asked her vet, who specialized in snakes, about it.
The vet said, "Please get rid of that snake TODAY. He's starving himself and measuring his length with your body to see if he can swallow you whole." (This 1 totally creeps me out.)

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by ChioLu

The Spook Lights in Northeastern Oklahoma: http://www.prairieghosts.com/spooksville.html
People have seen them for over 100 years, but the source of the lights are a mystery.

My sister and her husband just moved to Joplin. He is also working at his practice's satellite office in Miami, OK.

I just LOVED calling them last night and telling them, "Guess where you live? The "Spooksville Triangle!" So far, he hasn't seen any "spook lights" on his drives between Joplin and Miami, though.

My sister is really into Halloween, so she appreciated hearing about this legend.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by ChioLu

Next ... a friend told me this story about someone she knew (so no verification):
A woman had a pet snake (oxymoron) that wasn't eating a lot. She found it laying beside her, length-wise, in her bed a few times. She would put it on the floor but thought it was kind of odd. She asked her vet, who specialized in snakes, about it.
The vet said, "Please get rid of that snake TODAY. He's starving himself and measuring his length with your body to see if he can swallow you whole." (This 1 totally creeps me out.)

Why would she have a snake roaming around her house. Lock that thing up, idiot!!

[honeychile]

I had a client assessment in Bridgeview this week, across the street from Resurrection Cemetery. Nobody told me that it was the Resurrection Cemetery known for Resurrection Mary until I came back, the rats!

[AGDee]

The snake one is on snopes... as FALSE.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/measured.asp

One of Hypo's Biology teachers told us a story, in a very matter of fact manner, at open house, about the boa constrictor she took home to take care of over winter break. It got out and was living somewhere in her house. She knew it was still alive because she'd find the skin it shed from time to time and she suspected it was in the wall by the shower pipes because the shed skin was always in the basement under those pipes. She said it really freaked her husband out that it was in the house somewhere, but she wasn't concerned. She assumed it would show itself because it was getting close to the year mark since it had eaten and she said it only had to eat once a year. I never did hear whether she found it.

[StealthMode]

Originally Posted by Tulip86

My favorite is the "Killer in the backseat" story.

I totally fell for this one and thought it was real.

Pop rocks and soda. That is all.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The snake one is on snopes... as FALSE.

This thread is called "urban legends" for a reason. I had to remind myself that I was in the "urban legends" thread when I read the snakes one. LOL.