Every city has its own set of secrets and stories lurking behind the touristy attractions, from places that few dare to visit after dark, to legends and myths passed down through generations...
Maybe there's a haunted bridge, a mysterious woman in white, or a headless hitchhiker that locals swear they've spotted on the highway at midnight.
Urban legends and ghost stories have a way of turning ordinary hometowns into creepy places fit for the scariest of Halloween celebrations. Someone asked, "What's a local urban legend or ghost story unique to your town?" and the answers came flying in faster than witches in the night. From the "Crucified Cat" to "Sarah's Grave," people have been letting their local skeletons out of the closet.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the spookiest "I swear it's true" stories for you to scroll through when the clock strikes 12. So sit back, dim the lights and prepare for a haunting trip around the world, and don't forget to upvote your favorites. P.S. You'll find some bonus tales between the images.
#21
In the 19teens, 1914 I think, a woman from my home town moved home from the city to take care of her mother. A man, who was a friend of hers, followed her. It's not clear if they were already romantically involved, but he had intention to propose. He packed up all of his possessions and money and showed up on the doorstep of her family's home. They welcomed him in, and gave him a place to stay for the night. That night, he proposed and was rejected. He was enraged and slashed her throat with a straight razor. Then, he fled into the night with nothing but his night clothes and his razor.
The police tore apart the countryside looking for him, the village was on edge, at one point, the police chased a local teenager for hours because he matched the description (the kid had snuck out of the house in his night shirt to steal a watermelon and believed that was why the police were pursuing him). This went on for several weeks, expanding into the rest of the county and beyond.
A couple of weeks later, a local farmer noticed his horse was missing. He was checking a neighbors fence line on the edge of a swampy hollow, thinking his horse had escaped to visit hers, when he found the decapitated corpse of the killer. He had cut his own throat with his razor the way through (the bugs and animals had done the rest) on the night of the m****r. He had been lying dead no more than a few hundred yards from the scene of the crime for two weeks. We still call that sunken swampy area Dead Man's Hollow.
The police tore apart the countryside looking for him, the village was on edge, at one point, the police chased a local teenager for hours because he matched the description (the kid had snuck out of the house in his night shirt to steal a watermelon and believed that was why the police were pursuing him). This went on for several weeks, expanding into the rest of the county and beyond.
A couple of weeks later, a local farmer noticed his horse was missing. He was checking a neighbors fence line on the edge of a swampy hollow, thinking his horse had escaped to visit hers, when he found the decapitated corpse of the killer. He had cut his own throat with his razor the way through (the bugs and animals had done the rest) on the night of the m****r. He had been lying dead no more than a few hundred yards from the scene of the crime for two weeks. We still call that sunken swampy area Dead Man's Hollow.
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8points
Kellman reveals that the Talbot was rebuilt nearly four decades later, "using stones and other material salvaged from the abandoned Fotheringhay — including the castle's storied staircase."
According to the Londoner, "guests and staff have reported seeing a ghostly woman on the stairs, and some have said they heard sobbing in the wee hours — all thought to be the doomed queen."
#22
Gravity Hill in SLC, Utah. I grew up in the city and there were always stories of Gravity Hill behind the Capitol building. The story was that a girl was m******d at the bottom of the hill some time ago and she tries to help people escape the same fate.
Supposedly if you cover the rear of your car in powder or something similar and place your car in neutral when heading up hill your car will roll upwards instead of back down. After you get out of the area and inspect the rear of your car you’re suppose to see a set of hand prints I printed in the baby powder or whatever you used.
I tried this once and didn’t see any hand prints… however the rolling uphill instead of back down while on neutral actually did happen, which was wild af to experience tbh.
Supposedly if you cover the rear of your car in powder or something similar and place your car in neutral when heading up hill your car will roll upwards instead of back down. After you get out of the area and inspect the rear of your car you’re suppose to see a set of hand prints I printed in the baby powder or whatever you used.
I tried this once and didn’t see any hand prints… however the rolling uphill instead of back down while on neutral actually did happen, which was wild af to experience tbh.
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8points
#23
We have the classic Cry Baby Bridge legend as usual.
The baby got hit by a car in that bridge pretty much Halloween. So once its Halloween at night and you go across Cry Baby Bridge you'd hear the kids cry during that night.
The baby got hit by a car in that bridge pretty much Halloween. So once its Halloween at night and you go across Cry Baby Bridge you'd hear the kids cry during that night.
8points
#24
Bailey's Ghost Light
James Brit Bailey was an original Texas settler, who got here from North Carolina before Stephen F Austin came. His property is now known as Bailey's Prairie.
He was said to be a real troublemaker, constantly getting into disputes, and brawls.
When he died of cholera in 1832, he had demanded in his will to be buried standing straight up, facing West, with his jug of whiskey at his feet, and his rifle at his side.
Legend has it that the slaves that dug his grave stole his jug of whiskey, or in other versions, his wife took it away. Either way, he was deprived of his cherished beverage.
Now, on cold dark nights a light can sometimes be seen out in the fields of Bailey's Prairie, said to be old Brit looking for his stolen jug of whiskey. The light has been known to chase people and cars, and will disappear as suddenly as it appeared.
There's a really good book called Ghosts Along the Brazos that was written by a local historian full of these small town Texas folklore and stories.
James Brit Bailey was an original Texas settler, who got here from North Carolina before Stephen F Austin came. His property is now known as Bailey's Prairie.
He was said to be a real troublemaker, constantly getting into disputes, and brawls.
When he died of cholera in 1832, he had demanded in his will to be buried standing straight up, facing West, with his jug of whiskey at his feet, and his rifle at his side.
Legend has it that the slaves that dug his grave stole his jug of whiskey, or in other versions, his wife took it away. Either way, he was deprived of his cherished beverage.
Now, on cold dark nights a light can sometimes be seen out in the fields of Bailey's Prairie, said to be old Brit looking for his stolen jug of whiskey. The light has been known to chase people and cars, and will disappear as suddenly as it appeared.
There's a really good book called Ghosts Along the Brazos that was written by a local historian full of these small town Texas folklore and stories.
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8points
#25
Here in Poland, there was the legend of a "Black Volga". It was basically a black volga car with white tires, driven by (depending from the source) nuns, priests, jews, russian mafia, satanists or even satan. It would kidnap kids, drain off blood from their bodies, and sell it as a cure for leukemia to rich Germans.
8points
#26
We had a library in town (now demolished) that everyone would go to during halloween to see the "crucified cat". I have no idea why anyone thought it'd be in there, or how the rumor got started but it was basically a rite of passage to see it.
But, the library actually had a pretty legit security system. On the outside windows, there were either motion sensors or *something* that caused a super loud alarm to go off if you stood next to a window for however long or put pressure on the glass I think? (this was 15+ years ago)
Regardless, you'd bring your friend / younger sibling to see it, and tell them to look into the basement window. After a minute of trying to find it a loud alarm would go off and scare the lights out of them. Good times were had.
edit: my husband reminded me of another one: there was a "ghost hitchhiker" that would walk a road going along the big cliffs on one side of the city. Turns out the ghost was just some dude who liked night walks and got f*****g tired of stupid kids, so he yell at them when they'd slow down to try and see him. Pretty sure he eventually passed away / stopped going on walks, so the legend died out.
But, the library actually had a pretty legit security system. On the outside windows, there were either motion sensors or *something* that caused a super loud alarm to go off if you stood next to a window for however long or put pressure on the glass I think? (this was 15+ years ago)
Regardless, you'd bring your friend / younger sibling to see it, and tell them to look into the basement window. After a minute of trying to find it a loud alarm would go off and scare the lights out of them. Good times were had.
edit: my husband reminded me of another one: there was a "ghost hitchhiker" that would walk a road going along the big cliffs on one side of the city. Turns out the ghost was just some dude who liked night walks and got f*****g tired of stupid kids, so he yell at them when they'd slow down to try and see him. Pretty sure he eventually passed away / stopped going on walks, so the legend died out.
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7points
#27
My dad swore this happened to him and his brother. They were walking down a dirt road at night, and were passed by 3 ghost dogs, one growling one whimpering and one barking. He said his dad told him it was the ghosts of 3 local guys, two always fighting and one always whining, to the point where now their ghosts haunt the area.
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7points
#28
Goatman’s Bridge
I’m going to copy and paste what Wikipedia says because it’s hard to explain.
“it is said to be haunted by a half-man half-goat figure called Goatman. The belief is based on the legend of a black goat farmer named Oscar Washburn, who was said to have moved his family to a residence just north of the bridge. A few years later, Washburn, having become known as a dependable and honest businessman and dubbed the “Goatman” by locals, displayed a sign on Alton Bridge reading “This way to the Goatman”. But the success of a black man was still unwelcome to many, and, in August 1938, Klansmen in the local government crossed the bridge and kidnapped Washburn from his family. They hung a noose on Old Alton Bridge and, after securing it around his neck, threw him over the side. When they looked down to see if he had died, the noose was empty. In a panic, they returned to his family home and slaughtered his wife and children”
In my city, animal shelters don’t house or adopt out black cats anymore because many people will go out to Goatman’s bridge to sacrifice the cats. There have been a few deaths over the past few years as well. Kids have jumped off the bridge into a VERY shallow river and dead on impact along with kids being “pushed” off the bridge. There has been no signs of foul play in the deaths of those who were pushed off though. There has been an episode regarding Goatman’s Bridge from Buzzfeed Unsolved and Ghost Adventures. I recommend watching those.
Funny enough, there’s a trail in Goatman’s area and if you go far enough, you’ll find a random couch and that’s where all the high school and college kids go to smoke weed. There’s also a rundown old salon and country like buildings on the trail too. At night, it’s super creepy and you get this sense of “something’s not right”. The trail is very pretty though.
I’m going to copy and paste what Wikipedia says because it’s hard to explain.
“it is said to be haunted by a half-man half-goat figure called Goatman. The belief is based on the legend of a black goat farmer named Oscar Washburn, who was said to have moved his family to a residence just north of the bridge. A few years later, Washburn, having become known as a dependable and honest businessman and dubbed the “Goatman” by locals, displayed a sign on Alton Bridge reading “This way to the Goatman”. But the success of a black man was still unwelcome to many, and, in August 1938, Klansmen in the local government crossed the bridge and kidnapped Washburn from his family. They hung a noose on Old Alton Bridge and, after securing it around his neck, threw him over the side. When they looked down to see if he had died, the noose was empty. In a panic, they returned to his family home and slaughtered his wife and children”
In my city, animal shelters don’t house or adopt out black cats anymore because many people will go out to Goatman’s bridge to sacrifice the cats. There have been a few deaths over the past few years as well. Kids have jumped off the bridge into a VERY shallow river and dead on impact along with kids being “pushed” off the bridge. There has been no signs of foul play in the deaths of those who were pushed off though. There has been an episode regarding Goatman’s Bridge from Buzzfeed Unsolved and Ghost Adventures. I recommend watching those.
Funny enough, there’s a trail in Goatman’s area and if you go far enough, you’ll find a random couch and that’s where all the high school and college kids go to smoke weed. There’s also a rundown old salon and country like buildings on the trail too. At night, it’s super creepy and you get this sense of “something’s not right”. The trail is very pretty though.
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7points
#29
I live in Silicon Valley, which used to be all farmland. There’s a(or used to be) a Toy’s R Us toy store on land where a farmer died violently, and that store had a well known poltergeist issue. It was a pretty famous feature of the store.
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6points
#30
A park a five minute walk from my childhood home, and surrounding houses were used as a hiding place for a dismembered corpse about 20 years ago. I think the head was found in the park bushes by a dog walker. Killer was quickly caught after trying to flee the country but it led to a few local ghost stories.
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6points
#31
The town where I grew up had actual recorded cases of vampires. In truth, it was a family who had tuberculosis but, at the time the people in town feared that the family members who passed away would come back from their graves to cause the others to become ill. Eventually the towns people dug up the bodies of the deceased, and separated the bones, or burned what was left of the bodies.
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6points
#32
I live next town over from the Amityville Horror house
my town is now known for the Gilgo Beach Killer . I live one block over and three blocks down from him. My son went to school with his daughter. It was so creepy when they arested him.
my town is now known for the Gilgo Beach Killer . I live one block over and three blocks down from him. My son went to school with his daughter. It was so creepy when they arested him.
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6points
#33
In the mid 1700s, the Emperor of Austria supposedly bestowed a golden chalice to a particularly pious religious order in my town. The leader of this order felt the gift was too worldly and hid it in the cave system that runs under our town. The chalice has never been found.
The cave/ tunnel system lore also pops up on the Nextdoor app. There is a very small, very vocal group of residents that swear the federal government is using the cave system to hide things... like aliens. I genuinely can not tell if these people truly believe in this conspiracy story or if they are practicing their creative writing skills. Either way, it's incredibly entertaining.
The cave/ tunnel system lore also pops up on the Nextdoor app. There is a very small, very vocal group of residents that swear the federal government is using the cave system to hide things... like aliens. I genuinely can not tell if these people truly believe in this conspiracy story or if they are practicing their creative writing skills. Either way, it's incredibly entertaining.
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6points
#34
I don’t have anything to add in particular, but I do find it humorous that it seems like every town has the urban legend of the ghost kids on the railroad tracks. It’s always the setup being that the kids died because they got stuck at the railroad crossing and a train hit the school bus. Every story always has the same method of testing the urban legend by stopping at the crossing and putting your car into neutral with the idea that the car will move forward on it’s own and there will be tiny handprints that appear on the back bumper of your car once you’re safely off the tracks.
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6points
#35
Here in México we have a ghost story wherever you go. Not any city, I guarantee you that every neighborhood has some kind of haunted house, building or place.
The creepiest I knew was "La Niña del Parque Héroes" (the Girl from the "Héroes" Park), in Aguascalientes, México. As the name implies, she's the ghost of a little girl who appears in the night. She just asks you if you want to play with her...
...while holding her head with her two hands.
The creepiest I knew was "La Niña del Parque Héroes" (the Girl from the "Héroes" Park), in Aguascalientes, México. As the name implies, she's the ghost of a little girl who appears in the night. She just asks you if you want to play with her...
...while holding her head with her two hands.
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6points
#36
Probably Bunyips, from Australian folklore
Large ominous creatures that lurk underwater near the water's edge, and it actively will hunt and k**l nearby people,
Reports of it being a large dark seal like creature
Sightings trace way back to the Aboriginals of the land in their stories, with bunyip meaning devil in their language
Reports grew by the hundreds when Europeans came to Australia , with many officials and escaped convicts all reporting independently their experience with seeing and hearing about the bunyip,
Either that or the min min lights, which are massive orbs of lights following people around in the wilderness, running away, and illuminating things around them so it's not a hallucination!
Large ominous creatures that lurk underwater near the water's edge, and it actively will hunt and k**l nearby people,
Reports of it being a large dark seal like creature
Sightings trace way back to the Aboriginals of the land in their stories, with bunyip meaning devil in their language
Reports grew by the hundreds when Europeans came to Australia , with many officials and escaped convicts all reporting independently their experience with seeing and hearing about the bunyip,
Either that or the min min lights, which are massive orbs of lights following people around in the wilderness, running away, and illuminating things around them so it's not a hallucination!
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6points
#37
The Pedro Mountain mummy in Wyoming. Some miners found a dwarf mummy in a cave. They were never really able to figure out what I was, an adult dwarf or maybe a child. It bounced around between scientists and carnival side shows and disappeared sometime in the 60s. Local Native American lore talks of a race of little people.
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5points
#38
We had a man that would hide in the woods with a pillowcase on his head. I was in elementary school and I just remember that we weren’t allowed to play on the field near the woods for a couple weeks. I even remember going trick or treating with my brother and sister and mom and a police car pulled up to check out our costumes and my mom and the cop talking about the “pillowcase man”. I remember the cop telling us not to worry about him, but then my mom and the cop talked about it for like 5 minutes while we walked to the next house.
Maybe this is an urban legend in other towns, but the whole thing reminded me of an 80’s horror movie.
Maybe this is an urban legend in other towns, but the whole thing reminded me of an 80’s horror movie.
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5points
#39
My local former Sears/current sketchy furniture store's second floor has long been rumoured to be haunted by a former employee who would appear every once in a while to chat with people. That store always had strange vibes, even back when Sears was doing okay.
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5points
#40
NJ, here.
The New Jersey Pinelands is home to miles of pine trees and sandy roads, but it is also home to New Jersey’s most infamous resident… The Jersey Devil. Designated in 1938 as the country’s only state demon, the Jersey Devil is described as a kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, bat-like wings, horns and a tail. For more than 250 years this mysterious creature is said to prowl through the marshes of Southern New Jersey and emerge periodically to rampage through the towns and cities.
Somber Beauty by Phil Domitrowsky
Help Protect the Land of the Legend!
Help us ensure that the forests, rivers and swamps that inspired the legend of the Jersey Devil remain protected for future generations of believers.
The most widely held belief about the origin of the Jersey Devil is that Mrs. Leeds, a resident of Estellville, was distraught when she learned she was expecting for the thirteenth time. In disgust, she cried out, “Let it be the devil!” The story continues that the child arrived and it was a baby devil. The creature then gave a screech unfolded its wings and flew out the window and into the adjacent swamp.
The New Jersey Pinelands is home to miles of pine trees and sandy roads, but it is also home to New Jersey’s most infamous resident… The Jersey Devil. Designated in 1938 as the country’s only state demon, the Jersey Devil is described as a kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, bat-like wings, horns and a tail. For more than 250 years this mysterious creature is said to prowl through the marshes of Southern New Jersey and emerge periodically to rampage through the towns and cities.
Somber Beauty by Phil Domitrowsky
Help Protect the Land of the Legend!
Help us ensure that the forests, rivers and swamps that inspired the legend of the Jersey Devil remain protected for future generations of believers.
The most widely held belief about the origin of the Jersey Devil is that Mrs. Leeds, a resident of Estellville, was distraught when she learned she was expecting for the thirteenth time. In disgust, she cried out, “Let it be the devil!” The story continues that the child arrived and it was a baby devil. The creature then gave a screech unfolded its wings and flew out the window and into the adjacent swamp.
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5points
