The thing about urban legends is, they are mostly fake, made up to scare you during your childhood, but there are far more creepy urban legends that turned out to be true.
It’s late at night and you’re driving down a dark road when suddenly the car behind you flashes its brights at you. You look up at the rearview mirror and see the vehicle flash them again, then get back to driving, slightly annoyed.
Thirty seconds later the driver flashes them again, and once more you look in your rearview mirror, annoyed. Finally, he does it a third time, another fast series of flashes, and at last, you pull over to the side of the road to let this impatient driver pass. As he pulls up alongside your car though, the driver rolls his passenger’s side window down and starts frantically yelling and pointing at your car. “There’s a man in your backseat!”, the driver screams.
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Terrified, you whip around to look at your backseat, but it’s too late. You’re now another victim of a knife-wielding, car-hijacking madman. The urban legend of the backseat murderer is exactly that, an urban legend, but there are far more true creepy urban legends that turned out to be more fact than fiction.
Here we’re going to look at the ten terrifying true urban legends from every state that reveals the truth behind these creepy campfire stories.
10. Cropsey, New York
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This true urban legend comes from the state of Bill Bixby New York. Cropsey is said to be a man who had a hook for a hand. He would stalk out of a mental institution for children at night, sneak into the hospital, take children from it, and then take their lives.
Pretty much everyone who’s ever been camping in New York has heard about this legend. For many years it was exactly that a legend but things got sinister when a documentary pointed out that Cropsey was real.
The children’s mental hospital was also real and was shut down because of its terrible practices. Cropsey was a real-life person named Andre Rand he took the lives of many children and he’s currently serving 25 years to life in prison eligible for parole in 2037.
9. Hell’s Gate Bridge, Alabama
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This story starts in the 1950s. A young couple was driving over the bridge one night when their car went wild. It then fell off the bridge and they both drowned.
Ever since then, people have said that if you drive your car into the middle of the bridge and turn off your lights, the couple will appear in the backseat of your car.
It only works at night and they even leave a wet spot on the seat after you drive off. Some walking on the bridge have even reported seeing this couple at night because of all of the reports of weird things happening on the bridge.
It’s closed to cars but you can still walk on it. However, it’s strongly discouraged that’s because the bridge has since been abandoned and is in disrepair.
8. Homey the Clown, Illinois
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Despite the name this one has nothing to do with the Simpsons, Homey the Clown was a clown from the TV show in Living Color but all through the suburbs of Chicago, there’s been this terrible story coming around.
A man dressed as Homey the Clown drives around in a white van near elementary schools. He would drive around and if he saw a kid on his own, he would offer him candy and money but then he would take that kid and he was never seen again.
But this isn’t just an urban legend, it’s a real story. John Wayne Gacy took many kids’ lives in the Chicago area. It’s thought he may have taken the lives of over 40 kids and one of his jobs was dressing up as Pogo the Clown and going to kids’ parties.
So that’s likely the true origin of the homey clown urban legend.
7. Bunny Man, Virginia
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This true urban legend starts in an insane asylum. The people of Clifton Virginia were very upset about this insane asylum as they were tired of living near such crazy and scary people. They protested saying to shut it down so the authorities finally agreed.
One night all of the patients were being transferred on the bus. One of the patients named Bert distracted the driver and caused the bus to crash and all of the patients escaped. Within 24 hours cops were able to catch all of them except one, the bunny man.
The bunny man now lives in the woods and sustains himself on woodland creatures for example bunnies but soon he goes on a rampage hunting humans.
Since then many people in Virginia reported almost being injured by a man with a hatchet. One group of teens were even found passed away under a bridge and this bridge has been deemed Bunnyman Bridge ever since.
6. The Black Angel, Iowa
The enormous Black Angel Iowa located in Oakland Cemetery, Iowa is a gigantic statue that is over eight feet tall. The metal has gone all black because it’s oxidized most people in Iowa don’t know what this is but there’s a scary backstory to this statue.
It’s said that if a pregnant woman walks under her then she will lose her child and it’s also said that if you touch or kiss the statue you will pass away.
Within six months there have been many cases of this strange happening. Maybe it’s a coincidence but even if it is this statue was a seriously scary sight to see.
5. The Candy Lady, Texas
Since the early 1900s, children in rural Texas have gone missing, and if you ask the residents many will blame it on the candy lady. She is said to go around and leave candy on children’s windows.
Eventually, she would lure the kids out with notes attached, promising even more candy. The story first got big when a farmer found some rotten teeth on his farm. He then found the body of a boy with his pockets stuffed with candy.
Little is known about the origin of the candy lady but many believe her to be Clara Crain. The woman poisoned her husband with candy and it said she also did the same thing to her daughter.
She went to prison for some time but was released and some say that she is the candy lady.
4. The Devil’s Chair, Kansas
This legend goes back to Alma Kansas. One day the city ordered a farmer to sell his land so they could build a new cemetery. However, he refused and the city was very annoyed.
The elite sunk a lot of money into the new cemetery project so instead of waiting for him to sell the land, they paid someone to push him into a well. This was his well on his farm. The well was then boarded up and it’s never been looked at again.
On Alma, you can sit on the boarded up well but it’s said that those who have sat on this well have been known to disappear mysteriously. People think the city covered up taking this farmer’s life but this Alma well is haunted.
3. Hoosac Tunnel, Massachusetts
The Hoosac Tunnel is a railway tunnel located in western Massachusetts. It took 24 years to build and during this time 200 construction workers passed away. Workers losing their lives was so common that many called it the blood pit.
They had to release explosions to create the tunnel and in 1868 one explosion caused 13 to get trapped. All of the other workers assumed the miners had passed away but it was eventually discovered the miners had lived.
They’d even built a raft to combat any flooding but eventually, they passed away from poisonous gas inhalation. They could have been saved but the other workers assumed it was too late.
To this day it said that the 13 miners still haunt the tunnel. Apparently, if you walk into this tunnel you’ll hear their painful cries and some even report seeing ghosts in the tunnel. One of the true creepiest urban legends.
2. The Body Under the Bed, Las Vegas
Everyone has nightmares about something under the bed. But from all those creepy urban legends, the ‘Body Under the Bed’ is said to be true. It goes like this. One night a couple is on vacation. They are having the time of their life and fall asleep after a long day of fun activities.
In the middle of the night, they are awoken by a horrible smell. It reeks as if something, or someone, has died in the room. They try to sleep through it, but can’t get past the smell. The couple calls down to the lobby and informs the concierge of the odor.
The hotel staff came up to the room and checked everywhere for the source of the smell, but they couldn’t find it. The hotel is completely booked, so they do a quick cleaning of the room and spray air freshener. The smell seems to have subsided for now.
The next day the hotel crew takes apart the room looking for the source of the smell. They clean under the bed and all around the hotel room. The smell still lingers.
The hotel crew takes the mattress off of the bed and unzips the mattress cover. They slide the cover off to unveil a dead body within the mattress cover. The couple had been sleeping on top of the dead body the entire night. A true story among all the urban legends.
1. The Corpse Prop, California
A legend says that at one haunted house in California, a corpse prop looked realistic. A little too realistic. When investigators examined it, they discovered it was a preserved corpse. Visitors had been gawking at an actual dead body for who knows how many years?
And the scariest part? This urban legend was completely true. Elmer J. McCurdy seemed destined for a bad end, and when the notorious robber died in a shootout with police, no one was particularly shocked.
It was the early 1900s, and mummified bodies were common sideshow attractions. He was first put on display at a funeral home and then sold to traveling carnivals for decades.
But over the years, the records were lost and many people who bought the body assumed it was a hoax. That led to him being displayed at The Pike amusement park in California – where his arm eventually broke off, to the horror of those maintaining the funhouse. After this grim discovery, McCurdy was finally given a proper burial.
