Your Towns Urban Legends

[papayahed]

I stole this idea from another site, here's mine:

We have knock-knock street. Back in the 60's or 70's a boy and a girl were car sledding and on one occasion some how both kids were killed and every time you go down the street suppossedly you can hear knocking in the rear of the car.

There's an island in the Detroit river that has a witch that haunts the woods. If you drive through the woods at night you may be able to spot her.

I thought of another one - before and tragic events in the city there are reports of people seeing a red dwarf around the city.

[AimusSage]

I thought of another one - before and tragic events in the city there are reports of people seeing a red dwarf around the city.
You mean this Red Dwarf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf_ships#Red_Dwarf)?

[papayahed]

Not quite, more like this:

http://www.geocities.com/tom_slemen/red_gnome.jpg

Cities have legends and Detroit has a fantastic one in the Nain Rouge. French for “red dwarf” or “red gnome,” is a mythical creature that haunts Detroit — its appearance is said to presage terrible events for the city. The Nain Rouge appears as “a small child-like creature with red or black fur. It is also said to have blazing red eyes and rotten teeth.”

[AimusSage]

That's one scary looking dwarf alright! So why does it haunt detroit? Does it have a special grudge?

[Niamh]

Aparently there is a banshee haunting my local park St. Annes. It is kind of believed that the banshee is actually the ghost of a maid who once worked in the big Guinness' mansion that was once on the grounds, and that she died tragicly.

[Taliesin]

We can't actually recall any at the moment about our hometown, although We are quite sure there are some.
About the town where we are now, Haapsalu. It is situated at the coast,or at a peninsula, to be more precise. There are only two roads that go into the town and it is therefore very easy to isolate it.
Some folks say that the bottom of the sea was deepened here artificially during the Soviet times and that there was a secret nuclear base here, that, of course, was emptied and filled with concrete when the Soviets left.
Also, the road connecting Haapsalu with Lihula, another small town, is exceptionally straight, wide and was kept in good order in the Soviet times, when the condition of roads was even worse than it is now. But very few people actually use(d) this road. So it is thought that this road was made for military planes to land. And so on.
Of course, then there is the popular urban legend from the Soviet times of black cars kidnapping folks making sausages of them.

We must now think of some other urban legends.

[Pensive]

Okay, no town legends here actually, at least none that I know of. But something quite related. My ex neighbourhood friends used to say that ghosts lived on the street where we lived. They would attain the shape of different people in the neighbourhood. She gave an example like this: She saw her father on the street with a woman who seemed like a witch to her. She shouted something like: 'Abbu, Abbu' (Urdu for Father). But the father paid no heed to her. And then she ran towards another friend's house which was also very near. And there she found her father chatting with that friend's father.

Ummm it wasn't enough to make me believe them, but the stories they used to make up were I guess really creative! And their faces were always serious while telling them. Even though they were incredible but I would have to say I liked hearing them. Ah the excitement of 'super-natural things' living in your neighbourhood! And mind me we were about nine or ten at that time.

[quasimodo1]

To Taliesin: A person of one half Lithuanian heritage says a fond hello to an Estonian. Now we just need a Latvian. quasi

Meant to post that Philadelphia, PA has an urban legend; one that is considered factual by fans and journalists concerned with Edgar Allen Poe. Every year on his birthday (near Halloween I think) somebody leaves a bit of food and wine at his former residence near Vine St. in center city and this person (or persons) has never been seen, identified or photographed in many, many years of performing this ritual. The house is a museum (by apt.) now. quasimodo1

[ampoule]

There are several spooky places around here. The most well-known is the Gypsy Graveyard. It seems the locals blamed a group of gypsies who were camping in the woods for their missing livestock. Soon after that the group of gypsies were hit with influenza and the townspeople turned their backs. The gypsies were buried in earthen mounds near their campsite which was also near a countryside cemetery.
It is said that at night there are many mysterious things that take place..statues appearing and disappearing, orbs of light..that kind of thing. It is a very strange place.
There is a curse on the people and their descendents because of their inhospitable attitude.

[papayahed]

bumpity bump bump

[Lokasenna]

Well, as befits a really ancient city, Durham has more than a few ghost stories.

The Black Staircase of Durham Castle, now the Castle College of the University and thus heavily populated by students, is said to be haunted by the figure of a grey woman, thought to be the wife of one of the Prince-Bishops, who broke her neck falling down the stairs. There really are a lot of reported sightings of her, though I've never seen or sensed anything on the stairs myself - but then, I'm not a Castle man, so I'm not often in there.

On a similar note, underneath Durham Cathedral and Castle is a vast network of underground passages and secret tunnels: these have never been satisfactorily mapped, and students are forbbiden from entering them on pain of expulsion. Apparently, the tunnels even stretch as far as Finchale Priory, several miles away - but the legends say that anyone who ventures in there looking to find the way is never seen again, and the spirits of the lost wander in perpetual darkness, bewailing their fate.

I've also heard a lot of people say that they have heard ghostly piping coming from under Old Elvet Bridge, which is connected with a local legend about a horse rustler who died there awaiting trial.

I've never seen anything myself, but I am first and foremost a mythographer - I find such things fascinating!