Art, obsession, and identity
Local myths and legends have been a part of human culture for time immemorial. Much of folklore around the world is built around inexplicable events, seemingly impossible sightings, and phenomena that boggle the mind. Sometimes, creatures and curses are conjured up to explain the otherwise inexplicable failure of towns, plagues of bad luck, and natural occurrences that aren't easily understandable. The United States is no different, and in fact, has a long history of vibrant folklore and mythology. From Bigfoot to haunted highways, every state has a wealth of urban legends that continue to captivate the minds and imaginations of locals to this day.
Intrigued? Read on to learn about the creepiest urban legends from every state in the country.
During the American Gold Rush of the 1800s, an unlucky miner in Arizona went missing, leaving his wife and children to slowly sink into malnourishment. According to local legend, the abandoned woman quickly descended into madness and murdered her children, disposing of the bodies in a nearby river. Sitting on the banks of the river in what is now known as Slaughterhouse Canyon, it is said that she wailed and wailed until she passed. If you listen closely, locals say you can still hear her cries echoing against the canyon walls.
When the people of Huntsville, Alabama, built a playground in the middle of their cemetery during the 19th century, they must have expected a little bit of haunting to occur. A century later, in the 1960s, legend has it that a number of children went missing before showing up dead at the playground. For decades, residents and visitors claim to see the ghosts of these ill-fated youths playing on the jungle gym and swing sets.
Few towns in early America were as ill-fated as Dudleytown, Connecticut. Today, only sparse ruins stand as testament to its existence. The official claim is that the town failed because of uncultivatable soil, but locals spin a different tale. They say that the town's residents started to go mad one by one, and were plagued by horrible deaths and accidents. Murders, lightning strikes, suicides, and fatal falls caused this town to become abandoned and, of course, extremely haunted.
Everyone knows about the Bermuda Triangle, but the much more northern Alaskan Triangle has quite a reputation of its own. Marked at its three corners by Juneau, Anchorage, and Barrow, the Alaskan Triangle has laid claim to more than 2,000 disappearances over the years.
Louis McBride was fired from his job as a railroad builder in Arkansas in 1931. Seeking revenge, it is said that McBride killed his old boss with a railroad hammer, a crime for which he was executed by electrocution. Today, McBride's spirit manifests as an eerie ball of light along the Arkansas railroad tracks.
The dry woodlands around Ojai, California, went up in a blaze in 1948. In the aftermath, rescue workers found a man skinned and hung in a remote cabin. According to legend, the man was killed by his son who was living with him, who is said to have gone mad in the terror of the inferno. Locals and campers in the area say that the son, known as the Char-Man, still haunts and protects his neck of the woods from unsuspecting trespassers.
Riverdale Road, near the town of Thornton, Colorado, is known as the most haunted road in the state. Ghosts of all kinds have been spotted on this particular stretch of asphalt, from enslaved peoples to joggers, and even the ghost of a sports car has been seen racing along at breakneck speeds.
During the 18th century, a man named Samuel Chew called Delaware home. The ever-sensitive Chew was painfully aware of his town's youth making fun of him by sneezing and "a-choo"-ing behind his back. Once Chew died, his mortal tormentors felt haunted and tortured, and all of the residents felt ice-cold chills come over them every time they sneezed.
The Everglades of Florida can be just as spooky as they are captivating. A lot of this spookiness comes from the frightening swamp creatures that call the Everglades home. Truly the most frightening is the storied skunk ape, a foul-smelling creature said to resemble an orangutang that stands a terrifying seven feet (2.1 meters) tall.
Georgia's Lake Lanier was artificially constructed in the 1950s, and overtook vast areas of abandoned buildings, roads, and bridges. Locals believe that this desecration has spawned monsters and ghouls of all sorts that are said to lurk just beneath the surface.
Hawaii is known as one of the most beautiful places in the world, and is a holiday dream for millions of people worldwide. It's not all cookouts and cocktails, though. A pack of long-dead Hawaiian warriors, called the night marchers, are said to stalk the resort beaches while most of the islands' residents sleep. Any stragglers who look directly at the night marchers are believed to drop dead immediately.
The Massacre Rocks landmark in rural Idaho wasn't given such a sinister name for no reason. Legend has it that the Shoshone Native Americans who call the area home once suffered a famine so severe that they were forced to drown their infants in the river to spare them from a life of starvation. Today, locals say that you can hear the babies' cries if you listen closely on the banks of the river near Massacre Rocks.
Urban legends about killer clowns are particularly terrifying! During the 1990s, residents of Chicago, Illinois, were allegedly terrorized by a clown who stalked the city streets abducting and killing children.
In the early 20th century, a woman named Alice Gray left Indiana's high society to live amongst the sand dunes that marked the coastline of Indiana and Lake Michigan. Commonly referred to as Diana of the Dunes, she would occasionally be seen lurking amongst the sand hills scaring off visitors. While Gray died many years ago, locals claim she still haunts the Indiana coastline, protecting her dunes from danger and intruders.
The small town of Villisca, Iowa, was shaken to its core when it awoke on the morning of June 10, 1912, to find eight of its community members slain in their sleep. The Moore family—which consisted of two parents and four children—and two other children staying as guests in the house were all found died with vicious axe-inflicted wounds in their heads. Despite months of investigation, countless theories, and numerous suspects, no convictions were made. The Moore family house, now a tourist attraction, is said to remain haunted to this day.
The Devil's Chair in the cemetery of Alma, Kansas, isn't a chair at all; it's a boarded-up well that is said to harbor vicious and malicious spirits. According to legend, anyone who dares sit atop the well will disappear without a trace in a mere matter of days.
The Pope Lick Monster is a well-known and widely feared legend all around the state of Kentucky. The monster, said to resemble a goat-man with nasty horns, lurks beneath the railroad bridges going in and out of Louisville. With his siren-like knack for luring people into the open, the Pope Lick Monster is said to lead people onto the railroad tracks at just the wrong time. The creature gets his name from the fact that he is said to live below a railroad bridge over Pope Lick Creek.
New Orleans, Louisiana, is a city full of history, legends, and colorful characters. One of the more malicious of these characters is an elusive man known as Jacques St. Germain. According to legend, St. Germain moved to New Orleans from France in 1902 and quickly became a prominent figure in the city's nightlife. He was well-liked, if not mysterious, until a woman claimed that St. Germain had attacked her in his home and bit her neck. The story goes that when the police searched the premises, St. Germain's abode was filled with bottles of blood, and the city decided there was indeed a vampire in their midst. Sightings of St. Germain, the vampire of New Orleans, continue to be reported to this day.
Colonel Jonathan Buck, after whom the town of Bucksport, Maine, is named, is buried in Buck's cemetery. Obviously, he was an important and adored man in the town's history. But for reasons no locals can explain, a large, leg-shaped stain appears on Buck's tombstone no matter how many times they clean it or even replace it. Locals believe the stain signifies a curse put on Buck by a witch who was burned at the stake on his command.
The Chesapeake Bay off the southern coast of Maryland is no stranger to myths and legends, but surely the most famous is the story of a massive serpentine creature that lurks in the bay's murky waters. The creature, dubbed Chessie by locals, seems to have a pretty good temperament and keeps a safe (suspiciously safe) distance from humans.
Perhaps the most haunted area in the United States is the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Famous for its gruesome witch trials of the 17th century, the supernatural influences of these alleged witchcraft users are still felt to this day. One alleged witch in particular, Giles Corey, is said to have cursed the post of Salem Sheriff for all of eternity. According to legend, every sheriff of Salem, starting with the one who ordered Corey's execution, has suffered greatly from heart problems, blood disease, and legal troubles.
According to legend, a man named Elias Friske called the small town of Algoma, Michigan, his home during the 1800s. Friske was once apparently possessed by a demon who forced him to kill several of the town's children, and then dump the bodies underneath a small wooden bridge in the surrounding forest. Today, that bridge is known as Hell's Bridge, and visitors claim that the screams of those ill-fated children still echo from underneath.
European superstition and Native American spirituality collide in the legend of the cannibals of Minnesota. Numerous disappearances in the Minnesotan woodlands have been accredited to wendigos, massive, man-eating creatures who were once humans, but became possessed after partaking in cannibalism.
A woman known as the Yazoo River Witch had quite a reputation for attacking and even killing fishermen along the banks of this river in Mississippi. Eventually, the witch was run out of town and died in a quicksand trap. As she was sinking, legend has it the witch swore to return in 20 years in order to exact her revenge. Apparently, nearly exactly 20 years later, a freak forest fire broke out close to Yazoo City and quickly burned the entire town to the ground.
Lawler Ford Road in Missouri is more commonly known in local circles as the Zombie Road. Why? According to legend, this stretch of road is haunted by all manner of spirits and villains. From ghosts with deathly screams to hook-handed serial killers, Zombie Road is to be avoided at all costs.
If spirits and curses are real, and they really do correspond with the wrongdoings of the living, then the genocide of the Native American cultures of North America at the hands of European colonizers should be more than enough to make the United States the most haunted nation on Earth. A clear example of this is the story surrounding Sacrifice Cliff, Montana. The story goes that a smallpox epidemic was making quick work of a tribe of Crow Native Americans in the early 19th century. Believing that the sacrifice of a few would save many, a number of Crows threw themselves off the rock face known today as Sacrifice Cliff. Their spirits are said to still inhabit the area.
The small town of Portal, Nebraska, is haunted by a story of a schoolteacher gone mad in the early 1900s. The educator-turned-killer allegedly decapitated all of her students one day, before cutting the hearts out of each of their bodies. Legend has it that if one stands in the center of the teacher's old classroom, the sounds of that bloody day can still be heard.
The stories, theories, and conspiracies surrounding the secretive Area 51 Air Force base make up what is likely the most famous urban legend in the United States. Hidden deep in the Nevadan Mojave Desert, the base is thought to, among other things, house alien aircraft and maybe even alien life itself.
Some time during the 19th century, a Pequawket Native American chief named Chocorua watched on in horror as his adolescent son succumbed to a fatal poison, poison allegedly provided by the European settlers who wished to encroach on Pequawket ancestral land. According to legend, Chocorua cursed the settlers, their families, and all who would come after them. Mysterious murders, tempestuous storms, and inexplicable livestock disease plagued the settlers for generations after.
An unusually recent urban legend continues to unsettle the people of New Jersey. In 2014, a wealthy family purchased a home for US$1 million, but before they moved in, they began receiving frightening letters from a person known only as the "watcher." The letters warned of a "second coming" in the house, pressed questions regarding who would take the street side bedrooms, and eerily inquired if they had found "what's in the walls." The Broaddus family was sufficiently scared out of their wits and refused to move in. The watcher was never found.
The town of Roswell, New Mexico, is a mecca for alien enthusiasts. It all started in 1947, when a farmer found unidentifiable wreckage and debris just outside of town. Initial statements from local and federal officials, and the quick redaction of those statements, have inspired countless theories about alien contact and the possibility of the US government's knowledge of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth.
According to legend, the Montauk Project was a highly classified government project in the 1980s based in Montauk, New York. The project was said to have run successful experiments in psychological warfare, brainwashing, and even time travel. One man in particular, Al Bielek, claims to have retrieved repressed memories from his time working on the project, and believes that he was actually a soldier in World War II before time traveling to the 1980s.
A large, terrifying creature terrorized the town of Bladenboro, North Carolina, in 1953. Known as the Beast of Bladenboro, the massive feline monster started out killing dogs that ventured into the town's surrounding woodlands, until it moved on to human prey. Eventually, authorities killed a bobcat that they blamed on the attacks, but many locals remained skeptical and never again dared to go into the woods at night.
The remote town of Tagus, North Dakota, has remained just barely populated in the century that has passed since its establishment. In 2001, a satanic coven posing as a Lutheran church allegedly burned their place of worship to the ground, opening a portal to hell in the process. To this day, locals and visitors claim ghosts and demons run rampant in the area.
If locals feel the need to refer to an area as Hell Town, chances are there's nothing good waiting within the town limits. The Ohioan town was originally known as Boston Mills, until the government bought the land in the 1970s and suddenly forced all of its residents to leave. Theories regarding why the government felt compelled to evacuate the town and board up all of its buildings range from classified chemical experiments that turned some residents into mutants, to the town housing an unstoppable serial killer who murdered schoolchildren.
Oklahoma is commonly known as a state of farms and wheat fields, but it's also home to the Beaver Dunes National Park, a desert in the midst of agricultural hegemony. Some believe that the park was established atop a Native American burial ground, causing the area to be the site of numerous disappearances. These disappearances eventually earned the area the nickname of Shaman's Portal.
The alleged victim of a grisly sawmill accident near the Pacific coast of Oregon is said to haunt the roads of Cannon Beach to this day. Known as the Bandage Man, this mummified ghoul has a habit of jumping out in front of passing vehicles, causing them to crash.
The legend of the supernatural bus of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is for some people proof enough of a purgatory on Earth. The bus is apparently only visible to those who have lost all hope in life; when these poor souls climb onto the bus, they are able to live out the rest of their days in infinite transit.
The ill-fated town of Exeter, Rhode Island, was all but decimated by a tuberculosis pandemic in the 1800s. Tuberculosis wasn't as well understood then as it is today, and rumors ran rampant that the sickness was actually caused by vampires who lived in the shadows.
Legend has it that Julia Legare was accidentally buried alive after slipping into a deep coma. Years after her body was 'put to rest' in her South Carolina mausoleum, family members coming to pay their respects were horrified to find Legare's remains not inside of her casket, but in a pile on the floor. Locals and family members claim that Legare awoke from her coma, and while she was able to escape her casket, was unable to move the massive stone door of the mausoleum and likely starved to death inside. Today, a crack prominently streaks the mausoleum door, and no matter how many times the door is replaced, the crack appears again.
Sica Hollow is perhaps the most haunted place in South Dakota. According to Native American folklore, blood once spurted from the ground to create the red-tinted swampland that covers most of the hollow. For centuries, Sica Hollow has been a hotspot for disappearances. Locals believe that these unlucky souls are either engulfed by the pools of blood, or are abducted by angry spirits.
Bell Witch, Tennessee, is a real place, and was allegedly the site of its fair share of horrors. John Bell purchased the land in the early 19th century, but soon regretted it after he and his family started to receive visits from a terrifying monster. A vile beast with the head of a rabbit and the body of a dog, the famous Bell Witch would terrorize the family in their sleep, lurk in the surrounding wilderness, and warn them of murders and plagues.
Sightings of two children with pure black eyes asking for rides across Texas began in 1994, when a journalist named Brian Bethel reportedly just narrowly escaped death after these terrifying kids asked him for a ride back home. Since then, new sightings are regularly reported.
Utah's Petrified Forest National Park has historically had a problem with tourists illegally taking bits of petrified wood home as souvenirs. While there are already legal consequences in place for people stealing these natural marvels, the spirits of the land itself apparently have their own punishments in mind. Legend has it that stolen bits of wood from this park are cursed, and thieves have reportedly experienced broken bones, diseases, and even house fires.
A diary dating from the 1800s weaves an incredible tale of a destitute family who felt they had no choice but to freeze and bury the oldest family members in order to save them from a slow death from starvation. According to legend, when the spring thaw came around, the elders were still perfectly alive and well after thawing out.
The man who came to be known as the Bunny Man of Virginia escaped from captivity in an insane asylum after the bus he was being transferred on crashed. After escaping, the Bunny Man is said to have lived in the wilderness around Clifton, Virginia, hunting humans for sustenance. Teenagers seemed to be his favorite, and legend has it that their harvested bodies would turn up hanging from the ceiling of what is now known as Bunny Man Bridge (pictured).
Bigfoot needs no introduction. Said to live in the vast forests of Washington, this elusive humanoid cryptid seems to want simply to be left alone. Enthusiasts have been obsessed for decades with capturing—or at least properly documenting—the beast, but to no avail.
The Mothman of West Virginia is not only feared, but also frequently adored. Usually spotted around the town of Point Pleasant, the giant, red-eyed Mothman has become something of a hometown hero. Festivals, films, and even statues have been constructed in his honor.
Local legend has it that Boy Scout Lane, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, was the site of the grisly massacre of an ill-fated boy scout troop. No one knows who did it, or why, but visitors sometimes claim to find the handprints of children along the path, and even spectral bodies swinging in the trees.
One of the United States' most recognizable landmarks, Wyoming's Devil's Tower is at the center of various indigenous belief systems and urban legends. It is said that, long ago, two indigenous girls climbed to the top of the rock formation to escape from a bear.
Sources: (Ranker) (Insider) (Reader's Digest)
See also: Silly and spooky mythological creatures of North America
The most sinister urban legends from every US state
Unnerving stories from every part of the country
LIFESTYLE Creepy
Local myths and legends have been a part of human culture for time immemorial. Much of folklore around the world is built around inexplicable events, seemingly impossible sightings, and phenomena that boggle the mind. Sometimes, creatures and curses are conjured up to explain the otherwise inexplicable failure of towns, plagues of bad luck, and natural occurrences that aren't easily understandable. The United States is no different, and in fact, has a long history of vibrant folklore and mythology. From Bigfoot to haunted highways, every state has a wealth of urban legends that continue to captivate the minds and imaginations of locals to this day.
Intrigued? Read on to learn about the creepiest urban legends from every state in the country.