THE SHADOW MAN

Nobody knows for sure who, or what The Shadow Man is, but it may be the ghost of a man who was convicted of stalking and kidnapping children.

He was caught at a home he had broken into a few days before, and was being dragged off to the gallows after his trial when he overpowered the guards and ran into the woods. A huge search was organized, and the entire forest was thoroughly searched, but he was never found. A few years later, children started going missing again, and some people thought that it must be him.

Their suspicions were put to rest however, after one of the missing children came back. The five year old boy was questioned, and, during a police interview, he revealed that he was captured by a “shadow man with big red eyes and a funny hat.”

Since then, there have been many more reports of this “shadow man.” The shadow is described as being a shadow of a tall man with a bowlers hat and glowing red eyes. He can assume almost any form he chooses and slip through any door. He will plague children with nightmares about a strange man in a bowlers hat grabbing them and taking them away to an old hut. After a few days, he will creep into the child’s room and stare down at them with his glowing red eyes until they wake up.

The child will then be petrified with fear, and that is when The Shadow Man will whisk them off, and the child will never be seen again. The scariest part is that he could be anywhere at anytime, and you can never be sure if he is there, watching you.

Source: urbanlegendsonline.com

The Dead Boyfriend

Here are two examples of the urban legend known as the "The Dead Boyfriend."

Example #1:

A girl and her boyfriend are making out in his car. They had parked in the woods so no one would see them. When they were done, the boy got out to pee and the girl waited for him in the safety of the car.

After waiting five minutes, the girl got out of the car to look for her boyfriend. Suddenly, she sees a man in the shadows. Scared, she gets back in the car to drive away, when she hears a very faint squeak... squeak... squeak...

This continued a few seconds until the girl decided she had no choice but to drive off. She hit the gas as hard as possible but couldn't go anywhere, because someone had tied a rope from the bumper of the car to a nearby tree.

Well, the girl slams on the gas again and then hears a loud scream. She gets out of the car and realizes that her boyfriend is hanging from the tree. The squeaky noises were his shoes slightly scraping across the top of the car!!!

Paul is dead

"Paul is dead" is an urban legend suggesting that Paul McCartney of the English rock band the Beatles died in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike.

In September 1969, American college students published articles claiming that clues to McCartney's supposed death could be found among the lyrics and artwork of the Beatles' recordings. Clue-hunting proved infectious and within a few weeks had become an international phenomenon. Rumours declined after a contemporary interview with McCartney was published in Life magazine in November 1969.

Popular culture continues to make occasional reference to the legend, and McCartney poked fun at it with a 1993 live album titled Paul Is Live, whose cover parodied "clues" allegedly on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

The Greek Soldier

This lesser-known legend tells us of a Greek soldier who, after WWII, was returning home to marry his fiancee. Unfortunately for him, he was captured by fellow Greeks who had hostile political beliefs, tortured for five weeks, and finally eventually murdered. In the early 1950s—mainly in North and Central Greece—there were stories about a very attractive Greek soldier in uniform, who appeared and disappeared overnight, seducing beautiful widows and virgin girls with the sole purpose of impregnating them.

Five weeks after the babies were born, the man would disappear for good—leaving a letter on the table explaining that he had returned from the dead merely to spread his seed, so that his sons might avenge his murder. 

Source: http://listverse.com

The Hook

Also known as "The Hook Man"

Example As told by David Emery:

A teenage boy drove his date to a dark and deserted Lovers' Lane for a make-out session. He turned on the radio for mood music, leaned over to whisper in the girl's ear, and began kissing her.

A short while later, the music suddenly stopped mid-song. After a moment of silence an announcer's voice came on, warning in an ominous tone that a convicted murderer had just escaped from the state insane asylum — which happened to be located within a half-mile of Lovers' Lane — and urging that anyone who notices a man wearing a stainless steel hook in place of his missing right hand should immediately report his whereabouts to the police.

The girl became frightened and asked to be taken home. The boy, feeling bold, locked all the doors instead and, assuring his date they would be safe, attempted to kiss her again. She became frantic and pushed him away, insisting that they leave. Relenting, the boy peevishly jerked the car into gear and spun its wheels as he pulled out of the parking space.

When they arrived at the girl's house she got out of the car, and, reaching to close the door, began to scream uncontrollably. The boy ran to her side to see what was wrong and there, dangling from the door handle, was a bloody hook.

Analysis: Folks have been telling the "hook-man" story since the 1950s, and indeed the implicit moral message — "Sex is naughty, and bad boys and girls will be punished!" — seems more appropriate to that simpler, more naive era. Just as this moral has come to be parodied in horror films (where formerly it was delivered with morbid solemnity), its "bygone" relevance has taken the teeth out of the cautionary tale over time.

Remarking on the improbable tidiness of the plot, Jan Harold Brunvand has observed that "most tellers narrate the story nowadays more as a scary story than a believed legend." Small wonder. Given its exploitation by Hollywood in popular genre films like Candyman and I Know What You Did Last Summer, most people under the age of 30 probably assume the story was invented by screenwriters.

Folklorists of a Freudian bent find meaningful sexual overtones in the imagery of the tale. The boy, who wants to get his "hooks" into the girl, is not only frustrated by her unwillingness but afraid of his own lustful impulses — a fear heightened by the stern "voice of conscience" emitting from the radio — and has to "pull out fast" before a deadly sin is committed. The tearing off of the madman's hook symbolizes castration. Proponents of this type of psychological interpretation find the sexual apprehensions of both boys and girls represented in the legend.

Don't Flash Your Headlights!

Online variants of a familiar urban legend claim that innocent people who flash their headlights at gang members' cars will be chased down and killed as part of a gang initiation game. 

Text example:
Email contributed by Kris C., Sep. 16, 2005:
Subject: FW: Read & Heed

 Police officers working with the DARE program has issued this warning: If you are driving after dark and see an on-coming car with no headlights on, DO NOT FLASH YOUR LIGHTS AT THEM! This is a common Bloods gang member "initiation game" that goes like this:

The new gang member under initiation drives along with no headlights, and the first car to flash their headlights at him is now his "target". He is now required to turn around and chase that car, then shoot and kill every individual in the vehicle in order to complete his initiation requirements.

Police Depts across the nation are being warned that September 23rd and 24th is the "blood" initiation weekend. Their intent is to have all the new bloods nationwide drive around on Friday and Saturday nights with their headlights off. In order to be accepted into the gang, they have to shoot and kill all individuals in the first auto that does a courtesy flash to warn them that their lights are off. Make sure you share this information with all the drivers in your family!