Urban legends are often exciting stories containing many folkloric elements, and they spread quite quickly through society. Stories are told dramatically, as if they were true stories about real people - when in fact they may be 100% fictitious.

Local touches are often added to the legend, so it will be quite strange to hear the same story in different versions in different countries. Urban legends often carry a warning or some meaning that motivates society to preserve and spread them. One thing is for sure - some of these creepy urban legends have kept many people awake. Below are ten of the best urban legends:

10. Choking Doberman

This urban legend originates from Sydney, Australia and tells the story of a Doberman pinscher who choked on something. One night, a married couple went out for a walk and sat in a restaurant, when they returned home, they saw their dog choking in the living room. The man panicked and fainted, and the wife decided to call her old friend, a veterinarian, and arranged to bring the dog to the veterinary clinic.

After she took the dog to the clinic, she decided to return home and help her husband go to bed. This takes her some time and meanwhile the phone rang. The veterinarian screams hysterically into the phone that they need to quickly get out of their house. Without understanding what is happening, the married couple leaves the house as quickly as possible.

As they descend the stairs, several police officers run towards them. When the woman asks what happened, one of the officers replies that their dog choked on a man's finger. There is most likely still a burglar in their house. Soon after, the finger's former owner was found unconscious in the couple's bedroom.

9. Suicidal guy


This story, also known as "Death of the Boyfriend", is told in many variations and is considered a general warning not to stray too far from the safety of your home. Our version will focus on Paris in the 1960s. A girl and her boyfriend (both college students) kiss in his car. They parked near the Rambouillet forest so that no one could see them. When they finished, the guy got out of the car to get some fresh air and smoke a cigarette, while the girl waited for him in the safety of the car.

After she waited five minutes, the girl got out of the car to find her boyfriend. Suddenly she sees a man hiding in the shadow of a tree. Frightened, she gets back into the car to quickly leave - but while she was getting in, she heard a very quiet creaking sound, followed by several more creaking sounds.

This continues for several seconds, but the girl eventually decides that she has no other choice and decides to leave. She presses the gas pedal, but can’t go anywhere - someone tied a cable from the car’s bumper to a tree growing nearby.

As a result, the girl presses the gas pedal again and hears a loud scream. She gets out of the car and finds her boyfriend hanging from a tree. As it turned out, the creaking sounds were made by his shoes dragging along the roof of the car.

8. Woman with a torn mouth


In Japan and China, there is a legend about the girl Kuchisake-Onna, also known as the woman with the torn mouth. Some say she was the wife of a samurai. One day, she cheated on her husband with a young and handsome man. When the husband returned, he discovered her betrayal, and in a rage he took his sword and cut her mouth from ear to ear.

Some say that the woman was cursed - she will never die, and still walks around the world so that people can see the terrible scar on her face and feel sorry for her. Some claim that they saw a beautiful young girl who asked them: “Am I beautiful?” And when they answered positively, she tore off her mask and showed a terrible wound. Then she repeated her question - and anyone who stopped considering her beautiful would face a tragic death.

There are two morals to this story: it costs nothing to give a compliment, and honesty is not the best approach in all situations.

7. Bridge of the Crying Child


According to this legend, a couple was driving home from church with their child and arguing about something. It was raining heavily, and soon they had to cross a flooded bridge. As soon as they drove onto the bridge, it turned out that there was much more water than they thought, and the car was stuck - they decided that they had to go for help. The woman remained waiting, but got out of the car for a reason that one can only guess about.

When she turned away from the car, she suddenly heard her child crying loudly. She returned to the car and discovered that her child had been swept away by the water. According to the same legend, if you are on the same bridge, you can still hear a child crying there (the location of the bridge, of course, is unknown).

6 Alien Abduction of Zanfretta


The story of the kidnapping of Fortunato Zanfretta has become one of the most famous urban legends in Italy over the past few decades.

According to his own stories (originally made under hypnosis), Zanfretta was abducted by aliens Dragos from the planet Teetonia, and over the course of several years (1978-1981) he was repeatedly abducted several times by the same group from another planet. No matter how terrifying and creepy this story may sound, if we take into account the words of Zanfretta, spoken by him during a hypnosis session, we can evaluate the intentions of the aliens from an optimistic point of view:

“I know that you want to fly more often... no, you can’t fly to Earth, people will be scared of what you look like. You can't become our friends. Please fly away."

Zanfretta has perhaps provided more details about his alien abduction than any other person in history - his detailed accounts can make even the most ardent skeptic wonder if there is some truth to it. Until this day, the Zanfretta case remains one of the most interesting and mysterious "secret files".

5. White Death


This story is about a little girl from Scotland who hated life so much that she wanted to destroy everything connected with her. Finally, she decided to commit suicide, and soon after, her family discovered what she had done.

In a terrible coincidence, all members of her family died a few days later, their limbs torn off. Legend says that when you hear about the White Death, the ghost of a little girl may find you and knock on your door many times. Each knock gets louder until the man opens the door, after which she kills him so that he will not tell anyone else about her existence. Her main task is to make sure no one knows about her.

Like most urban legends, this story is most likely the product of the unbridled imagination of a modern Aesop.

4. Black Volga


According to rumors, on the streets of Warsaw in the 1960s, a black Volga was often spotted - in which people who kidnapped children were sitting. According to legend (no doubt aided by Western propaganda), Soviet officers rode around Moscow in the black Volga in the mid-1930s, kidnapping young, pretty girls to satisfy the sexual needs of high-ranking Soviet comrades. According to other versions of this legend, vampires, mystical priests, Satanists, human traffickers and even Satan himself lived in the Volga.

According to different versions of the legend, children were kidnapped in order to use their blood as a treatment for rich people from different parts of the world suffering from leukemia. Naturally, none of these versions were ever confirmed.

3. Greek soldier


This lesser-known legend tells of a Greek soldier who returned home after World War II to marry his bride. Unfortunately for him, he was captured by his compatriots with enemy political beliefs, tortured for five weeks and then killed. In the early 1950s, mainly in northern and central Greece, stories circulated of an attractive Greek soldier in uniform who would appear and quickly disappear, seducing beautiful widows and virgins with one goal - to give them a child.

Five weeks after the child was born, the man disappeared forever - leaving a note on the table in which he explained that he was returning from the world of the dead so that he could have sons who could avenge his murder.

2. Elisa Day


In medieval Europe, there lived a young girl named Eliza Day, whose beauty was like the wild roses growing by the river - bloody and red. One day a young man came to town and instantly fell in love with Eliza. They met for three days. On the first day he came to her house. On the second day, he brought her one red rose and asked her to meet where wild roses grow. On the third day, he took her to the river, where he killed her. The terrible man waited until she turned away from him, after which he took a stone and, whispering “All beauty must die,” killed her with one blow to the head. He put a rose in her teeth and pushed her body into the river. Some people claim to have seen her ghost wandering along the river bank, holding a single rose in her hand and blood streaming from her head.

Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave have a very beautiful song on the theme of this legend - “Where The Wild Roses Grow”:

1. Well to Hell


In 1989, Russian scientists drilled a well in Siberia to a depth of approximately 14.5 kilometers. The drill fell into a cavity in the earth's crust, and scientists lowered several devices into it to figure out what was going on. The temperature there exceeded 1000 degrees Celsius, but the real shock was what they heard on the recording.

Only 17 terrifying seconds of sound were recorded before the microphone melted. Many of the scientists, convinced that they had heard the cries of the damned from hell, quit their jobs - or so the story goes. Those who remained were even more shocked that night. A stream of luminescent gas shot out from the well, transforming into the shape of a giant winged demon, and then the words “I have won” could be read in the lights. Although the story is currently considered fiction, there are many people who believe it actually happened - the urban legend "The Well to Hell" is told to this day.

The world is full of stories about mythical monsters, mysterious creatures and legendary beasts. Some of these monsters were inspired by real animals or found fossils, while others are symbolic expressions of people's deepest fears. In our review, the story will be about the strangest and most terrible monsters.

1. Soukoyant

Soukoyant in the mythology of the Caribbean islands is a type of werewolf that belongs to a class of spirits (called "jambies" by the local population). During the day, the soukoyant looks like a weak old woman, and at night this creature sheds its skin, places it in a mortar, into which a special solution is poured, after which it turns into a fireball flying across the sky in search of victims. Soukoyant sucks the blood from his victims and then exchanges it for demons with otherworldly power.

Similar to European vampire myths, if a soukoyant drinks too much blood from its victim, it will either die or become a similar monster itself. To kill a soukoyant, you need to pour salt into the solution in which its skin lies, after which the creature will die at dawn (it will not be able to “put” the skin back on).

2. Kelpie

Kelpie is a water spirit that lives in the rivers and lakes of Scotland. Although the Kelpie usually appears in the form of a horse, it can also take the form of a human. Kelpies often lure people into giving them rides on their backs, after which they drag their victims underwater and devour them. However, stories of the evil water horse also served as an excellent warning to children to stay away from the water, and to women to be wary of handsome strangers.

3. Basilisk

The basilisk is usually described as a crested snake, although descriptions of a rooster with a snake's tail are sometimes found. This creature can kill birds with its fiery breath, people with its gaze, and other living creatures with its usual hiss. Legends say that the basilisk is born from a snake or toad egg that was hatched by a rooster. The word "basilisk" is translated from Greek as "little king", so this creature is often called the "snake king". During the Middle Ages, basilisks were accused of causing plague epidemics and mysterious murders.

4. Asmodeus

Asmodeus is a demon of lust who is mainly known from the Book of Tobit (a deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament). He pursues a woman named Sarah and kills seven of her husbands out of jealousy. In the Talmud, Asmodeus is mentioned as the prince of demons who expelled King Solomon from his kingdom. Some folklorists believe that Asmodeus is the son of Lilith and Adam. Legend has it that he is responsible for perverting people's sexual desires.

5. Yorogumo

There are probably more bizarre cryptozoological creatures in Japanese myth than there are in all the seasons of The X-Files. One of the most bizarre is the Yogorumo or "harlot" - an arachnid monster of the Yokai (goblin-like creatures) family. The legend of Yogorumo originated during the Edo period in Japan. It is believed that when a spider reaches the age of 400 years, it gains magical powers. In most legends, the spider turns into a beautiful woman, seduces men and lures them to her home, plays the biwa (Japanese lute) for them, and then entangles them in webs and devours them.

6. Black Annis

A ghostly witch from English folklore, Black Annis is an old woman with a blue face and iron claws who haunted peasants in Leicestershire. Legend has it that she lives in a cave in the Dane Hills, and at night she wanders around looking for children to devour. If Black Annis catches a child, she tans its skin and then wears it wrapped around her waist. Needless to say, parents used Black Annis to scare their children when they misbehaved.

7. Nabau

In 2009, two aerial photographs taken by researchers in Borneo showed a 30-meter snake swimming down a river. There is still debate over the authenticity of this photograph, as well as whether it actually shows a snake. Some argue that it is a log or a large boat. However, locals living along the Baleh River insist the creature is Nabau, an ancient dragon-like monster from Indonesian folklore. According to legend, Nabau is over 30 meters long, has a head with seven nostrils, and can take the form of several different animals.

8. Dullahan

Most people are familiar with Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the story of the Headless Horseman. The Irish Dullahan or "dark man" is essentially a precursor to the ghost of the beheaded Hessian soldier who haunted Ichabod Crane. In Celtic mythology, the dullahan is a harbinger of death. He rides a large black horse with flaming eyes and carries his head under his arm.

Some stories say that the dullahan calls out the name of a person who is about to die, while others say that he marks that person by pouring a bucket of blood on him. Like many monsters and mythical creatures, the Dullahan has one weakness: gold.

9. Red caps

Evil goblins in red caps live on the border between England and Scotland. According to legends, they usually live in ruined castles and kill lost travelers by throwing boulders from cliffs onto them. The goblins then paint the caps with the blood of their victims. Redcaps are forced to kill as often as possible because if the blood on their caps dries up, they die.

Evil creatures are usually depicted as old men with red eyes, large teeth, claws and holding a staff. They are faster and stronger than humans. Legend has it that the only way to escape such a goblin is to shout a quote from the Bible.

10. Brahmaparusha

Brahmaparusha is a vampire, but he is not at all ordinary. These evil spirits, which are told in Hindu mythology, have a lust for human brains. Unlike the suave, dapper vampires who live in Romania, the Brahmaparusha is a grotesque creature that wears the intestines of its victims around its neck and head. He also carries a human skull with him and when he kills a new victim, he pours his blood into this skull and drinks from it.

It is no less interesting to learn about.

Halloween is ahead of us all, and just recently Friday the 13th took place, so get ready for a new batch of creepy horror stories that have been frightening residents of many different cities around the world for many years.

Urban legends are passed down from generation to generation, just like good books or family traditions, so don't be surprised if your children's children also tell each other scary stories about black people and a coffin on wheels. And if Halloween is just around the corner and you're looking for inspiration for a new costume, check out this selection of horror movies right now!

10. El Silbon or Whistler

In Venezuela and Colombia there is a scary tale about a creature cursed to wander the Earth for eternity with a bag of bones on its back.

The mystical creature was once a little boy who lived with his parents in Venezuela. El Silbon was the only child in the family, and his parents spoiled him very much. As a result, the boy became a spoiled, capricious and mischievous young man.

One day, a child demanded that his parents cook him venison for dinner. The father was unable to obtain such meat, which greatly angered his demanding son. El Silbon stabbed his own father with a knife, pulled out his entrails and brought them to his mother so she could cook dinner from the offal.

The unsuspecting woman used the meat for cooking, although it seemed suspicious to her. Having finally realized what had happened, the mother was horrified and was so stricken with grief that she allowed the grandfather to punish the evil boy himself.

The grandfather beat the child half to death, and he poured lemon juice and rubbed chili pepper into his wounds. He then handed his grandson a bag full of his father's bones and set a pack of dogs on the little villain. Right before the animals tore the boy to pieces, his grandfather cursed him to wander forever. This is how a creature named El Silbon was born.

They say that he still wanders through forests, fields and villages, whistling a simple melody under his breath, and sneaking into other people's houses. There he throws the bag of bones on the floor and counts them right in the house. If no one notices the presence of the monster, one member of this family will die. However, if the household catches the Whistler (the second nickname of the cursed creature), no one will suffer, and, on the contrary, good luck is promised to the residents of the house.

9. Drawing of a suicide from Japan


Photo: urbanlegendsonline.com

The most disturbing and scary urban legends often appear in Asian countries, and many of them later even become the basis for famous horror films.

According to one such legend, a young Japanese woman painted a color portrait of a young girl who seemed to look straight into the viewer’s eyes. The talented artist published the drawing on the Internet and, for an unknown reason, soon committed suicide.

After the incident, netizens began to write comments on this drawing, and many said that they saw sadness and even anger in the eyes of the drawn girl. Others wrote that if you look at this portrait for too long, the stranger’s lips begin to curl into a grin, and a strange ring appears around her image. Some went even further - people began to spread rumors about poor souls who looked at the picture for more than 5 minutes in a row and then also committed suicide.

8. Nixes (Nykur)


Photo: kickassfacts.com

We are accustomed to horses being portrayed in films and pictures as beautiful creatures and noble animals. However, if you ever find yourself in Iceland and notice a gray horse standing on the shore of the sea or lake, do yourself a favor and take a closer look at the animal's hooves. If they look the other way, then you have a problem - it looks like you've met a nix...

They say that nyxes are monsters that live in the water, but sometimes come to the coast to lure unsuspecting people to the bottom of the reservoir. The skin of such a horse is sticky, so if a person, fascinated by a wild horse, wants to ride the animal, he will no longer be able to get off it and will be doomed to certain death, because the nyx will drag the rider to the bottom. There is a belief that if you shout the name of a mystical horse, it will get scared and run back into the water without harming anyone.

7. Child on a high chair

This city walks all over the world, but it most likely appeared in Norway. For many years, one Norwegian couple could not afford to go on vacation. Finally, everything fell into place - the couple found a reliable nanny for their grown-up baby and planned a trip.

When the day of departure arrived, the nanny still did not show up. She called and said she had problems with her car. However, the woman also said that she could call a mechanic and be there in 15 minutes because she was almost at the couple's house and was ready to walk.

Taking the nanny at her word, the parents sat their son in a highchair, fastened the child with special belts, kissed him goodbye and left the house. The couple was in a hurry to get on the plane. They left one of the doors open so the nanny could go inside.

One version of the legend says that the nurse was never able to get into the house because all the doors were closed (they were slammed by the wind), and she decided that the parents took the child with them. The woman went home without confirming whether this was true.

In another version, on the way to the house, the nanny was hit by a truck, and in the third scenario, the nurse was actually an elderly relative of the family, and on the way she suffered a heart attack. In any case, she never made it into the house where a little boy was waiting for her in a high chair.

In all versions, the couple returns home to find the child dead and still strapped into his child seat...

6. The Girl from Studley Road

The scariest urban legends are the horror stories that take place closer to our own cities and homes, or when mention of them comes up again and more recently. Three years ago, a user of the social platform Reddit told a horror story that terrified him throughout his childhood and throughout his teenage years. The man lives in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and in the area of ​​this town lies a winding road called Studley Road.

Several years ago, a family with an alcoholic father lived in a small house near this road. One evening the man became enraged and beat his wife and child to death and then committed suicide. The girl's jaw was broken, but she did not die immediately. In search of help, she managed to get to the road, where she fell dead, bleeding all over her pajamas.

Since then, on the winding turns of Studley Road in the middle of the forest, some drivers have seen the luminous figure of a little girl wandering along the side of the road with her back to passing cars. Unsuspecting motorists, unfamiliar with the creepy legend, stop to help a child in his pajamas. The girl turns around and lets out an inhuman scream, showing the stunned travelers her hanging, bloody jaw. Sometimes she even tries to say something, but due to the blood flowing from her mouth, she can only make gurgling sounds.

5. Phantom Cart

South Africa also has its own urban myths, and the most famous among them are the story of the Flying Dutchman and the ghostly fellow traveler from Uniondale. However, the most terrible legend originated here back in 1887. Major Alfred Ellis told this terrible tale in his South African Sketches, and since then the legend has terrified all local residents.

Four men - Lutterodt, Seururier, Anthony de Heer and an unnamed visitor from Cape Town - boarded a wagon and set out on a joint journey from Ceres to Beaufort West. This area has long been famous as a haunted place, which was even indicated on old South African maps. During the trip, one of the cart's wheels suddenly broke down, and it took until 3 a.m. to repair it. The company returned to the road again, but their horse suddenly rebelled, froze in place and refused to go further.

Out of nowhere, the men heard the sound of another cart approaching at high speed. When the travelers finally saw her, they realized that a team of 14 horses was rushing straight towards them, which the coachman was whipping with all his might. Frightened, Latterodt, Seruryi and the stranger from the capital jumped out of their carriage, and de Heer grabbed the reins and managed to move their vehicle out of the way. An angry de Heer shouted at the hurrying coachman: “Where are you going?”, to which he replied: “To hell.” With these words, the cart disappeared into thin air, as if it had never existed.

Lutterodt later learned that anyone who dared to talk to the ghostly coachman ended up very badly. A week after this incident, de Heer's body was found at the bottom of a rocky gorge, and the wreckage of his cart and the corpses of horses lay right next to its owner.

4. Blue Baby


Photo: urbanlegendsonline.com

Like Bloody Mary, the Blue Baby is a legend associated with a mirror, only in the case of a little boy, the story also includes a mad mother who killed her child with a piece of that same mirror. Naturally, after the birth of the terrible story, those who are trying to summon an innocent victim, nicknamed the blue child, appeared. The ritual for meeting the other world includes going to the bathroom at night. The cosmetic mirror needs to be fogged up so that “blue baby” can be written on it. The light should be turned off at this time, and the one who made the inscription should fold his hands as if a real child was lying on them. The belief says that the spirit of the boy will certainly appear in the arms of the person who calls him. If for some reason you drop this baby on the floor, your mirror will break and you will die.

According to another version, a boy appears if you go into a dark bathroom, repeat “blue baby” 13 times, and all the while move your hands as if you were rocking a child. The ghost will not only make itself known, but will also scratch you. However, this time, don’t be afraid to drop your baby, because escaping from the bathroom will be the best way to survive. They say that during such a seance, a distraught mother may appear in the mirror, and she will definitely want to kill you.

3. The woman who hanged herself on Delonix regalis


Photo: abc.net.au

One of Australia's creepiest urban myths is the story of a young woman from Darwin who was raped by a Japanese fisherman in the East Point area. When the girl realized that she was pregnant, she was horrified and hanged herself on the nearest tree, which turned out to be a royal delonix.

The restless spirit of the victim began to haunt all the men who appeared in East Point. The girl appeared as an alluring figure in white. However, as soon as a man succumbed to the beauty’s charms, she turned into a terrible witch with long claws, tore her prey into pieces and ate the entrails of the unfortunate men.

The most intrepid adventurers can try to summon the spirit of suicide by visiting a local park on a moonless night. Turn around yourself three times and call the woman by name. An eerie scream will notify you that the seance was a success. Although in this case it is better not to hesitate and run without looking back if you value your own guts.

2. Devil's Toy Box


Photo: thoughtcatalog.com

It is said that the series of mystical films “The Hellraiser” was filmed under inspiration from a terrifying urban legend that is buzzing throughout America. According to rumors in Louisiana (Louisiana, USA) there is a one-room house, the walls of which are covered with mirrors from the floor to the ceiling. The place got the creepy name “Devil’s Toy Box”, and according to myth, if you go into this house and stay there too long, the devil appears in the room and takes the soul of the unfortunate person.

Experts in the field of supernatural phenomena have found that the mirrors facing the inside of the house form a hexagon, and according to rumors, it is almost impossible to stay in this room for more than 5 minutes. One person stood there for more than 4 minutes and went outside completely mute. From then on he never spoke again. One woman in this room even experienced cardiac arrest, and the teenager who entered the “devil’s box” was difficult to get out of there - he screamed and fought like a madman. Two weeks later the guy committed suicide.

1. Clack-clack


Photo: yokai.com

One scary Japanese legend says that a few years after World War II in Hokkaido, American soldiers raped and beat a local girl. The scolded Japanese woman jumped off a bridge that stood over the railroad tracks that same evening and was immediately hit by a train. The unfortunate woman's body was cut in half at the waist. The weather that evening was very frosty, and therefore the girl did not die immediately. Slowly bleeding, she (her upper half) crawled to the station, where a shocked station employee threw a piece of tarpaulin over the grisly remains. The suicide died in terrible agony.

According to Japanese legend, 3 days after you hear or read this sad story, the ghost of a young woman will find you, and you will know about its approach by a characteristic clicking sound. If you think that escaping from a legless girl is easy, you are mistaken, because she can move at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour. No wonder this is a ghost...

After death, the suicide set herself the goal of capturing as many people as possible. The ghost chases its victims in order to cut them in half, and takes the lower part of the body for itself. The only way to avoid a terrible fate is to correctly answer the monster's questions. The girl will ask if you need your legs. The answer is that you need them right now. And if the ghost asks who told you this story, feel free to say: “Kashima Reiko.”

About the section

This section contains articles devoted to phenomena or versions that in one way or another may be interesting or useful to researchers of the unexplained.
Articles are divided into categories:
Informational. They contain information useful for researchers from various fields of knowledge.
Analytical. They include analytics of accumulated information about versions or phenomena, as well as descriptions of the results of experiments performed.
Technical. They accumulate information about technical solutions that can be used in the field of studying unexplained facts.
Techniques. Contain descriptions of methods used by group members when investigating facts and studying phenomena.
Media. Contains information about the reflection of phenomena in the entertainment industry: films, cartoons, games, etc.
Known misconceptions. Revelations of known unexplained facts, collected including from third-party sources.

Article type:

Analytical

Mystical urban legends of the USA

Urban legends in the United States are widespread and have a huge influence on the formation of attitudes towards the paranormal, as they have become the basis of many cult films, TV series and literary works that are world famous. These include The X-Files, Supernatural, many horror films like Bloody Mary or The Entity, the literary works of Stephen King, etc. . The list of such works could take a very long time.

An urban legend (in American English - urban legend) is a modern version of folk tales and is usually a fiction. However, in some cases, such stories are based on real incidents, the descriptions of which are distorted by numerous retellings.

The history of modern America began back in 1565, when the Spaniards founded the city of St. Augustine - the first European settlement on the territory of the modern United States. The United States of America itself was formed in 1776 with the unification of thirteen British colonies that declared their independence. Residents who crossed the ocean in search of a new life brought with them a cultural heritage that formed the basis of local mythology. The themes of the myths were also influenced by the rich cultural, historical and religious heritage of Mexico and the indigenous peoples of North America.

Let's look at the main plots of American urban legends and the history of their origin.

It’s probably worth starting with a topic that is found among all nations - mysticism on the roads. Many cultures describe the road as a mystical place, as if it connects not only populated areas, but also different worlds. Travelers are full of mysterious and creepy stories about ghosts of people, animals and even cars, about a soul collector who votes on a night road, about a truck engulfed in flames that suddenly appears on the highway and just as suddenly disappears, about UFOs and strange creatures running out onto the road, about mysterious fellow travelers and much more.

For example:

One night in June 1994, a traveler from Alabama was driving along the famous highway. Suddenly he saw a bus rushing towards him. The young man managed to pull over to the side of the road, and when he got to the first motel he came across, he learned from the owner that he was still very lucky. This bus has been appearing on this section of the route for many years, and it has caused a lot of accidents.

Unsuspecting motorists who stop on the highway and get out of their cars to stretch their numb limbs are attacked by packs of demon dogs that are only looking for new victims. A chilling howl, pupils flickering with yellow light and teeth sharp as knives - this is the potential danger to which anyone who stops at night on the side of a hellish highway in Utah exposes themselves.

The next place in terms of frequency of appearance of mystical creatures should probably be considered a cemetery. Again, Americans are not unique in this; almost every nation considers the burial places of the deceased to be a gateway to another world. There are many stories about cemeteries about ghosts and other mystical creatures.

For example, the legend of blond Mary is quite widely known:

In the early 1980s, a man drove by the cemetery and saw a woman locked in the cemetery after it had closed. It never occurred to him that it was a ghost; he thought that someone had been abandoned in the cemetery and needed help. The man went straight to the police station for help. The police arrived at the cemetery and did not notice anyone. But they discovered that the iron bars next to the cemetery gates had been unbent, seemingly by human hands. The bars were blackened and burning, and had jagged edges like fingers.

But perhaps the most famous is the phrase “ancient Indian cemetery.” If it is present under a building or on any territory, this place may contain ghosts, poltergeists, and simply pose a danger to the inhabitants.

In American culture, there are many references to ghosts in residential buildings, public buildings, roadside motels, cafes and even gas stations.

In addition to ghosts, there are also frequent references to strange creatures. The most famous legends include encounters with the Mothman, the Jersey Devil, and strange people with some visible defect (for example, people with black or completely white eyes).

For example:

In October 2005, one such case was reported by a 47-year-old female realtor named Tee. A stranger knocked on the office door just after lunch. He looked about 17 or perhaps 18 years old. He arrived on a bicycle. I asked if there were any available apartments.

“I remember suddenly feeling terrible fear as soon as I saw his eyes. Goosebumps crawled down my spine, I just trembled! As much as I work, I don’t remember this happening to me even once,” says Tee. “I couldn’t look him straight in the eye.” It seemed to me that I was going to die now... He didn’t approach me, he just stood outside the threshold and waited for me to invite him in or take him to look at a vacant apartment. He talked to me normally, but I slammed the door in front of him and rushed away from there - to hell. I had the feeling that I was in mortal danger. And all this is because of his eyes. If I had looked at them a little longer, I probably wouldn’t have been able to close the door. And after that I shook for several more hours.

Late on the night of November 15, 1966, two married couples, Scarberry and Mallett, were driving through the vicinity of an abandoned ammunition plant located seven miles from Point Pleasant in West Virginia. Arriving at the factory gates, they noticed a strange glow that seemed to come from the generator set. However, when they stopped the car and looked closely, they realized that the two red lights were not from the generator - they belonged to a living creature.

People managed to notice that it looked like a person, but six and a half or seven feet tall, with wings folded behind its back. Noticing them, the creature turned around and headed towards them. Frightened, Scarberry and the Malletts jumped into the car and ran away. The creature spread its wings and rushed in pursuit of the car. It pursued the fugitives right up to the city limits, and its speed exceeded 100 miles per hour.

A terrible incident rocked the quiet seaside town of Atlantic City yesterday. Its inhabitants have never witnessed such a mysterious and incredible tragedy. As expected, it happened in the darkness of the night.
Hal F. Williams, an employee of the Electric Company, was returning to Philadelphia with his wife and two children after a weekend at sea. Hardly anyone could have predicted that this would be his last trip. Was he thinking about this when a minor accident forced him to make a stop near Atlantic City?

“Hal was slightly irritated by the delay, but did not show any concern,” says Mrs. Williams. - He disappeared in a matter of minutes. It happened completely silently. I even thought he was playing a trick on me until I noticed blood on the grass. Whatever grabbed him appeared completely unnoticed."

Fortunately for the distraught Mrs. Williams, she and the children were picked up by Mr. Dixon, a resident of a small town, who was passing by at such a late hour. In New City, Mr. Dixon immediately took Mrs. Williams to the police station. Amazed by her story, Sergeant Cleveland brought the entire city police to their feet. And, as soon as it was dawn, a detachment of policemen and volunteers immediately set out to look for the missing man and his killer.
The body was discovered by Sergeant Patrick Cleveland. Here's what he says:

“I have never seen such mutilated corpses before. The deceased had no legs and looked as if they had simply been torn off or chewed off."
When the electrician's fate was clarified, brave hunters followed the bloody trail of his killer. Not far from the highway, in one of the small caves, they discovered a lair. The frightened inhabitant did not want to leave his hole. Not wanting to lure out the dangerous beast, the police simply shot him. What a surprise the hunters were when they pulled out of the cave not the carcass of a cougar or grizzly bear, but... the corpse of a man!

Most cultures in the world have their own legends about werewolves, and America is no exception. It is believed that they adopted their faith from the Indians. Navajo legends tell of “black” shamans and witches who can transform into wolves, coyotes, bears or birds, but at the same time retain human intelligence.

One of the stories about werewolves:

In 1960, Delbart Cragg from Texas described a mysterious incident that happened to her in 1958. One night, someone started scratching at the open window covered with a metal mesh. The woman began to take a closer look and, when lightning flashed, she saw a terrible wolf's face. When she jumped up to get the flashlight, the monster ran into the bushes, and soon a man came out of the bushes instead and quickly disappeared in the direction of the road.

America also has its own “Nessie”: a mysterious creature lives in Lake Champlain. There are stories about vampires and evil spirits. But not all plots remained unchanged.

A fairly striking example of a change in European ideas that passed through American culture is the Tommyknockers. From English mining folklore, stories about knockers came to the American soil. The word comes from the English knockers, which, according to Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, means "spirits or goblins who live in mines and knock to warn of a possible collapse." But Stephen King's work "Tommyknockers", where he refers to rather scary aliens with this word, radically changed ideas about them, giving rise to a creepy legend among the new generation about creatures knocking on doors.

However, the most famous characters of urban legends can still be considered native American. It was in the United States that the popularization of stories about encounters with UFOs and aliens began. Massive observations of unidentified objects moving in the sky began in the mid-20th century. Afterwards, the topic of UFOs, aliens and “men in black” developed quite quickly, acquiring new stories and details.

“They flew about 20-25 miles and disappeared from sight. For about three minutes I watched as a chain of objects moving like saucers on the water, like thrown flat stones, stretching for at least 5 miles, maneuvered between high mountain peaks. They were flat, like frying pans, and, like a mirror, reflected the sun's rays. I saw all this quite clearly and distinctly.” - K. Arnold described his observations

There is no strict division between children's and adult folklore in American urban legends. The same stories circulate among children and adolescents as among adults. However, among adults it is still much less common to meet people who call upon spirits or go to a cemetery or an abandoned house in order to tickle their nerves. Therefore, the most significant among teenage and children's folklore is the story of Bloody Mary, very similar to the legend of the Queen of Spades, widespread in Russia. The rules of evocation are as follows: “Look straight in the mirror and say three times: “Bloody Mary, come to me!” When you say these words for the third time, you will see Mary over your left shoulder." It is considered to be very risky because it can kill the caller.

Thus, there are not many stories in American urban legends that have not been borrowed from other cultures. However, thanks to the film industry, comics and books, American culture contributes to their modification and popularization. A distinctive feature of American urban legends is the frequent presence in the story of the exact dates of a particular incident, which makes it possible to filter the real components of the described incident from the rumors that it has acquired in the process of retellings.

Hello, it's me again! Those who have read my stories probably remember me. Now I'm interested in the stories and legends of other countries... Scary ones, of course... Hee hee... Let's start with Japan... Let's go...

DOLL LIKA-CHAN

The Lika-Chan doll is a very popular doll in Japan. She is the Japanese equivalent of a Barbie doll. This doll was so popular that the manufacturing company decided to create a telephone line to advertise its products.

Children could call and talk to Lika-Chan. In reality, they simply heard a previously recorded message, but very quickly rumors spread that the children who spoke with Lika-Chan heard creepy words, such as: “I am coming to your house to kill you!”

This rumor gave birth to several urban legends:
Hello! This is Lika-chan!
One day, a young girl was cleaning her room. While sorting out her supplies, she came across the Lika-Chan doll, which she loved very much when she was a child. However, she decided that she was too old to play with dolls, so she took the doll out and threw it away with the other trash.

Or here are a couple more stories about Liku-chan
One day, a young girl was cleaning her room. While sorting out her supplies, she came across the Lika-Chan doll, which she loved very much when she was a child. However, she decided that she was too old to play with dolls, so she took the doll out and threw it away with the other trash.

After some time, the girl and her parents moved to another city. One day, she came home from school. Her parents were still at work. As soon as she entered home, the telephone rang in the hallway.

The girl hung up, thinking that someone was playing a prank on her. A little later, the phone rang again.

She hung up, and this time she was worried. After a while, the phone rang again.

The girl hung up again. This time she was scared. She wanted her parents to return home quickly. A few minutes later the phone rang again.

The girl was horrified, but continued to assure herself that this was someone’s bad joke. She went to the window and looked out from behind the curtain, but there was no one on the street. The girl sighed with relief.

The phone rang for the last time, and when she picked it up, she heard: “Hello, it's Lika-Chan! I'm standing behind you!

Here are a couple more stories about Lika-chan
Three-legged Lika-chan
According to legend, the company that produced the doll made a mistake in one of the batches. They accidentally made a doll with three legs. The dolls had already been taken to stores, and only there the error was discovered.

Although the company hastily recalled a batch of three-legged dolls, some of them have already been sold.

One evening, a young woman was walking in the park. She needed to go to the restroom, so she walked into a public restroom and entered a stall. Sitting on the toilet, she noticed what was on the floor next to her.

It was a Lika-Chan doll.

The woman wondered where the doll came from in such a place. Maybe someone threw it away? She felt sorry for the doll and picked it up. What she saw horrified her.

Lika-Chan had three legs.

Two were normal flesh-colored, but the third was abnormally deformed, hairy, and a strange purple color.

The woman was so amazed that she accidentally dropped the doll and it fell face down on the floor.

Then, the woman saw with horror how the doll's head slowly turned towards her.

The doll opened its tiny mouth and said, “My name is Lika-Chan and I am cursed. I'm cursed. I'm cursed..."

The woman ran away from there in horror. But since then, this voice began to haunt her and continued to whisper right in her ear: “My name is Lika-Chan, and I am cursed. I'm cursed. I'm cursed..."

Someone kept calling this woman on her phone, and on the other end of the line she heard: “My name is Lika-Chan, and I am cursed. I'm cursed. I'm cursed..."

Finally, the woman could not bear it. She was going crazy. So she pierced her own eardrums so she could no longer hear that terrible voice.

There are other stories associated with the three-legged Lika-Chan.

In one of them, a schoolgirl finds a doll in the school toilet, and it tells her: “My name is Lika-Chan. Let's play hide and seek." And before the schoolgirl had time to answer, the doll took out a knife and killed the girl, saying, striking: “You’re caught!”

In another story, the doll's third leg turns out to be made of human flesh, and the doll says, “My name is Lika-Chan, and I am looking for the owner of this leg!”

In another version, the girl finds Lika-Chan in the toilet. The doll with the third purple leg disgusts the girl, and she washes it away. A few days later, the girl has an accident and her leg is amputated. Lying in her hospital bed, she is horrified to discover that a nasty, purple leg is beginning to grow from her stump. Eventually, the leg grows and kills the girl.

Another story about the Lika-Chan doll with three legs is a scary story when Lika-Chan appears near your bed at night. You are sleeping, and she is holding a butcher knife in her hands and waiting for you to notice her presence. When you open your eyes, she attacks and cuts off your legs.

KUN-KUN!

is a creepy urban legend from Japan about a mystical phenomenon that is sometimes observed in rural areas. The Japanese call this phenomenon “Kun Kun”, which means something twisting, rocking and spinning. They say you can't look at it or you'll go crazy. This phenomenon is described by a white, incomprehensible something that moves back and forth in the distance. Nobody knows what it looks like up close because everyone who saw it up close went crazy.

When I was little, my parents took me and my older brother to my grandparents. We didn't see them often because they lived in the village, Akita.

As soon as we arrived at our grandparents' house, we immediately ran outside to play. The air here was much fresher and cleaner than in the city. We walked along the rice fields, enjoying the vast open spaces.

That day the sun was high in the sky and there was no wind. It was hot and stuffy, and after a while I started to get tired.

And suddenly my brother suddenly stopped. He saw something in the distance.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“There is something there,” he replied.

There were only rice fields around, and it was completely deserted. I rubbed my eyes, but couldn't figure out what it was. In the distance, over the fields, there was a white something the size of a person. It moved and wriggled as if driven by the wind.

“Maybe it was a scarecrow?” I said.

“It wasn’t scary,” my brother replied. “A scarecrow can’t move like that.”

“Maybe this is a sheet?” I said.

“No, it’s not a sheet,” he replied. “There are no other houses here. Besides, there is no wind, but it still moves and wriggles. What is it?"

I had a strange and unpleasant sensation in the pit of my stomach.

My brother ran back home and when he returned he brought binoculars.

"ABOUT! “Can I take a look?” I asked, excitedly.

I tried to grab the binoculars, but he pushed me away.

“No, I’m first!” he said with a grin. "I'm older. You can watch after me.”

As soon as my brother brought the binoculars to his eyes, I noticed how his expression changed. It turned pale and he instantly began to sweat. He dropped the binoculars to the ground and I could see the fear in his eyes.

"What is this?" – I asked, nervously.

My brother answered slowly.

“There it is... There it is... There it is...”

Without saying a word, he turned and walked back home. Something was wrong. With shaking hands, I bent down and picked up the binoculars, but I was too scared to look through them.

In the distance, the white object continued to squirm.

At that moment, my grandfather ran up to me.

“What are you doing with binoculars?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I replied. “Just looking at the white thing over there.”

“What?” he shouted. “You shouldn't look there!”

He snatched the binoculars from my hands.

“Did you see this?” he asked angrily. “Did you look at this through binoculars?”

“No,” I said, shrinking. "Not yet …"

My grandfather breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay,” he said. "This is good … "

Not knowing why, but he sent me home.

When I entered the kitchen, everyone was crying. My brother was rolling on the floor, laughing like crazy. He was lying on his back, and his body was twisting and twisting... just like that white thing in the distance.

I couldn't understand what was happening. It was terrible to see him like that. I burst into tears.

I no longer had a brother. He's gone crazy.

The next day, our parents decided to take us home. My grandparents were standing on the porch waving as the car pulled away. I sat in the backseat with my brother, wiping tears from my eyes.

My brother was still laughing like a mental patient. We had to tie him up to stop him squirming. His face was distorted by a wide smile. He seemed happy, but when I looked into his eyes, I realized that he was crying. A chill ran down my spine. His cheeks were wet from tears, but he still continued to laugh and laugh...

"HOW TO GET TO ANOTHER WORLD..."

To play this game you need to find a building that is at least 10 stories high and has an elevator.

Step 1: Call the elevator to the 1st floor. (The elevator must be empty and you must enter alone)

Step 2: Drive through the floors in the following order - 4th floor, 2nd floor, 6th floor, 2nd floor, 10th floor. (If someone enters at this time, the ritual will not work).

Step 3: When you arrive on the 10th floor, press the 5th floor button without exiting the elevator.

Step 4: When you reach the 5th floor, the door will open and a young woman will enter the elevator with you. (Don't talk to her).

Step 5: Once she enters the elevator, press the 1st floor button.

Step 6: Instead of descending to the 1st floor, the elevator will rise again to the 10th floor. (While the elevator is rising, you will have one last chance to end the game. If you press the button for another floor, the ritual will not work. But once the elevator passes the 9th floor, there will be no turning back).

There is only one way to understand whether the ritual worked or not. If you find yourself in another world, you will be the only person in it.

To return to your world, you need to perform the ritual in reverse order. However, there is no guarantee that this will work.

Some Japanese claim that they were able to perform this ritual. This is how they describe the other world:

They say that the building looks exactly the same as the one you entered at the beginning of the ritual, only the surroundings are dark, the lights are not working, and in the distance you can see the red sky. There is not a single living creature there except you. Some say that no electronics work in this world (phones, cameras, etc.), but others say that everything works.

Additionally, some people say that returning to the real world is more difficult for several reasons. You may be disoriented and forget which elevator you took. Also, somehow the elevator moves away from you as you approach it.

I LIKED THIS STORY BELOW MORE THAN THE OTHERS.

"BEEP BEEP"

There has been a terrible plane crash in Japan, and a detective named Hamasaki has been assigned to investigate the case. There was only one survivor among the passengers, a 13-year-old girl named Takai-chan. She was horribly injured in a plane crash and was in a coma.

For a long time, doctors believed that she would not be able to recover. However, after a few days, she miraculously regained consciousness. She was still very weak and could not speak. The doctors made it possible to communicate with her using electronic communications. They attached electrodes to her teeth. Whenever she ground her teeth and the electrodes touched each other, a beep would sound.

The detective needed to ask her a few questions, so he used a simple code to communicate with her.

Two beeps meant “yes”, one beep meant “No”.

Takayo-chan was still very weak, and the doctors didn't want her to worry. For this reason, the detective was allowed to be in the room with her, but without strangers. He was not allowed to record his conversation with her on a video camera, but was allowed to use a voice recorder.

Below is the text of the recorded conversation between the detective and the girl:

“Good morning, Takayo-chan...”

(Silence)

“I am Detective Hamasaki. Are you feeling well enough to talk to me?”

“I need to ask you some questions about the car accident.”

“When the plane took off, did you notice anything unusual?”

“Did the other passengers behave normally?”

“Something happened while the plane was in the air, didn’t it?”

Beep Beep Beep Beep

"It means yes?"

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

“I'm so sorry, I know this is painful for you. Do you want to stop?”

"OK. Then can we continue?”

“Before the accident, did the plane start to shake?”

“Did you notice anything unusual?”

“Did something scare you?”

Beep Beep Beep Beep

"What's happened?"

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

“You're shaking. Takayo-chan, calm down... I understand, I understand... Something scared you very much. Rest for a minute. Relax. We'll continue, okay?"

“Could there be something wrong with the engine?”

“Did you hear an explosion or something?”

“Did you see something in the window?”

“Did you see something crash into the plane?”

“What did you see through the window?”

“Takayo-chan, are you afraid? It's okay now, you don't need to be afraid. You're safe here. Are you in the hospital. No one will harm you here.”

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

"Calm down. Are you all right? Can we continue?”

“What could you see in the window? Maybe it was another plane?

“Maybe there was something wrong with the plane’s wing?”

“Is the wing broken?”

“Did something fall off the wing?”

“Did something fall on the wing?”

“Is anything else broken?”

"Window?"

“Did something break the window?”

“Did something fly through the window?”

“Is this something... Was this what caused the terrible wounds that were found on the other passengers?”

“Scratches all over the body, Takayo-chan... Did something do them?”

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

“We found drool on the wounds... Did it have a mouth?”

“Did it have fangs? Or sharp teeth?

“Was it furry?”

“With eyes?”

“Did he have arms and legs?”

“Was it small? Less than a child?”

“The remaining passengers... Their internal organs disappeared... Were they eaten from the inside?”

“How did it get into their bodies? Through the hole?

“Did it...Did it gnaw a hole through its stomach?”

"No? Did it go through the mouth?”

“And when it came out, it... gnawed its way through the stomach?”

“Have you seen how it eats others?”

Beep Beep Beep Beep

“And your parents?”

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

“And it left deep scratches on the bodies?”

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

“It ate everyone, but... left you alive?”

(Silence)

“Why, Takayo-chan? Why are you still alive?”

(Silence)

“Takayo-chan? Are you okay? You look pale. Can you hear me?"

(Silence)

“What's wrong with you, Takayo-chan? What's wrong?

(Silence)

"Are you okay? You look really bad.”

(Silence)

“Are you bleeding? Is this blood? Takayo-chan, you're bleeding."

(Silence)

"Oh my God! Oh God no! Help! Help! Help! … “

Twenty minutes later, a nurse came into the room and discovered a terrible scene. The walls were splattered with blood and the half-eaten corpse of Detective Hamasaki lay on the floor. A thirteen-year-old girl, Takayo-chan, was lying in her bed. There was a hole in her stomach and all her internal organs were gone.

This recording is the only police evidence in the mysterious murder of Detective Hamasaki and Takayo-chan. The government had to work hard to hush up this matter. The exact details of what happened on the plane and in the hospital room are still shrouded in mystery.

CHECK OUT WHICH STORY YOU LIKED MOST. I WILL BE INTERESTED! SOON I WILL ADD MORE LEGENDS OF JAPAN AND MORE! AS WELL AS OTHER COUNTRIES!