#urban legend myth

[actuallybrini]

Today the world's most gorgeous smile turns 40 and it happens to belong to the equally gorgeous Lou Ferrigno Jr. And in honor of that special day, here are 40 Lou smiles that will hopefully brighten your day. Because lord knows we can all need a little pick-me-up.

[switchkick]

NO SOMETIMES OR MAYBE FULL SEND

reblog for sample size

[candela888]

Some of the feminine spiritual apparitions in the folklore and legends of Latin America & the Caribbean

There are many types of female ghost. They are typically (but not always) dressed in a white or red dress or similar garment, reportedly seen in rural areas and associated with local legends of tragedy. Legends are found in many countries around the world. Common to many of these legends is an accidental death, murder, or suicide, and the theme of loss, betrayed by a husband or fiancé, and unrequited love. Many of these entities are also said to appear near water, like the Sirens of Greece or the washerwomen of the Celtic people.

[theofficialdailyplanet]

batman being an urban legend, the stuff off nightmares, seeming larger than life, travelling in the shadows with eyes that glow in the dark meanwhile brucie thomas wayne being a 5'8 sweetheart who gets lost on the way to his own office

[corruptedromi]

[dewardin]

[briefbestiary]

The leaping legend who, supernatural or not, terrified streets across a nation.

[ashersbraincell]

Fun idea for the spooky season(particularly for my folks not native to Britain, America, or just generally places whose folklore is more widely known): look into spooky folklore from cultures you’re native to! It’s actually really interesting

[greywritesrandom]

Legends and Lore - 16 {Monster}

Aqrabuamelu

In the searing heat of the Mesopotamian desert, where the horizon blurs into an endless shimmer of sand, lurk the Aqrabuamelu-scorpio-men born from the twilight of gods and nightmares. Towering over mortal men, their bodies stretch out with the armoured bulk of a giant scorpion, while their torsos, arms, and faces resemble that of a man, though twisted and etched with an ancient rage. From the curve of their venomous tail, gleaming in the desert sun, to their dark, piercing eyes, they are creatures of both war and warning.

First mentioned in the Babylonian creation myths, the Aqrabuamelu were said to have been spawned by the union of Tiamat, the primordial sea goddess, and the earth, crafted to march into battle against the gods themselves. But these scorpion-men were not merely mindless soldiers of destruction. As terrifying as their form may be, they served a dual purpose, bridging the gap between the mortal and the divine.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Aqrabuamelu are encountered not as aggressors but as guardians-standing sentinel at the gates of the sun god Shamash, guarding the thresholds to the underworld. Their sting was said to be lethal, able to kill any creature or god who dared defy their post. Their presence was enough to freeze the heart of even the bravest traveller, for to gaze upon them was to face both fear and fate itself.

But there was something more terrifying about them than just their form-their knowledge of the future. In their black, inscrutable eyes, they could see the fates of those who passed through their gates. They did not attack recklessly. Instead, they warned travellers, speaking in low, rasping tones of the dangers that lay ahead. These creatures, born for war, were also keepers of forbidden truths-gatekeepers not just to the sun god’s realm, but to the mysteries that lay beyond life and death.

The Aqrabuamelu dwells in the spaces between-the line where day turns to night, where the mortal brushes the divine, and where life confronts death. Their hulking forms cast long shadows over the myths of Mesopotamia, their scorpion tails curling in anticipation, waiting for the next unwary soul to wander too close to the sun.

[little-witchys-garden]

i’m still very much stuck on the fact that this "historian" as she called herself, believes that myth should be modernized and that myths, legends and folklore should never stay the same... She doesn’t care whatsoever about the cultural significance and impact of myths and legends for a oppressed individuals throughout history.....

she also is perfectly fine with the demonization of female characters in myths and legends to make the stories more "modern" because fucking apparently someone has to be the evil villain and it can’t be the man.....

[hellcifrogs]

Do you have any original works that you hope to share one day? How does naruto inspire you and your writing?

So many original ideas and works in progress you have no idea. So many I want to complete and share one day for sure.

To be very honest I don't take much inspiration from Naruto as a series nowadays - shocking - there's just two things I keep in mind that I've always really liked about Naruto, 1. The characters, I always thought Kishimoto was really great at creating characters (using and developing all of them not so much, but how he comes up with designs and personalities is very fascinating) and 2. How he mixes folklore and mythology into his universe. I'm a huge mythology nerd and quite a few of my original works have myths and legends mixed with different plots and worlds (also a big thing for me to love about rwby). So that is something I like to remind myself and go back to.

[roselyn-writing]

I took permission from @lisadelise to add black shuck in my story/novel, Because she added it first to her OC Eliena, I made a design of my own of the black shuck, Because I like new and unique things. Also, to avoid called ‘copycat’ or ‘idea stealer’. Most arts of The Black Shuck either have one red eye or two red eyes I decided to give it a 3 eyes, His top eye have heat vision just like Superman’s, I forgot to say that The Black Shuck in my novel/story is good fella but his looks doesn’t help at all, He doesn’t attack humans because he doesn’t see the most of them as ‘evil’ or a ‘threat’ unlike the usual black shucks who are pure monsters and hellish creatures who lives on blood. That is all 😁😁😁.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

The Urban Legend Of England’s Phantom Social Workers Who Steal Vulnerable Children

The legend began in the 1990s, when British newspapers starting reporting on unidentified men posing as social workers and taking children from their homes for an “evaluation.” According to legend, one man, who would be accompanied by several women, would masquerade as a social worker. He would enter and inspect homes for safety and examine children for signs of abuse, and then whisk the children away — never to be seen again. The urban myth spawned such hysteria that it spurred local law enforcement in South Yorkshire to create a task force to investigate the claim in 1990. The so-called Operation Childcare received more than 250 reports of this type of abduction as a result, though only two proved to be valid. One of those was the report of Anne Wylie, who claimed that a woman pretending to be a social worker suddenly appeared at her home after her 20-month-old son had been hospitalized for asthma. The woman had no identification and was accompanied by a man waiting outside. Suspicious, Wylie demanded more information. The strange woman placed her son’s medical records on the table. But after the couple left, Wylie was able to confirm that they weren’t social workers after all. Despite this chilling account, in its four years as an active task force, Operation Childcare didn’t make a single arrest. Instead, authorities blamed the press for “hyping” a small, legitimate problem into a large-scale paranoia that then spawned an urban legend. Nonetheless, there were at least two groups of individuals who abducted children by posing as social workers. Authorities believed these were vigilantes who believed that it was their duty to protect children from abuse in the wake of a major child abuse scandal in the 1980s.

[corruptedromi]

[moroseoracle]

UNEXPLAINED APPALACHIAN PHENOMENA #1: THE REPTILE ROOM

This phenomenon refers to a series of comments and complaints, which initially were primarily sourced from Google reviews, about an alleged exhibit hall present in Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in early 2019. By all apparent evidence, this exhibit hall has never existed.

The entrance to the exhibit hall in question, referred to in witness reports as "Ripley's Reptile Room," is said to manifest in multiple locations, primarily around the midpoint and end of the aquarium's signature underwater tunnel.

This entrance has been described as a nondescript industrial push door, above which hangs a poorly-maintained electric sign, displaying the aforementioned name. In all reports, the location of the entrance and the exhibition within defy architectural logic, often jutting off in ways that would compromise the integrity of the structure above them.

Though many specifics differ between eyewitness accounts, several constants remain: The exhibit features a promotional plaque beside its entrance, using bizarre, difficult to parse turns of phrase regarding the creatures exhibited within, such as promising "titillating marine reptile viewing pleasure," and requiring attendees to have "over +21 mollusks consumed".

The contents of the exhibit itself, as described by the handful of families who experienced the anomaly, are likely the source of the complaints. The Reptile Room is described as being apparently unfinished, with exposed floor panels, wiring dangling down from the ceiling, and a lack of decoration. A consistent element between accounts is that the room is brightly lit and oddly quiet in a way that differs from the rest of the aquarium.

Upon entering the Reptile Room, the majority of witnesses leave shortly, due to its underwhelming contents and unpleasant atmosphere. The several exhibits present (a number ranging from thirty to forty depending on the referenced account) all definitely contain some kind of creature--Fortunately, the inch-thick laminated glass is far too dirty and dilapidated to make out any specifics, but the sound of shuffling movement and the dark silhouette made apparent by solar lamps within confirm the presence of some kind of animal, be it reptile or otherwise. There are no identifying name plates by the exhibits, nor signage of any kind.

The lighting, as previously mentioned, is described as harshly fluorescent, to a headache inducing degree. The one other constant detail between accounts is that the floors were apparently slick with a nauseating cleaning chemical that made walking tricky. In the distance, several halls (but not enough) away, there was the sound of a wet vac, and the heavy, frantic footfalls of work shoes, with their non-slip soles rubbed smooth from overuse.

Aquarium officials have noted that "Ripley's Reptile Room" was indeed a planned exhibit hall, but was ultimately cancelled in 2017 when an outbreak of an "unknown toxic agent" resulted in the death of the majority of display animals, with the remainder being donated to nearby AZA accredited zoos and aquariums, such as Zoo Knoxville and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.

[useless-catalanfacts]

If you have ever looked at the water at the bottom of a well, you may have seen little bubbles that emerge to the surface. According to these legends from the Balearic Islands, you have seen proof that Maria Enganxa is there: those bubbles were her breathing.

In Balearic legends, Maria Enganxa (a name that could be translated from Catalan as "Mary Hooks") is a character who lives inside wells, cisterns and the underground tunnels that connect them. She has a long hook or a hand shaped like a hook that she uses to kidnap children who go near wells when their parents aren't around. These children are never heard of again.

There are different stories that explain her origin. One says that she used to be a beautiful young girl, but a witch was jealous of her and cursed her to remain underwater.

In Catalonia, legends about Maria Enganxa or Maria Ganxos exists in the Priorat and Segrià areas, where she is said to have been a real woman. She knew how to use medicinal herbs to cure all kinds of illnesses, but she also enjoyed making those who disliked her suffer: she would make cows' milk go sour, destroyed harvests and dry up the fruit trees. Seeing the situation, she was imprisoned but she escaped jail with her magic. Angry townspeople searched for her everywhere, until they found her in a field, in front of a well. Seeing she was about to be attacked, Maria said she would get revenge, particularly against children, and then jumped inside the well to avoid getting caught.

For generations, the figure of Maria Enganxa has been used to scare children to avoid getting too close to wells without supervision. The reason is that it was not that uncommon for children to have an accident and fall down the well. Other cultures have similar figures of someone inside wells who pulls children down, for example Maria Gancha from Minho (Portugal), the Marabbecca from Sicily, or the story of Banchō Sarayashiki from Japan.