#urban legends that are true

[morbidology]

Everybody knows the urban legend of The Babysitter. The storyline is that a teenage girl is babysitting alone at night. She is watching TV after putting the children to bed when she receives a phone call in which a man laughs down the phone, telling her to check on the children. She eventually rings the police after numerous calls from the mysterious caller without ever checking on the children. The police trace the call and tell her the calls are coming from inside the house and tell her to run outside immediately. The man had been calling her after he killed each child.

What people don’t know is that this urban legend is loosely based on a real crime - the murder of 13-year-old Janett Christman, who was killed while babysitting. On the evening of March 18, 1950, she contacted police and screamed “come quick” before the line went dead. At a time when calls could not be traced, the operator had no idea where she was. She was found when the parents came home. Janett was dead in the living room and had been brutally bludgeoned with a blunt object, raped, and strangled. The baby remained upstairs asleep.

The murder was never solved.

[spookcataloger]

Green Man (2015)

[greenerteacups]

Hi! I wanted to ask in regards to chemistry: Do you think Hermione and the twins have chemistry? Because I feel like whenever she talked to them there was something in the air (with Fred mostly, but I think Rowling just used Fred as the designated twin for everything). I loathe the fics with that pairing though

Most of Hermione's interactions with the twins are mildly antagonistic, since she's either telling them off or getting pissed that they're about to do something stupid. Is there some chemistry in that? Sure, could be! It's the eye of the beholder. The twins are tall, funny, and confident; I'm sure many girls find them attractive, and Hermione might well be one of them.

The only interactions I remember off the top of my head as being eyebrow-raising are (1) Fred trying to beat up Draco with his fists after the "mudblood" name-calling incident in COS, and (2) Fred giving Hermione healing ointment in OOTP after she used a boxing telescope (his telescope, mind, but it's still a nice gesture). Those are the two times we see Fred as consciously thinking about Hermione. Because we don't see any of the other older Weasleys do this — George/Percy/Charlie/Bill don't have any such micro-interactions with her — it reads like the author's calling attention to Fred and Hermione on purpose. There's so little romance in the books that a lot of gestures you could plausibly spin as friendly read as potential jumping-off points for romance.

[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.

[thedrotter]

Do any of you remember a Youtube video about Re:Kinder talking about how the game is seen and percieved by some people (mostly touching upon and arguing against how it has been treated insensitively as some sort of weird legend like "ooo disturbing game with a hidden truth behind it" due to it's creator being dead), as well as talking about the charm of the game (even mentioning it's art at some point) and sadness of the themes without spoiling anything at the same time?? I remember the video avoided saying any spoilers at all and only touched on the literal plot as the kids being stuck in a dire situation in the town with all the adults dead without really getting into the why (it didn't even say one of the kids themselves was the cause— as thus, spoiler free), other than that it just touched on the emotional side of it and vaguely mentioned some scenes.

i also remember at some point the later half (at the very least if not in all of it) of the video, music by Siinamota was playing in the background. Does anyone remember seeing a video like this?

I can't seem to find it anywhere and don't even remember the exact year I watched it.😭 It was the way I found out about this game a while ago, which eventually ended up in me playing it, and I really wish I could watch it again. I thought it was a deleted video by someone called hazel as it was mentioned by a lot of people, but I found that one and it isnt it.😓 I'm wondering if anyone remembers watching something along the lines of what im describing and knows if it's still up.

[youtvb3]

"Checking, checking, 1, 2, 3..."

"Is this thing on?!"

The camera tuned in to a girl wearing pink, who then furrowed her brows with a determined grin. The livestream already had thirteen thousand viewers, even though it just started, and comments began flooding in.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's up, fuckers?! It's your girl, Miu here! Currently with Rantaro, Kaede, Ryoma, Kirumi, Angie, Tenko, Korekiyo, Kokichi, Gonta, Kaito, Tsumugi, Kiibo, Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko, who I'm sure you all recognize from the channel, at the convention we mentioned we'd be going to!!"

"Thank you, Iruma. But yes, we are getting rather bored here, and desire interaction. We were hoping a few of you would be able to tune in and talk to us."

"Yes, yes! Give us a good laugh! We are soooooooo bored~! I may even be willing to put in a good word to Atua for you if you do~."

"Gonta not bored! Gonta brought lots of bug friends! See?"

The boy, presumably called "Gonta", holds out two handfuls of different kinds of insects. That causes another boy to dart to the other end of the group, hiding behind a masked man.

"S-Stay over there... please."

He must not like bugs, huh? But then

"U-Um, guys? The comments...?"

She directs their attention to the comments, where yours comes up.

What does your comment say?

(( Feel free to ignore, interact if not tagged, or ask for your tag to be removed! Mods that play Kokichi or Kotoko on ANY blog in ANY capacity DNI!!!! ))

@human-monokuma @unknown-ultimates @pizza-for-my-friends @lildevxlsbakery and anyone else because the mod can't tag. ;w;

[gravitysgone]

When John Lennon met Yoko Ono in 1966, he fell madly in love with her, soon after dumping his then-wife Cynthia, and after a period of dating married Yoko in early 1969.

John gave his ex-wife, Cynthia, only a divorce settlement, although he knew Cynthia would have to support and raise her son Julian, who was just five years old.

After a few years, Cynthia would soon be almost broke; she knew she would have to save some money so that she and Julian could survive.

In desperation, she made a necessary decision, to sell the love letters and drawings John had given her when they were a young, passionate couple in their teens.

The letters were so passionate, filled with quotes from "I love you, Cyn."

Can you imagine how much Cynthia must have hurt to get rid of those priceless memories?

Cynthia sold them for a huge amount...

The buyer was Paul McCartney.

Paul had paid a small fortune for the memories.

A few days later Cynthia got all the letters and drawings in the mail, now all carefully framed.

And attached to it was also a note that said:

“Never sell your memories.

With love, Paul McCartney"

[paranormal-playground-podcast]

The Cecil Hotel and Echoes of Terror: A Night of Dread at the Cecil Hotel

Welcome back to the Paranormal Playground Podcast! In this episode, we venture into the heart of Downtown Los Angeles to explore the enigmatic Cecil Hotel. Known for its dark history and chilling reputation, the Cecil Hotel has housed infamous serial killers and witnessed the perplexing death of Elisa Lam. Join us as we uncover the hotel’s troubled past, ghostly inhabitants, and unexplained…

[bearfeathers]

no but the way halloween (2018) restores to michael myers the identity of the shape and the boogeyman is just 🤌

[doolallymagpie]

did i just write "charles kincaid chugged a gallon of milk after the first mackie test, in the tradition of indy 500 winners"?

yes, yes i did

[alexanderpearce]

we’re all going to the world’s fair soundtrack making me cry and feel so incredibly melancholy it’s like indescribable. the internet.

[pandorasboxofhorrors]

2023-#3: The Rise of the Catman

You probably have not seen him or heard about him, but one day, he may cross your path. And he is not a black cat that brings you bad luck! He is something of a real superhero…but on the small scale, a potential urban legend, but certainly not known like Burlap Man (see 2023-#2: The Thing in the Fog). I first encountered the Catman in the winter of 2022-2023. The Catman mainly operates on the Chicago public transportation train lines in the fall and winter. He can be described as wearing: leopard print shoes, black Puma pants, a full length, fuzzy, leopard, print coat, leopard print gloves, super thick framed black sunglasses that looks like a robber's mask, and to top it all off - a hat with highly pronounced cat ears. When he wears his Covid mask, it is quite a sight. I started encountering this unusual individual on the north end of the Red and Purple Line trains. Usually, Catman sits there quietly reading some device that resembles Mr. Whoopi’s 3-D BB from the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoon. It is probably an iPad, which he is glued to. He has the calm, detached demeanor of Felix the Cat. However, I have seen disturbances on the train in which the Catman goes into full feline action. I eventually spoke with this Catman on a few train rides and got his story…

First thing I was curious about is why the outfit? He told me that he was tending to a very sick cat for a prolonged period of time. As the cat became sicker, new methods were tried to keep the cat content. One of those methods turned out to be clothes selection which eventually led to the development of his outfit. The cat picked it. That explains the outfit, but doesn’t explain the superhero-like behavior. Some degree of malfeasance is expected on public transportation trains, but during the pandemic crime went crazy on them. The Catman explained that on multiple train rides during the pandemic, he encountered some pretty crazy situations… Elderly women angrily yelling and berating homeless people who get on the train shivering with a blanket around them…creepy huge men wandering on trains like zombies that do not realize they are no longer in prison…one example after another of aggression, as respect, privacy and other values are replaced by the need to be outspoken and rude…and then he had an experience that was the last straw that broke the camel’s backside.

The Catman explained one day he was riding the train and saw an old man being strangely attacked. It was 7am on a mostly empty Purple line train. The old man was a Cubs fan, well into his 80s, wearing all sorts of baseball accoutrements. He had a Cubs hat, a flag, a bag, and all kinds of stuff with their insignia. He was smiling, basking in baseball Heaven, very much looking like the elderly waiter from Twin Peaks. As he sat there alone, he projected some sort of Buddha-like inner peace and joy.

The ancient Cubs fan was then approached by a group of maids traveling from work, all wearing purple. These maids were rather too merry, loud, unruly - and also quite large. The slimmest of the three maids was well over 225 pounds. They began taunting the elderly Cubs fan - who became agitated. The taunting continued and the agitation continued, and then the strange attack began. The three large purple maids lined up and turned their backs towards the Cubs fan. They then began loudly screaming, laughing, and most importantly - aggressively twerking at him. To be clear, twerking is defined as, “sexually suggestive dancing characterized by rapid, repeated hip thrusts and shaking of the buttocks especially while squatting.” They began to slowly step backwards toward him, twerking, laughing and shouting - with their massive mounds menacing the man.

Their twerkings became closer and closer to the aged man, and their very large buttocks appeared as vast purple waves that would soon flood over the poor passenger. The old Cubs fan appeared to be in mortal danger of those bad bouncing buttocks, those approaching awful aggressive asses, those bobbing backsides of beastliness, those diabolically dancing derrières of doom! The Catman considered intervening in this dangerous touch and go situation, but that would mean coming between the man and those threatening twerking buttocks. But the the mad maids were only three feet away from the frightened fan; the space was too narrow. This presented a threat not unlike that of churning Charybdis and Scylla, where all would soon be crushed by the rocks at sea!

The twisted twerkers were now within two feet of the shocked man and getting closer. The old Cubs fan sported a facial expression of extreme horror, like this was his worst nightmare. The loud and unruly maids sang, stomped their feet, and laughed as they surrounded him with a solid wall of twerking terror! The old man rapidly and repeatedly pressed the emergency security buzzer for the train conductor, and the maids were almost on him. Catman said, “I couldn’t see his face anymore, just their killer keisters, like he was sucked in and away, like in a Robert Crumb comic.”

The train pulled into the next station, the twerkers raced off the train, and the train conductor was running to the train car. The Catman was left wondering how he could have intervened, to have protected the man from those fearsome fat flying fannies. He said there were too many other similar occurrences on the trains that drove him to become the Catman. The Catman had enough of this chaos, so he changed his outfit and picked up a keychain device that makes multiple types of cat sounds. Now he easily diffuses bad situations just with his outfit, making hisses and cat sounds only when necessary.

So the next time you ride the train in Chicago in cold weather, and you see a human Felix the Cat lurking about, it is probably the Catman.

[undeadhousewife]

The absolutely bizarre ice cream truck situation in my neighborhood continues. I almost posted the other day about how, in the middle of a wicked spring storm when it's barely 40 out with winds around 30mph (and gusts up to twice that) there was the first ice cream truck of the season out. No one is popping out for a cold treat.

Now it's currently 8am, and there's another one. I mean the weather is decent but kids are in school and it's a weird time to be out man.

(I tried to find my other posts about this to add onto it ranging from a truck playing techno metal and another one playing knock off ice cream music but couldn't find them needless to say it's a theme in my neighborhood)

I also have to stress these are decrepit 1990s minivans with stickers, slapped on the side. They just reach over and slide open the side door to hand out ice-cream.

[spookcataloger]

Rat Man of DC (2013)

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Cropsey

The legend of Cropsey is essentially an unknown figure that would kidnap children and take them to an abandoned tunnel system under an old hospital to murder them. Various real and fake disappearances were attributed to Cropsey. Then in 1987, a man in the area named Andre Rand was found to be connected to crimes like those that Cropsey had supposedly committed. Rand was working as a janitor at a state school for kids with intellectual disabilities which was an abusive and unsafe environment for students. He was homeless at the time and living near an old hospital and an abandoned school.

Rand had a history of crimes against children including sexual assault as well as an incident where he kidnapped a bus of children. Rand was originally arrested for the disappearance of a 12-year-old student Jenifer Schweiger. Her body was later found on the school grounds where he was living. It is thought that Rand may be connected to even more cases of missing children from that time period. He was later found guilty of one of these cases and will not be eligible for parole until 2037.