Inspired By Officerripley's Thread: Any Urban Legends Associated With Your Town or State?

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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New Jersey
We have The Jersey Devil. People claim to have really seen this thing. Part of the legend as written in the article below:
"In 18th and 19th centuries the Jersey Devil was spotted sporadically throughout the Pine Barrens region, frightening local residents and any of those brave enough to traverse the vast undeveloped expanses of New Jersey’s southern reaches. Unearthly wails were often reported emanating from the dark forests and swampy bogs, and the slaughter of domesticated animals would invariably be attributed to the Phantom of the Pines. Over the years the legend of the Leeds Devil grew, occasionally even overstepping the boundaries of its rural Pine Barrens haunt to terrorize local towns and cities.

"The most infamous of these incidents occurred during the week of January 16 through 23, 1909. Early in the week reports starting emerging from all across the Delaware Valley that strange tracks were being found in the snow. The mysterious footprints went over and under fences, through fields and backyards, and across the rooftops of houses. They were even reported in the large cities of Camden and Philadelphia. Panic immediately began to spread, and posses formed in more than one town. Fear and intrigue grew even greater when it was reported that bloodhounds refused to follow the unidentified creature’s trail in Hammonton. Schools closed or suffered low attendance throughout lower NJ and in Philadelphia. Mills in the Pine Barrens were forced to close when workers refused to leave their homes and travel through the woods to get to their jobs.

Eyewitnesses spotted the beast in Camden and in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and in both cities police fired on it but did not manage to bring it down. A few days later it reappeared in Camden, attacking a late night meeting of a social club and then flying away. Earlier that day it had appeared in Haddon Heights, terrorizing a trolley car full of passengers before flying away. Witnesses claimed that it looked like a large flying kangaroo. Another trolley car-full of people saw it in Burlington when it scurried across the tracks in front of their car. In West Collingswood it appeared on the roof of a house and was described as an ostrich-like creature. Firemen turned their hose upon it, but it attacked them and then flew away. The entire week people reported that their livestock, particularly their chickens were being slaughtered. This was most widespread in the towns of Bridgeton and Millville."

Full article here: https://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/
 
OneEyedDiva said:
We have The Jersey Devil. People claim to have really seen this thing. Part of the legend as written in the article below:
"In 18th and 19th centuries the Jersey Devil was spotted sporadically throughout the Pine Barrens region, frightening local residents and any of those brave enough to traverse the vast undeveloped expanses of New Jersey’s southern reaches. Unearthly wails were often reported emanating from the dark forests and swampy bogs, and the slaughter of domesticated animals would invariably be attributed to the Phantom of the Pines. Over the years the legend of the Leeds Devil grew, occasionally even overstepping the boundaries of its rural Pine Barrens haunt to terrorize local towns and cities.

"The most infamous of these incidents occurred during the week of January 16 through 23, 1909. Early in the week reports starting emerging from all across the Delaware Valley that strange tracks were being found in the snow. The mysterious footprints went over and under fences, through fields and backyards, and across the rooftops of houses. They were even reported in the large cities of Camden and Philadelphia. Panic immediately began to spread, and posses formed in more than one town. Fear and intrigue grew even greater when it was reported that bloodhounds refused to follow the unidentified creature’s trail in Hammonton. Schools closed or suffered low attendance throughout lower NJ and in Philadelphia. Mills in the Pine Barrens were forced to close when workers refused to leave their homes and travel through the woods to get to their jobs.

Eyewitnesses spotted the beast in Camden and in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and in both cities police fired on it but did not manage to bring it down. A few days later it reappeared in Camden, attacking a late night meeting of a social club and then flying away. Earlier that day it had appeared in Haddon Heights, terrorizing a trolley car full of passengers before flying away. Witnesses claimed that it looked like a large flying kangaroo. Another trolley car-full of people saw it in Burlington when it scurried across the tracks in front of their car. In West Collingswood it appeared on the roof of a house and was described as an ostrich-like creature. Firemen turned their hose upon it, but it attacked them and then flew away. The entire week people reported that their livestock, particularly their chickens were being slaughtered. This was most widespread in the towns of Bridgeton and Millville."

Full article here: https://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/
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Wow,this is a good one!
 
Oh, we have urban legends aplenty. Here are a few of the better ones, IMO:
  1. Hoosac Tunnel Ghosts: Over 200 people died unnecessarily in the 1800's construction of the tunnel and there have been ghostly sounds and apparitions coming out of the tunnel ever since. I have personally seen the apparitions myself but knew what they were - fog condensate being pushed out of the tunnel by either train movement or ventilators.
  2. The Black Flash: In the late 1930s, Provincetown was haunted by a figure known as “The Black Flash.” At least two adult men reported being assaulted by a figure they described as over eight feet tall, clothed in black, and unusually thin. Other sightings of the mysterious man included accounts that he could leap over high fences. The sightings stopped abruptly in December of 1945.
  3. Pukwudgies: Pukwudgies are creatures from Wampanoag oral tradition. They are said to be tiny, humanlike creatures that inhabit the swampy regions of eastern Massachusetts. They are described as tricksters with smooth, grey skin and the ability to appear and vanish at will.
There are others, such as the ghost of Eunice Williams (that haunts a bridge over a river where she was murdered by indians) and the Bridgewater Triangle (a 200 sq. mile patch of forrest said to have mysterious lights, giant snakes UFOs, animal mutilations and the bodies of gangland murders).
 
There are just too many places to list in Connecticut.
This is just a partial list!

https://www.hauntedplaces.org/haunted-places-near-me/

The old Leatherman of Connecticut isn't scary nor or is he a legend he really lived.
In 1883 in Connecticut in the USA a man appeared with startling regularity between 41 towns in a loop that spanned 365 miles. Every 34 days he would appear at the same town. He did this for 6 years before dying on the 20th March 1889. He had first been seen in 1857 and in the earlier parts of his life was reported wandering as far north as Vermont and Canada.
LeathermanEating-e1337726190493.jpg

https://theairlandandsea.com/2019/05/the-old-leatherman-of-connecticut.html
 
We had The Haunted Bridge near the city i grew up in. Legend says a workman fell into the concrete as it was being poured and they left his body in there.

It was way out in the country, so it was a popular parking spot for making out. Pranksters would climb up in the bridge and moan loudly and call for help. Sometimes they'd creep around the cars and make noises.

Yep.....been out there.....
 
Heading east and part way up the mountain is a large area of land reserved for hunting and managed by the Game Commission. The legend is that it has it's own version of Big Foot called the Suscon Screamer. Some say that it is a woman's scream resulting from a murder and has nothing to do with a Big Foot.
 
This castle is a short drive from where I live in N.E. Scotland. There term 'castle' often refers to a large fortified house rather than a military structure.


History of Fyvie Castle in Turriff with photographs and Scottish weddings with details of the ghost stories of true Thomas the rhymer the secret room and the green lady

Fyvie Castle


Fyvie Castle, near Turriff, is a most picturesque former royal stronghold and baronial fortress palace with charming gables, turrets and towers. It was built in 1390, following the Battle of Otterburn by 5 families (Gordon, Leith, Meldrum, Preston and Seton) who each constructed one of the five towers.


Fyvie Castle Ghost

Fyvie Castle ghost and dark stories include a secret room within the Meldrum Tower which if anyone enters a disaster will follow them.

The legend of the weeping stones of Fyvie came about after a visit from Thomas the Rhymer. He was also called True Thomas and he had the gift of prophesy and seeing the future which he gained after a love affair with a Fairie Queen. On his visit he foretold doom until three stones which were used for the Preston Tower are returned to their original placement which was between the Church lands and the Castle. One is thought to be in the Charter Room, another in the foundations of the Tower and the last is somewhere in the River. Each stone is said to weep whenever trouble threatens the Laird. One stone in the Tower remains dry when all the surrounding stones are wet, and when they are dry this one stone is wet...

Other Fyvie Casle ghosts include two haunted rooms which are called the Murder Room and the Ghost Room where a lady was confined in one and then move to another, locked in and starved to death. Her skeleton was unearthed by workmen in the 1930s. She is known as The Grey Lady.


On the 8th May 1601, Dame Lilias Drummond, first wife of Alexander Seton died and Alexander remarried (to Grizel Leslie) shortly after. On the wedding night the newly weds heard great sighing outside their room. In the morning the window sill had an upside down carving which read D.Lilias Drummond. She has haunted the building since and is known as The Green Lady. Whenever she appears something terrible happens to the family. It is not known how Dame Lilias Drummond died, some say she was starved to death by her husband for not producing a male heir, others say she died of a broken heart, whilst others say she died of an illness.

There is also a drummer ghost, though some refer to it as a trumpeter. It is thought to be the spirit of Andrew Lammie who was either banished or abducted when he fell in love with the local miller's daughter, Agnes. He plays his instrument when a member of the family is near to death.

Major John Paton, a guide there, had a ghostly encounter that was written about in the Scotland In Trust Magazine published in Spring 2008. Though he has never seen the Green Lady he did feel someone walk past him in the top corridor. There was no-one there and he smelt a strong rose perfume.
 
Another 'character' from this area ...

Francis Jamieson 1823 - 1903: Musician and Athlete of Clochforbie​


A superb musician and athlete, he was born and lived all his life in a croft, dry stone built with a thatched roof of heather and grass on the moorland Braes of Clochforbie, near New Byth village in the north of Aberdeenshire.

A singularly unique character, Francis could match any athlete on the field in shot-putt, hammer throwing or weight-slinging, but his prowess was in running.

It was said that, "The Jamieson family clowned its way through Buchan for half a century". This is not a disparaging remark as some of Francis’s exploits were spoken with fondness and admiration – on one occasion he was said to have won a race at the Badenscoth games, near Rothienorman, and ran through the night to compete in the Elgin games, some sixty or so miles distant.

Francis was often compared with his supposed nephew, Joseph Sim, the "Wonderful Boy" of New Byth, himself a skilful fiddler, who had his own dance band and with whom Francis often played at dances in and around Buchan. Joseph was also reckoned to be a fine athlete and so features in some of the, perhaps, apocryphal stories – Francis and Joseph sometimes being substituted for each other in the re-telling.

Not long after the opening of the Buchan railway line Francis was challenged to race the steam train from Aikey Brae, near Mintlaw, famous for the traveller’s horse fair, to Maud, the next village on the line. A gallant attempt failed and when the engine steamed into the station, followed by Francis, he shook his fist and shouted, "Ye muckle black bugger! Gin I hid ye on the Moss o’ Byth I’d hae gaen ye a reed face!" (roughly meaning - if I got you again on my home ground - I'd give you a red face).

Francis Jamieson’s skills on the field were matched with his dexterity as a musician – "A master with the cello, an angel with the fiddle, and a devil with the oxter pipes."

There is a story that "Fruncie" won his small (oxter) pipes in a competition and thereafter learned to play along with his cherished bass fiddle and cello. The “Oxter Pipes” – "Oxter" being the Aberdeenshire word for armpits where the bellows rest and are pumped by a sideways action of the arm – are in a family of Small Pipes each with their own distinctive geographical names; the Northumbrian Pipes, the Irish Uilleann Pipes, and the Lowland Pipes of the Borders, all deriving from the French Musette Du Cour, a bellows blown Small Pipe, said to be the instrument of Charles Edward Stuart – "Bonnie Prince Charlie".

It is likely that "Fruncie Markis’s" abilities stretched from athletics and playing his Small Pipes (and cello and fiddle), to dancing, given his reputation as a real character. His appetite, amongst other things, preceded him in reputation and he was known to have eaten a whole "bubbly jock" (turkey) in one sitting. Perhaps the exercise on the track and dance floor was requisite in training for the reels, strathspeys and jigs he entertained his audience with on his pipes.

Francis Jamieson died on the 19th September 1903 in poverty, still in his "thackit stane hoosie" on the Braes of Clochforbie. He was buried in the New Cemetery at Byth. GDA

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URBAN LEGENDS AND UNSETTLING LORE OF TENNESSEE​


Halloween is just around the corner, and it’s a time when many enjoy reading and talking spooky tales. Tennessee has no shortage of its own creepy stories. If you’re a fan of urban legends and unsettling lore, check out some of the wildest and creepiest tales in the history of Tennessee.

Bell Witch Cave​

One of the most well-known horror stories in the state of Tennessee is the Bell Witch Legend, which impacted John Bell, an American politician and attorney who served in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Bell and his family were haunted by a poltergeist, or a spirit intent on doing them harm. During the summer of 1817, the family started to hear chains dragging in the rooms and choking and gurgling sounds. They also began to see strange animals on their property.

The spirit is known in the legend as the Bell Witch, and the associated cave is in Robertson County. Some believe that when the witch left their family, she sought retreat in this cave. Betsy Bell, one of John’s daughters, had gone to explore the cave on their property with some of her friends, and one of the boys with her got stuck in a hole. Legend has it that the Bell Witch pulled the boy out of the hole after exclaiming, “I’ll get him out.” Tours of the cave are given during the summer months and throughout October.

Pine Haven School​

In Jamestown, you’ll find Pine Haven School, an abandoned building with an eerie history. A young boy was alone in the bathroom before going to class when he was accosted by the school bully. The bully pushed the boy into the mirror above the sink, which caused the boy’s head to hit the sink, crack open, and break the mirror.

The bully was afraid of getting into trouble, so he pulled up the floorboards and shoved the boy’s body under the boards. Legend has it that the boy’s ghost now roams the halls, and those who look into the mirror of that bathroom will see his spirit standing behind them.

Headless Train Conductor​

You may have heard stories about a headless train conductor who drives a train without being able to see, but this legend could have originated in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. In this city, ghostly lights run along the railroad tracks, and a headless conductor wanders them in search of a train that doesn’t come. Some in the area claim to have spotted the ghostly conductor as he attempts to signal trains that never use the tracks.

Chickamauga Battlefield​

The people who lost their lives on Chickamauga Battlefield include members of the state’s Confederate Army and the Army of the Cumberland. The Battle of Chickamauga occurred in mid-September of 1863 and was the second-bloodiest battle in the Civil War after the Battle of Gettysburg. More than 34,000 casualties occurred as the result of this battle, but one is believed to still haunt the area more than a century later.
This particular soldier is known as “Old Green Eyes.” Locals believe that only his head was found in the rubble. As a result, his eyes are believed to follow visitors when they walk through the fields of the battlefield after dark. If you visit this spot for a spooky experience, those glowing green eyes may follow you around, as well.

White Bluff Screamer​

In White Bluff, a small town located 30 miles west of Nashville, locals talk about the White Screamer. Some of the longtime residents claim they have seen the massive white creature, while others believe the legends and simply keep their animals indoors and their deadbolts locked out of caution.

The story states that an older couple had a disfigured child, who they kept hidden in the basement of their cabin in the woods. When the child grew up, it escaped by killing its parents and ran into the woods. This white figure is believed to scream with abandon on chilly nights and take the lives of livestock and pets.

Ghost Bride of Rotherwood Mansion​

The Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport was constructed and owned by the founder of the town, Frederick Ross. His daughter, Rowena, had a tragic life, dealing with the death of her fiancé on the day of their wedding and the death of her second husband, who succumbed to yellow fever.

She married a third time and had a daughter, who later passed away. Rowena was overcome by her grief and eventually took her own life, and she is believed to haunt the mansion. The ghost is also believed to be dressed in white, which has earned it the nickname of the ghost bride.

Old Trinity Church​

The Old Trinity Church in Mason, Tennessee, is an Episcopal church that dates back to 1847. It is located on the property of what was previously Saint Andrew’s Church, which burned in 1845. Over the years, the church fell into disrepair, and members of a nearby cult vandalized the building, breaking the gravestones and vandalizing the structure. One of the graves held the body of a woman who died in 1912, and it is believed that the statue over her grave bleeds from the eyes and neck.

The bleeding statue isn’t the only spooky element of the old church. Legend has it that both the church and graveyard are haunted, with people reporting that they have heard strange noises and have seen lights come on and off, even though the building is no longer used. Many believe that those laid to rest in the cemetery are distressed over the vandalism that occurred, and their spirits remain to express their displeasure. If you wander this cemetery long enough, you just might catch a glimpse of one.

https://www.stanmcnabbchevroletcolumbia.com/blog/legends-lore-tennessee/
 
Capt Lightning said:
Another 'character' from this area ...

Francis Jamieson 1823 - 1903: Musician and Athlete of Clochforbie​


A superb musician and athlete, he was born and lived all his life in a croft, dry stone built with a thatched roof of heather and grass on the moorland Braes of Clochforbie, near New Byth village in the north of Aberdeenshire.

A singularly unique character, Francis could match any athlete on the field in shot-putt, hammer throwing or weight-slinging, but his prowess was in running.

It was said that, "The Jamieson family clowned its way through Buchan for half a century". This is not a disparaging remark as some of Francis’s exploits were spoken with fondness and admiration – on one occasion he was said to have won a race at the Badenscoth games, near Rothienorman, and ran through the night to compete in the Elgin games, some sixty or so miles distant.

Francis was often compared with his supposed nephew, Joseph Sim, the "Wonderful Boy" of New Byth, himself a skilful fiddler, who had his own dance band and with whom Francis often played at dances in and around Buchan. Joseph was also reckoned to be a fine athlete and so features in some of the, perhaps, apocryphal stories – Francis and Joseph sometimes being substituted for each other in the re-telling.

Not long after the opening of the Buchan railway line Francis was challenged to race the steam train from Aikey Brae, near Mintlaw, famous for the traveller’s horse fair, to Maud, the next village on the line. A gallant attempt failed and when the engine steamed into the station, followed by Francis, he shook his fist and shouted, "Ye muckle black bugger! Gin I hid ye on the Moss o’ Byth I’d hae gaen ye a reed face!" (roughly meaning - if I got you again on my home ground - I'd give you a red face).

Francis Jamieson’s skills on the field were matched with his dexterity as a musician – "A master with the cello, an angel with the fiddle, and a devil with the oxter pipes."

There is a story that "Fruncie" won his small (oxter) pipes in a competition and thereafter learned to play along with his cherished bass fiddle and cello. The “Oxter Pipes” – "Oxter" being the Aberdeenshire word for armpits where the bellows rest and are pumped by a sideways action of the arm – are in a family of Small Pipes each with their own distinctive geographical names; the Northumbrian Pipes, the Irish Uilleann Pipes, and the Lowland Pipes of the Borders, all deriving from the French Musette Du Cour, a bellows blown Small Pipe, said to be the instrument of Charles Edward Stuart – "Bonnie Prince Charlie".

It is likely that "Fruncie Markis’s" abilities stretched from athletics and playing his Small Pipes (and cello and fiddle), to dancing, given his reputation as a real character. His appetite, amongst other things, preceded him in reputation and he was known to have eaten a whole "bubbly jock" (turkey) in one sitting. Perhaps the exercise on the track and dance floor was requisite in training for the reels, strathspeys and jigs he entertained his audience with on his pipes.

Francis Jamieson died on the 19th September 1903 in poverty, still in his "thackit stane hoosie" on the Braes of Clochforbie. He was buried in the New Cemetery at Byth. GDA

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Fascinating! He was my 2x great uncle (or something along those lines). Hill of Cook.
 
Capt. Lightning:
re Francis Jamieson 1823 - 1903: Musician and Athlete of Clochforbie (and Joseph Sim)
Can you please enlighten me about 'Clochforbie'. On the Scotland censuses of 1851-1901, Francis Jamieson is living at Cook Croft/Hill of Cook. In 1861,1881& 1891, Joseph Sim is there with him. Clochforbie is a separate croft area close by. Thank you.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
We have The Jersey Devil. People claim to have really seen this thing. Part of the legend as written in the article below:
"In 18th and 19th centuries the Jersey Devil was spotted sporadically throughout the Pine Barrens region, frightening local residents and any of those brave enough to traverse the vast undeveloped expanses of New Jersey’s southern reaches. Unearthly wails were often reported emanating from the dark forests and swampy bogs, and the slaughter of domesticated animals would invariably be attributed to the Phantom of the Pines. Over the years the legend of the Leeds Devil grew, occasionally even overstepping the boundaries of its rural Pine Barrens haunt to terrorize local towns and cities.

"The most infamous of these incidents occurred during the week of January 16 through 23, 1909. Early in the week reports starting emerging from all across the Delaware Valley that strange tracks were being found in the snow. The mysterious footprints went over and under fences, through fields and backyards, and across the rooftops of houses. They were even reported in the large cities of Camden and Philadelphia. Panic immediately began to spread, and posses formed in more than one town. Fear and intrigue grew even greater when it was reported that bloodhounds refused to follow the unidentified creature’s trail in Hammonton. Schools closed or suffered low attendance throughout lower NJ and in Philadelphia. Mills in the Pine Barrens were forced to close when workers refused to leave their homes and travel through the woods to get to their jobs.

Eyewitnesses spotted the beast in Camden and in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and in both cities police fired on it but did not manage to bring it down. A few days later it reappeared in Camden, attacking a late night meeting of a social club and then flying away. Earlier that day it had appeared in Haddon Heights, terrorizing a trolley car full of passengers before flying away. Witnesses claimed that it looked like a large flying kangaroo. Another trolley car-full of people saw it in Burlington when it scurried across the tracks in front of their car. In West Collingswood it appeared on the roof of a house and was described as an ostrich-like creature. Firemen turned their hose upon it, but it attacked them and then flew away. The entire week people reported that their livestock, particularly their chickens were being slaughtered. This was most widespread in the towns of Bridgeton and Millville."

Full article here: https://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/
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Yes! The good old Jersey Devil! Jersey here also. It really is one of the best urban legends from NJ...
 
One more for NJ...

The Mary Ellis Grave...

Mary Ellis (1750–1828) was a spinster in New Brunswick, New Jersey. According to oral tradition, she was seduced by a sea captain who vowed to return to marry her. He never returned and she would come to the spot where her grave now stands, each day, to look for his ship in the Raritan River in New Brunswick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ellis_grave

It was an urban myth that the band Looking Glass, based their hit song "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) "on the urban legend. But that has since been refuted by the songwriter himself...
 
Gaer said:
Thanks. I've seen this before. Very few pics of Billy the Kid survived.
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Hope you are having a very nice day! If I recall my history, Billy the Kid was actually a very noble person, who got caught in very difficult circumstances and only fell into crime through very tragic circumstances.
 
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