I need more knowledge about urban legends.

[Garon]

I love all sorts of dark urban legends. They are often quite original and a fun way to learn about another culture. I take my inspiration for future events in my series from these legends. Please write about your urban legends, I need it for my story. I'll be grateful for that

 

[TremendousHuman]

@Paul_Tromba

 

[Seren]

The child

In this tale, a woman sees a child on a desolate road in the middle of the night, which causes her to approach the child. The woman, who is wearing a formal outfit, sits down to talk to the child, but the child just keeps looking down and remains quiet. The woman sees a name tag on the child's white dress, so she decides to call the Child Search Network. The woman stands up, turns around, and talks to the private sector, telling them about the child, her name, and the road. Later, she discovers that the child had been in a recent accident on the road and was already dead. Upon learning this, the air becomes windy. The woman turns around with a pounding chest, feeling scared, to see the child, but then finds that the child has already vanished. The child is a recurring motif in various cultures, with details changing but the central theme remaining consistent, a child who seemingly appears and disappears on the road without a trace, leaving behind a sense of intrigue and wonder.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

I became an urban legend at the camp I work at. It started with me going for walks in the woods every night. Eventually, some campers and Counselors started talking about seeing a shadowy figure roaming the woods and how it would disappear and reappear at random. Because one of my friends knew it was me, they decided to make a joke about it being "the nightwalker," a ghost that roams the property in search of it's body. Since it came from a counselor who had been there for years, most of the kids believed it and for the past 3 years, it gets spread around the campfire by past campers and Counselors alike. I still keep up with my night walks through the woods in the spring, summer, and autumn so kids keep seeing me and spreading the legend. I kind of feel like Ray L. Wallace.

My point is, a lot of urban legends and myths start with this sort of thing. Do something strange and people will gossip and exaggerate to their hearts content. Though if it's interesting enough, it'll stick for generations. People desire the unknown and interesting.

 

[SailusGebel]

I became an urban legend at the camp I work at. It started with me going for walks in the woods every night. Eventually, some campers and Counselors started talking about seeing a shadowy figure roaming the woods and how it would disappear and reappear at random. Because one of my friends knew it was me, they decided to make a joke about it being "the nightwalker," a ghost that roams the property in search of it's body. Since it came from a counselor who had been there for years, most of the kids believed it and for the past 3 years, it gets spread around the campfire by past campers and Counselors alike. I still keep up with my night walks through the woods in the spring, summer, and autumn so kids keep seeing me and spreading the legend. I kind of feel like Ray L. Wallace.

Good ol' times.

 

[bulmabriefs144]

I love all sorts of dark urban legends. They are often quite original and a fun way to learn about another culture. I take my inspiration for future events in my series from these legends. Please write about your urban legends, I need it for my story. I'll be grateful for that

Uhhh, do you by any chance mean folk legends? Because folk legends are different from urban legends. For that, read up on Japanese and Korean folklore, then move to other cultures.

Urban legends are more like weird or scary stories circulated by rumor.

I once wrote a story that was based on a mashup of ancient nuclear war, the idea that the Earth is not only flat but expands outward like a tree into three (or more) layers, human towns well before the official Stone Age, demons, Tolkien's Middle Earth, and a sorta evil statue thing from Sailor Moon R. And it all fit coherently together!

The key to understanding urban legends is three major points:
1. Frame the legend with "I know that They don't want me to share this, but... " if it leans toward conspiracy theory, or "A friend of a friend told me this..." if it is more like a horror/weird story.
2. Write it as a filler material that later turns out to be true. For example, "My best friend from college that I've nearly lost touch with texted me that there were bugs in the subway near 5th and Main. She was freaking out cuz they were bigger than what she's used to." And the people in the story either move on to other legends, or dismiss that friend as overreaction. We later get to find out the scene from the friend's perspective, how she texts @Everyone just before she get munched on by 12 ft long cockroaches. The point being urban legends have a sense of fringe to the nature of these rumors. Like, they want to talk about them, but they're somehow outside the normal so they get pushed off to the side.
3. Make it up completely or combine folklore. Don't be afraid to write an audacious story. The more outlandish an urban legend, the better it is when that one turns out to be true.

 

[doravg]

https://open.spotify.com/show/25PdDOYwfXDFvZ4pI1JWDh Lore Podcast, pretty neat stuff.

 

[WarJoy]

To be honest one schould just take a look at real urban legends and take something out of them. Some are so hilarious.

List of urban legends - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Baby Train is an urban legend which claims that a small town had an unusually high birth rate because a train would pass through the town at 5:00 am and blow its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in the mini baby-boom. XD

The Choking Doberman is an urban legend that originated in the United States. The story involves a protective pet found by its owner gagging on human fingers lodged in its throat. As the story unfolds, the dog's owner discovers an intruder whose hand is bleeding from the dog bite.

The Death Number 999-9999 is an urban legend claiming that if someone calls 999-9999 after midnight, they will be able to request anything they wish, but at the cost of their death. The legend was adapted into a horror movie, 999-9999, in 2002.

The ghost boy of Clinton Road is an urban legend that describes a dead young boy who hangs out under a bridge and returns coins to you after you throw them in the water.

The Ratman of Southend is an English urban legend originating in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The story of the Ratman tells of an old homeless man, seeking shelter from the cold in an underpass, was set upon by a group of youths and beaten to near-death, cold and blood loss doing the rest. As he died, the numerous vermin who inhabit the area gathered, and were found to have devoured his face. After this, a ghostly figure was spotted in the underpass, with people hearing rat-like squealing, and scraping, as if large claws were moving across the walls.


The Seven Gates of Hell is a modern urban legend regarding locations in York County, Pennsylvania. Two versions of the legend exist, one involving a burnt insane asylum and the other an eccentric doctor. Both agree that there are seven gates in a wooded area of Hellam Township, Pennsylvania, and that anyone who passes through all seven goes straight to Hell.

Teke Teke (テケテケ) is the ghost of a young woman or schoolgirl who was tied to the railway line by bullies, which resulted in her body being cut in half by a train. She is an onryō, or a vengeful spirit, who lurks around urban areas and train stations at night. Since she no longer has lower extremities, she travels on either her hands or elbows, dragging her upper torso and making a scratching or "teke teke"-like sound. If she encounters a potential victim, she will chase them and slice them in half at the torso with a scythe or other weapon.[93]

Probably not what you asked for but those seem really interesting

 

[Paul_Tromba]

To be honest one schould just take a look at real urban legends and take something out of them. Some are so hilarious.

List of urban legends - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Baby Train is an urban legend which claims that a small town had an unusually high birth rate because a train would pass through the town at 5:00 am and blow its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in the mini baby-boom. XD

The Choking Doberman is an urban legend that originated in the United States. The story involves a protective pet found by its owner gagging on human fingers lodged in its throat. As the story unfolds, the dog's owner discovers an intruder whose hand is bleeding from the dog bite.

The Death Number 999-9999 is an urban legend claiming that if someone calls 999-9999 after midnight, they will be able to request anything they wish, but at the cost of their death. The legend was adapted into a horror movie, 999-9999, in 2002.

The ghost boy of Clinton Road is an urban legend that describes a dead young boy who hangs out under a bridge and returns coins to you after you throw them in the water.

The Ratman of Southend is an English urban legend originating in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The story of the Ratman tells of an old homeless man, seeking shelter from the cold in an underpass, was set upon by a group of youths and beaten to near-death, cold and blood loss doing the rest. As he died, the numerous vermin who inhabit the area gathered, and were found to have devoured his face. After this, a ghostly figure was spotted in the underpass, with people hearing rat-like squealing, and scraping, as if large claws were moving across the walls.


The Seven Gates of Hell is a modern urban legend regarding locations in York County, Pennsylvania. Two versions of the legend exist, one involving a burnt insane asylum and the other an eccentric doctor. Both agree that there are seven gates in a wooded area of Hellam Township, Pennsylvania, and that anyone who passes through all seven goes straight to Hell.

Teke Teke (テケテケ) is the ghost of a young woman or schoolgirl who was tied to the railway line by bullies, which resulted in her body being cut in half by a train. She is an onryō, or a vengeful spirit, who lurks around urban areas and train stations at night. Since she no longer has lower extremities, she travels on either her hands or elbows, dragging her upper torso and making a scratching or "teke teke"-like sound. If she encounters a potential victim, she will chase them and slice them in half at the torso with a scythe or other weapon.[93]

Probably not what you asked for but those seem really interesting

I love these. I remember reading these all for fun as a kid.

 

[l8rose]

My family has their own urban legends, even a version of the White Woman story.

Supposedly, in my great-great-grandparent's generation, there was a woman who was abandoned by her husband and ran off with some other lady. There is a rock in the small field next to my grandfather's house. It has a painted X on it that has been there for as long as I can remember. As the story goes, the X is there as a warning for the rock not to be touched. Not even the builders who built the house in the 60s would even go near it. Supposedly, if someone taps on the rock at night, the abandoned woman dressed in white is supposed to appear. If they were a guy who looked like her husband, she'd drag them off into the woods never to be seen again but she'd kill any woman who looked like the woman her husband ran off with.

Most of the other urban legends here are all based around haunted houses but the White Woman was the only one I can vividly remember.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Urban legends?

My father told me when he was a kid there was an urban legend that Mikey the kid from the Life Cereal commercials died because he ate pop rocks and then drank soda.

 

[Voidiris]

Look at cryptids or scp.

 

[Garon]

I became an urban legend at the camp I work at. It started with me going for walks in the woods every night. Eventually, some campers and Counselors started talking about seeing a shadowy figure roaming the woods and how it would disappear and reappear at random. Because one of my friends knew it was me, they decided to make a joke about it being "the nightwalker," a ghost that roams the property in search of it's body. Since it came from a counselor who had been there for years, most of the kids believed it and for the past 3 years, it gets spread around the campfire by past campers and Counselors alike. I still keep up with my night walks through the woods in the spring, summer, and autumn so kids keep seeing me and spreading the legend. I kind of feel like Ray L. Wallace.

My point is, a lot of urban legends and myths start with this sort of thing. Do something strange and people will gossip and exaggerate to their hearts content. Though if it's interesting enough, it'll stick for generations. People desire the unknown and interesting.

I really liked this. Realizing the opportunity to become such a legend for history sounds interesting. This will help me for the plot, thank you.

To be honest one schould just take a look at real urban legends and take something out of them. Some are so hilarious.

List of urban legends - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Baby Train is an urban legend which claims that a small town had an unusually high birth rate because a train would pass through the town at 5:00 am and blow its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in the mini baby-boom. XD

The Choking Doberman is an urban legend that originated in the United States. The story involves a protective pet found by its owner gagging on human fingers lodged in its throat. As the story unfolds, the dog's owner discovers an intruder whose hand is bleeding from the dog bite.

The Death Number 999-9999 is an urban legend claiming that if someone calls 999-9999 after midnight, they will be able to request anything they wish, but at the cost of their death. The legend was adapted into a horror movie, 999-9999, in 2002.

The ghost boy of Clinton Road is an urban legend that describes a dead young boy who hangs out under a bridge and returns coins to you after you throw them in the water.

The Ratman of Southend is an English urban legend originating in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The story of the Ratman tells of an old homeless man, seeking shelter from the cold in an underpass, was set upon by a group of youths and beaten to near-death, cold and blood loss doing the rest. As he died, the numerous vermin who inhabit the area gathered, and were found to have devoured his face. After this, a ghostly figure was spotted in the underpass, with people hearing rat-like squealing, and scraping, as if large claws were moving across the walls.


The Seven Gates of Hell is a modern urban legend regarding locations in York County, Pennsylvania. Two versions of the legend exist, one involving a burnt insane asylum and the other an eccentric doctor. Both agree that there are seven gates in a wooded area of Hellam Township, Pennsylvania, and that anyone who passes through all seven goes straight to Hell.

Teke Teke (テケテケ) is the ghost of a young woman or schoolgirl who was tied to the railway line by bullies, which resulted in her body being cut in half by a train. She is an onryō, or a vengeful spirit, who lurks around urban areas and train stations at night. Since she no longer has lower extremities, she travels on either her hands or elbows, dragging her upper torso and making a scratching or "teke teke"-like sound. If she encounters a potential victim, she will chase them and slice them in half at the torso with a scythe or other weapon.[93]

Probably not what you asked for but those seem really interesting

good examples. Baby train I already took note before. It will play a role in the future just like the number 999. Thanks for the examples.

 

[nemonusquam_]

American Supernatural Tales by S. T. Joshi and Jan Harold Brunvard's collections on urban legends should satisfy your research needs.