American urban legends recount spooky tales with enough truth to make people wonder, "Did this really happen?" The creepiest urban legends might make those who enjoy traveling the country reconsider their passion or take additional precautions. According to stories passed around each state in the US, the country is practically crawling with aliens, cryptids, creepy clowns, and vampires.
Mystery and uncertainty keep these stories from fading away - and sometimes, they change and evolve with each telling. Whether they're urban legends inspired by actual events or ridiculous myths concocted at a campfire circle, folklore has a special place in society.
People who like a good scare can take a road trip to the top haunted houses in the US or enjoy chilling tales from the comfort of home with this list of urban legends from every state.
Unusual Wreckage Inspired Decades of UFO Theories In Roswell, NM
Photo: Frank Pierson / Flickr / CC BY 2.0On June 14, 1947, a rancher and his son discovered unusual wreckage on their land 80 miles from Roswell, NM. He collected the metallic-looking fabric debris and brought it to Roswell's sheriff, who then contacted the military. News of the strange discovery worked its way up the chain of command, and less than a month later, a major at the local Air Force base shared a public statement about a UFO discovery.
The local paper published the quote, and the military changed their story within a day, claiming what they found was the remains of a weather balloon. Many people refused to believe this alternative explanation, and legends about alien visitors ensued for decades. Some conspiracy theorists believe the government created a false story to cover up the fact they were using aerial equipment to monitor Russia's nuclear activity.
New York's Montauk Project Experimented With Time Travel And Inspired 'Stranger Things'
Photo: Steve_Melnyk / Flickr / CC BY 2.0In the 1980s, rumors circulated about the Montauk Project, a secret government program that allegedly experimented with time, space, and psychological warfare. In 1988, Al Bielek supposedly discovered he had repressed memories of his work on the project to uphold its secrecy. He claimed to have boarded a military vessel during the 1940s, then time-traveled to the 1980s, and returned to the previous time period to destroy the machine.
Bielek said that after being de-aged and having his memory wiped, he continued on with his life until he met Preston Nichols, a man claiming to have worked with Bielek and Bielek's psychic brother at Camp Hero, the site of the Montauk Project. After they made their story public, other men came forward saying someone kidnapped them as children to become part of the project's experiments.
If this complicated story sounds familiar, it's because the film The Philadelphia Experiment partially re-created it and later inspired the creators of Stranger Things.
The Beast Of Bladenboro Killed Dogs And Drank Their Blood In 1950s North Carolina
Photo: pxhere / Public DomainIn 1953, a large, catlike creature began killing dogs in the town of Bladenboro, NC. People who supposedly spotted the monster said it was about 3 feet long, had a long tail, made a noise like a screaming woman, and sucked blood out of its victims. Locals named it the Beast of Bladenboro, and after it allegedly attacked a human, news of its existence spread, inspiring hunters to travel to the town to kill it.
Residents felt terrified and refused to leave their homes at night. Eventually, the mayor produced the corpse of a large bobcat and claimed it was the creature, hoping to calm down citizens and prompt the hunters to leave. After the story died down, no one witnessed the creature again, which led historians to believe the claims were mostly exaggerations by the townspeople.
An Alleged Satanic Church Burned Down, Leaving A Portal To Hell Under Tagus, ND
Photo: afiler / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0Founded in 1900, Tagus, ND, has remained almost completely abandoned in the decades since. While a half ghost town is creepy enough, the legends surrounding Tagus cement its eerie reputation. The town's Lutheran church burned to the ground in 2001, and though electrical problems were reportedly the cause, many people believe vandals were to blame.
Rumors claim the church was the site of Satanic worship and an upside-down cross once appeared on the front of the building. Some visitors say they can hear screaming when they walk on the ground where the church once stood, as the entrance to hell is allegedly directly below them.
Others have claimed to see ghost trains, curtains moving with no wind, and vicious dogs appearing out of nowhere.
Rumors Say Ohio's Hell Town Is Full Of Mutants And Has Its Own Cursed School Bus
Photo: Andrew Borgen / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0Ohio's Boston Mills region boasts a wealth of creepy urban legends, earning it the nickname Hell Town. Established in the early 1800s, the area thrived as a milling community, and the National Park Service purchased it in the 1970s. To build a new park, the government bought the residents' land and forced them to leave.
They boarded up some vacated homes and burned others, inciting wild rumors about the reasons behind the town's dismantling. Stories spread about a government chemical spill turning residents into mutants, as well as tales about a cursed school bus, on which a serial killer slayed children.
People Reportedly Go Missing After Visiting Shaman's Portal In Oklahoma
Photo: pxhere / Public DomainIf sand dunes in the middle of Oklahoma's spacious wheat fields seem unusual, wait until you find out what supposedly goes on there. Beaver Dunes Park is a 520-acre desert reportedly covering a Native American burial ground. Unexplained disappearances in the area have garnered it the nickname Shaman's Portal, while others refer to the area as Oklahoma's Bermuda Triangle.
Even Spanish explorers in the 1500s noticed something strange going on there and recorded stories of weird flashes of green light and people disappearing. Potential explanations range from vortexes to other dimensions to a still-functioning UFO buried in the sand.
Bandage Man Looks For Victims Along The Roads Of Cannon Beach, OR
If you're planning a trip down Highway 101 near Cannon Beach, OR, be careful about where you park. According to legend, the Bandage Man calls the area home and isn't afraid to jump into passing cars and trucks. He was supposedly the victim of a sawmill accident, and bloody bandages cover him like a mummy; he also radiates the odor of rotting flesh.
Some say in addition to jumping into vehicles, he walks along the highway and nearby beaches.
In Philadelphia, PA, The Wandering Bus Welcomes The Truly Hopeless
Photo: pxhere / Public DomainAs creepy as the urban legend of Philadelphia's Wandering Bus sounds, it is also fitting as a New Age-inspired metaphor. This particular bus allegedly travels the streets, only visible to those who have lost all hope in their lives. It's said the bus doesn't make normal stops, so those wishing to ride must chase it down.
The passengers on the bus are only those with no hope of improving their lives or fulfilling their dreams. Riders will likely never reach a destination where their problems no longer exist, but they can exit the bus at any time by pulling the stop-request cord. Passengers will then enter the real world, but hours, days, and months may have passed.
A Vampire Panic Swept Through Residents Of Exeter, RI
Photo: Josh McGinn / Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0By the late 1800s, Exeter, RI, became largely abandoned after people realized the area was not suitable for farming. Mercy Lena Brown and her family lived in the town, but tuberculosis claimed the lives of her mother and young sister. As so-called "consumption" swept through the town, rumors spread about people coughing up blood and wasting away.
While people had discovered tuberculosis several years earlier, superstitious residents blamed the deaths on vampires. When Brown died in 1892, her brother was dying of the same symptoms. Attempting to cure him, townspeople exhumed Brown's body and burned her heart so her brother could eat the ashes. Despite this, he died two months later.
Buried Alive, Julia Legare's Spirit Refuses To Rest In Her South Carolina Mausoleum
Photo: Mysticsartdesign / Pixabay / CC0 1.0Stories say Julia Legare became unexpectedly ill while visiting family on Edisto Island during the mid 1800s. She slipped into a coma, and doctors couldn't diagnose her and eventually declared her dead. Since preservation and embalming methods were more primitive back then, Legare was buried in a South Carolina mausoleum the same day - a heavy, locked door sealed her inside.
Years later, when the family were preparing to bury another member, they opened the mausoleum door to find Legare's remains not where they left them, but on the floor. They realized she had been in a coma when sealed inside and likely awoke to find herself trapped.
According to legend, the door cracked when they closed it again, and every door attached afterward has been destroyed or broken by an unknown force.
Blood Spurts, Disappearances, And Unknown Voices Haunt South Dakota's Sica Hollow
Photo: MarkBurnett / Pixabay / CC0 1.0What more would you expect from a place named after a Native American word for "evil" than creepy legends? Sica Hollow is in the northeastern part of South Dakota, and according to Sioux legends, blood once spurted from the ground and formed red-tinted bogs.
Though the color likely derived from minerals in the ground, white settlers began fearing the area, as glowing trees and strange voices allegedly haunted it. In the 1970s, some believe several people disappeared in the hollow, either from falling into one of the deep ravines or being taken by spirits.
The Bell Witch Haunted A Man To Death In Tennessee
Photo: pxhere / Public DomainJohn Bell and his family bought a Tennessee farm in the early 1800s; they began experiencing strange phenomena in 1817. Stories say Bell noticed a creature in his yard - it had a dog's body but a rabbit's head. Inside the home, family members had their bed covers pulled off while they slept, and something pounded on the walls from the outside. Eventually, items inside the home began moving by themselves, and the entity spoke to the family, telling them her name was Kate. She claimed to oppose their daughter Betsy's upcoming wedding and vowed to kill John, the fiance.
Allegedly, in 1819, General Andrew Jackson cut short his visit with the family after a frightening encounter with the Bell Witch. When John Bell died in 1820, a vial of poison was found next to his bed.
Black-Eyed Children Hitchhike Along Roads In Texas
Photo: Ken Lund / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0In 1996, veteran journalist Brian Bethel was sitting in his car one evening in Abilene, TX, when two young boys approached him and asked for a ride. They appeared between 9 and 12 years old, and claimed they were in town to see a movie but didn't have enough money. The boys politely asked Bethel for a ride back to their house, but an uneasy sensation overcame him. Before he let them into the car, he noticed their eyes were completely black.
He quickly fabricated an excuse and sped away, noting they had mysteriously disappeared when he glanced at his rearview mirror. After he shared his story, other creepy tales about these black-eyed kids started to trickle out across the country.
Illegal Souvenirs From Utah's Escalante Petrified Forest Supposedly Carry A Curse
Photo: Skinned Mink / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0While it's illegal to take anything out of a state or national park, people who steal petrified wood from Escalante Petrified Forest in Utah could face especially grave consequences. After visitors started experiencing misfortune after pilfering pieces of wood from the trails, rumors spread claiming the forest and the petrified wood within carried a curse.
Injured feet, broken collarbones, fires, and diseases have all plagued those who stole from the park. Many people have mailed their souvenirs back with apologies detailing their misfortunes, which inspired the park to set up a display of the notes to deter others from taking home cursed keepsakes.
