An urban legend is an apocryphal (of doubtful authenticity), secondhand story, told as true and just plausible enough to be believed, about some horrific, embarrassing, ironic or exasperating series of events that supposedly happened to a real person. It’s likely to be framed as a cautionary tale.
Factual or not, an urban legend is meant to be believed. In place of evidence, the teller of an urban legend relies on skillful storytelling and/or reference to relatively trustworthy sources — e.g., "it really happened to my hairdresser's brother's best friend" — to convince hearers (or readers) of its truth.
Your assignment is to create an urban legend of 300 words or more. It is due at the end of tomorrow's class.
In the woods of Pennsylvania there is a section called the Lost Section. My brother-in-law’s step-mom’s cousin, Hank, came across it one day. He was a famous author and liked to go off on isolated trips in order to think up best-sellers. It worked and if it works, it’s not weird. Well he was hiking one day when he tripped and fell into a ditch. It looked like a grave without a coffin. All in the hole, there were toys and other children’s things. It took him a while to climb out but when he did, he saw ditches like this all over this section of the forest. It was as if someone had prepared an unmarked grave site. Instead of coffins or bodies in these graves there were hundreds of random items. He decided it was the perfect for inspiration so he pitched a tent and camped there. That night he dug through the graves and found tricycles, type writers, and even tires. The graves weren’t particularly organized but nothing childish was found with anything that could belong to an adult. As Hank continued his search, he found a grave that actually contained a coffin. Bravely, he opened the coffin and saw human bones. It wasn’t laid out like you would expect. The bones were piled up on one corner with the skulls on top. The coffin had more than one pile of bones; he guessed maybe three bodies and more than five skulls. Even an over-zealous writer knew that this was trouble. He scrambled out of the grave and went to make a phone call but he never got the chance. On the other edge of the section was a tall, dark figure. It was more than 6 feet tall and wider than a line-backer. It was covered in rags of different colors and materials and carried a body over its shoulder. Hank could tell it was a child, he just couldn’t tell whether or not it was alive. Hank ran that night, faster than ever before and faster than he thought he was capable of. The next morning, the police showed up where Hank had left his tent but there were no graves or tent. Hank had gotten lost and ended up where all those lost end up…The Lost Section. Hank didn’t know it but he had gotten lost and stayed lost until He was satisfied. He is the Lost Giant. This Giant has an odd fascination with humans and their things. When they wander too close to his home, he can cause the wind and trees to change in order to confuse the lost humans. Sometimes, he’ll let them in just so he can take them…that never ends well. The locals told Hank he was very lucky to have been released. When he tried to explain that he just left, they told him that no one can escape the Giant. Each grave he saw represented a runaway child or lost camper the Giant had snatched. Hank was a skeptic at first, like a lot of people he believed it was just some murderer or hobo in the woods. He even tried to prove this by re-tracing his footsteps multiple times. But every time, he just ended up somewhere different. You have to be lost in order to find the Giant but once you’re lost, you’re gone. Hank gave up after a few days and went back home. He used this experience to write a book, since he refused to call it fiction, it flopped and he was labeled a crazy.
ReplyDelete"My brother-in-law’s step-mom’s cousin, Hank" - ha! Perfect beginning for this. Also, this eerily remind of Ariel's grotto in "Little Mermaid," only the creepy horror movie version.
DeleteMy mom always told me to never cry past midnight. Her beliefs were that if you supposedly cried past midnight, there was a deformed lady that intruded your home and her spirit will live in there until she eventually took over your soul. Just for crying. My mother’s parents always told her that when you cried at night, especially past midnight, you are basically inviting the spirits into your home and into your soul. It is crazy to think that when you’re just upset at night and you feel the need to cry, something horrific can happen to you and how will you be able to stop it? Who’s going to stop the evil? How will you know if you’re able to conquer it? What about your family? Aside from that, I never believed that. My mother was always very superstitious and I can assume that my grandmother even more. Until one night it all changed. I lived in a two family house. The family next to us was usually always getting into altercations with one another and there was almost never a night where it was just peaceful. All the siblings were always fighting. The father and the mother were both alcoholics and were always getting home extremely late and left a two and three year old with an irresponsible 16 year old teen. She was constantly sneaking in her boyfriend and it got to a point where she even left them home one night and left with her boyfriend. Can you imagine a two and three year old completely alone in a home until after midnight with nothing to eat; or even just being able to care for one another, at that age. The thought is absolutely ridiculous right? Well that’s what happen on July 18th, 2003. The kids woke up crying that night around 1:02am.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious...what happens next?
DeleteBabysitting was probably the worst job in the world, not only because Annie hated little kids but because these were not any ordinary children. These were disobedient and very poorly behaved kids, almost unmanageable. When it came time to clean up their toys and all the mess they had made, it was a huge issue because they stubbornly refused. The only way Annie could get them to obey was to tell them the story of the “Toy Eating Monster”. Although they pretended to be uninterested, Annie knew that they were intently listening to the tale, fearing that it would happen to them. She began:
ReplyDelete“Not too long ago, there was a little boy named Tommy who never wanted to clean up his mess after he was done playing. He was disobedient and never listened to his parents or nanny. Punishments did not work because Timmy knew that eventually he would get his toys back after a short time-out. He always left a huge mess, his room was always untidy… until one day the Toy Eating Monster heard about this little boy and was sent out to teach him a lesson. He waited until Tommy fell asleep and crept in through his window. His toys were scattered all around the floor. Cars, blocks, puzzle pieces, all over the place. Tommy woke up and was terrified to see the huge monster, his sharp teeth showing and claws ready for action. He asked Tommy why he never cleaned up but Tommy was too scared to answer. The Monster asked if he liked his toys and if he had fun with his toys, Tommy only nodded yes. The monster began to slowly eat the blocks, one by one. He then moved on to the toy cars, ignoring all of Tommy’s desperate cries and pleas for him to stop. The Monster told him that this is what happened to bad kids who did not clean up and always left a mess. He asked which one was Tommy’s favorite toy, he slowly pointed to the brand new Nerf gun that he had gotten for Christmas. The Toy Monster crept towards it and held it up, he showed it to Tommy one last time before destroying it to little pieces. This is what you get for not cleaning up, he said. Tommy was so upset that his favorite toy was completely gone. The monster ate up all the pieces at once leaving Tommy in tears, screaming for his parents. They rushed into the room but the Monster was gone, there was no trace of him. Tommy’s parents did not believe his story when he told them what happened and assumed that Tommy must have simply lost the toys he was complaining about. Tommy apologized to his parents for constantly disobeying them and ever since that night, his room was never messy again. He made sure to clean up after himself and to put everything back neatly to avoid an encounter with the Monster again.”
Before the tale had even ended, the kids had ran to clean up their mess. They feared the Monster and did not want the same thing to happen to them.
I wish I had a "Tale of the Toy Eating Monster" to tell when I was babysitting. It could have come in handy. Remember to format dialogue.
DeleteAlternate Assignment:*Warning it’s a bit cliche
ReplyDelete“Elena will you just say something?!?” he yells slamming his hands onto the table.
I close my eyes and fight back tears. I’m so frustrated, sad,and confused.
“I’m tired.” I whisper, barely moving my lips.
“What?”
“ I said I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of us.” I choke out the words as tears fall down my face. Finally I give up and begin to sob uncontrollably.
He stays across the room for a moment and then slowly walks over to me. He silently pulls me into his arms and rubs my back.
“Elena, I’m so sorry. I..” he holds me closer and I know we’re wondering the same thing.
When did loving words turn into words filled with venom? When did laughter turn into tears? When did loving each other become so hard? Maybe our love was something of the past and it was time for both of us to move on. Maybe it was never love. But I don’t want to believe that, I don’t want to give up on us. Love isn’t easy or else it wouldn’t be love, right? I love him to much to let it all go. I don’t know what to think. I wipe my tears away with the back of my hand and look up at him. I look at the person who I let into the deepest parts of my soul.At the person that I would do anything for just to see him happy.
“Jace, I-”
“No Elena, let me talk first.” he says cutting me off.
“I’m sorry, I never wanted to hurt you.I know we fight. I know sometimes I drive you insane and you do the same. I know I’m not the best guy and I know that you can do so much better ,but I also know that you complete me. You make me want to become a better man than I was yesterday. No matter how much we fight, I will always love you. I want you , I want us. Please Elena stay with me.”
He let’s out a breathe of air and looks at me with pleading eyes.I feel as though a weight has been lifted of my shoulders. That’s all I’ve wanted to hear.That he truly loves me, and I’m not a fool for loving him.
I cup his face into my hands and kiss him fiercely.
*too much
Delete*breath
You have a way for writing descriptions during dialogue.
My best friend told me that his mother had a brother who owned a farm. When he lived in the farmhouse he would see his neighbors running into their field and stand in the middle of the field and stare at the ground. So after a few nights he went over to see what was happening and when he looked at them they had pitch black eyes and were pale. So my best friends uncle ran in fear about 50 feet and yelled, “Get out of my property you freaks or I will shoot you.” when one of the people turned and opened their mouth about 6 inches wide and screeched. In panic he dashed to his house grabbed his shotgun and went down stairs to the basement. He waited and waited until the breaking of dawn. When the sun was shining bright he went out to the field to find nothing. So he went to his local church and asked for help because his neighbors are demons. However the church could not do anything to help him because they were not capable of doing it. But my friends uncle was too scared to go home but he had to because he had nowhere to go. Then the sun set and he went out to the field with his shotgun and waited for a couple hours. They were a no show so he decided to go back home but before anything he unloaded the gun and set the safety on. He walked into his house and closed the door behind himself and locked it. When he reached for the lights to turn them on… they did not turn on. So he headed upstairs and into his bedroom when he there saw them the pale people with pitch charcoal eyes. That was the last time anyone heard of him. Until two weeks later where he was found in the woods dead.
ReplyDeleteThere once was a boy named Joe who fell in love with a girl named Katherine. She was tall, skinny, and blonde. She was perfect from head to toe. One day, Joe went out to look for the secret garden. There, he would find the red rose and give it to Katherine for her to instantly fall in love with him. So Joe headed out into the forest to find the secret garden but the only problem with the secret garden is that nobody has ever seen it because they never lived to see it.
ReplyDeleteJoe went through everything. He avoided mud pits, walked into spider webs, and even got lost a couple of times but he was able to find his way once again. Joe had a feeling he was getting closer and closer, but he never saw it. But Joe never gave up. He kept thinking about Katherine and how he was going to get the red rose and give it to her and have her instantly fall in love with him.
As it got darker, Joe started to lose hope in finding the secret garden. He actually started to get scared because he thought of how nobody has seen the garden because nobody lived to see it. As Joe was about to turn back, he saw a glow form right in front of him. He then started to walk towards it. When he approached it, he saw nothing but beautiful flowers everywhere. He saw birds flying and deer running and it looked and felt like a perfect spring day. He noticed sculptures that looked so real, like they were real people. When he walked more into the garden, he then saw the red rose. It looked as if it was put on a pedestal. Joe then ran towards it and stopped right in front of it. Joe reached for it and as soon as he touched it, he couldn’t move. When Joe touched the rose, it started turning him into stone. The sculptures were real people who tried to grab the rose but then turned into stone trying to grab the rose. They did live to see the garden and so did Joe. Now they are a part of it.
People say that high school is the best time of your life and then you go onto college and things get even better and even more exciting. I happen to believe every word that they say. High school has been moving extremely fast and I do not know if I like it or not. I am already excited to go to college and what not but already being half way through my junior year, I wish it would all slow down a little. So we can have a couple more days in the pool, a few more bonfires, a more trips to the beach together, a few more weight room sessions, a few more games, anything really to be with my friends a little longer. Even though it may not seem like it, time is slowly running out. People constantly say how much they hate high school and how they cannot wait to go away, I feel almost the opposite. I am looking forward to college, but if I could stay here with all of my friends and relive it all a few times, I would not hesitate to say yes. This place is my home and I only have a little bit of time left. The thing that worries me most is that like many other people who graduate high school and leave for college, they grow apart from their friends. They say their goodbyes on move in day and that is it. The friends I have made here are friends that I wish to keep with me for the rest of my life. I have way too many great memories with all of them that I would never be able to let go of. I guess what I am saying is that I wish I could have a few moments more with the people I grew up with and those that have had my back all these years, and those whose backs I had as well. Those are the true friends that you have and that you know will never go away. Because the sad truth is, those kinds of people do not come around very often. If you wait too long, you might miss out on something you have been longing for your whole life. So when you find some great, whether it be a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever it is, do not let them slip through your fingers. You will regret it for the rest of your life, and I can promise you that.
ReplyDeleteIn 2007 James Mason was a senior a Dunellen High School. He had a bad habit of hiding people’s things. One day he stole a change purse from the girl next to him in his Creative Writing class and he walked out, forgetting that he had her purse. Inside her purse was some medication that she had to take later that day. When she couldn’t find the medication later she decided that she could skip it instead of confessing to her mother that she had lost it. This, however, was not a good idea. She collapsed during her practice later that day and died. James was very sad, but he didn’t even realize he had her medication. Before her funeral, he discovered the change purse in his bag but was too upset to open it. When he went to her funeral he had a weird feeling. In the middle he realized he couldn’t find his phone. And when was leaving his watch was gone. When he got into his car he couldn’t find his GPS and when he got back to his house he saw that all of his belongings in his room were gone aside from his bed, desk . Finally he went back to his car and realized that his keys were gone. He felt like he was losing his mind. He went back upstairs to his room and he found his backpack sitting on his floor. Inside was all of his stuff, his keys, his phone, his watch and all of his belongings. He wondered how it all fit in there so he tried digging to the bottom of the bag. The next thing he knew was that he was falling. Falling into the bag. At the very bottom there was the change purse. James Mason never saw the light of day again.
ReplyDeleteMy cousin's friend's wife's daughter always described this game to me and my sister. It was called the "Ouija board." She always spoke on how you could talk to spirits and how you could ask it anything you want, but my mother explained to us how we should never play it because something bad could happen. She never told us what though. So I wanted to try it out... On December 31, 2011, me, my sister and a couple of our friends we're home alone. Everyone dying of boredom, deciding what we should do. Then it hit me, let's play the Ouija board. "NO!" my sister yelled, mom said we shouldn't play it. "Come on" I nagged, "what's the worst that could happen?” “Look! There it is on top of the refrigerator, let’s play it!” I added, “Okaaaaaay” groaned my sister. I then reached on top of the refrigerator and grabbed the board. My heart dropped, “what if we start talking to a bad spirit?” I asked myself. Deep down I was scared, but didn’t want to let anyone know. After getting the board, I directed everyone to the closet. The directions read “If you want the game to really work, you must play it in the dark.” “Who wants to go first?” I asked. “I’ll go!” My sister blurted out. She opened the box, place the objects where they belonged, read the directions and we began the game. “Ask it something” One of our friends yelled. “When will I die? “she asked it. “T o m o r r o w” the board spelled out. We then got scared. Not knowing if the game was telling the truth or not we continued asking it more questions. “I’m tired” I exclaimed. “Yeah, me too” added my sister. “Let’s call it a night” one of our friends begged. Afterwards we all went to bed. Afraid to go to sleep, I closed my eyes slowly. The next day… “Erica, wake up” I called. After ten minutes of me and my mother calling my sister’s name and she didn’t answer I walked in her room. There she was, hung upside down. “I gasped!” My mother and two friends ran upstairs. Everyone looked around. Scared, confused and devastated one of my friends yelled "Look! Someone left this piece of paper next to her bed" I read it aloud “I told you, you were going to die today…”
ReplyDeleteParents probably don’t tell you a lot of things for your safety. A girl named Sally went to the woods one night in a full moon. He mother told her to be careful to leave at midnight during a full moon. Sally never believed her and thought that all these warnings were just a lie from her mother. Sally was bored one night and decided to go for a walk in the forest near by her house. It was almost midnight and Sally was already in the forest. Sally closed her eyes and thought about her life. The moon was straight in the middle of the sky and it was right above her. Right when this happened to the moon, it struck midnight. Sally stopped and took a deep breath trying to admire the nature. Right then behind her she heard crackling noises. Sally turned scared if anyone would have followed her. Sally then decided to go back home and she began to walk faster and faster. It was about half an hour and Sally still couldn’t find her way home. Sally was back in the spot that she first heard the crackling. Then from the shadows an arm stretched out and touched her back. Sally turned her head slowly to see the thing that was touching her. The hand was black and red and looked like it was decaying. The nails were long and were slowly digging into her skin. Sally then turned and began to scream because the nails dug deeper and deeper into her skin. Sally then grabbed the hand and took it out of her body. The arm went back into the darkness and Sally jumped to it and turned to where the beast should have been. Sally then decided to go back in to her house and she finally arrived. When she got home she had a sudden thrust for something besides water. She looked to her shoulder and saw the blood and dipped her fingers in the blood and began to lick her fingers. Sally then searched through her whole house and killed all the people that were there and drank their blood. Then afterwards Sally had the urge to go back to the forest and there the beast once again met up with her and drank all the blood she had drunken and her own blood. She then died her next to many other bodies that were near the beast.
ReplyDeleteI have still yet to step one foot in that place. Every time I get the chance to, I get so close then chicken out. I doubt what they all say is true, but you never know, anything could happen. Since I was a child, my mother always told me to keep out the woods, and if I were to ever go into the woods, don’t dare walk into the cave. It’s been said, that a young, girl about nine years old, went in and that was the last time anyone ever saw her. They say that every hour you hear her crying for help and screaming in pain for about ten minutes straight. The young girl was just out playing with three other friends. They got bored and decided to venture out into the woods. They played hide and seek for hours. The youngest of them, named Abigail, went to hide in the cave deep into the woods. She figured that they would never find her and then she would be the winner. She indeed did win. They never found her. The girls looked for hours until they went back to the houses to declare that she was missing. Everyone in the village searched months for her, and still no Abigail. The cave was even searched, and there was still no Abigail. Until this day, still no Abigail. A year later, a group of boys were out hunting in the woods, while they were doing that, they continued to hear a little girl scream and cry. However, there was no sight of a little girl. While the continued to hunt, they approached close to the cave, the closer to the cave they were, the louder the cries came. They approached the cave, and ventured in. After that they were never to be seen again, as well. Everyone that steps foot into the cave goes missing. Many have heard the cries of Abigail every hour. Everyone is told to stay away from the cave so that they don’t join her.
ReplyDeleteThere’s a New Sheriff in Town:
ReplyDelete(Driving on county road, Dwayne Geoffrey is approached from behind by a cop car with its lights flashing and siren blaring. He sighs and pulls over, rolling down his window. The cop exits the squad car and walks over. He is noticeably chewing gum, his moustache moving accordingly.)
Dwayne: (Looking down as he gathers his license and registration.) Hello, Officer. Is there a problem? (Hands the cop his paperwork.)
Officer Guppi: (Professional but friendly.) Are you from out of town, sir?
Dwayne: (Pauses at first but continues in a friendly manner.) Yeah. I live the next town over, in Oakview.
Officer Guppi: (Looks down at license and then back up at Dwayne.) Wait. You’re Geoffrey’s boy?
Dwayne: (Surprised.) You know my father?
Officer Guppi: He and Frank Dudley were there my first day on the job.
Dwayne: So you knew Frank, then? Wow, my dad and he were best buds for years... It was a real shame when he died. His son, Roger, really stepped up as town sheriff, though.
Officer Guppi: Yeah, Frank was the best sheriff we’ve ever had. A true shame when he passed. (Mood lightens.) But Mary Anne’s been good lately—bought a new dog a few months ago. And Roger is living in Guanahuaca sipping on them “margaritas.”
Dwayne: (Lightly.) That’s good to hear, man. So there’s a new sheriff in town, then?
Officer Guppi: (Appalled.) Excuse me?
Dwayne: (Confused.) What’d I say? I just asked if there was a new sheriff in town. You know, since Roger’s gone.
Officer Guppi: Do you think this is a joke?
Dwayne: I’m sorry? I’m not following…
Officer Guppi: Sir, can you please turn down the attitude? It’s unnecessary.
Dwayne: (Shocked and confused.) Officer, I was only asking a question. If there was any attitude detected, I apologize. It was unintentional.
Officer Guppi: (Relaxes.) Oh, alright then. I’m sorry if I’m on edge. It’s been a crazy day. We’re setting up for the Saint Patty’s Day parade; and the PTA was a pretty loaded when they were working on the leprechaun float, so that got a little weird… (Trails off.)
Dwayne: (Interestedly.) Is Shelley Winters still the head of that? She was always a real boozer!
Officer Guppi: (Seriously.) Yes, sir. She’s switched to gin though—got tired of that moonshine after a while.
Dwayne: So
****TO BE CONTINUED……
The Scotch Plains Succubus
ReplyDeleteI threw down the controller after Carl beat me in another round of Call of Duty. “Dude, I think I’m gonna marry this girl.” I said.
“Haven’t you only known her for like, two weeks?” Carl, my best friend, said.
“Yeah, but man I’m telling you she’s the one. I don’t know what it is but as soon as I saw her that night at the bar, I just knew. I felt like I’d seen her somewhere before. Like I’d already fallen in love with her before I’d even spoken to her.”
“Oh yeah… I remember that night,” Carl said, an inquisitive look spreading over his face. “Weren’t we in Scotch Plains that night?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “What a great night.”
“What was it that my grandmother always used to say about the girls from Scotch Plains?” Carl pondered.
We began to play another round when suddenly Carl jumped up off the couch and turned to me in a panic. “You can’t marry her Jimmy, she’s a succubus!”
I paused the game. “What are you talking about?”
Carl took a deep breath to compose himself. “When I was younger my grandmother always used to tell us that someday we’d all grow up to marry beautiful women. She said that because we were wealthy, we’d always be able to have any woman we wanted and because of that we’d always be happy.”
“Yeah, so what’s your point?” I asked, unsure where this was going.
Carl continued frantically. “She that that because we were from Fanwood and we all had so much money, that the families in Scotch Plains were all jealous of us, and that they were all out to get us. She said that their jealousy turned all the women into succubi, and that we should never marry them. She said they’d they try to seduce us but that we’d have to overcome it. She said that they’d come to us in our dreams to try to persuade us, and that if we ever gave in that they’d drain us of all our happiness, feed on it even. Jimmy, she’ll suck the joy out of your life and then when you’re good and dead she’ll move on to the next guy.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, but even as I said it, I couldn’t help but wonder. Now that I thought about it, did she seem so familiar to me because it was love at first sight, or because I’d seen her before in my dreams. I wasn’t sure anymore. “You think I should dump her?”
“Definitely dude.”
“You’re right.” We fist bumped and continued our game.
“Guys, let’s go check out Slinger’s house.”
ReplyDeleteThe boys in the group all turned towards Riley with matching baffled looks on their faces. Kenny even dropped his hot pocket, and Kenny loves hot pockets.
Kenny sneered, “When did you get so ballsy, Riley? You used to hate when we went on scary expeditions.”
Marcus laughed and elbowed Riley in the ribs, who almost fell off of the rusted barrel he was sat on. “He didn’t even come to most of them. He chickened out after he heard a police siren when we went to check out the ‘Haunted Highway’ a couple weeks back.”
Tate rounded the corner of the warehouse they were behind, flicked his cigarette onto the ground and pushed his hair out of his eyes. “Yeah, and it turned out to just be a couple of wild dogs. They were pretty cuddly for being strays, too.”
Riley hopped off of his barrel and looked up at the night sky. The stars were so bright, the moon an incomplete mercury sliver against the night sky. He turned and put his arm around Tate, who seemed delighted and almost proud of Riley’s newfound confidence.
“Tonight just seems like a good night to get scared, you know?”
Tate shrugged and looked at Riley. “You sure you wanna go to Slinger’s house? You know, there’s a reason we haven’t even suggested it.”
Riley’s eyes were bright and ignorant, completely uninformed of the story. “Yeah, I heard it’s haunted. Not sure why.”
Tate slinked away from Riley’s arm and leaned against the rusted warehouse wall, lighting another cigarette. He nodded towards the surrounding debris which the rest of the boys promptly sat on.
“About twenty years ago, Slinger wasn’t just the name of a creepy house on Fourth Street. He was an actual guy. He’d been in that house as long as anyone could remember. He kept to himself for the most part, the only people that really knew what he looked or sounded like where his neighbors. And in case you’re wondering, they’ve all moved away since the uh…incident.”
Riley was practically at the edge of the wooden crate he sat on. “You know what happened!?”
Everyone chuckled and looked at him. “Oh yeah, you’re apparently the only one who doesn’t.”
“Anywho,” Started Tate, “Slinger started showing up less and less. His neighbors figured he’d finally gotten a job, or maybe he’d found a girl and was staying with her. They were right about one thing; he did find a girl. One day, the mailman came and noticed that his door was open. He peered inside and saw a huge mess, so he walked in to check if everything was okay. He saw a trail of blood that led into, of course, Slinger’s basement. He crept down and saw Slinger, huddled in the corner over the body of a little girl in a pool of blood.”
“Slinger whipped around, mouth covered with blood and a rusty spatula in his hand. The mailman sprinted out of the house and ran to the police. When they got there though, Slinger was nowhere to be found.”
“So that’s story, huh?” Riley was speechless.
“Yep, the Hash Slinging Slasher.”
In the depths of New Zealand it is believed that a unicorn walks the earth. Many, many years ago there was a group of friends that decided to take a trip to New Zealand. When they first got there, it was the dead of night they walked slowly to the cabin they were staying at. All of a sudden the tired bunch of friends saw a unicorn immerge from behind a tree. They couldn’t believe their eyes. When they got to the cabin they told the people that they had seen a unicorn. The people tried to convince them that they were just tired and could not have possibility seen what they think they saw, but the group of friends knew what they saw was real. The next day they went out near where they walked the night before to see if they could spot the unicorn again, but had no luck. They were discouraged so they went back inside. Under the couch they found a box, inside the box was a small piece of paper on this paper told the legend of the New Zealand unicorn. It was said that this unicorn only comes out on nights with a full moon. Only a few people claim to have ever seen the unicorn that is why no one believes it. The group of friends was so relieved that other people have seen the unicorn. A week later was the next full moon so the group of friends planned to capture the Unicorn to become famous. That day they spend setting up traps for the unicorn the people that lived in the cabin were suspicious that they had caught on to the legend and were going to ruin the secret. At night fall the group waited outside all night when they filling saw the unicorn all of their traps failure and the unicorn out smarted them because of it magical powers. People still claim to see the unicorn but it has never been caught on film.
ReplyDeleteI swear this happened. This one time my cousin’s friend’s girlfriend’s brother was walking through the streets of New York City looking for something to do. He decided to call up his friends and tell them to meet him at the old abandoned factory on 5th. Now, let me tell you something about this old factory. It’s old; most of the windows are broken; the paint is fading; creepiest of all, there’s a constant draft going through. Some say it’s because of the broken windows, which is possible, but it’s always cold. It runs across your skin and infiltrates through it into your soul, chilling it to the core, regardless of how hot it was outside.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, he had done some research on the factory before that night, and he learned that the old owners were evicted because there were allegations of an old pagan cult practicing there. He then looked up that cult, the name of which escapes me, and he learned some other really messed up stuff. The internet said that the cult had a history of things like human sacrifices and prostitution and other stereotypical type stuff. The pictures of them on the internet depicted them in almost all gray; in the early days, they wore robes, and they slowly progressed through time to wear every day clothes—and apparently this cult had had a long history, dating back to the days of Martin Luther and the Reformation. The higher-ranking members wore blindfolds because they claimed something had happened to them overnight or while they were alone that made them more enlightened, (it’s not even that they were blind. They just decided, or were made to decide, that their sense of sight was a liability at that point) and once the children reached a certain age, they performed this weird ceremony in which the older members—the ones with the blindfolds—would feel around for their eyes and make some small incisions that would supposedly let them know if the children were worthy of experiencing the same enlightenment when they got older. The cuts were harmless, and the children always survived, but if for whatever reason, the guy with the blindfold found that they weren’t worthy, their whole family was expelled and forced to live away from the convent for the rest of their lives. Some families were luckier than others, of course. Some found shelter and comradery elsewhere. Some, on the other hand, took to extremist actions, like assassinations or political subterfuge.
The ceremony they performed on the children was completely private, between the child and the blindfold guy, and it was rumored that if the child was deemed not worthy, he or she could possibly get away with staying in the cult if they agreed to do whatever it was that they leader wanted them to. Naturally, this led to sexual abuse, drug peddling, sabotage, and things of the like, in exchange for their right to stay with the community. If the child was capable of being enlightened, as most were, or were supposed to be, the family was ecstatic, not just because they got to stay. If the child grew up to be enlightened and worthy of a blindfold, he of she would become next in line to be leader of the convent, and his or her whole family would act as his or her advisors until a new leader was elected.
The blindfolds that they made were crafted from the clothing of strangers that happened to pass upon one of their convents and threatened to report them to authorities, back when even the slightest religious dissention was punishable by death. As the world became freer, they just took the clothes off homeless people or prostitutes, but not just any homeless person or prostitute. The person would also have to be chosen by the person about to be enlightened.
Anyway, the guy’s friends thought it would be a cool idea, so they went. Late at night, which always turns out to be a bad idea, and this was no different. So they met up and went inside. The draft was chilling, and the city lights were distorted by the broken glass from the windows. But what was especially weird was that they kept feeling dust or something blowing into their eyes. It made them water and turn red, but they assumed it was only dust. They went to the basement where most of the cult’s activity took place. The place had been cleaned after the cult had been disbanded, but there were things about this room that couldn’t be removed by conventional cleaning methods. It was warm in there, and the light switch miraculously worked. They turned on the lights to reveal an empty stretch of floor that was as long as the factory floor itself with a low ceiling. They took their jackets off and placed them on hooks be the door. But after a while of wandering around and taking pictures and spraying graffiti and whatnot, their jackets disappeared, and so did one of their friends. Naturally, they were freaked out and began frantically looking for her, but she seemed to be gone completely. After they called the police, she resurfaced by the entrance with a blindfold made of leather from one of the guy’s jacket, with the word “ENLIGHTENED” painted on it with a paint that looked like blood. She was unconscious when they found her, and she said she didn’t remember anything. The police ran a toxicology screen and a blood test on her and they revealed that she had traces of sulfur in her blood and a mild anesthetic in her system. She had to go through some therapy and she apparently had hallucinations that all but debilitated her, but she’s recovered now. But needless to say, they never went back to that factory, or even found out what happened to the girl. Legend says that some old cult spirits still live there, taking clothes from the people who enter, and even “enlightening” those they deemed worthy.
DeleteDuring the change of each season my family would always make changes to the house. Mom liked to have different curtains, plates and even garbage cans. So at the end of each season, everything would be stored in the attic and a new set would come down. At first I remember being too young to go up and down the attic stairs. It was a mysterious world in the attic, at least that’s what my older brother made me believe. I would always be teased because I wasn’t allowed to go upstairs.
ReplyDelete“What’s it up like there?” I would wonder. But Alex would always tell me that I had to contain my curiosity. Remember the story I told you about. One day my friend Lisa heard him say this.
“What story?” she asked. It was time to hear it again.
Grandma’s cousin’s neighbor used to live here seventy years ago, he began. Why do you think only grownups are allowed up there? The neighbor paid kids to do her spring cleaning. Each year, different kids would help her go into the attic and store new things while taking out the things she would now use. Grandma’s cousin began to wonder why the same kids never returned to help her neighbor again. She would simply say, “oh they’re too old to help around anymore”. The suspicion began to grow, until one day, grandma’s cousin sneaked into the house while the children were helping clean. As they went up the stairs one by one, she noticed that Andrea, the neighbor, whose own children were already in their forties, was recording. Suddenly, there was a yell come from upstairs. “Help Ms. Nevel!” But Andrea simply continued recording, keeping the camera facing toward the attic door. Then, the kids would come covered in blood, still begging for help as they cried in pain. Cuts covered all over their body. She then told the kids that she was going to clean them off, but the water pots she used where boiling. Grandma’s cousin’s neighbor was so shocked and afraid, but she managed to call the police. They came right as Andrea was going to place one of the bleeding children in the oversized, witch-like pot to “calm their skin”. Angered by the interruption, she threw mini bombs out the window that exploded on the officers’ feet, injuring them slightly but enough to make them leave. Grandma’s cousin was so scared that she snuck out through a back window but never talked about it for thirty years.
We’ll never know what happens up in the attic, but we just know that little kids aren’t liked up there. And unless you want to end up like the children that helped Ms. Nevel, and awake her spirit, we would advise you to wait until you’re older to go up there.
Many people have told me this but I never actually believed it. The fact that doing something so ridiculous can become something so traumatizing is crazy. The house on the corner of Bell Street, is the house that everyone is scared of. The story behind that dark creepy house is something that has been going around for years. People say that a group of teenagers went into that abandoned place just being nosey but they never came back out. Police reports were made and everyone was searching for these kids. A police officer finally saw a bike sitting by a tree on this houses lawn and wanted to look inside. When he went inside he saw the four teenagers dead hanging from ropes on the stairwell. There was no evidence or anything to help look for someone that might have killed these poor teens. Till this day, no one would dare to step foot in that house because it is supposedly haunted. I personally don’t believe in ghosts but I’d still never go into that house. My friends are all very interested in this house and they are really crazy if they even think I’d go near that house with them. Of course I tried to convince them not to go but they don’t listen to me. The night they go to that house, I sit in my room just waiting for my friend to text me and tell me they’re okay. Hours past and I still didn’t hear anything. I walked towards that house with my fear filling inside of me. I’m praying I don’t see my friends in any harm. When I got there, there was not one person around. I crept through the grass and tried to peek in a window. I couldn’t see much but I didn’t see any movement. I turned around and took my phone out to call my friend and all five of my friends jump out from behind a tree and scared me.
ReplyDeleteFrom a young age my parents always told me being vain is a bad thing. I remember on constant occasions my mother would yell at me saying "Get out of the mirror!". I never really understood why they didn't want me looking at myself until one day my mother explained it all. My great grandfather when he was younger used to have an older sister. Her name was Emily and she was breathtakingly beautiful. The only downside to this was she knew of her beauty and allowed it to consume her. Everyday she would admire her reflection no matter where it was. For hours she would stare at herself in the mirror saying to herself how gorgeous she was. One day my great grandfather saw her in her bedroom smiling at her own reflection. While walking away he could hear her saying things like “Aren’t I just lovely? I guarantee other girls envy me.” He walked back to the room to call her a freak when he noticed her reflection move on it’s own. It’s face moved into the most wicked grin and it motioned her to come closer. She slowly leaned in raising a finger to touch the surface and hands came through the glass. They quickly grabbed Emily and pulled her through. My grandfather ran over yelling her name and could only see her banging on the glass to him calling for help. Behind her the wicked reflection appeared and place a hand over her mouth. They slowly faded away while my great grandfather stood with tears brimming his eyes. He yelled for his sister, but in return gained her bone chilling scream causing the glass to shatter to a million pieces. From that day on she was never seen again and I learned to get out of the mirror. I never wished to turn out like my great aunt Emily.
ReplyDeleteI have often thought about things like this while reading Alice, specifically "Through the Looking Glass."
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