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What's an urban legend or myth of your region?

Gaf,

It's October which means leaves are changing, we have pumpkin spice everything, and Halloween is approaching. I want to ask if your region has an urban legend, myth, or alleged mysterious occurrence.

The stranger and more haunting, the better.
 

noquarter

Member
Don't know how or where it really started, but living outside Colorado Springs in the early 90s there was supposedly a ManBearPig that fucked up livestock and kids that went out in the fields at night.

Never heard of it before moving to that area from California, so thought it was regional, then the South Park episode happened and really don't know if it was regional or not.

Edit: guess it isn't really urban either, more a rural myth. Oh well.
 

jstripes

Banned
We have the tale of a mayor who hangs around in the woods, smoking crack and drinking vodka. If you look in the mirror at midnight and say "taxpayers" three times, you may hear a pained howl of "GRAVY TRAIN" in the distance.
 

Strax

Member
Iceland culture is basically based on myths and legends.

Yule Lads are my fav. tho.

cyq8i5F.jpg
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Sharks. Where I live nobody used to talk about sharks, but after years of Shark Week blowing smoke up everyone's asses people bring up great whites constantly like it's the #1 cause of death in my area. Shark week can seriously fuck off.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
I grew up in a Long Island town not far from Amityville, if that counts.
 
The Cauld Lad.

Wae's me, wae's me,
The acorn's not yet fallen from the tree,
That's to grow the wood,
That's to make the cradle,
That's to rock the bairn
That's to grow to the man
That's to lay me!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauld_Lad_of_Hylton

There's also the Lambton Worm (a dragon that grows big enough to terrorise the locals and feed on their cattle) but that's more a folk tale than a spooky story.
 

RMI

Banned
Yeh everyone knows that being snarky and bitter on the internet is the true path to success.

not at all what I was saying, but sure clearly this is a country where people rise to the top on the basis of their knowledge, ability, and hard work. Just pull those bootstraps!
 

Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
SoCal here. There's a state-wide myth that In n Out burgers are the best in the business. Thankfully, just an urban legend with no veracity behind the claim.

: D
 
I grew up right next to the supposed location of the legendary city of Ys.
Yes, the one the games are named after. And I had never heard of that legend until I read an article about Ys Seven, lol.

The whole thing is basically a celtic / french remake of the Atlantis myth.
 
Tacoma, Washington. At one point or another we served as the home of Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway and John Allen Muhammed, so there's a lot of stories about supposed killings that are unverified.

The main one I can think of is that University of Puget Sound is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a woman who was killed by Bundy and her corpse was dumped in the foundation of the university while a new building was under construction.
 

obin_gam

Member
The Skvader (a hare with the wings of a grouse) roams the forests of Lunde in northern Sweden. One of them got caught once back in the 1920s I believe and is now in a museum. Legend has it you can encounter it when walking and getting lost in these woods...
Orginalskvader.jpg
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
The Skvader (a hare with the wings of a grouse) roams the forests of Lunde in northern Sweden. One of them got caught once back in the 1920s I believe and is now in a museum. Legend has it you can encounter it when walking and getting lost in these woods...
Orginalskvader.jpg

Oh, this reminds me of Oregon's Jackalope!
(looks like it is not just Oregon, by any means)

Jackalopepc.jpg
 

CDV13

Member
There is a a grave, named Mary Janes grave, on a property near Malabar Farm in Mansfield, Ohio. People roll out to that and get all spooked. If you stay there overnight shit is supposed to go down. Went there once, was scared, we left.

There was a little girl who poisoned her family with arsenic at Malabar Farm I’m the early 1900s. That house was on ghost hunters.

The Mansfield Reformatory that was used on Shawshank Redemption and some music videos is also supposedly haunted. Multiple ghost shows have been there. It is creepy in there for sure.
 
In the South of the Netherlands and east of Belgium, people believed that folks could be conscripted in Satan's army. Those who signed the pact with the devil would be given giant, flying goats to raid villages.
kyCSuwD.jpg
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
The Skvader (a hare with the wings of a grouse) roams the forests of Lunde in northern Sweden. One of them got caught once back in the 1920s I believe and is now in a museum. Legend has it you can encounter it when walking and getting lost in these woods...
Orginalskvader.jpg

Oh, this reminds me of Oregon's Jackalope!
(looks like it is not just Oregon, by any means)

Jackalopepc.jpg

Combine them and you get a wolpertinger!

 

Phu

Banned
Detroit has Nain Rouge which is basically a weird amalgamate between an Odawa manitou [a guardian] and a Pagan god [a harbinger of doom]. Basically, back when the French arrived in the area, they convinced themselves there was a little red jerk hanging around and blamed their misfortunes on it. I haven't paid it much attention, but relatively recently people have started up a parade where they put on masks, march around, and then burn a Nain Rouge effigy. I don't know how seriously people actually take it, but I think there's still back and forth on whether it's good spirit or a bad spirit given its mixed roots.

That's kinda the only 'urban legend' type of myth I can think of for the area.
 

vikki

Member
Follow the ritual correctly in a dark bathroom and you will have summoned Bloody Mary to torment you. My elementary school principal tried to convince everyone that she wasn't real by saying that he performed the summoning ritual in the school bathroom.

I feel like most everywhere has their version of Bloody Mary.
 
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