For those who don’t know, urban legends are stories that get passed along by
word of mouth or, more recently, the Internet. They are usually told by teens to
their friends and younger siblings, but anyone can tell them and get spooked.
Though they always have limited details (many start out with, “One time, my
friend’s uncle’s neighbor…”) and are hard to prove or disprove, urban legends
have lasting, widespread appeal.
Urban legends and Halloween go hand in
hand. While there are some urban legends that deal specifically with the
holiday, others are just generally creepy. Either way, no Halloween celebration
is complete without hearing some scary stories. That being said, here are some
of the best Halloween urban legends:
Tampered-with
TreatsEveryone knows that they’re not supposed to give out
unpackaged items to trick-or-treaters. At the same time, parents usually inspect
all of their kids’ treats for any unwrapped items or signs of foul play. This is
all due to the rumors of children receiving apples with pins or razor blades
hidden inside. While this may have happened in the past, there haven’t been that
many proven cases of it at all. In fact, many of the instances where a child
supposedly found a foreign object in an apple were actually the result of a kid
wanting attention or playing a trick on his or her parents.
Messing
with Bloody Mary
Another long-standing urban
legend revolves around Bloody Mary, the ghostly inhabitant of your bathroom
mirror. As the story goes, you can summon up Bloody Mary by going into the
bathroom, turning off the lights, looking in the mirror, and chanting “Bloody
Mary” three times. According to the various versions, you might see the image of
woman with blood on her face in the mirror, you might end up with scratches all
over your body, or the mirror might shatter. As ridiculous as the story may be,
it continues to play on our fears that something might actually happen.
Realistic Halloween DecorationsThere are many stories
that involve someone committing suicide by hanging themselves from a tree around
Halloween. Unsuspecting neighbors and passersby assume the swinging corpse is
just another decoration. It isn’t until the body starts to smell or attract
vermin that people notice something is wrong and discover that the decoration
didn’t come from any Wal-Mart. Sadly, there have been a couple cases of this
urban legend actually happening.
Getting into
CharacterAlong that same vein, another urban legend deals with a
person who is part of a Halloween play. The actor is supposed to put a noose
around his or her neck and act out a fake hanging. Unfortunately, something goes
wrong with the prop noose, and the person really dies. Again, this story is
based on actual unfortunate events.
Killing
CatsThere is an unfounded rumor that pet stores and animal shelters
see an increase in demand for black cats, Halloween’s unofficial mascot. The
reason being is that satanic worshipers and convents of witches stock up on the
animals to perform sacrifices in honor of the devil. While bored teenagers may
be more likely to harm cats, this urban legend certainly has some steam to it –
many animal shelters won’t let people adopt cats in the weeks before Halloween.
The HookThis next urban legend has been around for
quite some time. Though there are many versions, the basic concept is that two
kids take a drive out to a secluded spot for some romantic escapades. They hear
on the radio how a murderer with a hook in place of a hand escaped from an
insane asylum down the road. The girl gets scared and demands that the guy drive
her home. The guy, disappointed that the night ends so soon, reluctantly obeys.
Upon arriving at the girl’s house, they get out of the car and see a hook
dangling from the door handle. While this story has been around for a long time,
it is still as chilling and unsettling as ever.
Drugged
Tattoos
Here is another urban legend
that plays on parents’ fears over the safety of their children. The rumor
asserts that some messed-up people give their trick-or-treaters temporary
tattoos laced with LSD or some kind of poison. Upon applying the tattoos, the
substance will be absorbed through the skin, causing the children to hallucinate
or experience something worse. As disturbing as this may be, the fears are
unfounded. There has never been any proof of this type of thing taking
place.
The Itchy WigThis last urban legend, though
creepy, has a somewhat humorous story. Supposedly a young woman decides to dress
as a witch for a Halloween party. She goes to the costume store and buys a black
wig. At some point at the party, her head starts to feel really itchy. She then
removes the wig, only to find a large spider with hundreds of baby spiders
crawling all over her hair.