WOMAN IN WHITE/THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER
A folk tale with many variations. The most famous is the Mexican story about La Llorona – the Sobbing Woman. The story takes place long ago when a beautiful Indian princess, Dona Loveros, fell in love with a handsome Mexican nobleman, Don Montescarlos. The princess loved the noblemen deeply and had two children with him, but Montescarlos refused to marry her. When he finally deserted her and married another woman, Dona went mad with rage and stabbed her two children. Authorities found her wandering the street, sobbing, her clothes covered in blood. She was charged with infanticide and sent to the gallows.
Ever since it is said that the ghost of La Llorona walks the country at night in a bloody dress, crying for her murdered children. If she finds any child, she’s likely to carry it away with her to the nether regions, where her own spirit dwells.
A man turns to bid his unusual hitchhiker goodbye and discovers that she has disappeared from the car; he later learns that his mysterious passenger had died several years earlier. There are various versions of this legend: some state that the hitchhiker leaves beyond an object such as a book or scarf, in other versions the hitchhiker disappears when the vehicle drives past a graveyard, and in other variations the hitchhiker is also somewhat of a prophet. According to folklorist Jan Brunvand, the urban legend of the Vanishing Hitchhiker has been around since the time of wagons and horses!
WENDIGO
The Wendigo is a very real creature of the northern woods and prairies of Northern Minnesota and North Central regions of Canada. The Wendigo is often encountered by hunters and campers in shadowy forests. But, Kenora, Canada is the place most known for its Wendigo sightings that have well continued into the millennia, earning it the title “Wendigo Capitol of the World.” A wendigo is described as incredibly thin, glowing eyes, long yellowed fangs and very long tongues, over fifteen feet tall with sallow yellowish skin. According to lore, the Wendigo is created whenever a human resorts to cannibalism. The creature excels at strength and is “a damn near perfect hunter.”
BOY IN THE WATER
The village of Ola’a on the Big Island of Hawaii, in 1947, while neighborhood kids were playing on the shore of the local pond, one of them fell in and disappeared beneath the surface of the water. The boy, whose name was Tanaka, did not resurface. His companions rushed to find help but when the divers entered the water, they were disturbed by what they saw. The dead boy was at the bottom of the pond, sitting upon a rock with his arms at his sides, his eyes and mouth open and his body swaying back and forth along the currents. It was as if he had calmly sat down on the rock and waited to die. The divers retrieved the corpse, and everyone tried to put the strange and tragic death behind them.
However the drowned boy refused to let them forget. People who walked by the pond complained that something would tug at the bottom of their pants as they walked. Rumors spread that the boy’s spirit is trapped beneath the dark waters and tries to pull unsuspecting victims into his watery grave.
PHANTOM TRAVELER
Phantom Travelers are spirit travelers who are ghosts of humans and sometimes animals. These travelers are known to haunt particular roadways or modes of transportation due to a tragedy associated with those routes or vehicles. There have been reports of these travelers dating back to the 1600s in Europe and Russia, and they are still believed to exist today. All the reports about Phantom Travelers have one thing in common- the spirits appear from nowhere and can just as suddenly disappear. Flight 401 was an Eastern Airline Tri-Star Jetliner “that crashed [into a Florida swamp on December 1972] and the airline savaged some of its parts, put it in other planes. Then the spirits of the pilot [Bob Loft] and copilot [Don Repo] haunted those flights.”
BLOODY MARY
The avenging spirit goes by many names: Bloody Mary, Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worthington, and Mary Jane - just to list a few. The precise requirements for the ritual to summon Blody Mary vary. The two most common elements in the ritual are the mirror in the darkened room and repeating a chant a certain number of times. There are variations on what Bloody Marry does to the summoner/s. Some say that she scratches you with her fingernails and claws, sometimes Bloody Mary tears off your face with her teeth! In other variations of the legend, Bloody Mary uses a weapon to either attack you with, kill you with or to make you commit suicide! Sometimes she may even trap you in the mirror. Bloody Mary also is known to pull a person’s eyes out!
Sometimes there isn’t any violence involved in the encounter. It may be that you just see her reflection in the mirror. But, she may also be compelled to answer any questions you have for her.
SHAPESHIFTER
Shapeshifting, also known as transformation and transmogrification, is a change in the form or shape of a person, especially a change from human form to animal form or a change in appearance from one person to another. Every culture in the world has a shapeshifter lore - legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men. Usually, the animal involved in the transformation is indigenous to or prevalent in the area from which the story derives. While the popular idea of a shapeshifter is of a human being who turns into something else, there are numerous myths about animals that can transform themselves as well.
HOOKMAN
The Hook is an urban legend that began widely circulating in the 1950s. There are many variations, but the basic story is the same. A teenage boy takes his unsuspecting date to Lover’s Lane for a make-out session. While there, they hear a report of a murderer who has escaped from a nearby insane asylum; the newscaster says everyone should be on the lookout for this crazy man, who has a hook in place of his right hand. The girl becomes frightened- especially when the couple hears a strange scratching sound coming from outside the car- but her date insists everything is fine and tries to continue making out. The girl resists, and eventually the boy relents and drives her home. When they arrive back at the girl’s house, the girl exits the car and begins screaming hysterically. When her date exits the car as well, he sees a bloody detached hook embedded in the roof of the car- and realizes that the Hook Man would have scratched through the interior of the car had they stayed at Lover’s Lane any longer.
BUGS
Swarms of bugs have always been connected to the supernatural. One such occurrence is the flies surrounding the windows of Amityville during the 28 days of horror. In the bible, a swarm of locusts comprised the eighth plague in the story of the plagues of Egypt. In the book of Revelation locusts with scorpion tails and human faces are said to torment unbelievers for five months when the fifth trumpet sounds.
POLTERGEISTS
A poltergeist is a type of uncontrolled psychokinesis, that is widely believed to be an invisible ghost that interacts with others by moving and influencing inanimate objects. There are many poltergeist activities: sounds of thumps, knocks, and footsteps, objects being thrown around the room or furniture being moved, a bed shaking, and in some cases a person is even known to levitate! Some poltergeists tend to occur around a single person, often called an agent or a focus.
ASYLUMS
There has always been torture in insane asylums. Most of this torture was unintentional, but nonetheless many that were “treated” during the early age of the insane asylums were possibly worse off than when they had first entered. Before 1750, attitudes towards the mentally ill were simplistic. Some even believed that those of mental health problems were being “possessed by devils”! A lot of this “treatment” included ice cold baths and ‘restraining chairs.’ The most controversial physical therapy of the 20th century was the lobotomy which involved drilling through the skull and destroying the frontal lobes of the brain. This often resulted in destroying the patients sense of judgment and social skills.
PAGAN GODS
Pagan Gods are worshipped as the personification of some aspect of the universe. These Gods are usually seen as “preternatural” beings who were usually of significant power, worshipped, held in high regard, and respected. Pagan Gods assume a variety of forms, but frequently are depicted as human or animalistic; sometimes it is considered blasphemous to imagine the Pagan gods as having a concrete form. These gods are attributed for strange phenomena such as lightning, floods, storms and miracles. Some of these deities are asserted to be the directors of fate, the giver of human law and morality, as well as the ultimate judge of worth and behavior.
REAPER
Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in all known societies since the beginnings of recorded history. The most common representation of death is that of modern European folk-lore: The Grimm Reaper a.k.a. Grimm Spectre of Death. In Breton mythology, the reaper takes on the form of Ankou, who is described as a tall man who wears a wide-brimmed hat and long coat. In Hindu mythology, the lord of death is called Yama and is one of the rulers of the eight sides. He rides a black buffalo and carries a rope lasso to carry the soul back to his abode. In Japanese mythology, death is personified as Enma, also known as Enma Ou and Enma Daiou. Enma rules the underworld, which makes him similar to Hades, and he decides whether someone dead goes to heaven or to hell. Islam’s “angel of death” is 'Izrail, the English form of which is Azrael. He is charged with the task of separating and returning from the bodies the souls of people who are to be recalled permanently from the physical world back to the primordial spiritual world.
ROUTE 666
There are many names for Route 666, which spans 200 miles through New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, such as the Devil’s Highway, Satan’s Highway and the Highway to Hell. Packs of demonic dogs have been seen wandering the highway, attacking at night, with yellow eyes and sharp teeth shredding the tires of those traveling the highway. There have been reports of people disappearing at one point along the highway and then reappearing at another location miles away, without having any recollection of where they have been or what they have been doing. Route 666 possesses its own serial killer, known as the Mad Trucker. “So, (according to legend) this killer truck” is a sadistic semi that targets vulnerable pedestrians and mows them down. The police along Route 666, have long conducted numerous investigations into the various vehicular manslaughter hit and run killings along this stretch of road, they claim that the Mad Truck purposefully commits these heinous acts of murder. The truck travels at roughly 130 miles an hour, and has been known to have a couple of eyewitnesses.
TELEKENISIS AND PREMONITIONS
More commonly known as ‘psychokinesis,’ literally translates to “distant movement.” It’s the ability to mentally influence an object's movement or behavior. Premonitions are the knowledge that one has of future events that are typically tragic in nature. They commonly come as visions, often during dreams and even during states of total consciousness. A strong sense that something will occur also qualifies. There is strong historic evidence of premonitions revealing visions and warnings of future happenings.
THE BENDERS
In the early days Kansas was notorious for its violence and bloodshed. The intense rivalry between abolitionists and proslavery forces earned the territory the nickname of Bleeding Kansas. Even after conflicts over slavery were a thing of the past, southeast Kansas in particular was known as a rough area. The Bender family- parents, son, and daughter- hailed from Germany and settled just northeast of the miniscule town of Cherryvale, Kansas, in 1870.When a traveler would enter the Benders’ home, they would seat him at a dinner table with his back to a canvas curtain. While engaged in conversations by the young and attractive Kate Bender, the unsuspecting traveler would be attacked with a hammer by one of the Bender men, who rained blows down upon the skull of his victim. Then all four of the Benders would loot any money and possessions on the victim’s person, slit his throat, and dump him through a trapdoor into a well-like enclosure beneath their house. Later, under the cover of darkness, the body would be removed and buried in the Benders’ orchard out back.
WRAITH SHADOW/ZOROASTRIANISM/DAEVA
The Wraith shadow is the wraith’s worst nightmare. The shadow personifies the worst and most self-destructive parts of the wraith’s persona.
Zoroastrianism is the oldest monotheistic of the revealed world-religions. "Very, very old school like 2,000 years before Christ." Some scholars believe that Zoroastrian doctrines - those of heaven and hell, the struggle of good versus evil, and a redeeming messiah- have deeply influenced the Jewish and Christian religions. It is an ancient Iranian religion with similarities to the faiths of Northern India and the Viking regions of Northern Europe.
In ancient Persian mythology Daevas are demons who cause plagues and diseases and who fight every form of religion. They are the male servants (or followers) of Angra Mainyu, also known as Ahriman. The female servants are called the Drugs. Together they fight Ahuru Mazda (Ormazd) and his Amesha Spentas. The word 'devil' is derived from their name. The seven archdemons of the Daevas are: Aesma Daeva, Aka Manah, Indra, Nanghaithya, Saurva, Tawrich and Zarich.
HELL HOUSE
There is a popular legend in Cuyahoga County, that says there was a very rich farmer who lived in the area with his wife and their seven children. The man so well off that he was able to erect seven barns, one in honor of each of his children, throughout Cuyahoga Valley. Of course, this is much too romantic a tale to make a good ghost story, so one night the husband went insane and slaughtered his wife and seven children with an axe. He then proceeded to bury their bodies in the first six barns. When he was finished burying the last body, he went out to the seventh barn, the one at Top O’ the World, and committed suicide by hanging himself from the rafters. It is the tortured spirit of this farmer that is sometimes spotted as a darkened shape moving through the woods surrounding the barn and sometimes even inside the barn itself.
SHTRIGA
The Shtriga is an Albanian vampirelike witch who is often believed to take on the form of an elderly woman. The Shtriga preyed upon infants by drinking their blood. “They feed on Spiro Vitae, Latin, translates into meaning ‘breath of life’ Like your life- force or essence.” The Shtriga is also believed to the cause of adult mortalities and diseases. The word Shtriga is derived from the Latin word Strix, ‘screech owl’, which refers to flying demons that only attack at night. At night the Shtriga can change into a moth, fly, or bee. Belief in the Shtrigas continued to exist up until the early 20th century.
HAUNTED PAINTINGS
The painting of Marcus Beck, a portrait of a former surgeon, currently located in the Greater London University College Hospital on Gower Street, may actually be responsible for the deaths of countless patients! Legend states that if the shutters were not closed on the painting at night, the patients who fell asleep under the painting would fall ill, some even died as a result. The painting was stolen in 2001 and to this very day it’s whereabouts are unknown.
From around 1985 onwards, a series of mysterious house fires were brought to the attention of the general public, following the discovery that in each case, the buildings and all their contents were completely destroyed apart from a painting - the "Crying Boy", which remained unscathed. In the years that followed, some 40-50 cases were recorded in which a house fire had destroyed everything except for the picture. It became known as the "Curse of the Crying Boy", and even made headline news at one point.
VAMPIRES
Vampires are mythical or folkloric creatures, typically held to be the re-animated corpses of human beings and said to subsist on human and/or animal blood (hematophagy), often having unnatural powers, heightened bodily functions, and/or the ability to physically transform. Vampires are mythical or folkloric creatures, typically held to be the re-animated corpses of human beings and said to subsist on human and/or animal blood (hematophagy), often having unnatural powers, heightened bodily functions, and/or the ability to physically transform. The word 'vampire' derives from the Slavic word 'vampir' or 'vampyr', first appearing in the 1600s in the Eastern European region in the Balkans.
DEMONOLOGY
A demon is stated as being a supernatural being, that does not have a body of flesh and blood, who has generally been described as a malevolent spirit that is frequently depicted as force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled. Demons are not usually subject to human visibility or our other senses. In the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, demons were thought able to travel on the earth invisibly, but to assume physical bodies at will. To manifest themselves among men, they must possess or control a physical body of a person or an animal.
DEMONIC POSESSION
Demonic possession may last for relatively brief periods of time for any one individual. The rest of the time, the victim of demon possession may appear normal by social standards. Only when a demon is in residence will its presence be detectable in terms of the behavior of the victim. The behavior of these short-term victims of demon possession is characterized by four basic symptoms. These symptoms may appear alone or in groups, for just seconds of time, and in varying degrees of intensity. Although the demon (or demons) may never manifest itself openly by causing the victim to speak in a coarse, guttural voice or to act out in an antisocial manner, a study of the past behavior of such a person will reveal the presence of violence, lust, greed, and/or an unnatural power of persuasion.
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