Once again you find yourself sitting
in front of the campfire with friends. You told yourself that after the sleepless nights
from your last encounter with urban legends, you would be sure to steer clear of any more scary
stories. Everything is going according to plan, you’ve been roasting marshmallows and eating
s’mores all night long without a scary story in sight. Then suddenly the person next to
you does the unthinkable. “Let’s tell some more urban legends!” they exclaim. You try
to interject, but another friend breaks in, “And let’s make them even scarier
than last time! I’ll start.” “Last time we talked about Bloody Mary,” says your
friend. “But have you all heard of the Candyman?” The Candyman legend goes back all the way to
the 1800’s. A black man was haneously killed for impregnating his white lover. Years later a group
of kids was playing around an abandoned building. It was run down, with graffiti all over the walls,
and decaying garbage in the hallways. The kids made their way into one of the apartments; all
the windows had been covered with newspaper so it was almost completely dark. The kids went
into the bathroom and looked at the mirror. “Bet you won’t say his name five times,”
says one of the children. “Don’t do it,” says another. But the third child looks
directly into the mirror and says, “Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman,
Candyman…” On the fifth saying of the name, the undead corpse of the black man who was
murdered in the 1800’s comes crashing out of the mirror. He has a hook for a hand and
bees swarming around him. The kids all run, but the one who said his name is snatched
by the hook and murdered by the Candyman. Oh man, you think. Now I won’t be able to look
into a mirror for a while. “That was pretty good,” one of your friends says. “But listen
to how terrifying this urban legend is.” This is the legend of the Bunny Man. His name
might sound cute at first, but the legend is anything but. There once was an escaped mental
patient who roamed the woods. He broke out of an asylum, but was never caught by the police. All
the authorities could turn up were the corpses of brutally murdered bunny rabbits. They knew it must
be the escaped patient, but he kept eluding them. He was given the name “Bunny Man” for his affinity
for killing the furry creatures in terrible ways. Eventually the Bunny Man started
getting even more gruesome. People would walk through the forest on nature
hikes and come across an old bridge. Hanging from the bridge were the mutilated
bodies of bunnies. A group of kids was curious, and wanted to see the bunnies that
were strung up under the bridge; so late one night they snuck out into the woods.
They came across the bridge, and sure enough, there were bunnies hanging under it. However,
when they looked on top of the bridge they saw a man in a white suit, wearing bunny ears on top
of his head. The children shrieked in terror. The next night a search party was sent
out to try and locate the children who had never returned home. The party came to the
bridge where the bunnies were normally hanging, except this time it wasn’t just rabbits… “That’s awful!” you cry. “We’re in the woods,
and we definitely crossed under some bridges to get here.” Your friends laugh because they
think you’re joking, but you’re not. “I’ve got a good one!” declares another member of
your group. “This one’s called The Beijing Ghost Bus. After you hear it, you probably won’t
want to ride public transportation for a while.” It is late one dark and stormy night.
A bus driver is making his rounds. Around midnight the bus driver spots three men
flagging him down. He is hesitant to pick them up because they are not at a bus stop, but he
figures that since the weather is so terrible, he’ll give them a break. The three men enter the
bus without a word and head to the back. The bus driver notices they are dressed in clothing
that looks like it’s from a hundred years ago. The men are very pale, but the bus driver just
assumes the men are actors from some show. The other passengers on the bus slowly
disembark at the next few stops until only a handful of people remain. The three oddly
dressed men are standing in the back of the bus. Someone pulls the cord to signal they
will be getting off at the next station. The driver pulls up, and the bus hisses to
a stop. The man who pulled the cord hurries off the bus. Once on the sidewalk he turns
around with a frightened look on his face. “Those men in the back of the bus are
floating above the floor,” he says. The bus driver gives him an odd look and
closes the door in the crazy man’s face. The bus drives off with only the driver
and three floating passengers in it. That was the last time anyone ever
saw the bus or the bus driver. “Ghosts on a bus!” you shout. What will
they think of next, serpents on a jet? Everyone laughs and you shake your
head. “I think that’s enough scary stories for tonight,” you say. But one of
your friends stands up. “Wait! I am about to tell you the most eerie urban legend of
all… and it involves a vintage video game.” Back in the 80’s people would flock to arcades
to get their fill of coin operated video games. One game in particular was addictive, but had
an ominous side to it. The game was called Polybius. Whenever someone would drop a coin
into the game, and begin playing, they would feel disoriented. But this feeling eventually
passed, and the person would continue on. They would become addicted; always thinking about
Polybius, always wanting to go another round on the video game. Sometimes men in all black suits
would come in and open up the Polybius cabinet, as if they were extracting some kind of
information from it. Then they would close the cabinet up and let the line of eager
players back at the game. Then something even more strange began to happen. The people
who played the game started to get amnesia. They couldn’t remember who they were, or where
they were from, only that they wanted to play Polybius. This odd behavior would culminate
in the unexplained death of the player. When this happened the Polybius video
game would disappear, but only for a time. Eventually the all black cabinet
would reappear in another arcade, somewhere far away where the legend of the
Polybius video game had not yet been heard. “Well thanks a lot, now I’m afraid
to play my own video games,” you say as the fire flickers and cast shadows
onto the forest trees around you. One of your friends rubs his hands together. “You’ve all
heard of the genie in the magic lamp right? But do you know the urban legend of the jinn,
which is what the genie is based off of?” You look at your friend. “You’re not going to ruin Aladdin
for me are you?” you ask. Your friend just smiles. Deep in the Arabian desert a man has lost his way.
He runs out of water, and is severely dehydrated. The man collapses from exhaustion and falls
face first into the sand. He manages to pick his head up to look around. In front of him stands
a beautiful woman. She holds a jug full of water. The man scrambles to his feet and takes the water
from her. He drinks until he almost throws up. “How can I ever repay you?” asks the man. The
woman removes her face covering to reveal a mouth full of serrated teeth. She contorts her body, and
changes from a beautiful woman into a terrifying monster, with horns coming out of its head and
smoke filling the space around it. The man screams and pleads for mercy. The jinn opens its gaping
maw and consumes the man whole. Then it transforms back into the beautiful woman, and waits for
the next unsuspecting victim to cross its path. You shudder at the thought of the friendly genie
from the Disney films being a man eating monster. “Don’t be such a scaredy cat,’ one of your other friends says. “Besides if you think that
was bad, wait until you hear this one.” Everyone has nightmares about something under
the bed. But The Body Under the Bed legend 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 come up to the room and
check everywhere for the source of the smell, but they can’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. “That’s gross,” says everyone around
the campfire. “Oh I’m not done yet, says the storyteller. Things are
about to get so much grosser.” This one is called The Licked Hand. One
night a young girl awakens to the sound of dripping water. It is the first time her
parents have left her all alone at night, while they enjoy a weekend away. However,
the girl has her faithful dog to protect her. The night is cloudy. The wind howls. From the
bathroom down the hall the little girl hears a dripping noise. It sounds like the sink hasn’t
been turned off all the way. She cautiously gets out of bed and makes her way to the bathroom
with the dog by her side. She enters and is startled by something moving. She slams her
hand against the light switch on the wall, and when the light comes on, she laughs at
herself. It was only her reflection in the mirror. The girl checks the faucet, but it’s not dripping.
She shrugs, turns off the light, and heads back to her room. The girl climbs into bed and tries
to fall back asleep, but the dripping sound continues. She curls up under the covers and
slowly drifts off. The girl is awakened later that night by a nightmare. She reaches down to pet
her faithful dog who licks her hand reassuringly. The dripping sound seems to have gotten louder.
The girl squeezes her eyes shut and wills the sun to rise. Eventually, due to the intermittent licks
of her trustworthy dog, she falls back asleep. In the morning the girl wakes up and decides
to do a more thorough sweep of the house. She steps out of bed and notices her dog
isn’t there anymore. She calls for him, but the dog doesn’t come. The girl walks down
the hall to the bathroom. The door is shut. She turns the handle and slowly opens it. When
she turns on the light she screeches in horror. In the bathtub lies the remains of her mutilated
dog. It has been slaughtered during the night. On the bathroom wall, written in blood,
are the words: “humans can lick hands too.” “What is wrong with you people?” you shout.
“I’m never going to be able to sleep again.” Everyone laughs and reassures you that
they are just urban legends, and none of it is real. But you can’t help but feel that
all urban legends originated from somewhere. You know that behind every
legend, there is a hint of truth. Now check out “Scary Urban Legends That
Will Keep You Up At Night.” Or watch “Terrifying Urban Legends
That Turned Out To Be Real.”
