Bigfoot, chupacabra, Area 51—who doesn’t love a goodurban legend? As fun as they are to entertain, though, most of them lack any credible proof.Most, however, doesn’t meanall. Some legends, like the Potato Salad Massacre, the Funhouse Mummy, and the Green Man, haveRedditorsconvinced they actually happened.Could their eerie accounts be the exception to the rule? It’s up to you to decide.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Bigfoot, chupacabra, Area 51—who doesn’t love a goodurban legend? As fun as they are to entertain, though, most of them lack any credible proof.
Most, however, doesn’t meanall. Some legends, like the Potato Salad Massacre, the Funhouse Mummy, and the Green Man, haveRedditorsconvinced they actually happened.
Could their eerie accounts be the exception to the rule? It’s up to you to decide.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
The Great Potato Salad Me back in 1976. Small Alabama town. Middle of July. Soaring temperatures. Southern Baptist Church summer picnic. Some husband put the potato salad in the back trunk the night before - didnt know it needed to be refrigerated. At the picnic he puts it on the food table. Everyone eats it. These are Southern Baptists after all.An hour later the fuse was lit so to speak. Nay, a hundred fuses were lit. The men were playing softball. the women were trading pie recipes. the kids were swimming in the pond. Mayhem ensues. Gastro-Explosions erupt in every last one of those that ate the salad.The me is what happened in their britches and to the outhouses the lucky few got to use. Everyone else either decimated and desecrated the bushes, the trees or their car seats as they foolishly thought they could make it home in time.How do I know it’s true? My grandpa is the man that was in charge of the potato salad. he didnt eat any. But my grandma reminds him all the time since they were excommunicated from the church.
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The “Angel Glow” after the Battle of Shiloh. It was reported wounded soldiers would glow with a bluish-green hue. Many of the soldiers with this glow miraculously recovered from their wounds. The recovery was attributed to angels, healing the soldiers.Researches later discovered the battlefield was full of a bioluminescent bacterium that aided in healing wounds.
In my college town there was one homeless guy who everyone kind of knew of. He stood out because he always wore a black suit with no shirt and walked around barefoot with no baggage or shopping cart or anything.A rumor started going around that he was actually a famous painter whose work sold for thousands, that he had a patron that took care of him, and he just lived like a vagrant out of preference (and schizophrenia).Most people called b******t, including myself, until I met someone that knew his name: William Laga.
But why did so many people feel compelled to join the discussion? The answer is simple—our brains cravestories. We love hearing them, we love telling them, and they help us make sense of the world around us.
The Funhouse Mummy. Elmer McCurdy was a bank and train robber killed in a shootout in 1911. His body was embalmed and put on display. It ended up going on tour, even being used in a couple of films. His body went missing in the 1960s. It turned up again in a fun house that was going to be used for the filming of an episode of the $6 Million Dollar Man. The crew were removing mannequins. When the arm fell off one of the mannequins, and they noticed a bone sticking out, the police were called. McCurdy’s body was buried in Guthrie, Ok.
Christopher Thomas Knight was an urban legend in Maine - someone who lives in the woods and was sneaking around people’s summer cabins… Until he was captured in 2013 after living in the woods for 27 years.
“I often read about urban legends, true crime cases, or just weird and funny stories,” he toldBored Panda. “I share them with my physical therapy group at my local gym, and they always encourage great conversations.”
The Reddit thread, it seems, gave Ghost enough material to keep those conversations going for a while. “I especially loved the Potato Salad Massacre story,” he laughed. “That one had me cracking up for ages.”
Have you heard the story of the robber who fell through the skylight, sued the homeowners and won? It’s true, but it was a business, and it wasn’t a robber, it was a j****e jumping from one adjacent building to the next, and landed on the skylight that gave way. He’s lucky to be alive. He fell 2 stories. Also, the insurance company settled, so I wouldn’t say he “won” a court case per se. It was my dad’s family business.
But while Ghost enjoys all kinds of entertaining tales, he’s especially drawn to the real ones.“True stories are always better,” he said. “A conspiracy theory takes a bit of faith and imagination to wrap your head around—like the giants in the mountains of Afghanistan or the commercial airplane that disappeared, only to reappear 10 years later, making a perfect landing at its intended airport but filled with skeletons.”Ghost is also a fan of little-known stories aboutcelebritiesbefore they found fame. “Like how Harrison Ford was working as a carpenter in the Hollywood Hills despite never taking a carpentry course in his life, literally reading Carpentry for Dummies while building someone’s patio,” he added.“Or how Clint Eastwood survived a plane crash, swam for hours through shark-infested waters, and eventually washed ashore to find help.”AtBored Panda, we share Ghost’s love for incredible stories, and it’s been a pleasure bringing them to you. So don’t keep them to yourself—pass them on. Until next time!
But while Ghost enjoys all kinds of entertaining tales, he’s especially drawn to the real ones.
“True stories are always better,” he said. “A conspiracy theory takes a bit of faith and imagination to wrap your head around—like the giants in the mountains of Afghanistan or the commercial airplane that disappeared, only to reappear 10 years later, making a perfect landing at its intended airport but filled with skeletons.”
Ghost is also a fan of little-known stories aboutcelebritiesbefore they found fame. “Like how Harrison Ford was working as a carpenter in the Hollywood Hills despite never taking a carpentry course in his life, literally reading Carpentry for Dummies while building someone’s patio,” he added.
“Or how Clint Eastwood survived a plane crash, swam for hours through shark-infested waters, and eventually washed ashore to find help.”
AtBored Panda, we share Ghost’s love for incredible stories, and it’s been a pleasure bringing them to you. So don’t keep them to yourself—pass them on. Until next time!
For the last several years in Toronto, gay men have gone missing in the Village. The community was convinced it was a serial killer on the loose, but the Police said no. These murders disappearances are unrelated.Turns out that’s totally the case and the guy was killing gay men, dismembering them and burying them in and around the properties he was working at as a groundskeeper/landscaper.
Ten years ago I used to laugh at all the crazy people who thought the government listens to all your phone calls….
There used to be a rich hippy cult in the woods (nearish) my town in the 60s. Ultra rich, but think, drum circles and ce. So, so much ce.One day, they just… Disappeared. Abandoned the compound, nobody knew why, they just all left overnight. Assumptions ranged from d**g raid incoming, to a m****r in the compound, you name it.Most don’t think it was real anymore, or it was just some weirdo eccentric dude, and the story took a life of its own.I know it’s real, cuz I’ve been to the compound. Noticed some (many) years back a weird road when driving past the area for work. Overgrown, and not on Google maps. Took my lunch/ciggy break right there and then, and went to check it out.The place was massive, with stables and several large houses (now kind of caved in). Inside, everything was still like it was back then; furniture, dining wear, clothes, magazines. Like someone had just left for store - I mean, minus 30+ years of mildew and moss.Not a single car in the garages tho.Edit: since people seem curious, I’ll try and recover the photos from the phone I had back then (gotta do some digging in the barn to find it first. Been over 10 years). No promises of success, but I’ll post the photos, if there’s anything left that ain’t corrupted.Edit 2, update; the phone with all the photos & charger from days of yore have been found. Didn’t wake up even after 12 hours of charging. Not found when hooked on computer. Now it’s sitting in rice, for round two. I can’t remember if the pictures are in the phone memory, or the SD card - but not like I have anything to slot the card into anyhow, except for this phone. So hopefully, a rice bath will make it feel better.
It isn’t a legend yet, but as long as Old Bridge NJ exists, there will be the story of the mysteriously large dump of pasta next to a river that was labeled a terroristic act.
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The “Construction Clown” in Cincinnati, Ohio. I lived in Roselawn and Bridgetown as a kid and started to hear stories from friends about a middle aged man with a clown collar/ruff, hard hat, clown suit, and a construction worker’s metal tool box riding the public transit “all day” without purpose, or milling around constructon sites. There’s no way that’s true, I thought, until one day I took a bus to a local Kroger grocery store for something. As I walked through the parking lot to the store I saw him standing outside the front doors, tool box in hand, hardhat, white ruffed collar, bright red sweatshirt, overalls, and work boots painted yellow. It was terrifying. I milled around the parking lot for what felt like forever and noticed that most people coming and going from the store were avoiding the guy. He just stood there, not moving, in the middle of the entry/exit doors of that Kroger.Suddenly though, he was gone. I didn’t see if he walked away or got into a car, or went inside, but I had lost my nerve completely and went back to the bus stop. As soon as I paid the fare and looked up to find a seat, there he was…just sitting in the middle of the bus. I realized the bus had also stopped right in front of the grocery store so he must have gotten on there. Anyway, I sat one row back from him and he didn’t move or say a word until it was time for me to exit. I saw him again a few more times in the neighborhood, almost always in passing while he was riding the bus again or standing at various bus stops. He was always dressed in the red sweatshirt and overalls or a full-on clown suit. One time he had a shovel. Then one day he was just gone and people stopped talking about him.Probably twenty years later when I was in my 30’s I was visiting home and running around the city with my mom. We ended up in Covington, Kentucky doing something or other and were stuck in traffic on MLK Boulevard. As we inched up the road I looked over and saw a silver bust statue of the guy! It was in front of the Hellmann Creative Center. I completely lost it…nobody including my mother had ever believed me when I told stories of seeing this guy when I was a kid but there’s a f*****g statue of him right there on the side of the road!!Anyway, meet Raymond Thunder-Sky, Cininnati’s “Construction Clown.”
Remember when they said E.T. On the Atari 2600 was so bad a game that it crashed the entire games industry, and then they took all the unsold cartridges in a New Mexico landfill? Well that isn’t true. The game is ok, just a little broken, but multiple factors led to the games industry crash, but one thing that is true is that they did find that landfill site several decades later, with many E.T cartridges, but also several other games that they later auctioned for charity.
I grew up hearing about an abandoned psych ward in the woods of Tallahassee. Some versions had it as an abandoned pediatric psych ward. This was the legend in the 70’s. Sometime in the 2000’s, when they built the Blairstone extension, there it was in all its abandoned horrifying glory.
I’ve seen the Illinois Thunderbirds on three occasions: once in grade school, once in my late teens and once at the age of 30.
Cropsey. Sort of like “the boogeyman” of Staten Island. During the 70’s and 80’s kids on the island would go missing and the urban legend would attribute it to “Cropsey”. As it turned out there really was a crazy kidnapper and serial killer who was responsible. He was caught and convicted. There is a great documentary about it (used to be on Netflix, not sure if it still is) called Cropsey, check it out if you get a chance.
There’s tunnels in my town that lead from the an old residential school (yes the one where they raped and tortured First Nations children) to a big church. We can’t pave our main road due to them (they filled them with concrete fast so not all is structured well) and everytime the town brings it up there’s always some excuse not to do it.
The North Pond Hermit things would go missing in this little vacation community and people attributed it to some mysterious dude. Turned out there was one, he lived out in the woods for 27 years without ever talking to anyone.
I saw Champ, the Lake Champlain monster, in 1994 from Lone Rock Point in Burlington VT.
There was an urban legend that the Texas Chainsaw M******e happened in my home town. It’s only partially true as the MOVIE had some shots filmed at a house that used to be there but was torn down after falling into extreme disrepair.
I stopped flashing my brights at people with their lights off after dusk due to increased g**g violence in my area.Don’t know if that one is actually true, but not willing to risk being a target of some initiation.
In the 1970’s there was a homeless man begging for change on the Vegas strip, a high roller tossed him a $10 chip and walked away.The homeless man went in a casino and sat at a roulette table to place a bet.The dr didn’t want to deal with a homeless person so asked the pit boss to get rid of him.But the pit boss took pity on him and said he could play until he lost, which he agreed to.Over an hour later the pit boss came back to the table, surprised to see that the homeless person was still there, and without looking at the table he demanded to know why he was still there?The dr simply said “you said he could play till he lost a bet, he hasn’t lost one yet”.The pit boss looks at the table and is immediately shocked to see the enormous pile of chips that this homeless man has won.At this point he accumulated over $20.000 and he was still winning.The homeless man only left the table to use the bathroom and kept ordering food to be brought to the table as well as ordering top shelf liquors. He played through the whole night and never lost, it got to the point where the casino couldn’t cover his bets, at that point he finally stopped. When he got off the seat to collect his winnings he suffered a massive heart attack and dropped dead before he could spend a dime.
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