201: 50 Scariest Urban Legends from Each State
/Your state might be spookier than you thought. For Halloween, we’re rounding up the scariest urban legends from all 50 states! Listen to find out what state is haunted by a horse, which is haunted by a pickup truck, and which is most likely the plot of a Scooby Doo episode.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of infancide/child death, abduction, starvation, death, drowning, tuberculosis, anxiety and mental illness, shipwrecks, imprisonment, mind control, colonization, cave-ins, suffocation, beheading, car accidents, striking pedestrians, poisoning, animal death, violence against women, suicide, scientific experimentation, government conspiracy, hurricanes/natural disasters, bullying, teeth, and omens of death.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends the podcast, Scam Goddess. Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- LIVE SHOW! Go to spiritspodcast.com/live to get your tickets to our digital live show on October 28 at 8 PM ET. Your ticket includes a copy of the video on demand recording of the show, so you can grab a ticket to watch later even if you can’t join live!
Sponsors
- BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits
- Function of Beauty is hair care formulated specifically for you. Save 20% off your first order at functionofbeauty.com/spirits
- Fubo.tv is your source for live sports, news, and entertainment. Get 15% off at fubo.tv/spirits
Find Us Online
If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books.
Transcript
Amanda: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week, we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
Julia: And I'm Julia.
Amanda: And this is Episode 202: The 50 Scariest Urban Legends from Each State. Julia, sometimes, making this podcast with you is like I was searching the internet just like scrolling my timeline looking for, like, an article, you know, or, or a list or like something that I would really enjoy that I would see and be like, “Oh, my god. Did they write this for me?” but you do it every week. And this is absolutely how this episode felt.
Julia: Oh, Amanda, thank you. It was such a fun thing to, like, explore all of the different states and the different options there and getting to pick really was kind of difficult when it came down to, “Okay. Well, this state has five really good urban legends. How do I figure out which one to tell?” But I feel like I chose ones that are both creepy but also on brand for us.
Amanda: Absolutely. And, if you know of a great urban legend from a state that we didn't cover here, write in and tell it to us. We can use it in one of our upcoming Your Urban Legend episodes.
Julia: I know. I love when people send in their urban legends, especially when it's, like, personal to them and they have experience with it. I think we made a call to action about one in particular from Chicago --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- that I'm hoping someone will write about.
Amanda: Absolutely. And I know, Julia, that Lucy, Rachel, Livie, Chris, Sabine, & Liz, our newest patrons would write in the moment they hear a great urban legend.
Julia: Oh, absolutely, because our patrons are the best.
Amanda: They are the best. We will also want to thank our supporting producer level patrons; Philip, Uhleeseeuh, Allison, Debra, Hannah, Jen, Jessica, Keegan, Kneazlekins, Landon, Meaghan, Megan Linger, Megan Moon, Molly, Neal, Niki, Phil Fresh, Polly, Riley, Sarah, and Skyla as well as our legend level patrons; Audra, Chelsea, Drew, Eden, Frances, Jack Marie, Lada, Mark, Morgan, Necrofancy, and Bea Me Up Scotty
Julia: Every one of you, I hope, gets to experience an urban legend firsthand if that is your wish.
Amanda: Absolutely. Maybe you don't want to, but maybe you do.
Julia: I get that, you know, experiencing the creepy stuff is much different than hearing about the creepy stuff, but I know there's some of our listeners out there who like to experience creepy things. So, if that is your wish, I hope it happens to you.
Amanda: Absolutely.
Julia: Now, Amanda, what have you been watching, listening to, reading that also might be a creepy recommendation for our listeners?
Amanda: This is more like in the way that the real world is often creepy, but in a way that is also fun and not demoralizing,
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Which is a hard line to toe these.
Julia: Mmm.
Amanda: I would like to recommend the podcast, Scam Goddess, which is a fantastic podcast all about scams and scammers. It's wonderful. The host has guests like Trixie Mattel and various people you might know and love from, like, podcasting and also comedy. Recommended to me by Tracy Clayton, who is the co-host of Multitude’s newest show, My 90s Playlist. We made it in partnership with Sony Music and Tracy and Akoto Ofori-Atta are the co-hosts. They are so fantastic and they're so funny. There's so good. So, I wanted to recommend both My 90s Playlist but also Scam Goddess because Scam Goddess has, like, hundreds of episodes to listen to. And My 90s Playlist just started yesterday. So, go subscribe to it.
Julia: Whoa. Amanda, I want to listen to it right now. What's the first song about?
Amanda: The first playlist song that we added was No Scrubs because you have to start a 90s playlist with No Scrubs.
Julia: Of course.
Amanda: It’s fantastic. We talk about 90s fashion, 90s pop culture, the, you know, influences that these songs have had on music since. And we talk to like academics, and experts, and songwriters about these hits of the 90s. So, so, subscribe now and you will see the wonderful songs that we continue to add to our playlist over the course of Season One.
Julia: Also, I know it's not my turn for recommendation, but I know people are going to ask if we're watching the Haunting of Bly Manor. Yes, we are.
Amanda: I also just watched Deaf U on Netflix, which is absolutely fantastic. It's messy college drama at Gallaudet University. It's so good.
Julia: Very cool.
Amanda: And, finally, the last thing we wants to tell you about is our live show that's coming up.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Go to spiritspodcast.com/live to get your tickets now – it's only $12 – to our digital live show happening on October 28th. Every ticket also comes with a replay of the stream. So, whether you want to join us live, watch it later, or both, it's all included in the one ticket price, spiritspodcast.com/live.
Julia: It's going to be the perfect ending to spooky month. You want to get tickets to this.
Amanda: Yeah. We thought about doing it on actual Halloween, but then we're like, “No people might have things that, you know, they're doing.” But several days before Halloween is the perfect time to be like, “Hey, let's sit down and watch an hour and a half of Spirits please.”
Julia: I love it.
Amanda: All right. Without further ado, happy middle of October and please enjoy Spirits Podcast Episode 202: 50 Scariest Urban Legends from Each State.
Intro Music
Julia: Amanda, it is now – as we – as we talk right now, it is the dawn of spooky month.
Amanda: Oh, heck yeah, Julia. Happy October.
Julia: Happy October. This is not our first episode in October, but it is our first recording in October and that's important to me.
Amanda: That's true. Well, I'm sure I told you last week, but, today, in the real world in the past, happy spooky and birthday month.
Julia: Thank you. And, as a – both a birthday gift to me, thank you for reminding me. And, also, the fact that we just – we deserve to celebrate spookiness in my opinion. So, what I've done today is I have done quite a – quite a – like, a lift for me, I would say. I have gone and I have found the 50 spookiest urban legends from each of the United States of America.
Amanda: You mean the spookiest urban legend from each of the United States?
Julia: Yes, ones that we haven't done on the show before because there’s a couple where I was like, “Well, we've done this already.” But here's another spooky tale from that state.
Amanda: What a fun appetizer sampler platter.
Julia: Yes, I am here. It is a 24-hour diner in the middle of an abandoned highway.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: And we are going to eat some mozzarella sticks and potato skins that are spooky urban legends.
Amanda: Yeah, we're going to eat this fairy food, Julia, because after, after five years of having Spirits as a project we're doing, I think we're – you know, we deserve it.
Julia: So, this is gonna be a hefty episode. Are you ready? Buckle in. Get a – get a cocktail. Take a sip.
Amanda: I'm so ready. Hell yeah.
Julia: And we're gonna do this in alphabetical order because it's just easier to track that way.
Amanda: Amazing.
Julia: So, Amanda, as we full well know here on Spirits Sodcast, children are inherently creepy. So, Huntsville, Alabama’s dead children's playground is obviously going to top their list of creepy urban legends.
Amanda: Uh-oh.
Julia: The playground butts up against the Maple Hill Cemetery and many who pass it by have reported seeing the swings move on their own.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: The story say that it is the children that were buried in the cemetery playing in the playground, but other versions say that, following several abductions in the 1960s, the bodies of several children were found under the playground and now haunt it to this day.
Amanda: Dark. Dark.
Julia: I will try to content warning some of these because I think some of them are particularly dark, but I will – I will let people know in advance what the things are. And make sure you check the show notes because we always list all of the content warnings there in the episodes. Now, many lists that I saw mentioned the kushtaka, which one of our listeners told us about in a urban legends episode a while back. But I want to tell you about the Kennecott Copper Mine near McCarthy, Alaska.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: When it first opened at the turn of the century, it brought wealth to the town. However, like many mines, it was eventually abandoned as the mine became inaccessible due to the movement of a nearby glacier. I know that's one of your favorite things in the world, Amanda. It’s talking about the movement of glaciers.
Amanda: Glacier topography, baby.
Julia: Weird fun fact about Amanda.
Amanda: Yep.
Julia: And, since it was abandoned, there have been reports of tombstones appearing and then vanishing on hiking trails, the sounds of children crying, and ghosts stealing worker’s tools from their belts. When state government officials attempted to redevelop the area in the 1990s, the paranormal activity was so strong that they drove them to abandon the project.
Amanda: I mean the tools you should definitely look around you at your work crew. And, if anybody, you know, is in need/wanted to fuck with you, but especially I think in a state as sparsely populated as Alaska. I imagine that having spooky stuff happening around you is, like, even more heightened because of the atmosphere and the scarcity of other people and just, in general, like, people in Alaska have to fend for themselves. And it's, it's just an incredible, like, natural landscape.
Julia: Agreed, 100 percent. Moving on to Slaughterhouse Canyon also known as Luana's Canyon. It is in Kingman, Arizona. Content warning for starvation and death. But the legend goes that, in the 1800s, a family lived in a home at the bottom of the canyon, but food was scarce. And, one day, the father of the family went out to search for food and, in some stories, gold because, you know, why not?
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: And he never returned. The family slowly starved to death in the canyon and the cries of anguish echoed against the canyon walls. And it is said, to this day, you can still hear the echoing cries in the canyon.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: Spooky, spooky, spooky noise. In Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the 1886 Crescent Hotel has many ghostly residents.
Amanda: Oh, we love a haunted hotel.
Julia: Oh, there's several on this list. Do not worry. The most well-known is Michael, who was a stone cutter who helped build the hotel and, tragically, died when he fell from the window in Room 218, which is now ironically the hotel's most requested room. The ghostly pipe smoke of another ghost, who was the hotel's physician, can sometimes be smelled in the elevator. And other stories from hotel guests mentioned a disappearing pool of blood and hauntings in the property’s old morgue. You know, the thing that most hotels had back in the day.
Amanda: Wow. Julia, we talked about the Spirit of Christmas, before but this, this really reminds me of our favorite ghostly, sexy Netflix movie.
Julia: I do really like that movie. It's terrible, but I love it so, so much. There's, of course, Amanda, a lot of California urban legends to choose from, including many that we told about in our old Hollywood urban legends episode. But I decided to focus on Elizabeth Lake, which, again, this is probably going to have some content warning for some drowning. It is said that the lake was created by the devil himself. And that, if you swim deep enough into the lake, you can find a passageway to hell.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: Famously, it is also said to hold a horrifying lake monster that has been sighted there since the 1880s. It is about 50 feet long. It smells of rancid decay and has the neck of a giraffe, the head of a bulldog, and batwings for some reason, which you don't see in lake monsters that often. The story said that this terrible creature would scream in the night and more than one farmer reported farm animals disappearing when they heard that screech.
Amanda: I don't mind that mash up. That one's okay with me.
Julia: Yeah. So, this might not be the scariest urban legend, but it is a wild one out of Manitou Springs, Colorado. So, Emma Crawford came to Manitou Springs to seek help and treatment for tuberculosis, which is pretty common at the time. She got engaged to a man while there when she thought she was recovering but was struck by another wave of the illness and died before she could get married. So, her fiancé and 11 other men carried her casket up at the nearby Red Mountain, burying her there despite not having the proper permits, which you'll see why that's a problem in a bit. A flood occurred not long after and her casket slid down into town in the resulting landslide. And, over the years, various parts of Emma's body had been found; like her head, and her arm, and her leg.
Amanda: What?
Julia: And, strangely enough, now, every year, the town hosts coffin races that commemorate her strange role in death and the town's history.
Amanda: I mean I, I love that. I, I think, if you have something happening to you, you find a way to make it interesting or fun. Also, hey, vaccines are great. Get your flu shot.
Julia: Yeah, please do. Oh, man, tuberculosis killed so many people.
Amanda: It doesn't have to now. We don't have to have smallpox now. We don't have to have measles.
Julia: No.
Amanda: It's, it's really okay.
Julia: Get your vaccines. Anyway, so, what about, Amanda, a whole cursed town? Dudleytown formerly known as --
Amanda: Oh, please.
Julia: -- Owlsbury, Connecticut, which is a better name in my opinion, was founded in part by the Dudley family, which they had a history of their family members meeting unfortunate ends. It was said that anyone that settled in the town would meet an untimely demise. The town was eventually fully abandoned. And those who are brave enough to visit the village, from paranormal investigators to very brave teens, have reported that there is a feeling of overwhelming dread that they experience upon stepping foot into town.
Amanda: I get dread all the time when going various places. But, if it was all concentrated in one place, I wouldn't go there.
Julia: Yeah. And, if it's like, you know, people without a history of anxiety and other mental illness --
Amanda: That must be frustrating. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, I wonder what that's like. Huh.
Amanda: I don't know.
Julia: Amanda, you know how much we love seafaring urban legends here on the show. So, my choice for Delaware is the Corpse Light. Not far from where my mother-in-law lives actually is Cape Henlopen where sailors have reported seeing the beckoning call of a lighthouse assuring them to safety. However, the light predates any lighthouse in that area being built and has --
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: -- been seen despite the fact that the one that was eventually put there was deactivated in 1924. So, the first victim of the Corpse Light was said to be the ship the Devonshireman on Christmas Day 1655. And it is said that the same ship can be seen heading towards the rocky shores on foggy days.
Amanda: Oh, my god, brutal.
Julia: Yes, I love that one. Love a good sailor myth.
Amanda: Will somebody please give me a tour of a lighthouse? Just, just – I want one.
Julia: There's, like, plenty of bed and breakfasts where you can just, like, stay in a lighthouse overnight. Amanda, we could do that.
Amanda: Once that's possible again, that is an absolute definite yes.
Julia: Absolutely great.
Amanda: We got Scotland. We got buy my Irish castle. We got lighthouse tours.
Julia: Great. Love it. Now, there are a lot of Florida urban legends to choose from. And a lot of them are super depressing or stuff we've covered on the show before. Like, the devil's chair in Cassadaga and the skunk ape. So, I'm picking one of my favorites, which is the fact that Lakeview Cemetery in Sanford, Florida is haunted by a horse.
Amanda: Really? What a nice change.
Julia: His name is Bob. He's the only nonhuman buried in the cemetery. And he was the horse for the local funeral home before they had cars and stuff like that.
Amanda: Oh, Bob.
Julia: His grave is constantly covered in flowers that, rumors say, show up out of nowhere. And, if you listen carefully at the grave, you might hear the clip clop of hooves.
Amanda: Oh, bless.
Julia: There is a lake north of Atlanta, Georgia, Amanda, called Lake Lanier, which has a long history of tragedy despite being a manmade lake. Again, content warning for drowning. Many bodies have been found in the lake, which is disproportionately high with the number of accidents and drownings. In the 80s, a construction crew found the skeleton of a missing woman, who disappeared in 1958, found in her car at the bottom of the lake. So, 30 years later.
Amanda: Oh, my god, brutal.
Julia: The woman is said to haunt the shores since the discovery of the body. And, on a less tragic, more cryptid note, there are stories of a demonic catfish that lurks in the depths of Lake Lanier. Large enough to swallow a dog or drag a swimmer down to the bottom never to return again.
Amanda: Fuck, yeah, man. Fuck, yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Love it. Also, I bet cat fishes could grow pretty much big enough to be that. And, if there are any ichthyologist out there, I would love to hear from you.
Julia: Well, if you remember the photo I sent to you when we were talking about our Loch Ness Episode for Myth Movie Night, that was a catfish.
Amanda: Yeah, terrible. I mean lovely. Great, but --
Julia: Beautiful fish, but also could swallow me whole probably.
Amanda: Terrifying and worth protecting like most of nature.
Julia: Yes. So, we talked a lot about some of Hawaii's more interesting folktales when we had come along earlier this year, but one of the ones that we didn't discuss is tied to Hawaii's mythology. So, it’s said that you shouldn't carry pork over the Pali Highway, which is also known as Route 61, if you're ever in O’ahu. If you insist on taking your snack or dinner with you, your car will stall out until you finally give up and throw the food away, in which case, the car will just start right back up. And the origin is actually really interesting. So, Pele, who we talked about, in her own episode, had this rocky romantic relationship with the hog man/demigod named Kamapua’a. And, as a result, Pele will not allow pork to pass over the – this, like, you know, kind of line in the island.
Amanda: Fucking incredible. I love it. We all have to be good bros for Pele and not mention the name, smell, or flesh of her ex around her. Like, that's just a nice thing to do for your friends.
Julia: I get it, you know, just – and, like, another good argument for sourcing your food locally.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Julia: So, at the Massacre Rocks in Pocatello, Idaho, if you sit by the river --
Amanda: I, I have a guess.
Julia: Well, if you sit by the river, you might hear the cries of babies. Again, content warning for child death. But it was said that, in times of famine, mothers would drown their children rather than watching them starve to death. However, it is said that rather than, you know, these babies haunting the area, the children actually grew gills and fins and now live as river spirits in the waters.
Amanda: Aww.
Julia: And it is said that they will attempt to lure women who remind them of their mothers into the river to exact revenge on them.
Amanda: Less cute, but, overall, pretty good adaptation of a brutal, you know, historical circumstance.
Julia: Yes. So, from Villa Park, a suburb in the west of Chicago, there is an old mansion and estate that belonged to a man named Francis S. Peabody. So, Mr. Peabody was a rich man and enjoyed hosting hunts with his friends and, on one such hunt, went missing. His body was found several hours later, apparently, having died suddenly, which is not the spookiness of the story, but rather the fact that --
Amanda: [Inaudible 18:03] is on the case.
Julia: So, he was interred on the grounds of his estate. Some saying that he was buried with all of his gold, which is fascinating. But others saying – and this is my favorite part – that his body was basically pickled and is floating in oil in a sea through casket.
Amanda: Oh, my god.
Julia: So, his estate was sold to an order of Franciscan friars shortly after his death. And, for generations, Chicago youths have been attempting to find the casket on the grounds to see his pickled body in only to be chased away by monks.
Amanda: Chicago, I am so disappointed that it’s taking us this long to hear about this myth that is incredible. I didn't see the monks coming. I love the idea of a casket. I have such strong knives out vibes.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Oh, my god.
Julia: It's very good. Someone from Chicago who has tried to sneak onto those grounds, please let us know.
Amanda: Yes, please, pull your older siblings and relatives. Ah, so good.
Julia: In Brazil, Indiana, there is a cemetery known as The 100 Steps Cemetery. Not much is known about the cemetery or when it was founded, but there are grave stones that date back to the 1860s. It is said that, if you visit the cemetery at midnight, you can climb the steps of the cemetery counting out each step. When you reach the hundredth step, you will see the ghost of an undertaker who will then show you the image of your own death.
Amanda: Whoa. Intense.
Julia: You then must turn and go back down the steps counting as you go along the way. And, if you count the same number of steps on the way down as the way up, you will not die in the way that the ghost will show you. But, if you count a different number, that death will be your fate.
Amanda: There's no winning in this scenario. Just don't.
Julia: Some people have tried to, you know, get around this, this myth by just avoiding the steps all together and kind of just, like, trudging up the hill. But it said that --
Amanda: Right.
Julia: -- you anger the spirit by doing that and you get, like, shoved to the ground by an unseen force.
Amanda: Or, you know, just trying to climb up a hill that has steps not on the steps.
Julia: At midnight, you know, not great. Speaking of cemeteries, in the Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City, there is a statue that stands out among the graves. It is an angel at about eight feet tall and is pitch black in color.
Amanda: Yo.
Julia: It watches over the Feldevert family plot. And, at one point, the statue was this gorgeous golden monument, but, when each of the members of the family died tragically, the statue began turning black starting with the eyes and making its way all over the statue until the entire thing was pitch black.
Amanda: Wow. I mean or people were stealing the gold leaf, but, either way, I think it's really fun.
Julia: That could be true. Legend say that, if you were to kiss the angel, you would instantly die. And locals say that the Mother Teresa Feldevert was a witch, who cursed the statute to protect her family even after death.
Amanda: I love that.
Julia: If we're talking about Kansas, Amanda, we have to talk about Stull Cemetery. In 1974, rumors of satanic influence and a gateway to hell in the cemetery were popularized after an article was published saying that the devil came to Stull every Halloween and Spring Equinox. They say that one of the seven gates of Hell is located in the cemetery. And there is even tell that, when the Pope was visiting Colorado during the 1990s, he redirected his plane so that their flight path would not cross over Stull, Kansas.
Amanda: That is a wonderful rumor. I bet it wasn't the pope that did that. But, for, you know, “flyover country,” I think that is a really fun kind of diss.
Julia: I love that. Local students will often journey to the cemetery on Halloween or the equinox to “see the devil” so much so that the local government has made it a crime to be in the cemetery after it closes with a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: That's how serious they take it. Though, it’s just like, “Come on, kids.”
Amanda: Come on, kids. Stay in school.
Julia: Stay in school. Don't do this. I picked the Kentucky urban legends solely because of its name, which is the Pope Lick Monster.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: From the Pope Lick Creek in Louisville, Kentucky. This creature is part man, part goat, part cheap. He is said to lurk underneath a railroad bridge and uses a sort of hypnosis or mind control to lure people onto the train tracks to their death. Other legends say that it has a much more direct approach where it attacks people with an axe. I think that one, you know, a little bit – a little bit different flavors there. The origins of the creature are debated. But my favorite is that the monster is a reincarnated form of a farmer, who sacrifice goats for satanic powers and was brought back to life by Satan himself in this goat man form.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: They'd love – you know, urban legends love a Satan story. They really do.
Amanda: Yeah, I think maybe a lot of this came about during kind of satanic panic --
Julia: Sure.
Amanda: -- type timeline and especially the ones that are at least being circulated now sort of in the living memory.
Julia: Yes, absolutely. Though a lot of them predate, you know, usually --
Amanda: That's true.
Julia: -- late 1800s to 1920s. It depends on the state really and, you know, how old and how long people have been colonizing there. So, Louisiana is another state with a lot of great urban legends, but one of my favorites is the Devil Man of Algiers.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: In 1938, there are a few newspaper reports of a man with long black horns, pink ear shaped like stars, and cartoonishly huge eyes that was harassing couples as they walked through town. It was said that he could appear in a moment and disappear just as quickly. And, while he never killed anyone, he terrorized the town for a few weeks and those who met him were said to see their life flash before their eyes before he disappeared again in a blink.
Amanda: Intense.
Julia: Yes. Luckily, he didn't kill anyone though. So, that's a plus. In another haunted tomb, it is said that the founder of Bucksport, Maine, Colonel Jonathan Buck, was responsible for burning a witch early on in the town's founding. During the fire, it was said that the woman's leg rolled out of the flames and now Jonathan Buck’s gravestone has this mysterious stain that is shaped like a woman's leg.
Amanda: I mean lots of things are leg-shaped, Julia.
Julia: I saw a picture though. It does kind of look like the opposite of Italy, where it looks like a boot, but it's facing the other way.
Amanda: I mean that could be lots of things.
Julia: Okay. But, Amanda, despite the fact that many have attempted to scrub away the tombstone stain, it always remains. And, even after the monument was replaced twice, the stain continues to appear. So, it’s said that the witch marked Buck for his crimes even in death.
Amanda: I think it's so funny. I was picturing a bunch of people in like old-timey clothing staring at a grave and someone being like, “By Jove, it's a leg.”
Julia: Okay. Hold on. I'm gonna send you the picture because it kind of does look like a leg.
Amanda: I take it back. It's leg-shaped.
Julia: See? It is leg-shaped. I wasn’t lying.
Amanda: It’s leg-shaped.
Julia: It's very leg-shaped.
Amanda: It’s also centered under the name Buck, which I just think is very good.
Julia: Okay. Amanda, the, the next one we're going to talk about is The Goat Man of Maryland, which is probably the most famous of Maryland's urban legends and for good reason. Another half man, half goat similar to our friend the Pope Lick Monster. The goat van is said to have once been a scientist working at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center experimenting on, you guessed it, goats. One of his experiments backfired, turning him into the creature he is now. It is said that he roams the back roads of Beltsville attacking cars with an axe. They just love a half man, half goat who's got an axe, huh?
Amanda: Apparently.
Julia: Other stories that seem to predate this one include one where the goat man is simply an old hermit living on his own patrolling Fletcher town road to keep people away from his land.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: The history of Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts is a unfortunately bloody one. Over the course of the 24 years it took to construct, over 200 people died, earning it the name The Bloody Pit.
Amanda: Oh, my god.
Julia: One of the more tragic events was in 1867, where 13 miners were trapped inside the tunnel due to an explosion. While the other workers assumed that they were killed in the blast, it was discovered later that they had actually survived but ended up dying from poisonous gas inhalation in the tunnel. It is said that those 13 miners now haunt the tunnel and moaning can be heard when you travel through it.
Amanda: That sounds very scary.
Julia: In Lake Michigan, the ship, Le Griffon, built in 1679 disappeared on its voyage. The ship and crew were never heard from again. And it was assumed that it was lost in a violent storm, though, other suspect that fur traders might have attacked and burned the ship. Now, many people have attempted to find the shipwreck of Le Griffon making it the, like, holy grail of shipwrecks in Lake Michigan. And some say that you will see the ghostly visage of Le Griffon sailing across Lake Michigan on some nights.
Amanda: I love a ghost ship.
Julia: I do, too. Speaking of, you know, remote islands and stuff like that, on Grey Cloud Island in Minnesota, only 300 people live there. And, at least, one of its residents is spectral in nature.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: While there are lots of reports of paranormal activity on the island, the most intriguing story to me is one of a white pickup truck that will chase people across the island. They say that the truck will appear and disappear in a moment or that, when people look in their rearview mirror at the approaching truck, hey cannot see a driver. Stories say that the truck only stalks those who are not from the island wanting the “trespassers” off their island.
Amanda: That would be very scary to see a truck coming at you.
Julia: Very, very scary. I feel like there's plenty of, you know, horror movies set in kind of like the backwoods of nowhere, where it's like they're nearly run off the road by a big truck and stuff like that. And that starts the, like, chain of events that lead to everyone getting murdered in a murder house.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Speaking of islands, Mississippi's most famous legend is the Ghost of Deer Island and it has pirates in it.
Amanda: Hell yeah. The closer an urban legend hues to Scooby Doo plots I'm fond of, the, the more I'm here for it.
Julia: Oh, this one seems like it's straight out of a Scooby Doo episode. So, according to the stories, a ship sailed to the island, buried their treasure there, and either there was a betrayal or some kind of curse, but the pirates beheaded one of their crewmen to watch over the treasure. And then the story picks back up in the 1920s where two men heard wrestling on the island and thought it was like boars, but then they went to investigate only to find a headless skeleton that then chase them off as they barely managed to get onto their boat and get away from the island.
Amanda: Oh, my gosh.
Julia: Headless skeleton, defending treasure. That is just Scooby Doo right off the bat.
Amanda: It really is. And then, if Scoob, like – I don't know – like, eats a bunch of Scooby snacks and then like fires them, like, bullets out of the skeleton. You know, break all into bones.
Julia: I like that one. That's very good. So, perhaps the cutest name for an urban legend, Momo is a monster out of Missouri that is similar to Bigfoot. First spotted in 1971, the creature has a huge pumpkin-shaped head with hair like a shag carpet. You can tell it was out of the 70s from the fact that that's how it's described.
Amanda: I'm sure one day the millennial aesthetic, you know, of like minimalist pink natural wood plants is going to seem just as dated. But, for now, 70s coming back, man.
Julia: Yeah. We might all have shag carpets again. So, Momo is, at least, seven feet tall with thick black hair and smelled terrible even from the distance that Joan Mills and Mary Ryan sought from. Supposedly, there was also a report in 1868 that Momo attempted to abduct a four-year-old boy, but I personally couldn't find any evidence that that was a legit story. So, there we are. Now, Amanda, we're going to take a quick refill and then we're going to get right back into the creepy cool urban legend action.
Amanda: I cannot wait.
Midroll Music
Julia: Amanda, I was recently playing some D&D at my home game, you know, virtually because all of our players are spread out and also we're quarantining. And someone complimented my hair in the middle of the game just being like, “Oh, by the way, I – you know, I roll for initiative, but, also, Julia, your hair looks really good.” And I was like, “Oh, well, thank you. It's because I've been using Function of Beauty.”
Amanda: Classic. I love it.
Julia: And Function of Beauty, if you haven't heard about it on our show before is hair care that is formulated specifically for you. No matter what your hair type is, they can create a shampoo or conditioner treatments that fit your unique needs. How unique? You're probably asking me. Function of Beauty has over 54 trillion possible ingredient combinations to make your formula as unique as you are as a person. So, like, just I go for something that decrease my frizz but also get, get my hair nice and wavy and stop breakage at the end so I don't have those split ends. And I use their smoothing treatment, which I really, really like.
Amanda: I use the, the body wash. And, so, I and my bathroom smell like a gentle cloud of eucalyptus at all times. It's delightful.
Julia: Beautiful. I smell like roses all the time. I love it.
Amanda: Yey.
Julia: So, first, all you have to do is take a quick but thorough quiz to tell them about your hair. Then their team determines what the right blend of ingredients are and they bottle your custom formula to order. You're not getting someone else's order. You're getting something specifically made for you. And then they deliver your personalized formula right to your door in a very cute customized bottle with, like, a color that you like and a fragrance that you like. Amanda, goes Eucalyptus. I go rose. And all of their formulas are vegan and cruelty free. They never use sulfates or parabens or any other harmful ingredients. So, not only are they the first ever custom hair care brand, it's the internet's top rated customized hair care brand with over 40,000 real five star reviews and counting mine included. So, what are you waiting for? You can go to functionofbeauty.com/spirits to take your four-part hair profile quiz and save 20 percent on your first order.
Amanda: That's a functionofbeauty.com/spirits for 20 percent off and to let them know you heard about it from our show.
Julia: functionofbeauty.com/spirits.
Amanda: We are also sponsored this week by Betterhelp. And this is how I have been getting therapy during all of these times. If there is something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals, this is a wonderful way to get matched with a licensed professional therapist who you can talk to on your schedule, on your own time, and from home. They also have a broad range of expertise available, whether that is a cultural competency, or, you know, LGBT issues, or their specific sort of therapeutic expertise for something specific that you want to get done. They are more affordable than traditional offline counseling and even offer financial aid, which I think is fantastic. And my favorite part is that you can log in anytime to send a message to your counselor. There's even a little journal function. So, if, like me, you enjoy homework and want your counselor and your therapist to assign you to, you know, write something down every day, or, like, keep an eye out for this or that, or make a list to discuss next time. It's really, really easy to get that done and to share that info with your therapist if you want to. And, because Betterhelp wants you to have a great therapeutic match, they make it easy and free to change counselors if you need to, which, hopefully, you don't. But, if you do, it is such a wonderful feature to be able to do that without, like, completely starting over and starting to pay somebody new going through your insurance company again. Like, we all know healthcare is bad and this is definitely the way it should be. So, go to betterhelp.com/spirits to join the over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. They are even giving a special offer for Spirits listeners to get 10 percent off your first month if you sign up at betterhelp.com/spirits. And, once more, that's betterH-E-L-P.com/spirits for 10 percent off your first month.
Julia: Amanda, we cut the cord in my household a long time ago because cable’s just too expensive. But, also, like, there's stuff that I want to watch live on TV. But, thankfully, I signed up for FuboTV and I'm saving so much money. Cable was like over $200. FuboTV is $65 a month to watch the same channels and I don't have to pay for DVR, or some guy to come to my house super late and not tell me, and also cancel a million times. Nope. I just have to sign up for Fubo.
Amanda: You mean you don't like when the cable company gives you a window? Like a 12-hour long window at some point during the week to come and look at your wall and be like, “Yep, it's on, and then leave, and charge you $500?
Julia: Yeah. FuboTV, it has over 100 channels. They have cloud DVR. There's no hidden fees. And you can stream shows on your TV or any other smart device. So, if I'm working, I can have, like, you know, something on the background. With FuboTV, you'll have shows that you don't want to miss. Like This Is Us or The Bachelor or The Mess Singer. The Mess Singer reveal a couple of weeks ago was absolutely wild, but that's another story for another time.
Amanda: Or House Hunters, Julia, where you can watch people and be like, “I don't like the paint color. Bye.”
Julia: You're like, “Come on. You can just repaint it. It's okay. I know it's making the room seem small, but, once you paint it a lighter color, it'll be fine.”
Amanda: I’ve really been enjoying watching HGTV during my daily pandemic baths. And, now, you can too with FuboTV.
Julia: So, right now, FuboTV is offering our listeners the seven-day free trial and 15 percent off your first month by going to fubotv.com/spirit. There are no contracts and you can cancel at any time. So. go to fubotv.com/spirits for 15 percent off your first month and a seven-day free trial.
Amanda: Listen, no reason you shouldn't sign up for the seven-day free trial and see if you like it, watch some stuff, and figure out if this is a good fit for you. So, that's F-U-B-Otv.com/spirits. And, now, let's get back to the show.
Julia: All right. Amanda, we are back at it. I have picked up one of my favorite local pumpkin ales from Montauk Brewery. I recommend all of our listeners pick up a nice pumpkin ale or pumpkin beer from wherever they're listening from, because ‘tis the season, you know.
Amanda: Absolutely. If you would like to get into beer and don't know how, get like a sampler pack, or the grocery store, or your local craft beer store, or talk to a friendly seeming, you know, employee at one of those locations or at a bar and just be like, “Hey, I want to try a bunch stuff. Like, can you help me?” And doing a kind of a sampler six pack or two six packs to bring to a party is a really fun way to, you know, try different beers and also to support local breweries.
Julia: Absolutely. And you should be supporting your local breweries. So many of these cool states that we're talking about have breweries in them. And you can find them easily online.
Amanda: Very cool.
Julia: So, Amanda, one of my favorite types of urban legends is ones that, like, sound familiar but with a twist. So, in Montana, there's the story of the Hitchhiker of Black Horse Lake. So, on an empty stretch of highway there is a not so spectral body of a hitchhiker that is said to slam into the windshield of cars.
Amanda: Oh, god.
Julia: And, if you stop to help the person that you've hit, you'll find that there's no one there and that there's actually no damage to your car whatsoever.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: However, the legend goes that this spirit is trapped in their own, like, personal hell where he must repeat the moment of his death night after night.
Amanda: Does something worse happen if you don't stop?
Julia: Oh, no. I think just – I think it's the assumption that, if you're going to hit a person, you're probably a good person that’s gonna stop to check to see if you've --
Amanda: Hopefully.
Julia: -- you know, done something terrible. You know, I'm sure there are people out there who wouldn't and those people deserve to be in their own personal hell. You know what? I'm going to put my own twist on the story now, Amanda.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: If you don't stop to check on that person --
Amanda: You’re the next one.
Julia: -- you're the next victim. There it is.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: So, a lot of sources agree that, when it comes to Nebraska, you got to talk about Centennial Hall. So, it is the oldest standing high school building in all of Nebraska, built in 1897. And it is now a museum, but it is said to have all sorts of paranormal phenomena. The most well-known tragedy tied to the hauntings was of a girl who died in 1944 who was killed because her clarinet reed was poisoned.
Amanda: Wow. What a good way to poison someone.
Julia: I know.
Amanda: I mean don't poison someone. But, if you're gonna read a novel in which someone fictional is poisoned, that's amazing.
Julia: That is a very good way of doing it. And, now, we've inspired a bunch of murder mystery novelist to kill their victims that way. Excellent job, guys. So, today, people report being nauseous when they enter the room in which she died and hearing voices, lights flickering, and, strangely, music coming from the music room despite no instruments remaining.
Amanda: Hmm. Spectral tunes. Very good.
Julia: Ah, Nevada, home to Area 51, so many murders in the desert, et cetera, et cetera . But did you know that one of their most famous legends is, in fact, the story of a mermaid?
Amanda: Really?
Julia: Yes, the mermaid of Pyramid Lake is held responsible for many things, including a surprisingly large number of fishermen who go missing out on the lake. In the story, the mermaid was said to have fallen in love with a man that was from one of the local indigenous tribes, the Peyote. But the mermaid was shunned and the union was disapproved of. So, she was said to have been banished and came to settle in Pyramid Lake and, now, exacts her revenge on those in love who come to her shores.
Amanda: Hmm. Very good. Water spirits all the way.
Julia: Now, Amanda, let's talk about the Devil Monkeys of Danville, New Hampshire.
Amanda: I – wow. Okay.
Julia: So, stories disagree whether or not it's one monkey or several monkeys, but it’s said that these monkeys are demonic in nature with horrifying claws and knifelike teeth. While they're usually dismissed as rumors, in 2001, the Chief of the Fire Department claimed to have seen one of these creatures, which I take it like, you know, a member of society, a member of, like, the council, you know, seeing one of these is kind of a big deal. It is said that, when you listen on quiet nights in Danville, you can hear a haunting, howling noise on the wind. And that is the devil monkey come back to terrorize the town as they're said to have, you know, wandered off since their last sightings into the White Mountains.
Amanda: Wow. Such a small state, such a big legend.
Julia: Now, Amanda, the Jersey Devil would be an easy pick for New Jersey, but it – is it really the scariest of the Jersey urban legends. I personally prefer the Parkway Phantom, who lurks around Exit 82.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: So, ever since the parkway was completed in 1955, generations of drivers have reported seeing someone trying to cross the road, waving his arms to get attention of oncoming traffic. He is said to be wearing a long top coat belted at the waist and is very tall. If you stop to help him, he will be gone by the time you pull over. And it is said that he is the ghost of a pedestrian who was hit, but the paramedics were unable to find his body. So, the stories go on to say that he is trying to flag someone down in order to help him and he's stuck in this constant loop again.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: That's fascinating, right? I love it. So, Roswell would also be very easy to do in New Mexico as it's one of the most famous legends, but I prefer the story of the Teratorns, which are a thought to be extinct North American bird of prey that lives in the area of New Mexico. Supposedly, they had a wingspan of about 12.5 feet. And rumor has it that they still take flight over areas like Las Cruces looking like giant vultures or condors. And reports date back to the 1800s and have been made recently as well.
Amanda: Hmm. That's awesome.
Julia: You know, I feel like, you know, vultures on their own, flying over the desert, creepy. Giant vultures flying over you as you try driving down the desert highway, extremely creepy. Very bad.
Amanda: Yeah. I mean we talked about it before, but that kind of like loss of perspective when you're driving on a long stretch of street road I imagine would make it much, much scarier when you look up and you're like, “Oh, wait. Shit. Those birds are really big.” Yeah.
Julia: No. I – and, like, I imagined too probably some of the rumors are like, you know, when something is closer to the sun, it makes a bigger shadow. So, like --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- it probably looks bigger than it actually is, but I, I think it's really cool. So, for New York, Amanda, there are plenty to choose from, but I decided to do the one that hits closest to home for us, which is the Montauk Project.
Amanda: Oh, Julia, my mom has been texting me on and off for five years to cover the Montauk Project on Spirits. Thank you.
Julia: You're welcome. So, conspiracy theorists believe that a series of US government projects that were developing anything from a time travel to gene splicing were happening at Camp Hero in Montauk, New York. Stories began circulating in the early 1980s perpetuated by a UFO researcher named Jacques Vallée when a strange creature was found washed up on the shores of Montauk, nicknamed The Montauk Monster, in 2008. The creature was also tied to the Montauk Project as well. There's still debate as to whether – whether the Montauk monster was, like, a weird creature or not, but most scientists agree that it was a raccoon that, you know, was decayed and lost its upper jaw, but it's still really creepy. If you Google Montauk Monster, it's a spooky looking thing.
Amanda: Yeah. And, among lifeguards, and surfers, and other folks who, you know, either do or choose not to go around there, it's definitely like a legend that kind of everybody knows.
Julia: Yeah. In Chatham County, North Carolina, there is a 40-foot circle, perfect in size and circumference that it seems as though nothing can grow in it. No vegetation. Nothing. Any attempts to plant something in that circle is doomed to fail. And anything left in that circle for more than a few moments is said to disappear.
Amanda: How big is it?
Julia: 40 feet.
Amanda: Geez.
Julia: Stories from local say that Satan walks the circle nightly pacing throughout the night. And this is why nothing good or living can stay there for long.
Amanda: I dig it.
Julia: It wouldn't be an urban legends centric episode if there wasn't at least one woman dying tragically. So, content warning for that. And North Dakota delivers. In Tetrault Woods, you can visit White Lady Lane, where the story goes that a woman died. The story differs as to why. Some say it was by a jealous lover when the woman's parents forbade them from marrying. Another says that it was that she gave birth out of wedlock and died by suicide because her parents turned on her. Either way, a white clad ghost of a woman is said to wander White Lady Lane on dark evenings, which just named on point, I feel like.
Amanda: For sure.
Julia: Amanda, Ohio has melon heads.
Amanda: Wow. Uh, okay. I feel like we should call Editor Eric to hold him to account, but let's hear it.
Julia: So, we've talked about the Loveland frogmen. We've talked about Gore Orphanage, but I just keep coming back to the Melon heads. They were said to be children with giant heads the size of melons, as you would imagine, and razor-sharp teeth. They hunt the woods of Kirkland, Ohio. And some say that they were the result of some scientific experimentation. Either way, they are said to scurry like animals and attack in groups going for your face with their razor-sharp teeth.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: Yep. Yeah.
Amanda: It would be a bad way to go.
Julia: Yeah. It would not be fun. Really. If you've ever watched The Shining, the Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma may not be too unfamiliar to you. It is a luxury hotel with plenty of guests that have checked in but never checked out.
Amanda: Nooo.
Julia: Crying babies in the room next to you when the room was never actually booked, mysterious hands against shower doors when you're alone in your room, and the ghost of the original owner’s mistress who wanders the halls with a baby carriage. Apparently, this hotel is so infamously haunted that Nick Young of the LA Lakers refuse to stay there and that and the bedbugs.
Amanda: I mean both are pretty good reasons to choose somewhere to stay.
Julia: Pretty good reasons. Yeah. Just like the idea of like a basketball player being like, “No, that hotel is too haunted. I’m not gonna stay there. Not again.
Amanda: Listen, if you have choices, take your choices. You know what I mean?
Julia: Yeah, I love a more modern urban legend as anyone who listens to the show knows. And Portland, Oregon delivers with the story of Polybius, an urban legend about a 1980s arcade game that may or may not have existed.
Amanda: Oh, I've read about this. Yes.
Julia: The story goes that the arcade game was a crowd-sourced government experiment based in Portland, where playing the game could cause psychoactive instances in the players. And those who played the game would eventually be visited by shady government figures, the good old men in black who would then sometimes disappear people, never to be heard from again.
Amanda: I think they had like a long read article or like a long Reddit post. But, if you search around, there are some very good kind of details about this.
Julia: There was a Radiotopia podcast that they kind of didn't tell people it was fiction about this.
Amanda: Oh, that's right.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Back when that was what all podcasts did. That was very funny.
Julia: Mhmm. Yes. So, you can listen to that. It is fake, but it is something you can Google and find yourself. It is entertaining, but it is not the truth. Anyway.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: So, this one feels a little bit out of a Hey, Arnold! episode. I don't know if that's a reference that you would get, Amanda.
Amanda: I have watched Hey, Arnold!
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: I know that's two kids afraid to leave the stoop.
Julia: Okay. But, in Philadelphia, there is the urban legend of a bus that doesn't have an end destination. It is said that you can only get on the bus if you are at your lowest moments in life looking for an escape. And, once you feel as though you're able to face the world again, it's only then that the bus will stop and let you off. So, it’s said that people --
Amanda: That sounds lovely.
Julia: Yeah, it’s said that people lose a sense of time when they get on the bus. And that, despite how long it feels, you will get off the bus at almost the exact moment in which you got on it.
Amanda: I mean, some extra time, we just have like contemplation recovery, et cetera.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: That sounds like a great service.
Julia: I know how much you absolutely adore Liminal Spaces. So, I picked that one just for you.
Amanda: You're so kind to me. Thank you.
Julia: On the Devil's Foot Rock in North Kingstown, it is said that Satan, himself, stepped on to Rhode Island. While he was there, he met a newly married bride and attempted to steal her away back down to hell. She managed to escape, but, in the process, the devils fiery footsteps burn themselves into the granite which can still be seen to this day.
Amanda: Very good.
Julia: It's a good one. It's a classic, I feel like.
Amanda: Yeah, the, like, urban legend leaving its mark on the topography is lovely.
Julia: South Carolina has the Gray Man, who can be found on the Coast of Pawleys Island. And, unlike most of the spirits in this episode, he's here to help. He is said to warn residents about severe storms and hurricanes before they hit the area and before, you know, we all had weather apps on our phones. He was said to be a young man who is traveling to Charleston to visit his fiancé but ended up drowning on the shores of Pawleys Island because of a storm. The last major spotting of the Gray Man was back in 2018 right before hurricane Florence hit.
Amanda: That sounds like a very good service.
Julia: Yes, thank you – thank you for your service, Gray Man. Easton castle in Aberdeen, South Dakota was built in the late 1800s and the housekeeper of said home was Leslie Gage, who is the inspiration behind the Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy and she’s said to haunt the third floor. However, that is not Easton Castle’s only claim to fame. The ghost of the young son of the Eastons is also said to haunt the old house creating enough paranormal disturbance to drive people out of his home.
Amanda: This one's dedicated to PJ Scott-Blankenship and hit the brakes.
Julia: Fun fact, Leslie Gage was L. Frank Baum's niece. So, that's how he got the inspiration for Dorothy. Now, Amanda, we've got a Bathroom Ghost in Tennessee, which is one of our favorite types.
Amanda: Oh, fuck yeah.
Julia: At Pine Haven School in Jamestown, now abandoned, it is said that the ghost of a young boy who's accidentally killed by bullies on the school grounds haunts the upstairs bathroom. The boys, afraid of what would happen if they were caught, you know, having accidentally killed a boy, buried his body beneath the floorboards. And it is said that he haunts the bathroom. And, if you look in the mirror, you will see him behind you.
Amanda: Ah, very creepy. I hate a mirror illusion and don't bully.
Julia: I, I agree. In terms of ominous names, the Candy Lady of Rural Texas is definitely up there.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: In the early 1900s, several children went missing. And it was blamed on the mysterious candy lady. She was said to leave candy in children's windows in order to lure them outside and then would snatch them up. In some story, she left notes promising them more candy if they would meet her elsewhere. There is a second part of the story that comes from the idea that a farmer apparently found a bunch of rotten teeth on his farm, like in a pile, and then came across the body of a boy who had his pockets full of candy.
Amanda: No, um-um.
Julia: You're just shaking your head a lot there.
Amanda: Less teeth. Please, if you've listened to my first episode of Meddling Adults, you will know we don't like teeth – too many teeth.
Julia: So, there is some speculation that say that there might be some truth to the story and that the legend of the candy lady may be tied to a woman named Clara Crane. Wooh. Spooky.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: Spooky.
Amanda: Spooky alliterative name.
Julia: Wooh. Yes. But not – and it works with candy. Candy Clara Crane.
Amanda: True.
Julia: Candy Clara Crane. Anyway, it's hard to say. It's a tongue twister.
Amanda: Clara Crane’s candies.
Julia: Mhmm. Personally, I love a state or national park, but, going with our theme that a lot of them are haunted, it's no surprise that Escalante Petrified Forest State Park in Utah is on our list. Those who steal chunks of petrified wood from the forest have had terrible things befall them once they return home. The park apparently receives mail nearly every day of people attempting to return them after accidents or bad luck starts happening to them. And it has become so much of a phenomenon that the park displays the letters as part of one of their exhibits.
Amanda: That's a very good deterrent.
Julia: It is. I really – I love it. I am fully fascinated with this urban legend out of Vermont, which comes from a diary that was published in the late 1800s. So, the legend states that poor families who were concerned about not being able to feed their entire families during the winter would take the eldest member of the family and freeze them and bury them out in the snow. And then, by the time spring rolled around, the elder member of the family would then be thawed out and just resume their lives totally chill for lack of a better phrase.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: Yeah, that's a whole thing. All people can talk about from Virginia is the Bunny Man. And we've talked about him so many times, but, honestly, there isn't much that can beat him. Tied to the Bunny Man bridge. A man wearing a rabbit costume is said to attack people with an axe, usually lovers or teens that dare trespass onto his territory. The first reported sighting was by Robert Bennett and his fiancé on October 19th, 1970. With the second reported sighting only 10 days later. Many versions of the story now tie the Bunny Man to Halloween. It is said that, if he is a spirit, he comes out of his place of resting during this time to haunt the bridge.
Amanda: I mean it's the best time, I think, to walk around unnoticed.
Julia: There you go. Now, Amanda, sure, Washington State has Bigfoot. But what about the 13 Steps to Hell?
Amanda: I'd love to know about them. Step one, gluttony. Step two, envy.
Julia: That’s seven. What are the others?
Amanda: Not editing your podcast. Europe not serving ice. Racism.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Transphobia.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Classism. What else? Not voting if you are an eligible voter in the US.
Julia: Great.
Amanda: That’s what I remember.
Julia: Okay. Great. But, in Maltby Cemetery, there is a subterranean tomb that one must take 13 steps down to enter. It is said that, if you are living and stepped down the steps, you might get a glimpse of hell itself.
Amanda: If you're living, but, if you're a spirit, don't worry about it.
Julia: You're already probably there. It's fine. So, unfortunately, though, the cemetery was built in 1901. The stairs themselves have been covered in concrete in recent years and are no longer accessible. But it doesn't stop people from going there and trying to see what's up.
Amanda: Yeah. And, until, you know, 20 years from now, somebody rips out that concrete and is like, “Oh, nice, steps. Let's – let's refurbish them.” Oh, no.
Julia: Oh, no. So, I could phone it in, Amanda, and just yell about Mothman, you know, that we've hit West Virginia. But y'all deserve something fresh. So, how about the Ogua, a gigantic water monster inhabiting the Monongahela River that resembles a giant snapping turtle. Estimate say that it weighs 500 pounds and its tail is 15 feet alone. Unlike the turtle it resembles, it can move fast enough to capture deer on land according to some reports.
Amanda: Good god.
Julia: It’s a hard one.
Amanda: I’m also googling snapping turtles because I didn't realize the – their tails were that long. Like compared to the body.
Julia: This one, in particular, yeah.
Amanda: They do. They have spiny tails.
Julia: This always reminds me of the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo. They used to have this absolutely giant – and I'm – I’m talking about like really, really big snapping turtle in, like, one of the last rooms of the exhibit. And it was one of my favorite things in the world because it was so big, and so old, and so cute. I feel like we've talked about the Hodag of Rhinelander before, but I just love them a whole bunch. This Wisconsin legend dates back to at least 1928 if not earlier and is said to be a dog size creature with the head of a frog, long fangs or tusks, and a back like a Stegosaurus. While it has a frightening appearance and a terrible smell, it is not often reported as doing harm to people. The hodag story spread far and wide so much so that the Smithsonian sent a reporter to investigate the veracity of the reports, especially when a man named Eugene Shepard claimed to have caught and killed it and was displaying the creature for a couple of cents per viewing. I feel like probably a nickel at that time. That feels right. Like, yeah. And, finally, Wyoming leaves us with a classic folk tale, the Death Ship of the Platte River.
Amanda: All right.
Julia: Rising from the mist every now and again, the Phantom ship will disappear as quickly as it appears in the fog. If you're able to get a close look, you'll see that its crew is entirely covered in frost, huddling together to keep warm, but also around a piece of canvas that is covering something.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: So, if you're able to see the ship, it is said to foreshadow death. That a corpse will be revealed from underneath the canvas on the decks, resembling either the witness or somebody they love.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: And sightings date back to 1862 and have sporadically continued to this day.
Amanda: That is very creepy. I love that twist on the ghost ship.
Julia: I love it. It's, you know, foreshadowing death. It's a ghost ship. There's like you can see how the crew died. It's very – it's like so detailed and beautiful. And a great way to end our urban legends list here.
Amanda: Fantastic. Julia, thank you for this all-encompassing tour. I think it is a wonderful way to spend one of our precious spooky Wednesdays in October that we have each year.
Julia: Thank you. And I hope that it will also inspire people to send in their favorite urban legends from their home states. I think that you guys probably have a lot of stuff that I didn't mention. And I would love to hear about it.
Amanda: Yeah, we love to group stories thematically when we can. So, if you want to put like my state urban legend or the name of your state in the subject line, maybe we can do a little roundup in the future.
Julia: Yeah. And it will make it easier if we come and visit your home state once we can start doing live shows again in person to, to tell your stories.
Amanda: Heck yeah. Well, Julia, thank you again and, everybody, whether you glimpse a ghost vulture, ghost ship, ghosts in the cemetery, ghosts anywhere else, don't worry. Just remember.
Julia: Stay creepy.
Amanda: Stay cool.
Julia: Ghost horse.
Amanda: Thanks again to our sponsors. At functionofbeauty.com/spirits, you can save 20 percent off your first order of custom hair care. At betterhelp.com/spirits, you can get 10 percent off your first month of secure online counseling. And, at fubotv.com/spirits, you can get 15 percent off and sign up for your seven-day free trial.
Outro Music
Amanda: Spirits was created by Amanda McLoughlin, Julia Schifini,and Eric Schneider with music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Allyson Wakeman.
Julia: Keep up with all things creepy and cool by following us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr. We also have all of our episode transcripts, guest appearances, and merch on our website as well as a form to send us your urban legends at spiritspodcast.com.
Amanda: Join our member community on Patreon, patreon.com/spiritspodcast, for all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff. Just $1 gets you access to audio extras with so much more available too; recipe cards, director’s commentaries, exclusive merch, and real physical gifts.
Julia: We are a founding member of Multitude, a collective of independent audio professionals. If you like Spirits, you will love the other shows that live on our website at multitude.productions.
Amanda: And, above all else, if you liked what you heard today, please share us with your friends. That is the very best way to help us keep on growing.
Julia: Thank you so much for listening. Till next time.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil