Freaky Urban Legends From Each State

Every state has its own deep history that non-residents will never know about unless they visit. There is a great variety of myths and lore that surround every corner of the United States, but a lot of it is more true than it is superstition. And each state has its own captivating urban legend. To no surprise, these tales all seem to take place in the eeriest cities in every state. And oftentimes, the origin of the story is also creepy and leaves people with an unsettling feeling. Ready to be immersed in these fables? Read ahead to learn each state’s craziest urban legend.

The Michigan Triangle – Michigan

We’ve all heard of the Bermuda Triangle, but you don’t have to travel all the way to the North Atlantic to find something so mysterious. Lake Michigan has its very own triangle which claims just as many boats and planes. Researchers have found a ring of prehistoric rocks on the lake bottom, while there have been multiple sightings of strange red lights hovering over the lake surface. UFOs perhaps?

The Bunny Man – Virginia

According to legend, an insane asylum in the Fairfax area was being shut down and the patients moved to a different facility. One of the vans crashed, and a man – Douglas Grifon – escaped. He was admitted to the asylum for murdering his entire family on Easter Sunday. In the early 70s, reports began to surface about a man in a bunny costume wandering around the woods wielding an axe. One Halloween night, a group of teenagers wandered into the tunnel that was a common area for sightings, and were slaughtered. Their bodies were strung over the bridge.

13 Steps to Hell – Washington

Maltby’s Cemetery is home to an underground tomb that allegedly belonged to a wealthy family. According to legend, if you descend the tomb’s 13 steps and turn around, you stare right into the depths of Hell itself and lose your mind. One person’s account describes such an experience when they descended down only six stairs and disappeared completely from the view of their friends, only to receive a chilling and downright ominous sensation before they escaped while they still could.

The Clown Rapist – Illinois

Even though Homey the Clown was a 1980s television character, he was also the subject of terror for Chicago kids in the early 90s. According to many sightings, the demented clown would drive around in a white van, luring children in an attempt to rape them. This urban legend may be more factual than legend!

Satan’s Hollow – Ohio

The tunnels inside this sewer system are said to be possessed by a dark “shadowman”, among other spirits, presumably conjured by satanists who used the tunnels for their rituals. Within the tunnels is some sort of altar room where they presumably sacrificed a human in an effort to summon the devil himself.

The Satanic Airport – Colorado

There are quite a few downright strange things hidden (and some not so hidden) in the Denver International Airport. The construction of the airport alone was bizarre. The project experienced numerous delays, with no single contractor being allowed to complete the entire thing and multiple contractors being assigned to different wings. The entire airport is filled with satanic and occult symbols and images, including illuminati and nazi symbols as well as a statue of a demonic horse from the apocalyptic biblical book of Revelations. If that weren’t enough, the entire layout of the airport is in the shape of a swastika.

The Baby Bridge – Georgia

This bridge is the site where a doctor supposedly murdered the baby of a poor farmer. It wasn’t quite as heinous as it sounds, however, though it’s still pretty depressing. The farmer was expecting his fifth child and knew he didn’t have the money to raise it, so he had the doctor cast it into the water. Rumor has it that if you sprinkle baby powder on the bridge during a full moon, tiny footprints will appear and the sound of a baby crying can be heard.

Taunton State Hospital – Massachusetts

Some pretty eerie stories have been told about the hospital during its time of operation in the 1800s, specifically the accounts of certain staff converting to Satanism. The staff would presumably perform demonic rituals in the hospital basement in an attempt to heal the patients. Those are some pretty gruesome alternatives to curing people….thank goodness medicine and technology have progressed!

Devil’s Road and the Cult House – Pennsylvania

Though formally called Cossart Road, locals call it Devil’s Road due to the fact that, down the winding road, sits a house. This house is surrounded by black SUVs when the occupants are home, and many have speculated that it could be owned by some satanic group or even the KKK. The trees surrounding the road and property are so spooky-looking that M. Night Shyamalan filmed The Village in the woods and field not far from it.

The Galveston Ghost – Texas

The maintenance crew at the UT Medical School in Galveston have tried everything – painting, sandblasting, sanding – to remove this eerie face, but nothing seems to work. As soon as it’s removed, the face reappears in a different spot just days later. Before you call fowl, dozens of students have attested to seeing this face during their traversal of the school grounds and state emphatically that it definitely isn’t fake.

The Rake – New York

First sightings of this horrendous, Gollum-like creature first began in the early 2000s. Those who were fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to see the creature and peer into its illuminating eyes described feelings of extreme angst, anger, and even violent tendencies. There is even proof of the monster’s existence through suicide notes written by people who purportedly saw it.

Crater Lake – Oregon

There are many legends and stories in existence concerning Crater Lake. Accounts of mutilated bodies found around the pathways and trails, frequent Bigfoot and UFO sightings, and other bizarre reports…. including a body found in the 1970s that seemed to “melt” into its clothes, with the socks filled with toe bones lying several yards away.

The Devil’s Chair – Florida

Legend has it that this brick bench in the graveyard in Cassadaga is where the devil himself loves to hang out. Some have even left a bottle of beer overnight, just to have it emptied by morning!

Toxic (Alien?) Blood – California

This eerie story is about a woman named Gloria Ramirez who was admitted to a California hospital in 1984 and taken straight to the ER. The very moment her blood was drawn, a foul stench filled the room and an oily sheen overtook her skin. The medical staff in the room suddenly found themselves incapacitated or losing all feeling to their limbs. All were evacuated, save for a small crew of doctors who stayed in an effort to save the woman’s life. She died 40 minutes later. Many have speculated that the woman wasn’t human, as something that toxic couldn’t have possibly existed inside a human body.

Dead Man’s Trail – Minnesota

One of the explanations concerning this trail’s name comes from the story of a Native American woman who was on the run from the authorities. She was too slow carrying her baby, so she set the baby in the brush close to a river with the intentions of coming back for it. But when she returned, the baby was gone….presumed dead when it slid into the river. Travelers of this path say they can still hear (and sometimes even see) the mother frantically searching for her lost child.

Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine – Arizona

This mine was originally discovered by German immigrant Jacob Waltz in the 1800s. Reportedly, the mine is filled with a wealth of gold. Many have gone missing trying to locate it, only to be found with missing heads or wedged into tight crevices.

The Satan School – Louisiana

Even when it was open, Ellerbe Road School had stories of a diabolical janitor who molested and even murdered children. But when its doors closed in 1972, the rumors persisted; rumors of devil worshippers that met inside the building performing satanic rituals (a sacrificed boar was even found inside!).

Lovers Lane – Tennessee

Tom was a real estate agent who made an acquaintance with a lovely young woman in town. The acquaintanceship blossomed into a romance, and the two would run off in his car to Lovers Lane, a popular getaway spot for secret romances. When the woman’s husband found out about the affair, he staked them out in the bushes and waited until they began making out, when he then stabbed his wife and skinned Tom alive. Rumors still circulate about a ghostly apparition with no skin that wanders around Lovers Lane to this day.

The Lizard Man – South Carolina

The first major encounter of the Lizard Man came when a man spotted a large reptilian creature sprinting across a field toward him. As it neared, he saw what he could only describe as a lizard with red eyes that ran like a man and was significantly larger than a man. He scrambled into his car just as the creature reached him, leaping onto the roof and driving its talon-like claws through the windshield. In 2015, a woman managed to snap a picture of the creature out in the open. Police have found on several occasions abandoned vehicles with scratch marks all over.

The Conjuring House – Rhode Island

The Conjuring has become something of a horror classic, but the horrific events of the movie are anything but fictional. Based off of true accounts of the residents who lived there, the house has become something of a destination for people overly interested in human possession and the dark practices that took place there.

The Night Marchers – Hawaii

According to local legend, the Night Marchers are a group of ancient spiritual Polynesian warriors who journey down a path to the ocean. They supposedly appear as apparitions during a night when there is no moon, and your safety during this time can be assured if your ancestor is among the dead who roam the island.

The Goatman – Maryland

This creepy urban legend is about a scientist from Beltsville Agricultural Research Center who performed grotesque science experiments on goats. One of these experiments didn’t go quite as planned and ended up causing severe brain damage. There have been many sightings of the crazed lunatic who roams around carrying an axe, killing any animal, pet, or even human that it encounters.

The Jersey Devil – New Jersey

This urban legend all began with a Native American woman who wildly predicted that her 13th child would take on demonic traits. When the baby was born, it appeared normal for a few weeks, but eventually began to grow horns, claws, and a tail. When it was old enough, it fled into the woods where it has been seen periodically for over 300 years.

Hell’s Gate Bridge – Alabama

During a late-night drive, a young couple perished when their car careened off the bridge. The ominous name is derived from local legend, which states that on certain nights – if you stop your car on the bridge and turn around – you stare right into a fiery inferno of Hell itself.

Haunted High School – Idaho

Pocatello High School is the site of this eerie ghost story that many experts have called 100% authentic proof of paranormal activity. The multiple security cameras caught some flickering lights in the hallways, but upon further examination a shadowy form appeared to be moving about.

Siren Bridge – Wisconsin

In 1982, a family was driving home in their pickup truck when they slid on a patch of ice and careened into the swampy water surrounding the bridge. Unable to escape, they all drowned tragically. Stories have been told of people driving over the bridge and hearing the voice of a child over the radio saying, “Help me, Mommy, I can’t get out”.

The Bed Corpse – Missouri

After checking into a Kansas City hotel, a man called the front desk complaining of an increasingly foul odor inside his room. They initially dismissed the report, but eventually alerted housekeeping after the man called several more times. Housekeeping quickly discovered the source of the smell: a dead body under the bed.

The Crosley Monster – Indiana

This Bigfoot-like creature is far more terrifying than many of the other accounts from sightings. This legendary beast prowls the woods, terrifying all who stumble across it. The creature stands at seven feet tall and has bright, yellow eyes.

The “Bushman” – Alaska

According to legend, an Inuit native killed one of these creatures (Bigfoots descended from a species called “Tornits”) centuries ago when it destroyed his canoe. Many of the Bushmen migrated, but some stayed – angered by what man had done. They still roam the woods of Alaska today, and for hundreds of years there have been reports of hunters going missing, only to turn up mutilated.

The Mackworth Island Tree – Maine

Off the coast of Maine is a small island where sits a tree – a tree with a face carved into its bark. It was supposedly carved by Native Americans, who presumably still haunt the area. Next to this tree is a pet cemetery, where people have claimed to have seen the ghostly figures of dogs, horses, and cats.

Sleepy Hollow Road – Kentucky

Named after the spooky story of the same name, the Sleepy Hollow Road has been much-conjecture as being haunted for decades. Those who have driven down its winding roads late at night have been tailgated by black hearses with no drivers. Others still have heard chanting by “Devil’s Point” which is where satanic rituals took place during the 1970s and 80s.

The Beast of Bladenboro – North Carolina

Accounts of this unearthly beast arose in the 1950s, with stories of a terrible cat-like beast standing over the bodies of farm animals drained of their blood. The mystery resurfaced in 2006 when more sightings were reported, so many that the History Channel became involved by sending in teams to investigate. Though their theory was that it could simply be a cougar or a bobcat, they did specify that many of its atrocities generally weren’t attributed to an animal such as that.

Chupacabra – New Mexico

This ghastly, misshapen creature lurks the borders of Mexico and New Mexico, devouring pets and farm animals as it goes. There have been dozens of sightings, and some people have even managed to hunt and kill them.

The Dog Boy – Arkansas

Gerald Floyd Bettis was an insane and demented lunatic who, according to rumor, gained demonic powers by experimenting on dogs in hideous ways. In the years following, neighbors have reported visions of a ghostly nature: people resembling Bettis who, presumably, emulate the lunatic by taking on his appearance.

The Melon Heads – Connecticut

According to myth, these strange people are descendants of a group of patients who escaped from an insane asylum during the colonial era. Their appearance is due to inbreeding and experimentation on the inmates. There have been several sightings on rural roads late at night of these creatures, with many reporting about “no trespassing” signs written in blood posted on the roadside.

Explosive Bunnies – Nebraska

As the story goes, two farmers were drinking (quite heavily) on their front porch when they noticed some rabbits grazing in the yard. Knowing how much of a nuisance they can be, they got the bright idea of strapping some firecrackers they had to the rabbits. The two cackled as the rabbits scampered into the distance only to be incinerated within a moment. It was all quite amusing until one of the rabbits hopped in the direction of the farmer’s truck, jumping through the open door and blowing it up.

The Black Angel – Iowa

Before her death, Ruth Ann Dodge had recurrently disturbing dreams. In these dreams, she claimed that an angel offered her water for immortality, which she drank. Following her death a few days later, this statue was erected on top of her grave. Many stories and personal accounts have been told about the angel coming to life late at night with glowing eyes. Is it possible that her soul lives on in the form of a dark angel?

The Hamburger Man – Kansas

According to local legend, a man who was maimed in a car crash now lives in a shack in the woods on Hamburger Hill. Instead of hunting for food, the man captures anyone lurking around his home and then grinds them into a meaty softness while they’re still alive.

The “Hex House” – Oklahoma

This house was the abode of a woman named Carol Ann Smith. For years, the neighbors could hear very loud rituals being held inside. One day, the noises became so loud that the neighbors called the police. When the police investigated the basement, they found two young women who had been living there for seven years and giving their paychecks to the woman in an effort to gain entrance into Heaven. Even after Smith was taken to prison, neighbors still reported paranormal activity around the home.

Mercritis Disease Coverup – Mississippi

The Mercritis Disease was originally brought over from Europe, and was a bizarre phenomenon that provoked women to homicidal tendencies when they smelled a certain hormonal odor on a man. The most dramatic example of this disease occurs when an entire village of women chased a man into the river, where every single one drowned. Riots occurred following this incident when people suspected the government of covering up the issue because they lacked a cure.

The Flathead Lake Monster – Montana

There have been several sightings of the mysterious Flathead Lake monster over the years, but one report back in 2012 rendered the legend almost entirely conclusive. A woman and her two children were enjoying the view when they spotted an enormous object moving against the current. They watched it through binoculars until the woman finally realized she had her camera with her, but by then the creature was already far out. They did describe it, however, as being 25 feet long with fins.

Mr. Chew – Delaware

Dr. Samuel Chew was a Chief Justice, but that didn’t stop people from openly mocking his last name. Some would resort to childish jokes by sneezing when greeting him and exclaiming “Ah, Chew!”. Even his death didn’t prevent people from mocking him further. However, Mr. Chew ended up having the last laugh when those who made fun of him admitted to being haunted by his ghost.

Area 51 – Nevada

The infamous Area 51 has been a hot point of conspiracy and wild speculation for decades, with many insisting the site is used by the U.S. government for its efforts in suppressing alien activity. Many have claimed sightings of UFOs and even alien bodies within the compound.

First Alien Encounter – New Hampshire

Betty and Barney Hill were on their way home one night when they suddenly noticed bright lights in the sky. Stopping their car, they looked up to see a “cigar-shaped” form. They watched for what they thought was a few minutes, but found themselves arriving home several hours later. Later on, they started receiving flashes of memories of being abducted and experimented on. This is the first official record of extraterrestrial abduction in the U.S.

UFO Sightings – North Dakota

The summer of 1966 saw a large rise in UFO sightings. While things like clouds and street lights are generally a common cause of misconception among “sightings”, some of the evidence seemed pretty conclusive. Several people provided sketches of their sightings (while one person even managed to capture a photograph).

The Ghost Joggers – South Dakota

Most ghostly apparitions prefer to spend their time lurking about, but at least these ghosts try to stay active! For late-night drivers or joggers who find themselves on 26th street, the shadows (and even visions) of two joggers can be seen running alongside the road, presumably the ghosts of two college students who were killed on that very road while running.

Bear Lake Monster – Utah

Sightings of this monstrous, dinosaur-like creature have sprouted up since the 1800s, but it wasn’t until just a few years ago that a couple found this rotting body on the shore of Bear Lake. Though experts are unsure as to what species it is, they do admit that it could be a survived descendent of the mosasaurs that dwelled in many lakes in America.

The Bennington Triangle – Vermont

Planet Earth seems to have numerous triangles of death and suspicion. This triangle in Bennington has been a hot spot of UFO and Bigfoot sightings and strange disappearances for decades, though the majority of them took place during 1945-1950, oddly enough. One of the missing persons was a college student and disappeared for so long that the school shut down so that the students could search for her. They never did find her body.

The Flatwoods Monster – West Virginia

In 1952, a couple was driving along when they suddenly spotted a bizarre light in the evening sky. They stopped and watched as it descended into the trees. Curious about the strange phenomenon, they traipsed through the woods towards where the light landed. When they arrived at the scene, they found a “pulsating ball of fire” as well as a 10-foot creature which promptly chased them off. When authorities investigated, there was nothing there except for a foul stench. The couple described the creature to artists, who then sketched it out.

The San Pedro Mummy – Wyoming

According to Shoshone Indian legend, little people with a stature of 20″ to 3 feet would attack them with miniature spears and bows. But when two gold prospectors were blasting in the San Pedro mountains in 1932, they discovered some sort of crypt with a tiny 14″ mummy inside of it. After examination by archeologists, they determined that the mummy was the remains of a 65-year-old male.