Creepy Urban Legends From All 50 States

By Kirsty 2 years ago

Alabama: Hell's Gate Bridge

Image Source / OnlyInYourState.comThe story of this creepy bridge begins in the 1950s, when it's said a young couple drove their car over the edge and drowned. The legend says that if you drive to the middle of the bridge and turn off your lights, the dead couple will appear in your car - and leave a wet spot behind. But there's a second legend, too: that if you drive over the bridge and look behind you halfway across, you'll see a flaming portal to hell.

Alaska: The Kushtaka Of The Alaskan Triangle

Image Source / Insider
There is a mystery around the Alaskan Triangle in regard to people going missing, but in the Alaskan wilderness, it's very easy to get lost. The stats stand at 5 in every 1,000 people will go missing in Alaska. But a people called the Tlinglit tribe believed that so many people go missing due to evil spirits called the Kushtaka - shape-shifters that lure people into the water to drown them.

Arizona: The Ghosts Of Slaughterhouse Canyon

Image Source / Medium
Also known as Luana's Canyon, the story goes that a family lived in the canyon in the 1800s. The family were poor, and the father would be responsible for venturing out of the canyon and finding food to bring back for his family. One day, he didn't return - and the family began to starve, driven mad. The mother put on her wedding dress before murdering her crying children and throwing them into a river. She then starved to death. It's said if you go into the canyon, you'll hear her maddened cries.

Arkansas: The Boggy Creek Monster

Image Source / Arkansas Living Magazine Website
This urban legend is Arkansas's version of Bigfoot: the Boggy Creek Monster. The monster is said to be around 8 feet tall, covered in hair, and enjoys roaming around the creeks of the rural parts of this state. The first sighting of this monster was said to be 1834, but people still claim to see it today.

California: The Char-Man

Image Source / A Little Bit Human

This urban legend actually relates to a person said to be still living, rather than ghosts of the dead. The story begins with a father and son being horrifically burned in a house fire in 1948. Though they survived, the son went mad and murdered his father. The son - the Char-Man - got away from the police and is said to now wander the woods, approach campers or pretend to be a hitchhiker.

Colorado: Riverdale Road

Image Source / 9News

This particular road has a number of creepy stories attached to it: eight, in fact! These stories include a Hell Gate, slave ghosts hanging from trees and the creepiest of all: the phantom jogger. The jogger's story begins with a driver who hit a jogger and, panicking, left him for dead. Now, if you park at the same part of the road where the accident happened, you can hear footsteps coming closer to your car, bangs against your vehicle or even handprints on the window.

Connecticut: Hannah Cranna The Witch

Image Source / New England Historical Society
Also known as the Wicked Witch of Monroe, Cranna was a woman living in the 19th century whose husband died after falling from a cliff. The locals believed Cranna was responsible by bewitching him, and also used spells against people she didn't like. Before she died at the age of 77, she asked for her coffin to be carried to the cemetery by foot. When the local people ignored her request and tried to wheel her coffin down, it kept falling off the wagon. They then carried it instead. When they went back to her home later, it was on fire. Her real grave (which you can visit) is in the town of Trumbull.

Delaware: Mr Chew's Ghost

Image Source / Delaware Public Media

Samuel Chew was the chief justice of Delaware Supreme Court in 1741, and he didn't get much respect from the locals. People often made fun of his name by pretending to sneeze when he walked past. After he died, many people claimed to have seen his ghost wandering the courthouse or giving people an icy cold chill.

Florida: Spook Hill

Image Source / National Park Service
Spook Hill is a place where all rules of gravity apparently go out the window. This creepy place sees cars parked in neutral on the hill actually start rolling uphill! According to legend, the hill could be a Native American burial ground, or the site of a Native American battle - between a chief and a crocodile. (The truth might be a little more boring, though - apparently the surroundings of the hill cause an illusion to make it look like the cars are rolling the wrong way).

Georgia: Lake Lanier, The Ghost Town

Image Source / CNN
When the government originally wanted to create Lake Lanier back in 1946, the plan was to clear out the existing town to make space for the lake. Instead, they left the town intact and just let the water cover it up. This means that, at the bottom of the lake, there are full towns and ferries, as well as a racetrack and even cemeteries. There have since been many freakish accidents and deaths on the lake, and people report feeling limbs in the water.

Hawaii: The Night Marchers

Image Source / Pacific Worlds
According to Hawaiian legend, Night Marchers are spirits of ancient warriors who walk around the island in order to protect sacred places. They aren't evil spirits, but they should be given respect. If you get caught in the middle of one of their marches, you're supposed to lie down in the road. And if you look directly at one, you'll be marked for death.

Idaho: Water Babies Of Massacre Rocks State Park

Image Source / OnlyInYourState.com

The legend of the Water Babies comes from Native American history. It's said that a tribe, after facing severe famine, had mothers who were forced to drown their babies in the river so that they wouldn't have to watch them starve. People claim that you can hear the sounds of babies crying if you sit by the river at Massacre Rocks. Other legends also say that the babies actually survived and now lure people to their deaths in the river for revenge.

Illinois: Homey The Clown

Image Source / Q98.5
Any urban legend that has the word 'clown' in it is creepy enough, thanks. This legend started as a rumour around elementary schools in the 1990s, saying that a man dressed as Homey the Clown was driving around in a van trying to lure in kids with candy and money. Some said he was a kidnapper, others said he was a rapist.

Indiana: The 100 Steps Cemetery

Image Source / Ultimate Unexplained
In the town of Brazil, Indiana, is the 100 Steps Cemetery, a place that got its name from the legend that if you visit the cemetery at midnight, you should climb the steps and then count to 100. If you do, a ghost will appear and provide a vision of your death. If you try to avoid the steps, people have reported feeling an unseen force knock them to the ground.

Iowa: The Black Angel

Image Source / Atlas Obscura
In Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City is the statue of The Black Angel, around 8 feet tall and given her black colouring due to oxidation. It might be this 'black' visage that has given way to creepy legends about her, including that if you touch the statue, you'll be dead in six months, or if you're pregnant, you could lose the child if you walk under the statue.

Kansas: The Devil's Chair

Image Source / Anam Paranormal

The legend begins when a farmer in Alma wouldn't sell his land so that the city could build a new cemetery. In retaliation, someone then pushed the old man into his own well. After someone reported a weird smell coming from the well, the city investigated; but the well was found empty and then boarded up. People who then sit on the boarded up well are said to disappear.

Kentucky: The Goat Man Of Pope Lick

Image Source / Courier-Journal
 
The origins of the Goat Man all differ, where some say he was a farmer who was turned into a goat monster by Satan, while others say he was a circus performer. All can agree that the monster has dark fur, goat legs and horns, though. The Goat Man is then said to hide under the Pope Lick Creek bridge in order to lure people onto the train tracks - into an oncoming train.

Louisiana: The Grunch

Image Source / 97.3 The Dawg

Grunch Road is a dirt road running into the woods, eventually coming to a dead end. It was the prime spot for teenagers to hang out in the woods - until the legends of The Grunch started. The Grunch are supposed to be half-human, half-monster, deformed people who spent so long alone in the bayous. It's also said the Grunch lure people out of their cars using injured goats to get their attention.

Maine: Colonel Jonathan Buck's Tomb

Image Source / Living with a Golden
 
Colonel Jonathan Buck was said to have sentenced a woman to death for witchcraft, and when she was burning on the pyre, her leg was said to roll out of it. Not only that, but the witch was supposed to have cursed Buck's tomb so that it would always be stained with injustice. And the tomb of Colonel Jonathan Buck in Maine actually does have a stain on it that nobody can seem to get rid of - shaped like a leg...

Maryland: The Chesapeake Bay Monster

Image Source / The Shore Monthly
 
The monster said to be in Chesapeake Bay is known as Chessie, and stories of her started around the 1930s, but took shape in the 1980s when photos became more of a thing. Chessie is said to look like a snake, at around 30 feet long. Chessie has never actually attacked anyone, but stories of a huge snake are enough to scare anyone off.

Massachusetts: Hoosac Tunnel Spirits

Image Source / Wikipedia

Around 200 men died during the building of the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts, which took around 24 years. After an explosion in the late 1860s, 13 miners were trapped in the tunnel and presumed to be dead by their fellow miners. It turned out that they actually survived and had built a raft against flooding, but ended up dying after they inhaled poisonous gas. It's now said that the ghosts of the 13 miners haunt the tunnel.

Michigan: The Little Girl On Knock Knock Road

Image Source / NewsBreak Original

There's a legend that a little girl was killed on Knock Knock Road in Detroit, now appearing as a ghost who knocks on the windows of passing cars, trying to find the person who murdered her. Drivers can see the little girl trying to get their attention if they pass on this road.

Minnesota: The Kensington Runestone

Image Source / MinnPost

In 1898, a farmer found a huge piece of rock on his farm that appeared to have Norse symbols all over it. No one has been able to work out what it is, or where it came from. Historians have stood firm that Vikings never went to North America, but the myth stands that it was the Vikings who left this Nordic rock.

Mississippi: The Haunted Treasure Of Deer Island

 
Image Source / OnlyInYourState.com
There is an old pirate story that gives way to the Ghost of Deer Island, in that two men were fishing on Deer Island in 1920 when they heard something in the bushes. After checking it out, they found a headless skeleton - which chased after them when they returned to their boat. It's said the skeleton is there to guard buried treasure - the skeleton of a pirate who was beheaded in order for him to stay behind and guard it.

Missouri: Momo The Monster

Image Source / IMDb
 
There is apparently more than one state with its own version of the Bigfoot legend - and Momo is Missouri's version of Sasquatch. Momo is said to have a head shaped like a pumpkin, a horrible stench and to enjoy eating dogs. It was claimed in 1968 that Momo even tried to abduct a 4-year-old boy.

Montana: Sacrifice Cliff

Image Source / Indianz.Com
 
A Native American legend tells the story of Sacrifice Cliff - where two members of the Crow Tribe returned to their village to find nearly everyone dead from a bout of smallpox. They were so overcome with grief that they blindfolded their horses and rode them off the side of the cliff in order to join their loved ones on the other side.

Nebraska: The Poisoned Girl Of Centennial Hall

Image Source / Nebraska Haunted Houses
Centennial Hall in Nebraska is supposed to be the most haunted place in the state, with more than one ghost said to be walking the halls. One of the most disturbing ghost stories starts in 1940, when the hall was then a school. There was a young student who had a fatal heart attack after playing her clarinet - because the reed had been poisoned. People who visit the hall claim to hear music and see a rocking chair slowly move.

Nevada: Area 51

Image Source / BBC
Nothing is more famous in this area of desert than Area 51 - the famous (or infamous) government facility that's crawling with alien legends and conspiracy. The government's official line is that the purpose of Area 51 is classified - which of course only makes people think it's definitely hiding aliens, then. The mystery of Area 51 continues to be more than a little creepy.

New Hampshire: The Witch Of Hampton

Image Source / Seacoastonline.com

There was only one woman in the history of New Hampshire to ever be tried for witchcraft: Eunice Cole. Also known as 'Goody', she was charged with witchcraft both in 1656 and 1671. It's said that the townspeople drove a stake through her heart after her death so that she wouldn't come back and haunt them. But then a series of misfortunes hit the town for the next 300 years, which were all blamed on Goody. One of these included a boat which overturned and drowned its passengers.

New Jersey: The Jersey Devil

Image Source / ABC News
The legend of the Jersey Devil is famous even outside of this state, and the legend has been around since the 1700s, stating that when a woman called Mother Leeds fell pregnant with her 13th child, she asked it to be a/the devil. And when it was born, it had wings, horns, a tail and hooves. In the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, many people have claimed to have seen the beast.

New Mexico: La Mala Hora

Image Source / YouTube
La Mala Hora - 'The Evil Hour' - was said to first appear as a black ball of energy which seems to move and grow. If you look directly at it, you're said to go insane before it slowly kills you. It's also been said to appear as an ominous-looking woman. If you see her at a crossroads, someone in your family will meet their death.

New York: Cropsey

Image Source / All That's Interesting
 
This story tells of a man who has a hook for a hand, targeting children who walk alone at night. It's said he would stalk places like camps, psychiatric hospitals or children's hospitals. If you were to camp in upstate New York, you would learn about the legend of Cropsey. The legend became even more frightening when a documentary suggested Cropsey could actually be a convicted child kidnapper named Andre Rand.

North Carolina: The Beast Of Bladenboro

Image Source / It's Something Wiki
After dogs began to be found dead and drained of blood in the town of Bladenboro in the 1950s, people began to believe that there was a vampiric creature in the woods. People even tried to hunt down the vampire. The history still stands today, where residents of the town even have a 'Beast Fest' every year in its honour! It's never been confirmed what was responsible, but it's likely it could have been a wild animal like a bobcat.

North Dakota: White Lady Lane

Image Source / Insider
This legend, like many others, is a tragic story. A young woman who fell pregnant outside of marriage was forced to marry the father of the baby by her religious parents. The baby died after the wedding, and the woman ended up hanging herself in her wedding dress from a bridge. People who visit the site claim to see her ghost hanging in that very spot.

Ohio: The Werewolf Of Defiance

Image Source / Fox 19
In 1972, the residents of Defiance began to believe they were being stalked by a werewolf during the summer. People would most often spot the beast at night by the train tracks. Some people said it would even try to get into their houses by rattling at the door. The werewolf was described as large and hairy, dressed in rags. When the summer ended, the beast just... disappeared.

Oklahoma: The Shaman's Portal

Image Source / Wild ATV

There have been some mysterious goings-on in Beaver Dunes State Park in Oklahoma, and it's said to be because the site was build on top of Native American burial grounds. This is where the name 'Shaman's Portal' first came from - but it's also known as Oklahoma's own Bermuda Triangle, due to the people who have gone missing there, as well as claims that a UFO even crashed there.

Oregon: The Bandage Man

Image Source / Westside Portland Insurance Company

The Bandage Man is also what you'd call an Egyptian mummy. He is said to be the ghost of a logger who had a fatal accident in a sawmill, and now brings terror to anyone who visits a certain deserted area of highway close to Cannon Beach. It's said he knocks on the windows of cars to be let inside, and has a disgusting smell.

Pennsylvania: The Bus To Nowhere

Image Source / The Ghost In My Machine
Is there anything creepier than ghostly public transport that doesn't seem to have an end destination? Well in Philadelphia, it's said that there's a bus that has no end stop. To make it creepier, this bus specifically picks up people who are feeling low, and who want to escape. Once that person has had enough alone time on the bus, they can get off. But the passage of time apparently runs weird on the bus, too. They could have been on the bus for years!

Rhode Island: The Devil's Footprints

Image Source / Davids Basement of the Bizarre

On Devil's Foot Road in Rhode Island, there is a rock which shows two footprints: a normal human one, and a cloven hoof. The legend behind the footprints is that a Native American woman murdered a white man. When she fled, she was stopped by another man, and asked for the Devil to save her. The man said that he was the Devil - and to prove it, he made his footprint on the ground to reveal a cloven hoof, which shows on the rock to this day.

South Carolina: The Death of Julia Legare

Image Source / Explore Edisto Articles
The Legare family was a well-off family in South Carolina back in the 1800s. When the daughter of the family, Julia, fell sick and died, she was buried inside the family mausoleum. When the tomb was opened again years later to bury another member of the family, Julia's remains were found
outside
 of her coffin. It's said that she hadn't actually been dead, but in a coma, and when she had woken up in a tomb, she tried to escape but died. Even creepier is the fact that the door to the tomb never stays shut, and people believe it's Julia's ghost still trying to get out.

South Dakota: Walking Sam

Image Source / Horror Hub Marketplace
Walking Sam is a mysterious figure over 7 feet tall, who's said to appear on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at night. His purpose is to apparently convince teenagers to commit suicide. The legend is more tragic because regardless of whether Walking Sam is real of not, there were over 100 suicide attempts at the reservation in the space of 5 months.

Tennessee: The Boy In The Bathroom

Image Source / Insider
In Jamestown, Tennessee, there is an abandoned school named Pine Haven, which is said to be haunted. The story goes that a boy was cornered by bullies in the school's bathroom and pushed into a mirror, which broke and killed him. The bullies then buried the boy's body under the floorboards so that they wouldn't get caught. People now say that if you visit the abandoned school, you can see the boy's reflection in the mirror.

Texas: The Candy Lady

Image Source / Facebook
When children began to go missing in a rural Texan town in the 1900s, people blamed the Candy Lady: a woman said to go around leaving candy on the windows of children so that she could lure them out. The story got more serious when it's said a farmer found rotted teeth before finding the body of a boy with candy in his pockets. Some people think that the Candy Lady was a real woman named Clara Crane.

Utah: The Escalante Petrified Forest Curse

Image Source / KSL TV
It's actually illegal to take anything away from the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, but there's also a legend that makes taking things a bad idea, too. The legend states that anyone who takes a piece of petrified wood will be cursed. The park manager actually receives packages of wood every year that had been taken from the park, and then returned with senders apologising because of meeting bad luck.

Vermont: The Frozen People

Image Source / CryptoVille

This legend goes that there was a poor family near Montpelier who couldn't afford food or warm clothing for the oldest members of the family - so they froze them instead and buried them. The legend first appeared in a diary from the late 1800s, and went on to explain that the frozen people would be then thawed out in the spring and be fine!

Virginia: The Bunnyman

Image Source / All That's Interesting
The legend of the Bunnyman starts with an insane asylum (because of course it does). The patients of the asylum were being transferred when the bus crashed and one patient managed to escape: the Bunnyman. It's said he then lived in the woods and fed himself on woodland creatures, eventually beginning to attack humans. The legend includes stories of teenagers seeing 'a bright light' and then ending up dead, strung up on a bridge.

Washington: Bigfoot

Image Source / CBC

One of the most famous urban legends around is that of Bigfoot, of course. While Bigfoot has been seen all over the US, it's been seen the most in the state of Washington. Bigfoot is described as a huge, hairy, ape-like creature, but stories about his temperament differ. He's either a vicious beast wanting to attack people, or he just wants to be left alone. What do you believe?

West Virginia: The Mothman

Image Source / Clio
Back in 1966, stories began about a large insectoid creature who looked like both a moth and a man, with red eyes. He was seen flying around Point Pleasant, and the creature's origins include supernatural, alien or government experimentation. The legend is so strong that there's a statue in the Mothman's honour, and even a festival in his name.

Wisconsin: Boy Scout Lane

Image Source / Dangerous Roads
 
The legend of Boy Scout Lane is centered around a group of Boy Scouts dead on this particular road. The story of how they came to be there, though, differs, from a bus crash to them being murdered by the bus driver. People who visit this road claim to find handprints from a child, a body hanging from the trees, and the general creepy vibe of being watched.

Wyoming: Devil's Tower

Image Source / Wikipedia
The shape of Devil's Tower is said to be caused by a tragedy from Native American history. The story goes that a group of Cheyenne girls were killed by a bear, while two of them managed to escape and ask for help from two boys. The boys told the girls to act as bait at the top of the rock, where the bear tried to follow and was then shot down by arrows from the boys. It's said the marks on the rock are the bear's scratch marks as it slid down the side.

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