The Most Spooktastic Urban Legends!
By Yamilet Chabla Urgiles ('25)
Welcome to Spooktober!
Everyone has been guaranteed to have heard these urban legends over the Internet at least once in their lifetime. These urban legends have taken over the Internet in the last few years and even centuries. There have been many stories told by people on Reddit, the place where everyone suddenly becomes a detective or has an unusual story to tell.
The stories I’m about to tell you have been told by many people over the years, making them timeless classics. It’s up to you to decide if it’s real or not. It’s hard to differentiate whether or not these “legends” live on in the shadows...
Although most sources aren’t confirmed true, for legal issues, these stories are alleged and are not verified to be real.
Weather forecast predicts a terrifying forecast!
Photo Courtesy of Reddit
Slenderman
Slenderman is an urban legend first created by Eric Knudsen, AKA Victor Surge. In 2009, Knudsen created Slenderman for a contest called "Paranormal Pictures.'' The contest was hosted by The Something Awful forums on Reddit. Slenderman is a thin, unnaturally tall being with tentacle probing arms wearing a suit. Slenderman has no face, and is stark white.
Slenderman loves to inflict danger on younger children who are the most vulnerable. The online legend was transformed into a game called "Slender: The Eight Pages." The concept of the game is simple: collect all eight notes located in various areas of the forest while avoiding Slenderman. Slenderman became big when famous YouTubers such as Pewdiepie, Markiplier, and Jacksepticeye uploaded videos on YouTube showcasing the game. In the Creepypasta Community on Reddit, Slenderman is a famous creature, but to the news outlets, it's a different story.
On May 31, 2014 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, two girls, both 12 at the time, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend, Payton Leutner, into a forest and stabbed her 19 times.
What does it have to do with Slenderman, you ask?
The two “friends,” Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, said they committed the act against their friend, Payton to "become the next proxies of Slenderman." Miraculously, Payton survived the horrific blows and is living a happier life after the incident. While Anissa Weier was sentenced in 2017 up to 25 years in a mental institution, she was recently released from the mental institution on Monday, September 13th, 2021 (ABC News). Morgan Geyser is in an unnamed mental hospital where she was sentenced for 40 years after she had pleaded gulity to the attemped first-degree murder of Payton. A lot of the time, the internet makes it easy to believe anything you see or read up on. It is always good to remember these are urban legends made up stories from random people online. Deciphering these stories from fantasy and reality will help to prevent terrible tragedies from happening again.
From left to right: Payton Leutner (stabbing victim), Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weier
Photo courtesy of ABC News
La Llorona
In Hispanic culture, our parents have often told us that ‘’La Llorona te va vener a llevar ti!” (Translation: "The Weeping Woman will come get you!"). Although this was usually just a scare tactic for our parents to get a laugh out of us, I remember being extremely terrified of it.
When I was younger, I had a phase of intense interest in creepypastas, which are fictional horror stories that are circulated all over the Internet. I would watch Reddit stories on YouTube at night, a perfect time to induce insomnia. I remember my family members would always talk about this legend, and used it to scare me as a kid. I used to be terrified of it, but eventually I became obsessed with it.
Llorona comes up in pretty much every Halloween topic. Most people have heard about this legend at least at some point in their life, or have heard about it. But if you haven’t, buckle up kids.
Yeesh! Who rattled her chains?
Photo courtesy of Riordan Wiki
The story changes based on whoever is telling you it. The legend of La Llorona begins with a woman named Maria, who marries a wealthy man to help her lower class family move up in the ranks of society. It is said that the wealthy man was riding around the town when he spotted her in the town square. He thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, so he courted her, and got her attention.
Eventually, the couple got married, having two sons together. However, over the years, their marriage hit rock bottom. It turns out that Maria’s husband was having an affair with another woman, and she caught him red handed.
Everything in her body filled with rage and prickling anger. Through this anger, Maria did the unthinkable, grabbing her two boys and throwing them into a streaming river, leaving them to drown. When the anger finally faded, she realized the gravity of her actions and let out a scream. “Ay, mis hijos!!” (Oh, my children!!) (Vanity Fair)
Maria was banished and was not permitted to enter into the Gates of Heaven. She wept and wept, and to this day, she is rumored to continue weeping. She is known as the weeping woman, or “La Llorona.” Many claim that she still exists, roaming around bodies of water weeping and preying on disobedient children. No wonder our parents told us about her.
The Black-Eyed Children
There are many rumors about these peculiar children circulating in the media. These children, eyes full of jet-black nothingness, have been outside of people’s homes or vehicles. They knock on people’s doors and windows and insist on letting them into their home. At a far distance, they look like normal children, but when they get closer to you, there is this overwhelming sense of dread. Most of them are from the ages of six to sixteen years old. Their clothes are usually outdated, in a Victorian style. They look so normal to the point where it becomes strange or unsettling.
The earliest sighting of these children was back in 1996 by Brian Bethel, a journalist from Abilene, Texas. In Bethel’s report, he explains he was out late, driving his vehicle. He had stopped the car to write a check. He was so focused that he did not notice two young boys standing near him until he finally rolled down the windows. Bethel felt a strange sensation about these two boys. He could not pinpoint what this feeling was steaming from, though. The older boy told him that he and his brother had forgotten their money at home, and asked him if he could drive them home. They kept insisting that it would not take that long. (Save Our Snopes)
Bethel was conflicted: these two children appeared harmless, but something felt entirely wrong with them; he felt a gut feeling that something was wrong, and unsurprisingly, he was right.
A wrench-twisting sensation entered his body. He was staring into the kids' eyes. The kids' eyes were completely black and soulless. The older boy became more frustrated with Bethel’s refusal to drive them home, causing Bethel to drive out of the parking lot, emotionally traumatized. . As creepy as this is, these stories cannot be verified. Sometimes the benefit of the doubt is a plus.
The Watcher
A letter from The Watcher given to the Broaddus family.
Photo courtesy of Reader's Digest
The final urban legend took place in New Jersey back in 2015. In 2015, the Broaddus family bought a six bedroom home in Westfield, New Jersey. Excited to start their new life, the family settled in, expecting great things. However, shortly after settling into their house, they began receiving letters signed by The Watcher. Most of the letters are very disturbing, speaking of shedding the blood of the couple’s children, or warning the children of what comes with playing in the basement of the house. The writer is claiming that it is their duty to ‘’protect the house.’’ The family originally believed that these letters were a hoax, but once they began to get darker, they began to grow afraid. The family has since moved out of the home, not wanting to risk their children’s safety. To this day, the inhabitants are still receiving letters from The Watcher. (The Cut)
Although these urban legends are utterly terrifying, leaving you with shivers down your spine, we can take comfort in the fact that they are not real. They allow us to get into the Halloween spirit and have a little fun messing with the anxiety of our friends and family. After all, they're just fictional stories, right?