While North America may not have a long history of mythologies compared to other cultures, each American state has its own folklore, legends, and myths that have captivated generations.
Every area of the world has its own stories passed down through the ages, twisted by decades of retelling and reimagining.
However, most of the legends are myths, with the associated folklore and considering if some of the witnesses of these legends may be telling the truth.
Here are 12 of the most famous American folklore, legends, and myths from each state that would make you think twice before venturing into these parts.
11. Highway 365, Arkansas
Legend has it that the figure of a young woman is sometimes seen walking along an eerie stretch of Arkansas Highway 365.
Passersby are more than willing to give her a lift to the house she always seems to be going to, but once they arrive, the woman vanishes into the chilly night air.
The house is said to be that of her mother, who will gladly explain her daughter’s death and her periodic hitchhiking home to anyone who knocks on the door.
Reportedly, one person who’d given this girl a ride home handed her his jacket to help warm her after her walk in the crisp rain.
Like always, she disappeared, he knocked, and the mother explained. Afterward, he visited her grave, only to find his jacket hanging on her tombstone.
10. Char-Man, California
It was the summer of 1948 when a large fire blazed a remote part of California, says this eerie legend. The area was extremely isolated, and some households were forced to wait days for assistance.
One such place was a small cabin where a father and son lived alone. The building was devoured by the fire. The father was killed by the flames, leaving the badly burned son as the sole survivor.
Something more than his flesh was changed by the heat, the smoke, and the pain he endured, though. A piece of his mind was broken, and it transformed him.
As a testament, when the police arrived on the scene, they found the corpse of his father hanging, skin flayed from his body, from a nearby tree.
It’s said the Char-Man, the creature the son became, still terrorizes the Ojai Valley and will attack unsuspecting hikers and campers so he can collect their skins like he did his father’s.
9. Lake Lanier, Georgia
In Georgia, there’s a 50,000-acre man-made body of water known as Lake Lanier. To build this monstrosity, hundreds of families, town buildings, and cemeteries had to be ushered out to new locales.
Much, though, was left behind — including the souls of those who used to live there. The lake is creepy enough on its own, and a disproportionate number of deaths on the lake is the fuel that powers the myth.
Boating accidents, drownings, and cars careening off the road to land in Lanier’s waters add to the lake’s mystery.
It’s said that the ghost towns below the water’s surface are the reason behind lakegoers’ misfortune, as the spirits trapped within reach up and pull those unfortunate souls down to the depths.
The argument then becomes whether it’s ghosts or a curse that made this lake so unlucky.
8. Phantom Jogger, Colorado
The 11-mile stretch of road running between Thornton and Brighton, Colorado, is said to be one of the most haunted roads in the United States.
It’s thought to be so haunted, in fact, that some believe the actual gates of hell are somewhere along its winding curves. The most prominent urban myth about this road has to do with a phantom jogger who attacks traveling and parked cars alike.
The jogger is said to be the spirit of a poor soul who became the victim of a hit-and-run. The restless shade now travels the road at night banging on the sides of traveling cars, or pounding on the doors and windows of parked cars.
Anyone unlucky enough to let the specter reach the driver’s door might just join him in the in-between.
7. Swamp Trail, Delaware
This story says that during the 19th century, a young girl ran away from a bad home situation to seek refuge in the woods around Lums Pond, an area that’s now the Swamp Trail.
Unfortunately, what looked like a wilderness sanctuary turned out to be the haven of someone more sinister than the young girl meant to encounter.
The girl ran across a man who attacked, sexually assaulted and killed her. Her body was found shortly after, but the killer was never captured.
It’s rumored that the inconsolable shade of the young girl is still wandering the trail. Her cries can be heard echoing through the trees, sending a chill down the spines of even the most courageous.
6. Bloody Bucket Bridge, Florida
This Florida legend starts with a woman who was once kept as a slave before having been freed, after which she moved to Wauchula and served as the town’s midwife.
From here, the story goes different ways. The woman was either distraught that her own child was taken from her when she was in bonds, was concerned for the food supply, or couldn’t have children herself.
Regardless, she began smothering babies after delivering them. The woman would put the remains of the newborns in buckets, carry them to the river, and dump them off the bridge.
Before long, the locals began to notice that more babies died under her care than anyone else, and she was soon banned from her job.
The woman became haunted by her deeds, revisiting the river over and over again. One night, she fell in and drowned. Legend has it that anyone who stands on that bridge under a full moon will still see the river run red with blood.
5. Gateway to Hell, Illinois
It’s the town of Collinsville, Illinois, that’s at the center of an urban legend dating back around 40 years. The story claims this area has an elaborate mechanism that allows one to open a gateway to hell.
Surrounding the town are a series of old railroad trestles – seven to be precise – all rumored to have been the spots for lynchings, satanic rituals, meetings for the KKK, and all sorts of other nasty things.
Today, these trestles are covered in graffiti and look fairly derelict, but don’t be mistaken. As the legend states, if you were to drive through the seven trestles, hitting the final one at exactly the stroke of midnight, you’d open a portal to the devil’s realm.
Hellhounds will come bounding out from the rift and drag you straight to eternal torture.
“They’ve moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then they switched.”
4. Catherine, Maine
The story goes that the woman who gave her name to the state’s Catherine Mountain was Catherine Downing, and she was killed in a tragic accident in 1892.
What type of accident it was is lost to history, but she was buried in a nearby cemetery. At least, her physical form. Some have claimed to have seen the spirit of Catherine, wandering near the 1,000-foot mountain that shares her name.
Those who come across the spirit have a choice to make: Help her or flee. Kindness is always the best option, as those who choose not to help the lost soul will be cursed with the sort of bad luck that sends vehicles uncontrollably swerving off the road.
3. Mercritis, Mississippi
A mythical disease called Mercritis was believed by some to have infected the population of Mississippi in the 1950s. It supposedly caused men to emit a body odor after ingesting massive amounts of lead, oftentimes from paint.
When a woman smelled this odor, it would drive her into violent and often murderous insanity. There are even rumors of a riot occurring due to the spread of this mythic sickness.
A book published about the incident claims that the smell men were emitting affected every woman on “a hormonal level,” but only the quote, “pretty women” are the ones who become killers.
It’s highly unlikely the most dedicated researcher won’t find evidence of any of this, though, since believers claim the government covered it up.
2. Zombie Road, Missouri
In Wildwood, Missouri, Lawler Ford Road, or as the local folk call it “Zombie Road,” is a short drive, but within that minuscule stretch of pavement, there’s enough reported paranormal activity that it’s considered one of the most haunted streets in the county.
The stories of Zombie Road are plentiful, from the rising of spectral Indigenous spirits and Confederate soldiers to child ghosts and the lost souls of industrial workers.
Still, the most chilling myth is the tale of a terrifying man who lives in a shack by the road. The locals call him the “Zombie killer,” and he’s said to attack couples who are looking for an inconspicuous location to get to know each other a little better.
1. Dead Children’s Playground, Alabama
The disembodied sound of children’s laughter and creepy-as-all-heck playgrounds will surely make anyone’s blood run cold.
Locals say that’s exactly what you’ll hear at the small playground connected to the Maple Hill Cemetery outside of Huntsville, Alabama.
Some believe the spirits of dead children play on the swings as often as the visitors. Many claim to have seen the swings moving on their own, the telltale orbs of spectral inhabitants, or even the apparitions of the child ghosts themselves.
Local lore gives two backstories: Either the children buried in the cemetery haunt these grounds or, even more unsettling, the bodies of children abducted in the 1960s were buried where the playground now sits, and their restless spirits entertain themselves.
So which of these American legends and folklore scared you the most?
