Urban Legends From Every State Part 1

From Reader’s Digest:

No matter where in the United States you’re from, your home state is sure to have its share of urban legends and urban myths. These scary stories aren’t just for Halloween; they’re whispered between campers, passed from town to town and reserved for nights when the power goes out. Urban legends may be spooky stories, but they aren’t necessarily ghost stories. They could have happened to someone you know, a relative or friend. These are the stories that make you do a double-take when you walk past abandoned places or make you check to make sure your door is locked when you’re home alone. Be careful next time you’re driving the back roads of America. You never know what scary urban legends you might encounter.

Alabama: Huggin’ Molly

The legend of Huggin’ Molly is clearly a tool used by parents to get their children to obey the rules: The story, native to Abbeville, tells of a phantom woman who appears to children if they stay out late at night. She grips the lingering child tightly and screams in their ear—she’s not meant to cause death, just one heck of a fright. Sounds like something straight out of a horror movie!

Alaska: The qalupalik

The qalupalik, an Inuit version of a mermaid or siren, calls with a hum to children who are wandering too close to the seashore, then takes them away in her baby pouch. The greenish, womanlike creature will never return a child once taken into the depths. Sounds like a good way to convince your kids not to go in the water, if you ask us.

Arizona: Slaughterhouse Canyon

Also known as Luana’s Canyon, the urban legend of Slaughterhouse Canyon tells the gruesome tale of a 19th-century gold miner who failed to come home to his family one night. Without his earnings, the mother and her children couldn’t buy food and began to starve. When she couldn’t stand it any longer, the wife chopped her kids into pieces, tossed them into the nearby river and died of despair. Her cries can still be heard echoing through the canyon.

Arkansas: The Gurdon Light

Like many urban legends, the story of the Gurdon Light has several variations. In one, a railroad worker was hit by a train and decapitated. His spirit can still be seen today, searching for his lost light. In another, the railroad worker bore a violent grudge against his boss who had fired him. He murdered his former employer with a railroad spike, and the victim now wanders the tracks. While the Gurdon Light is well documented, no one has been able to offer an explanation as to what it really is …

California: Char Man of San Antonia Creek

Per local lore, a father and son were trapped in a horrible fire. The father perished, and before help could arrive, the traumatized son lost his mind. He skinned his father and then ran into the forest. Now, known forever as Char Man, his blackened, burnt body is said to attack motorists on Creek Road in Ojai as he seeks more human skins.

Colorado: The Ridge Home Asylum

The Ridge Home Asylum was a real facility that opened in Arvada in 1912, but it’s become an urban legend because of its history. It reportedly housed patients who were horribly mistreated—some of whom weren’t even mentally incapable but had just been forsaken by their families. Though it was demolished in 2004, people say they can still hear the screams and see the apparitions of former patients on the grounds.

Connecticut: Dudleytown

The misfortunes that have occurred in Dudleytown, starting in the 1700s, are so terrible and numerous that its nickname is “Village of the Damned.” The now completely deserted town is said to have been home to many suicides, disappearances and even demonic activity that have given rise to several urban legends. It is believed that the founders of the village—and by extension, the village itself—are forever cursed.

Delaware: Fort Delaware

A prisoner camp during the Civil War, Fort Delaware in Delaware City was ultimately home to more than 30,000 Confederate soldier inmates. The few thousand who died before they could leave the Union fort are said to still haunt the area.

Florida: Captain Tony’s

Since 1852, Captain Tony’s, the oldest saloon in Key West, has been known to be haunted: Doors slam for no apparent reason, and there are inexplicable banging noises and frequent ghostly visitations. Perhaps that’s because it’s the site of the town’s original morgue and was built around a tree that the town once used for hanging pirates.

Georgia: “The Song of the Cell”

As urban legend goes, in 1848 Elleck and his wife, Betsy, both slaves, were in their home one night when their master, drunk and belligerent, crashed open the door. He attempted to attack Betsy, but Elleck fought him off. Undeterred, the master chased Elleck up a ladder into a loft. As the struggle continued, the master lost his balance, fell out of the loft and died. Even though Elleck turned himself in to the sheriff the next morning, explaining that what happened was self-defense, he was still charged with murder (par for the course in the antebellum South). Elleck was imprisoned in the Old Lawrenceville Jail and later executed unjustly for the crime. People say they can still hear his sorrowful song traveling through the walls of the old jail.

Hawaii: Pali Highway

Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, has many myths attached to her name. One tells of her ill-fated union with the demigod Kamapua’a, who was half-pig, half-human. The two supernatural beings had a terrible breakup, agreeing to never see each other again. That’s why, as urban legend has it, if you carry pork with you when you travel over the Pali Highway in O’ahu, your car will come to an inexplicable halt. Next time you’re in the area, we advise sticking to chicken!

Idaho: The Water Babies of Massacre Rocks

This urban legend is about starvation and infanticide, so if you’re squeamish, you may want to skip ahead. When famine hit the local area of Pocatello, mothers resorted to drowning their babies in the rivers instead of letting them starve to death. It is said that those babies turned into fish-like imps whose new mission was to trick, or even murder, people.

Illinois: Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery

Often referred to as one of the most haunted graveyards in America, this 82-plot cemetery is known as the home of many phantom sightings. People who have visited the site have seen numerous inexplicable illusions, from a ghostly “White Lady” to an ephemeral white farmhouse.

Indiana: 100 Steps Cemetery

If you visit this cemetery in the town of Brazil and climb the 100 steps in the total darkness of night, urban legend has it you’ll see the ghost of the original caretaker appear before you on the top of the hill. Apparently he will give you a preview of what your own death will look like!

Iowa: Stony Hollow Road

As the saying goes, a woman scorned is not someone you want to mess with. Lucinda of the town of Burlington is no different. Legend says that when her fiancé failed to meet her there as promised one night, she threw herself off the bluffs along Stony Hollow Road. Ever since, her ghost has appeared to countless people. What’s (much) worse, if she leaves a rose at your feet, you are destined to die within 24 hours, or so the story goes …

Kansas: Molly’s Hollow

The urban legend of Molly’s Hollow speaks to the country’s racist history. As the legend goes, when the local townsfolk found out that Molly, an African American woman, was involved with a white man, she was lynched. People claim her spirit is still there, screaming at night.

Kentucky: Hogan’s Fountain

In Cherokee Park, you’ll find Hogan’s Fountain, which features a statue of Pan, the pastoral yet devious Greek god. At every full moon—some versions say every night at midnight—the figure of Pan wanders the park, causing mischief for passersby.

Louisiana: The Carter Brothers

Back in the early 1930s, a young woman escaped from the home of the Carter Brothers in New Orleans with slash marks on her wrist. She told the police that the brothers were feeding off her blood. The cops stormed the French Quarter residence where they found more young women in similar states, their blood draining from their bodies. The brothers, now thought to be vampires, were captured and executed, only for it to be discovered years later that their crypts were empty.

Maine: Seguin Island Lighthouse

Like many urban legends, the one in Maine has to do with isolation. As legend has it, in the 1800s, the caretaker of the Seguin Island Lighthouse and his wife were the only two people living on the tiny spit of land. They naturally grew increasingly bored and isolated. The caretaker bought a piano so his wife could play it to keep them both entertained, but she only knew one song. The insufferable repetition of the same tune, combined with severe isolation, drove the husband mad. He took an ax, chopped the piano and his wife into bits, and then killed himself. Or so the story goes …

Maryland: Bigg Lizz and the Greenbrier Swamp

During the Civil War, Bigg Lizz, a very large woman, was a slave who became a spy for the Union troops. But her espionage was found out by her master, who decided to exact revenge. Urban legend says he took Bigg Lizz to Greenbrier Swamp so she could help him bury a treasure. Bigg Lizz dug the hole, and was subsequently decapitated by her evil master, who threw her body into the grave she had just unwittingly dug for herself. It is said that if you travel to that spot during the dead of night, you will see her spirit there, attempting to lure you into the murky swamp.

Massachusetts: The Ghost of Sheriff George Corwin

When you think of haunted locales and birthplaces of urban legends in the United States, Salem is no doubt one of the top places that comes to mind. A key character in the Salem Witch Trials, Sheriff Corwin was the most infamous and brutal when it came to interrogating and handling accused witches, earning himself the nickname “The Strangler” for his torturous methods. A building called the Joshua Ward House now stands on top of the land where Corwin lived and died, and many people say they’ve seen him in the windows or even felt his hands pressing down around their necks when they’re inside the space.

Michigan: The Nain Rouge

This is one of the urban legends still recognized today, celebrated by the people of Detroit every year. They say there’s a devilish creature, known as the Nain Rouge (French for “red dwarf”), who causes mayhem in the city. He’s thought to be seen when disaster is about to strike and is even said to be the reason for the Cadillac company’s downfall in the city.

Minnesota: The Wendigo

The wendigo is a creature of Native American folklore that is thought to be the result of cannibalism. A person will turn into a wendigo, a fang-bearing creature that is tall, skeletal and hairy, if they resort to eating another human being. Will you fall prey to the glowing eyes and snake-like tongue of the wendigo, or is it just an urban legend?

Mississippi: The Witch of Yazoo

While living on the Yazoo River, an old woman allegedly lured boatsmen to their deaths with her magic. One day, the local sheriff chased her into a swamp, and as she drowned in quicksand, she put a curse upon the town. In 20 years, she said, she would return to set the city aflame. Eerily, in 1904 the city was hit with a massive fire, believed to be the work of the witch. The next day, when people went to visit her grave at the Glenwood Cemetery, they saw that the chain links around her grave had been broken. Or so the urban legend goes …

Missouri: The Landers Theater

The Landers Theater in Springfield is supposedly beyond haunted: From fires to stabbings to accidental deaths, this theater has seen it all and has many urban legends to tell. Locals and performers have alleged that they’ve seen the ghosts of the people believed to have perished there, including the janitor who was said to have died during a 1920 fire.