Urban legends rarely make a whole lot of sense. They are usually just reasonable enough to get people talking about them, though, and that's how they spread.
Reddit user u/SlothAgainstHumanity asked:
"What's a local legend/horror story in your town everyone collectively believes or tells?"
10.
We have The Bandage Man. It's basically a story of a guy who either got cut up, fell into a wood chipper, got into a fight with a bear (it really depends on who you ask) and now wanders the woods along the highway, covered in bandages. If you are unlucky enough to pull over, he'll get in you car and kill you.
I just recently saw a flyer on the bulletin board at the local post office asking for people's stories so someone can make a mocumentary.
9.
There is a road in a wooded area near where I live and the street is literally called “Hairy Man Road”. Legend goes that there was a kid who was separated from his family when they were trying to escape some bad weather (in the 1800’s). He ended up surviving alone in the woods and terrorized people who would come through. Eventually he was trampled to death by some people/horses passing by that he tried to scare. I forget how weird the name of the road is until I have to say it out loud. There are Hairy Man Festivals each year in my town, and the hairiest man legit wins a prize. So weird lmao
8.
There's an urban legend in my town about a bus full of children in the 70's that went up Gold Camp Road, this narrow, dirt incline into the mountains, and went over the side, killing everyone on the bus.
Legend has it that if you drive up that road and park your car where the bus went over the side, you'll get little hand prints all over your car from the ghost children.
It's amazing to me how many locals still believe this story.
7.
Some people built a house in our town. It's a waterfront property with a swimming pool for some reason, it's surrounded by security fence and even has spotlights. People in town referred to the place as "mafia retreat". I met the people who live there (they're the second owners)
Although we don't know much about the original owners, the people who live there currently had it officially renamed to mafia retreat.
6.
The Bragg Lights.
Railroad worker was holding a lantern, fell and hit his head, got run over/decapitated. Now you see his light as he looks for his head.
Except there are no records anywhere of such an incident anywhere near here.
5.
Blucifer, the Demon Bronco of the Denver Airport.
Basically, this sculptor designed a giant rearing blue mustang statue to put in front of the Denver airport (Denver's the home of the Broncos football team, whose colors are blue and orange). Before it was finished, however, it collapsed onto and killed the sculptor. That, plus the fact that its eyes glow red at night and that it just generally looks terrifying, has created the local legend that it's sentient, demonic, and steals the souls of tourists passing through the airport.
Every time I fly I say a brief prayer as I drive by, asking Lord Blucifer to stay his rage and grant me safe passage.
4.
I've lived in several towns - ones with populations from 100,000 - 5,000 people. There's always a group of people (usually moderately successful in business) who party hard together. The rest of the town are convinced there's partner swapping/sharing going on at these gatherings. Never been any evidence and no one's seen it but have always heard from "a friend of a friend who was at the party, but left when the shenanigans started". Hey it's probably happened occasionally, but every time?
3.
Native West Texan. La Llorona, El Chupacabra, and aliens are very real to us. El Chupacabra is usually blamed for livestock deaths- sheep and goats on small ranches. People will buzz about it for a day or two and it'll be over. No offense to sheep but they're dumb enough to accidentally kill themselves and I don't think they need much help. La Llorona wasn't part of my collective conscience until I was older, but people keeping their kids away from rivers was VERY common in my area, though absolutely with good reason because water quality and flash flooding made it sketchy at best. Aliens? Now that's the one I'm more willing to believe.
West Texas is extremely empty, in case you've never been, so you see strange lights, in some of the darkest and most isolated parts of the country? That's weird. That's worth suspicion.
One VERY localized one was told to me by my Spanish teacher in high school- the ghost motel up one of the highways outside of town. It looked like a 50s drive in motel and when he first moved here it was open, people were there, lights were on, and he stopped and talked to the desk clerk asking for directions.
When he got into town, allegedly he mentioned it to his neighbor and they told him the place had been closed for 30 years. He drove back, and sure enough it was boarded up, abandoned, and in awful shape. People made a habit of going out there on dares and there's been a few weird stories, but I'm suspicious of the merit to them.
2.
The Manchester Pusher.
Manchester, England is a city with a large downtown canal and river network. There's an urban legend that a serial killer is active who wanders the city's waterways and pushes people into the water and leaves them to drown. According to the local police, there were 28 unexplained deaths in the water between 2008 and 2014. Family members of some of these "victims" insist that their loved one's death was no accident even though the police have written off the Pusher as an urban legend.
1.
My uni's legend says that whoever eats from the mulberry tree growing behind the Linguistics building shall never graduate, and if they graduate, they shall pursue academic carreer and never leave the university.
What is the weirdest urban legend you've ever heard?
