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What's Your Local Urban Legend / Folklore / Myth?

lucydru

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Aug 3, 2001
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Hello, was just wondering if any of you know of any urban legends, folklore or myth's for your local area?

To start things off I will tell you mine (footy fans may of heard about this one).

The monkey hanging - It's known by all the locals in my town that we once hung a monkey. A french merchant ship had wrecked off the coast and a monkey was washed ashore. The then towns people at the time could (obviously, it was a monkey) thought it was a french spy so duely hung the poor beast.

Well thats one version another one believed to be more likely to be true is that a powder monkey from the ship was hung. French ship, french powder monkey (young boy who put the gun powder in the cannons).

Either way not a cool legend but it's part of my towns history.

lucydru
 
Ha! Yeah, I do have a habit of calling Hartlepudlians (?) "Monkey Hangers", which I suppose isn't very nice...

...can't think of any specific Sheffield urban myths, but I was told by someone once not to go on a night out to Nottingham, cos "people had woken up in a bath of ice (blah blah blah) kidney's removed!!!!!!!" Surely not in Nottingham, home of Robin Hood and lace!

Actually, that does remind me of a Sheffield myth... we Sheff folk will swear you down Robin Hood comes from this very city. True! He was the Earl of Loxley, which is a village in North Sheffield. Not an urban myth, but a nice myth none-the-less.
 
It is weird being called a monkey hanger when I haven't hung a monkey in my life and I will never in the future.

Will have to see my mate about the kidney removal thing in Nottingham since he lives near by.

lucydru
 
Local Urban Legends

There are lots of legends in my area but the first one that I remember which I later found out was a UL was the Hairy Handed Hitchiker.

It was passed around my area in 1980 when the Yorkshire Ripper was terrorising the North of England and I got the story from a friend who knew someone in the local police and the story was passed on as being hush hush insider info don't tell anyone. Pretty stupid if you think about it, if a murderer is in the area you should tell everyone, but hey, In later years when I found out how it was a UL the whole subject became one of my favourites
 
Well, Brighton has a few ghosts, but I'll have to look up the stories later. Supposedly the Racetrack near me is on the site of an ancient stone circle, and we've had a few spates of the AIDS infected-neadles-in-nightclub-ques kind of rumours. Plud we have more than our fair share of fortune-tellers and stuff. I'll have a dig around and see what floats to the surface.
 
I've just remembered... the "LSD-laced temporrary tattoos being distributed around schools" legend is doing the rounds in Sheffield at the moment. Parents are getting letters about it, apparently.
 
WARNING: :LOCAL COMMENT FOLLOWS. INCOMPREHENSIBLE FOR ANYONE OUTSIDE CITY LIMITS.

No Sheffield ULs? What about all the corpses they dug up when they put the tram tracks down? Hundreds of 'em. They had to put them big fences up round the Cathedral to hide the pitiful remains and stop people nicking bits.

That's true, that is.
 
As a sprog growing up in Southport, the most celebrated
haunting was of the Palace Hotel on the seafront at Birkdale.

The story of its lifts moving up and down during the demolition
even after the electricity had been turned off were widely
discussed at the time.

The legendary aspect was the story which said
the ghost was the architect who had committed suicide when
the building was erected back to front. This myth seems to be
a hardy perennial as I recently encountered it on a Website
applied to a haunting in Ottawa.

From my current abode in North Manchester, I am quite close to
the Todmorden area which is often cited as a hot spot for UFOs.

Never seen one though. :(

Leafing through the handy Modern Mysteries of Britain book by
the Bords, I find the nearest uncanny encounter was in Whitefield,
about five miles away. A man there saw two six foot men with long
blond hair, tight trousers and heavy boots. Well it was 1959, so
I suppose it was mildly unusual. :rolleyes:
 
UL's, myths, folklore, etc., in Edinburgh? Good grief, if you include ghosts and buried cities, you could go on for years!

One of my favourites, though, is the story of a guy - retired major, or similar - who stayed in a Queen Street residential hotel in the 20's. Pleasant chap, always said 'hello' to the staff, didn't bother anyone, etc.

Anyway, one Sunday morning he goes out earlyish - about 8 or 9 o'clock - wearing his normal suit, tie, hat - ordinary retired gent of the time. When he comes back an hour or two later, he totally ignores the staff that are there (in the reception area), gets in the lift, and goes to his room. The staff are a bit surprised when he doesn't appear for lunch as per normal, but decide he maybe felt a bit off-colour. When he doesn't appear for tea either, they become concerned, and go to his room, which is locked from inside. They get the pass key, and discover him (several hours) dead, lying on the bed, with his brains blown out. Typical locked room murder mystery, and no gun.:confused:

The police arrive, and are somewhat perplexed. Then one of them mentions a report of a gunshot heard in the area of Queen Street Gardens (i.e. landscaped gardens for Queen Street residents) at about 10 that morning, so they go looking - and in a stone summerhouse in the gardens they find his old service revolver, one shot fired, and bits of his brain and skull are stuck to the ceiling.:eek:

So what appears to have happened is: he went to the summerhouse, took off his hat, put the gun in his mouth, and pulled the trigger. Then he put the gun down, put on his hat, went back to the hotel (where he unsurprisingly didn't wish anyone 'Good morning!'), removed hat and jacket, lay down on the bed, and eventually died.

I've seen this story in a couple of 'Strange Mysteries' type books, a friend of mine heard it from someone who, apparently, worked in Lothian and Borders police archives, and I also overheard a local telling a visitor the substantially same story on a bus one day!
 
Hanging Monkeys

There's more than one town that's supposed to have hung a Monkey. When I was a kid we lived an a village on the north east cost of Scotland called Boddam. The monkey hangging story was told about the people of Boddam. There was even a song about it that we had to learn at primary school.

Cujo
 
Here in South Africa we had a chap who wrote several books on local urban legends, a guy called Arthur Goldstuck (If you look in Amazon.com, you might find his books, and if you look in Kalahari.net, you'll CERTAINLY find his books ;)) One of the stories that he wrote about was highly memorable to me, because it had apparently happened to a "friend of a friend" (isn't that how urban legends go about?), and besides, it was highly amusing.
Apparenly a bunch of guys hijacked a car on it's way to the local zoo/game reserve/whereever. The occupants of the car were pulled out with little or no dignity, and the hijackers got in and sped off down the road. Several meters down the road, the car stops and the hijackers flee the car... Apparently there'd been a suitcase in the back of the car with a massive python inside, and the greedy hijackers had apparently opened the case and freaked... I'm probably not telling it right for the full effect, but then again, I have a crap memory :p
 
where i live their is a little villige nearby called dagenham villige,
anyway back in the 1700's people were waiting to get inside the local church but it was locked and the vicar wasnt in.
the people were waiting for about half and hour when suddleny the vicar appeared,the people found out he was in a nearby pub and when the vicar opened the church doors the roof sudenly gave in.
the scary bit was though was if the vicar came early everbody would of been crushed inside the church

:cool:
 
Portsmouth Legend

There's a story which has been doing the round for years (I can remember being told it back in the late 70's as a teenager) concerning a local hotel.

The story goes that the Queens Hotel (am I allowed to name it?) does not rent out any of the rooms on the top floor. The legend has it that years ago (typically foaf vague I'm afraid) the service staff were roomed on this top floor and a couple of chambermaids were burnt to death in a fire there. Evere since, guests have apparently refused to stay in these rooms due to (cue spooky music) "the tormented spirits of these girls refusing to rest in peace".

The funny thing is that I frequently pass this hotel at night and I have never seen a light on in a top floor room after dark!!

It must be true then!
 
Brazilian urban legends

Hey, I have lotsa them!

I was born in Brazil, and Brazil has a very strong culture of african religions , a bit like vodoo, but different, they call it Macumba, or Candomble.
Well, according to this, There is this entity, or a group entity called 'povo da rua'' or people from the streets, and they basically rule Brasililian streets at night.So, if you lost something, do not even try to come back and look for it, cos the people from the streets took it from you.They also required regular oferends like spirits, cigars and candles, usually laid in the streets cornes by people who work late at night to have protection.

Scares the daylights out of me!:)
Cheers

Cyberlet
 
wurms/worms

on behalf of me and my mate dave barker, has anybody any info on wurms of which a few appear in folklore of durham and northumberland most notably the lambton worm
cheers
 
scary clowns

I live in Glasgow, Scotland. There were terrifying stories circulating of clowns that kidnapped children. The exact details I cannot really recall, but I believe they lured children with balloons and whisked them away in their white vans. I remember I was still at primary school during the height of the myths. Even the head teacher of the school got in the act, she went lecturing class by class to the innocent(and petrified!) little minds about the dangers of bad men dressed as clowns!


Anyway thats all, but I have to ask, why clowns? I cannot see the attraction of scary clowns whether they are good or evil ones! :eek:
 
Re: Scary clowns

There's a thread - Phantom Clowns, in Cryptozoology
 
There aren't many in my town, but one involves 'Black Mill'.
It is situated on a huge grassland with forestry, called The Beverley Westwood. It is a commonly visited site for Witches and their antics. The golfers keep it looking tidy and I have spoken with other locals on this subject. We see the same people most days when we walk our dog on the Westwood. They have told us how the golfers and council workers often find sacrifices, voodoo dolls and other wierd stuff around the mill's base.

It has been sealed for over a century now and is a well told story at our school which is only a short walk across the Westwood from the mill. You see our school backs on to the Westwood.

Is that really an Urban Legend!?
 
Anyone who grew up in Tennessee has a great amount of respect and fear of the Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee.
For anyone who doesn't know the story, back in the 1860's a farmer, John Bell, and his family were tormented by a spectre that was eventually dubbed the Bell Witch. She did the normal poltergeist things: knockings, throwing things about, pulling hair and ripping sheets off the bed. She also had a new trick where she would go about the county and spy on the neighbors and tell all their secrets. It was something of an event to go to the Bell's and hear Ol' Kate (another name) spill the county's dirty laundry.

But she wasn't all fun and games. She hated John Bell and eventually killed him.

In Tennessee, the rule of thumb is: if you make fun of the Bell Witch or say she doesn't exist, she'll get you! And I have proof!

I was taking a mythology course at TSU and my professor, a Yankee by birth and creed, was going to be heading a panel at which she claimed she had proof positive that the Bell Witch was a hoax and she was going to blow the lid off the story. We warned her.....don't talk bad about the Bell Witch, but she wouldn't listen. The next Monday at class she came in limping on crutches. Turns out, she wasn't able to go the panel and release her findings....damnedest thing happened: while walking across her front yard, she tripped over nothing (her words) and broke her leg in 2 places. The Bell Witch strikes again!
 
The Lambton Worm

The story goes something like this ... (are you sitting comfortably?)....

In the Middle Ages, there was a wild youth who was heir to Lambton Castle, near Penshaw, County Durham. He went fishing in the River Wear one Sunday and caught a strange-looking worm. On his way home, he threw it into a well by the castle and forgot about it.

As he grew up, he changed his wild ways and eventually went on a crusade to the Holy Land. During his absence, the worm grew to an enormous size and wriggled out of the well. It soon began to ravage the countryside, killing men and beasts, and sleeping every night, coiled three times around Lambton Hill (now called Worm Hill). Various attempts were made to slay the beast, but all failed as whenever the creature was cut in two, the halves merely joined up again.

Seven years later, the Lord of Lambton's son returned from the Crusades. He realised the evil beast was the result of his youthful folly (let that be a lesson to you - no fishing on the Sabbath!) and asked a local witch how he could destroy the creature. She told him to cover his armour with razors and fight the beast in the middle of the river. The price of her counsel was that he should kill the first creature to greet him after his victory.

The ruse worked, as the creature wrapped itself around the knight, the razors cut it to pieces, and the pieces were swept away by the river before they could rejoin. Once he was victorious, the knight signalled to his father by blowing on his horn, to release a greyhound so he could honour the agreement with the witch. However, the father was so overcome with joy that he forgot to release the dog and ran into the river to congratulate his son himself. The knight refused to slay his own father, so the witch cursed the family that no Lambton would die snug in his bed. From that day to this, many Lambton's have died young and violently, either in battle or from tragic accidents.
 
666

Does anyone have any insight to the urban myth that if you dialed '666' on the phone at a certain time (i.e halloween, midnight) you would get an answer from some unearthly origin? My aunt told me that she did this when she was in her teens and heard something really weird, it sounded mechanical like robots or something.:confused:
 
666

Coincidentally I rang 666 on my mobile the other day, for, you know, a bit of a laugh, and all I got was a bit of noise like a modem or a fax machine or summat. But, strangely, it was a different noise to when you dial random 3 digit numbers... but then again is it a top up service or something for a phone on a network other than my own (Cellnet)?
 
The local 'boys in blue' can be found, hereabouts, on 666 2222.

What's spooky about 2222? ;)
 
Just tried ringing 666 from my mobile (orange) it beeped about 4 times then ended the call. Nothing weird at all :(

lucydru
 
the lambton worm

was this story the loose basis of the film *the lair white worm* with the rather attractive amanda donohoe ??........or not





 
Years ago, a friend claimed to have heard the phone make weird noises. She went to look at it and Lo! the display read 666.

Two possibilities:

1) It's some kind of test signal number.

2) She was making it up.

Actually, phone stuff is freaky. I think I shall post a new thread to that effect. Which category does that one go in, do you reckon?
 
Oh, I forgot the third possibility:

3) It was the Devil.

Hey, I don't want to offend anyone.
 
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