Everyone loves a good urban legend. Urban legends or urban myths are forms of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not be true. It’s merely passed on and circulated tales that did not originate from an urban area. Some of the famous urban legends we know are: the legendary “bloody mary” tale, “the sitter and the man upstairs,” “the urban myth about coke” and many others. So read on, and prepare to be astounded. After all, even the wildest tales are rumored to have a bit of truth to them, right?
10 – The Legend of Bloody Mary
This urban legend has been told and passed on for so many years, and everyone knows how the story goes. It was believed that when you stand in front of the mirror holding a lit candle and chant “bloody mary” many times, you’d see an apparition of a ghost. Another version of that is when you do the ritual you’d have to walk a up the stairs backward while looking into a hand mirror and chanting “bloody mary” an apparition of your future husband will be seen through the mirror and sometimes a grim reaper that signifies death before marriage.
9 – The Sitter
This urban legend dates back in the 1960s tells the story of a teenage girl babysitting and starts getting phone calls from a stranger asking if she has checked the children. When she called the police to trace the stranger’s call. It was found out that the strange call came from inside the house. The stranger had brutally murdered the kids and was waiting for her to go upstairs. This legend has been adopted in several films such as the 14-minute film Foster’s Release (1971), Black Christmas (1974), 1977, The Sitter, When a Stranger Calls in 1979, When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), and Amusement (2008).
8 – JFK and the Jelly Doughnut Speech
The story dates back to JFK’s 1963 speech in Berlin. Ex-President John F. Kennedy was meant to say “Ich bin Berliner” (“I am a citizen of Berlin”), but instead said “Ich bin ein Berliner” which means “I am a jelly doughnut” A “Berliner” is also a certain kind of famous pastry in Berlin. This story though is not true, according to some source, the President, although with thick American accent had managed to deliver the speech and that the “jelly doughnut” blunder did not happen at all.
7 – Cokelore
The soft drink Cokelore had been passed on for several years. Some famous urban legends about this refreshment are that it contains cocaine. Back in 1885-1929, the soft drink was rumored to have a small amount of cocaine about 1/400 of grain to every ounce of syrup. Maybe the term “coke” when referring to cocaine has originated from this legend. Another urban legend is the old claim that eating Pop Rocks candy and then drinking Coke will cause damage to your tummy. Now almost everyone knows about the Coke dissolving a tooth when left soaked in it overnight.
6 – The Good Samaritan
The story of the Good Samaritan was about a motorist who stops to help a man change a flat tire. The man asks for the motorist’s address coz he might send a reward. The motorist receives a thank you note in the mail with a check for $10,000 a few weeks later. The letter was also rumored to be from a famous celebrity which says “Thank you for helping me, here is a little something to say thanks. Signed, Donald Trump.” The same legend was told, but this time, the man in need of help was Bill Gates.
5 – The Sewer Alligator
This contemporary legend dates back in the 1920s when alligators were seen in the most unlikely places like New York City and Manhattan. It was believed that the alligators were brought by a vacationing family from Florida who wanted to keep them as pets for the children. When the alligators grew too large, the family would flush them in the toilet. The reptiles eventually survived, grew, and infested the sewer. The animals were discovered by sewer inspectors and were later exterminated using poisoned bait.
4 – The Vanishing Hitchhiker
This urban legend is probably the oldest and most often repeated in many versions across the world. The legend is about people traveling by cars and meet a stranger who would hitch a ride, borrowed an item of clothing then disappear while the vehicle is in motion, or sometimes would disappear after reaching its destination. There are many urban legends on this story, one simplified Hawaiian version is about the goddess Pele, traveling the roads concealing his identity and rewarding kind travelers.
3 – Urban Legend of The Kidney Heist
This urban legend is one of the oldest e-mail hoaxes circulating the internet. It warns people to be careful with the people they met in random. It tells a story of a woman who met a stranger at a bar, offered to buy her a drink and got dizzy after a few sips then blacks out. The woman then woke up in a bathtub filled with ice water in an unknown place. There is a phone next to her and a note that says to call 911 immediately. It was learned that the woman’s kidney has been harvested by the stranger she met who hope to sell it on the black market.
2 – The Great Wall of China can be seen from space
In the early 1900s, some authors would claim that the Great Wall was the only man-made object visible from space. The legend spreads by word of mouth and has been passed on to several generations. This long told legend is not true as some scientist, and the Apollo astronauts couldn’t see it from the Moon. According to Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, “The Great Wall of China is not visible from orbit with the naked eye,.”
1 – The Killer in the Backseat Urban Legend
As told by Emily Dunbar: One night, a woman went out for drinks with her girlfriends. She left the bar relatively late at night, got in her car and onto the deserted highway. After a few minutes, she noticed a lone pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror, approaching at a pace just slightly quicker than hers. As the car pulled up behind her, she glanced and saw the turn signal on — the car was going to pass — when suddenly it swerved back behind her, pulled up dangerously close to her tailgate and the brights flashed. Now she was getting nervous. The lights dimmed for a moment, and then the brights came back on, and the car behind her surged forward. The frightened woman struggled to keep her eyes on the road and fought the urge to look at the car behind her. Finally, her exit approached, but the car continued to follow, flashing the brights periodically. Through every stoplight and turn, it followed her until she pulled into her driveway. She figured her only hope was to make a mad dash into the house and call the police. As she flew from the car, so did the driver of the car behind her — and he screamed, “Lock the door and call the police! Call 911!” When the police arrived, the horrible truth was finally revealed to the woman. The man in the car had been trying to save her. As he pulled up behind her and his headlights illuminated her car, he saw the silhouette of a man with a butcher knife rising up from the back seat to stab her, so he flashed his brights and the figure crouched back down.
