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Urban Legends.

692 replies

LordOfThe5Rings · 03/08/2012 23:23

I know I've been hogging the boards the last few days, but I don't care :P Just been curious on other peoples opinions on things.

I didn't know where to put this, so I apologise if it's in the wrong category.

I was wondering what everyones favourite Urban Legend/Cautionary Tale was. I have been fascinated in them for pretty much forever, due to so many meanings and of course expressing the nations fears.

So what are your favourites? Feel free to share the UL with us! :)

OP posts:
Uppermid · 08/08/2012 10:29

Worldgonecrazy. Dh has spent many years telling the dcs that the tooth fairy is really a six foot tall, hairy man with a bit of a beer belly. He's very convincing too Grin

BertieBotts · 08/08/2012 10:28

(Last one was the one with the mother and child together)

BertieBotts · 08/08/2012 10:25

This is the slender man picture which creeps me out!

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos?from=Main.TheSlenderManMythos

Oh god, and this one Shock www.tumblr.com/tagged/slender-man?before=1344375653

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 08/08/2012 10:24

Have never heard of the stickmen phenomenon. I've no idea how that passed me by.

world, I too wonder if they're a variation on 'proper' fairies.

Elsqueak · 08/08/2012 08:54

Fairies, aliens or disgruntled scarecrows, whatever they are I can't read anymore Stickmen stories-had the worst night's sleep last night (thought I saw red eyes on the bedroom wall) and to top it off blood-curdling fox shrieking in the street at 1am...pesky imagination!

worldgonecrazy · 08/08/2012 08:05

"Real" fairies, as opposed to the cute silvery-winged Victorian fairies, are supposed to be very tall and very thin with long arms and legs. I wonder if the "stickmen" is a modern day interpretation of this?

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 08/08/2012 04:03

The jigsaw one was scary, but now all I can do is PMSL at the thought of the murderer tapping away on his Mac trying to get the picture right and then eagerly rushing to meet the postman every day to find out if he's got anything from Snappy Snaps

BlackOutTheSun · 07/08/2012 21:57

No please don't I've just had to go to the shop in the dark and was shitting myself

northernmonkey · 07/08/2012 21:22

Cleo it's a scary phenomenon!! Think we need to highlight it more

CleoSmackYa · 07/08/2012 21:02

northernmonkey That's happened to me! Shock

Elsqueak · 07/08/2012 17:34

rainy thanks for the link...Stickmen are horrid! Had no idea the legend was so common. Am going to be firmly shutting my bedroom window tonight and sweating it out til dawn. There's a tree right outside so no way am I looking out the window at night again!

Gabeesh · 07/08/2012 17:25

Lol, you gotta love those magical dark forces, they make this stuff so much easier. But I do love the idea of him studiously photoshopping with his Wacom tablet and pen, cursing as he tries to get the opacity right then thinking "Oooh, i've done a good job with that. I was going to just post it to her but fuckit - that's worthy if a jigsaw!'

LordOfThe5Rings · 07/08/2012 17:05

Oooh dear, some of these are pretty freaky.

I am not sure what the most scary thing that's happened to me was there has been a few. One is really odd though.

It was Halloween (I know, I know corny, but true) and I was 12 years old. I was over at my friend Becky's house and we watched a few horror films after trick or treating. I fell asleep before her and she obviously didn't want to wake me up so left me downstairs and put a blanket over me. I woke up approximately halof an hour afterwards I would say and looked around all fine so shrugged and went back to sleep. Next thing I knew I woke up feeling extremely cold. I had woke up outside in her garden, with the blanket blown off somewhere in the garden. Strange thing is her Mum had the key to the doors out to the back garden, as they were patio doors and couldn't be opened from the inside. How on Earth I got outside I don't know. I knocked on the door, which was locked and had to be let back in by her shcoked mother, who was as freaked out as I was. :o

I also had an experience where I was upstairs listening to music it was around 7.55 or something and then I had a weird experience; my body went cold as if something went through me and then my vision went completely in shades of green, no kidding. It lasted about 5 or 6 seconds, then stopped. Freaked out, I went downstairs (about 11 / 12 when this happened too) my Mum was at work at my Dad was driving her there and they'd be about 45 minutes. Anyway my cat (I had 2 at the time, but only one in) walked in the room. I began to watch Eastenders and then saw a black shadow in the corner of my eye. I thought it must be my tortoiseshell but mainly black cat and thought she must've sneaked in with my ginger and white cat. No, she was nowhere to be seen. This happened again. Then I heard a harsh hiss. It was my ginger and white cat. Now when I say he was the softest cat you'd ever meet I am not exaggerating. He has never bit or scratched me, even though he put up with me at 7 and 8 years old as a kitten. Now he was hissing at me. I went, "It's OK Dougal, it's OK what's wrong?" and then he lunged for me. I ran out of the room and shut the door. He was scratching like a mad man (well cat, but you know) on the other side of the door and didn't stop for a good 5 minutes. I went upstairs til my parents came in.

I have weird experiences. :o

OP posts:
EauRouge · 07/08/2012 17:03

Also if she was an avid jigsaw fan she probably would've done the people first because they are easy and left the hard bits like wallpaper and floor until last.

EauRouge · 07/08/2012 17:02

Ah, the magical dark forces makes more sense. I had a mental image of the axe man turning up every day with an easel and canvas. That would've taken ages though and the old lady probably would've noticed.

Gabeesh · 07/08/2012 16:38

Lol!

Re the jigsaw one - don't you see it was a painting of the room which magical dark forces had placed the gruesome spectre of the axe murderer in. Quite a common trope - think 'The Witches' or 'Dorien Gray'.

molepom · 07/08/2012 16:30
Grin
northernmonkey · 07/08/2012 16:26

Now this story involves something far more scarey than stick men or black eyed boys...no no this story involves the most scariest of being EVER!!!

There was a woman who lived in a house by the sea. Now this woman was as normal as you or me! She worked in a school so was looking forward to having time off in the summer.
One morning she awoke to the most glorious blue skies and the sun shining hard. She decided it was time to get up and make a cup of tea....then it happened.

Whilst sat down enjoying her cup of tea and enjoying watching the olympics, the three most scariest beings entered the room!!
What happened next nobody knows.
All I can tell you is that her husband arrived home later that evening from work to find his wife sat in the corner of the room, rocking backwards and forwards with drool dripping down from her mouth. He hair was ragged and her eyes were blood shot and staring into space.

The house was destroyed. Whatever these things where had eaten all the junk food, dragged everything out of all the drawers, cupboards and basically left the house in a tip!!!

A few days later after a few bottles of wine, the husband managed to get his wife to draw out what had happened.
All I can tell you is that whatever it was...it was child like Shock

northernmonkey · 07/08/2012 16:14

It was one of the first legends I was told as a child and it scared the hell out of me. But yes he was very clever to get a photo of her put on to the jigsaw and photoshop himself into it with an axe!! Very clever murdered Grin

whatkungfuthat · 07/08/2012 16:11

northernmonkey I love how it was the days before TV but the axeman was able to get a nice photo jigsaw Grin

rainydaysarebad · 07/08/2012 16:03

That is really scary Lemarchands! I got shivers up my spine reading that!

Elsqueak - If you go up and click on the link I posted there is an exact same story of the infamous MN stickman story on there. I think it was a lie, unless stickmen always run after people and peer through their window.

The "lolloping gait" always reminds me of those Goons in Popeye the Sailor man.

northernmonkey · 07/08/2012 15:58

someone mentioned this one earlier in the thread

A married couple were going out for the evening and called in a teenage babysitter to take care of their three children. When she arrived they told her they probably wouldn't be back until late, and that the kids were already asleep so she needn't disturb them.

The babysitter starts doing her homework while awaiting a call from her boyfriend. After awhile the phone rings. She answers it, but hears no one on the other end ? just silence, then whoever it is hangs up. After a few more minutes the phone rings again. She answers, and this time there's a man on the line who says, in a chilling voice, "Have you checked the children?"

Click.

At first she thinks it might have been the father calling to check up and he got interrupted, so she decides to ignore it. She goes back to her homework, then the phone rings again. "Have you checked the children?" says the creepy voice on the other end.

"Mr. Murphy?" she asks, but the caller hangs up again.

She decides to phone the restaurant where the parents said they'd be dining, but when she asks for Mr. Murphy she is told that he and his wife had left the restaurant 45 minutes earlier. So she calls the police and reports that a stranger has been calling her and hanging up. "Has he threatened you?" the dispatcher asks. No, she says. "Well, there's nothing we can really do about it. You could try reporting the prank caller to the phone company."

A few minutes go by and she gets another call. "Why haven't you checked the children?" the voice says.

"Who is this?" she asks, but he hangs up again. She dials 911 again and says, "I'm scared. I know he's out there, he's watching me."

"Have you seen him?" the dispatcher asks. She says no. "Well, there isn't much we can do about it," the dispatcher says. The babysitter goes into panic mode and pleads with him to help her. "Now, now, it'll be okay," he says. "Give me your number and street address, and if you can keep this guy on the phone for at least a minute we'll try to trace the call. What was your name again?"

"Linda."

"Okay, Linda, if he calls back we'll do our best to trace the call, but just keep calm. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes," she says, and hangs up. She decides to turn the lights down so she can see if anyone's outside, and that's when she gets another call.

"It's me," the familiar voice says. "Why did you turn the lights down?"

"Can you see me?" she asks, panicking.

"Yes," he says after a long pause.

"Look, you've scared me," she says. "I'm shaking. Are you happy? Is that what you wanted?"

"No."

"Then what do you want?" she asks.

Another long pause. "Your blood. All over me."

She slams the phone down, terrified. Almost immediately it rings again. "Leave me alone!" she screams, but it's the dispatcher calling back. His voice is urgent.

"Linda, we've traced that call. It's coming from another room inside the house. Get out of there! Now!!!"

She tears to the front door, attempting to unlock it and dash outside, only to find the chain at the top still latched. In the time it takes her to unhook it she sees a door open at the top of the stairs. Light streams from the children's bedroom, revealing the profile of a man standing just inside.

She finally gets the door open and bursts outside, only to find a cop standing on the doorstep with his gun drawn. At this point she's safe, of course, but when they capture the intruder and drag him downstairs in handcuffs, she sees he is covered in blood. Come to find out, all three children have all been murdered.

northernmonkey · 07/08/2012 15:56

My great-great grandmother, ill for quite some time, finally passed away after lying in a coma for several days. My great-great grandfather was devastated beyond belief, as she was his one true love and they had been married over 50 years. They were married so long it seemed as if they knew each other's innermost thoughts.

After the doctor pronounced her dead, my great-great grandfather insisted that she was not. They had to literally pry him away from his wife's body so they could ready her for burial.

Now, back in those days they had backyard burial plots and did not drain the body of its fluids. They simply prepared a proper coffin and committed the body (in its coffin) to its permanent resting place. Throughout this process, my great-great grandfather protested so fiercely that he had to be sedated and put to bed. His wife was buried and that was that.

That night he woke to a horrific vision of his wife hysterically trying to scratch her way out of the coffin. He phoned the doctor immediately and begged to have his wife's body exhumed. The doctor refused, but my great-great grandfather had this nightmare every night for a week, each time frantically begging to have his wife removed from the grave.

Finally the doctor gave in and, together with local authorities, exhumed the body. The coffin was pried open and to everyone's horror and amazement, my great-great grandmother's nails were bent back and there were obvious scratches on the inside of the coffin.

BrianButterfield · 07/08/2012 15:46

How long did that axeman stand at the window? Imagine if she'd finished it just as he'd popped into the bushes for a wee.

Birnamwood · 07/08/2012 15:37

Bfg? That's what the stick man (slightly) reminds me of.