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We've heard 'em all: the guy with the hook, the man who wakes up with a missing kidney, "welcome to the world of AIDS," the choking dog, the headlight gang ritual, the girl who wakes up to find her college roommate dead, the babysitter who gets the phone calls to check on the kids. All stories we've heard that are supposedly true and happened to a friend of a friend of a friend.
Well, not only are these tales of terror not true, they're also much older than we think. It's funny to hear new variations of these stories I heard when I was a kid, only they take place "back in the early '80s" or something. I'm fascinated by urban legends and in the internet age, there are more crazy stories and rumors than ever (I frequently visit snopes.com to find out what's real and what isn't). Here are my five favorite scary urban legends in no particular order:
The Bunny Man
As a 14-year-resident of Fairfax County, VA, I heard quite a bit about the legend of The Bunny Man. It wasn't terribly close to my former neck of the woods, but I am familiar with the area. There are a lot of variations of the story, but the basic version is that an insane killer being transported to the now-closed prison in Lorton, VA managed to escape after a car crash. The insane killer lived off of bunny rabbits he caught and liked hanging the corpses from the trees. He was never caught. The Bunny Man Bridge in nearby Clifton is where on Halloween night victims are liable to run into an insane killer dressed in a bunny suit and wielding an axe. He leaves his victims hanging flayed like the bunny rabbits from beneath the bridge. In other versions, the Bunny Man was killed by a passing train and it's his ghost people see at the bridge on Halloween.
Of course there is no crazed maniac trying to kill anyone and there have never been any victims of any killer. The legend is loosely based on two incidents back in 1970 with a guy seemingly dressed in a bunny suit chased people off of his property while wielding an axe. No one was hurt or killed, although nobody seems to know who this guy was in the first place. Hmm...
Cry Baby Bridge
It seems like every rural town in America has a Cry Baby Bridge. Usually in a secluded location, the local Cry Baby Bridge is the site where women once dumped their unwanted babies into the water and those who visit the bridge late at night can hear the cries of drowning infants and/or the weeping of remorseful women. Of course, this legend is incredibly sad but what's interesting is how often it crops up without regard to region or culture. For instance, in Latin America there's a variation of this legend called La Llorona, a weeping banshee-like spirit who appears at bridges and other locations to mourn the loss of a baby. I think there's even a Chinese version of this story. Easily one of the most common haunting archetypes alongside the perennial Lady In White and the Vanishing Hitchhiker Who's Been Dead For Years.
Death By Pop Rocks
Pop Rocks first reached popularity in the late 1970s, back when I was a weejun. I loved Pop Rocks. But then at school and on the playground, I started hearing about the dangers of ingesting Pop Rocks and washing them down with Coke. My classmates SWORE they heard on the news or whatever that if you consumed the candy and the soda at the same time, your tummy will explode, followed shortly by your death.
Look, even as a 7-8-year-old, I knew that story was crap. But enough parents were concerned that they stopped buying Pop Rocks and stores started pulling them off their shelves. The stories got crazier. The Mikey Kid from the Life cereal ads (you have to be old like me to remember them) died from the Pop Rocks! Pop Rocks went underground for several years thanks to junk science and the lack of snopes.com at the time.
Three Men And A Baby Ghost
I saw Three Men And A Baby in the theaters when it first came out all of those years ago. Who knew that the Leonard Nimoy-directed romantic comedy would be the basis of a popular urban legend?
I first heard about it when the movie made its network t.v. debut when I was in college. Everybody started telling me they were going to watch to look for The Ghost in the film. Someone I knew in a sorority watched it with her fellow sorority chicks and everybody screamed when they saw The Ghost. Another girl who lived in my dorm building said she saw The Ghost too and it looked so sad.
Then I started hearing the story behind The Ghost. The film was supposedly shot in a penthouse in Toronto and unbeknownst to the filmmakers, a young boy accidentally killed himself with a gun in the penthouse some years beforehand. The restless spirit of the lad supposedly appears at one point in the film near the "window" as Ted Danson paces back and forth, talking to another character. That's not all! The dead boy's parents were so upset their ghostly child was caught on film, they sued the studio and director Leonard Nimoy!
Now I knew this story was absurd, but I had to see what everybody was ranting about. So I sat through the film and burst out laughing when I saw what looked like a misplaced prop and not a ghostly child. As it turns out, the "ghost" was a standee of Ted Danson's character that was originally in his "bedroom" but was for some reason misplaced on the wrong set. And the film was not shot in an actual penthouse, it was shot on a movie set.
Mauled At The Mouse House
I grew up in California and Florida, both states home to Disney parks. Naturally I heard the same stories from classmates in both SoCal and Miami about those foolish enough to stick their hands out while riding Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. According to these tales, riders have routinely lost their hands by raising them up or sticking them out to the side on both roller coasters, on both coasts!! One kid even told me a rider was decapitated on Space Mountain after standing up during the ride!!! You can bet I never raised my hands on any ride for several years.
I suspect these rumors started after parents would warn their younguns not to stand up or reach out too far from the coaster or else, but while there have been several real deaths and injuries at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, there have been no reports of anyone getting the Skywalker treatment for raising his hands up in the air while on either Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Well, not only are these tales of terror not true, they're also much older than we think. It's funny to hear new variations of these stories I heard when I was a kid, only they take place "back in the early '80s" or something. I'm fascinated by urban legends and in the internet age, there are more crazy stories and rumors than ever (I frequently visit snopes.com to find out what's real and what isn't). Here are my five favorite scary urban legends in no particular order:
The Bunny Man
As a 14-year-resident of Fairfax County, VA, I heard quite a bit about the legend of The Bunny Man. It wasn't terribly close to my former neck of the woods, but I am familiar with the area. There are a lot of variations of the story, but the basic version is that an insane killer being transported to the now-closed prison in Lorton, VA managed to escape after a car crash. The insane killer lived off of bunny rabbits he caught and liked hanging the corpses from the trees. He was never caught. The Bunny Man Bridge in nearby Clifton is where on Halloween night victims are liable to run into an insane killer dressed in a bunny suit and wielding an axe. He leaves his victims hanging flayed like the bunny rabbits from beneath the bridge. In other versions, the Bunny Man was killed by a passing train and it's his ghost people see at the bridge on Halloween.
Of course there is no crazed maniac trying to kill anyone and there have never been any victims of any killer. The legend is loosely based on two incidents back in 1970 with a guy seemingly dressed in a bunny suit chased people off of his property while wielding an axe. No one was hurt or killed, although nobody seems to know who this guy was in the first place. Hmm...
Cry Baby Bridge
It seems like every rural town in America has a Cry Baby Bridge. Usually in a secluded location, the local Cry Baby Bridge is the site where women once dumped their unwanted babies into the water and those who visit the bridge late at night can hear the cries of drowning infants and/or the weeping of remorseful women. Of course, this legend is incredibly sad but what's interesting is how often it crops up without regard to region or culture. For instance, in Latin America there's a variation of this legend called La Llorona, a weeping banshee-like spirit who appears at bridges and other locations to mourn the loss of a baby. I think there's even a Chinese version of this story. Easily one of the most common haunting archetypes alongside the perennial Lady In White and the Vanishing Hitchhiker Who's Been Dead For Years.
Death By Pop Rocks
Pop Rocks first reached popularity in the late 1970s, back when I was a weejun. I loved Pop Rocks. But then at school and on the playground, I started hearing about the dangers of ingesting Pop Rocks and washing them down with Coke. My classmates SWORE they heard on the news or whatever that if you consumed the candy and the soda at the same time, your tummy will explode, followed shortly by your death.
Look, even as a 7-8-year-old, I knew that story was crap. But enough parents were concerned that they stopped buying Pop Rocks and stores started pulling them off their shelves. The stories got crazier. The Mikey Kid from the Life cereal ads (you have to be old like me to remember them) died from the Pop Rocks! Pop Rocks went underground for several years thanks to junk science and the lack of snopes.com at the time.
Three Men And A Baby Ghost
I saw Three Men And A Baby in the theaters when it first came out all of those years ago. Who knew that the Leonard Nimoy-directed romantic comedy would be the basis of a popular urban legend?
I first heard about it when the movie made its network t.v. debut when I was in college. Everybody started telling me they were going to watch to look for The Ghost in the film. Someone I knew in a sorority watched it with her fellow sorority chicks and everybody screamed when they saw The Ghost. Another girl who lived in my dorm building said she saw The Ghost too and it looked so sad.
Then I started hearing the story behind The Ghost. The film was supposedly shot in a penthouse in Toronto and unbeknownst to the filmmakers, a young boy accidentally killed himself with a gun in the penthouse some years beforehand. The restless spirit of the lad supposedly appears at one point in the film near the "window" as Ted Danson paces back and forth, talking to another character. That's not all! The dead boy's parents were so upset their ghostly child was caught on film, they sued the studio and director Leonard Nimoy!
Now I knew this story was absurd, but I had to see what everybody was ranting about. So I sat through the film and burst out laughing when I saw what looked like a misplaced prop and not a ghostly child. As it turns out, the "ghost" was a standee of Ted Danson's character that was originally in his "bedroom" but was for some reason misplaced on the wrong set. And the film was not shot in an actual penthouse, it was shot on a movie set.
Mauled At The Mouse House
I grew up in California and Florida, both states home to Disney parks. Naturally I heard the same stories from classmates in both SoCal and Miami about those foolish enough to stick their hands out while riding Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. According to these tales, riders have routinely lost their hands by raising them up or sticking them out to the side on both roller coasters, on both coasts!! One kid even told me a rider was decapitated on Space Mountain after standing up during the ride!!! You can bet I never raised my hands on any ride for several years.
I suspect these rumors started after parents would warn their younguns not to stand up or reach out too far from the coaster or else, but while there have been several real deaths and injuries at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, there have been no reports of anyone getting the Skywalker treatment for raising his hands up in the air while on either Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
