This is a list of urban legends. An urban legend or urban myth is a modern genre of folklore. It often consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre, superstitions, ghosts, demons, cryptids, extraterrestrials, creepypasta, and other fear generating narrative elements. Urban legends are often rooted in local history and popular culture.
0–9 The 27 Club is an urban legend that popular musicians and other celebrated artists die at age 27 with statistically anomalous frequency, notably, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Mia Zapata, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kim Jonghyun and Amy Winehouse. The claim of a "statistical spike" for the death of musicians at that age has been repeatedly disproven by studies. The 999 phone charging myth is an urban legend which claims that calling an emergency telephone number, then promptly hanging up, charges mobile phone batteries. The 1962 Halloween massacre was an urban legend about a photo of a Halloween costume party in 1962, in which seven people were reportedly killed."1962 Halloween Massacre". Snopes.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021. The 2016 clown sightings were urban legends that rose in popularity during 2016 about an individual or group dressed up as clowns who stalk, harass, or otherwise scare random people.Teague, Matthew (8 October 2016). "Clown sightings: the day the craze began" – via The Guardian."'Creepy clown' epidemic comes to Upstate NY, several sightings reported". newyorkupstate.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
A Aerial water bomber picking up scuba diver is an urban legend about an aerial water bomber, or a helicopter with a dangling water bucket, scooping up a scuba diver and dumping them on a wildfire site. This legend was used as a plot device in the films Magnolia and Barney's Version. The urban legend debunking site Snopes reports there are no proven cases of this happening in reality. The Discovery Channel show MythBusters also disproved the myth. Alexandria's Genesis is a purported genetic mutation that gives its carrier purple eyes, shimmering pale skin, a lack of body hair, and a lack of menstruation while still remaining fertile. The legend originated in a Daria fanfiction written in 1998, and since the 2000s has seen circulation on internet forums and social media. The Amityville Horror is an urban legend about a house in Amityville, NY becoming haunted after a murder. The legend has inspired numerous books and horror films. Anastasia Romanov's survival is a popular urban legend claiming that the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia survived after her family was killed in 1918. The legend originated from the fact that Anastasia's remains were not buried with the corpses of her family. It remained a mystery for many years, until the truth was uncovered in 2007: Anastasia did not survive, but was in fact buried in a different place from her family. Annabelle (doll) is a Raggedy Ann doll that is claimed to be haunted. The doll is kept in a glass case at Warren Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. The Ankle slicing car thief (or the man under the car) is an urban legend that tells of a driver that keeps hearing noises under their car when they are driving. When they step out of the car to investigate, their ankles get sliced open with a knife. While they are rolling around on the ground in pain, a car thief emerges from underneath the car and steals it. Area 51 is another name for a portion of the Nevada Test and Training Range that UFO enthusiasts have theorized contains evidence of visitors from outer space. There is disputed evidence for these claims."The Road to Area 51". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
B Baby Train is an urban legend which claims that a small town had an unusually high birth rate because a train would pass through the town at 5:00 am and blow its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would have sex. This resulted in the mini baby-boom. The babysitter and the man upstairs (also known as the babysitter or the sitter) is an urban legend dating back to the 1960s about a teenage girl babysitting children who receives telephone calls from a stalker who continually asks her to "check the children", all while secretly being in the same house as the babysitter. The Beast of Bladenboro (colloquially known as the Vampire Beast of Bladenboro or Vampire Cat) were a string of wildlife deaths caused by a reported big cat-like animal from the Winter of 1953–54, appearing in Bladenboro, North Carolina. The Beast of Bodmin Moor is a folklore legend that describes a phantom cat purported to live in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Bodmin Moor became a centre of purported sightings after 1978, with occasional reports of mutilated slain livestock; the alleged panther/leopard-like black cats of the same region came to be popularly known as the Beast of Bodmin Moor. The Beast of Exmoor (also known as the Exmoor Beast) is a folklore legend that describes a phantom cat said to roam the fields of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset in the United Kingdom. The Bell Witch is a folklore legend from 1817 to 1821, when farmer John Bell Sr., his family and the local area supposedly came under attack by a mostly invisible entity that was able to speak, affect the physical environment, and shapeshift, and was located in Robertson County, Tennessee. Bigfoot (also commonly referred to as Sasquatch) is a folklore legend that describes an ape-like creature that is purported to inhabit the forests of North America. Black Aggie is a folklore legend that describes a statue formerly placed on the grave of General Felix Agnus in Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, Maryland. The Black Angel is a folklore legend that describes a statue in Iowa City that is said to be cursed, based on the death of Teresa Feldevert."Tales From Iowa City: The Black Angel of Death". Omaha News. Retrieved 26 September 2021. Black Annis (also known as Black Agnes or Black Anna) is a folklore legend that describes a blue-faced hag or witch with iron claws and a taste for human flesh (especially children). The Black Lady of Bradley Woods is a folklore legend that describes a ghost which reportedly haunts the woods near the village of Bradley, Lincolnshire, England. Black Volga refers to a black Volga limousine that was allegedly used to abduct people in Eastern Europe, especially children. Black-eyed children (or black-eyed kids) are an urban legend of supposed paranormal creatures that resemble children between the ages of 6 and 16, with pale skin and black eyes, who are reportedly seen hitchhiking or panhandling, or are encountered on doorsteps of residential homes. Tales of black-eyed children have appeared in pop culture since the late 1990s. Bloody Mary is a folklore legend consisting of a ghost or spirit conjured to reveal the future. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called multiple times. The Bloody Mary apparition may be benign or malevolent, depending on historic variations of the legend. The Bloody Mary appearances are mostly "witnessed" in group participation games. The Blue star tattoo legend refers to a modern legend that LSD tabs are being distributed as lick-and-stick temporary tattoos to children. The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is a folklore legend that describes a ghost that reportedly haunts Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England. Mercy Brown is a folklore legend based on the exhumation of a young woman from Exeter, Rhode Island, who died from tuberculosis. Bunny Man is an urban legend that probably originated from two incidents in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1970, but has been spread throughout the Washington, D.C. area. There are many variations to the legend, but most involve a man or ghost wearing a rabbit costume ("bunny suit") who attacks people with an axe. The Bogeyman is a ubiquitous folklore figure and "umbrella" urban legend used globally to frighten children into behaving, typically lurking under beds or in closets to kidnap or eat disobedient kids.
C Cadborosaurus (nicknamed Caddy) is a sea serpent in the folklore of regions of the Pacific Coast of North America; its name is partly derived from Cadboro Bay in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. (also known as Jessica Smith) is a chain letter that describes the story of a girl who was pushed down a sewer drain. Castilian lisp is an urban legend claiming that the prevalence of the sound in European Spanish can be traced back to a Spanish king who spoke with a lisp, and whose pronunciation spread by prestige borrowing to the rest of the population. This myth has been discredited by scholars for lack of evidence. The Catman of Greenock is an urban legend originating in the 1970s surrounding a homeless man in Greenock, Scotland who eats rats with his hands. He earned the name 'Catman', due to rumours that he lived with and cared for a group of wild cats. The Celebrity Death Rule of Threes is a superstition that movie stars, celebrities, and politicians die in groups of three. The Choking Doberman is an urban legend that originated in the United States. The story involves a protective pet found by its owner gagging on human fingers lodged in its throat. As the story unfolds, the dog's owner discovers an intruder whose hand is bleeding from the dog bite. The Colander lie detector, a story originating in the 1960s about a group of police or army investigators who would hook up a colander to a photocopier, and then place it on a suspect's head. Should the suspect give an answer the investigators found unreliable, they would make the photo-copier print paper out that said "he's lying". The chupacabra (, from chupar "to suck" and cabra "goat", literally "goat sucker") is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas, with the first sightings reported in Puerto Rico. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Clara Crane (also known as the Candy Lady) is an urban legend thought to be the inspiration behind an actual missing children case in Terrell, Texas."The Candy Lady Is The Creepiest Urban Legend In Texas". Only in Your State. Retrieved 14 October 2021. The Clown doll (also known as the Clown statue) is an urban legend somewhat based on "the babysitter and the man upstairs" legend, due to the similar concept of a babysitter being attacked by an intruder (here being a murderer disguised as an inanimate clown doll)."Home Intruder Poses as Clown Statue". Snopes.com. Retrieved 14 October 2021. Eunice Cole (better known as Goody Cole) was blamed for numerous local tragedies and accused of witchcraft twice in Brentwood, New Hampshire in 1656 and again in 1673. The corpse light is an urban legend that describes a symbol of false comfort, a phantom light located in Cape Henlopen State Park."Tragedy Near the Corpse Light-or Because of It By Bob Faszczewski". Mystery Tribune. Retrieved 18 October 2021. Cow tipping is the purported activity of sneaking up on any unsuspecting or sleeping upright cow and pushing it over for entertainment, supposedly popular in rural farming communities. Cropsey is a folklore legend that describes a boogeyman-like figure, before segueing into the story of Andre Rand, a convicted child kidnapper from Staten Island through the 1970s–80s."‘Cropsey’: urban legend intersects with unspeakable crime at an abandoned Staten Island children’s institution". The Bowery Boys: New York City History. Retrieved 18 October 2021. Crybaby Bridge is a nickname given to some bridges in the United States. The name often reflects the belief that the sound of a baby can be, or has been, heard from the bridge.