Urban Legends That'll Keep You Up at Night

What were you scared of when you were young? The Boogeyman? Clowns? Things that went bump in the night? As it turns out, even the stories that kept you burrowed under the covers aren't as eerie as some of the urban legends on this list. From Virginia's infamous Bunny Man to Japan's Kuchisake-onna, these tales are sure to keep you looking over your shoulder.

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1. The Bunny Man

While the legend of the Bunny Man has many variations, it mostly revolves around a man in a bunny suit who kills people with an axe or hatchet. Though the story has spread through the US, it originated in Fairfax County, Virginia, where an overpass near Clifton, Virginia, is known as the "Bunny Man Bridge."

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2. Bloody Mary

Said to appear behind you in the mirror if you called for her three times in the dark, Bloody Mary is one of the oldest and creepiest urban legends of all time. Though no one knows for certain about the origin of the folklore, it's rumored to date back to Mary I of England, known for her persecution of Protestants that lead to some 300 being burned at the stake.

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3. The Wendigo

While there are various descriptions of the Wendigo, it's typically described as an extremely tall creature with disfigured lips and yellow fangs and claws, smelling of rotting flesh. According to the legend, it stalks and eats humans, turning bigger as it feeds. It's also known to turn humans into cannibals.

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4. One Hundred Steps Cemetery

The Cloverland Cemetery, known better as the 100 Steps Cemetery, is a famous site in Indiana. It's named as such due to it taking 100 steps to reach the summit. However, according to the legend, if you counted the steps coming back down, you'd have a different number. Another version claims that you'll see the ghostly apparition of the caretaker that haunts the cemetery, who will then reveal how you may perish. If the number of steps coming down is the same as going up, you'll live, and the vision was wrong. If there's a mismatch, the vision will become real.

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5. The Carter Brothers

The legend of the Carter Brothers originates from New Orleans, one of the most haunted places in the US. According to the tale, John and Wayne Carter were vampires, having captured and held numerous victims captive in the 1930s. They were later caught by police and confessed immediately to their crimes, though admitted that they had no other option but to take more victims, as their nature made them have an insatiable need for blood. It's claimed that they were tried as serial killers, convicted, and eventually executed. 

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6. Area 51

A highly classified Air Force base owned by the US military, Area 51 is supposedly merely a flight testing facility, though many are convinced that the site is home to numerous extraterrestrial encounters. Moreover, many are convinced that there have been UFO sightings near the installation, and remain curious as to why it's so secretive.

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7. Skinwalkers

Emerging from Navajo culture, skinwalkers are creatures that can shapeshift into animals—such as coyotes, wolves, or birds—to carry out harm. These malevolent witches can also mimic voices and sounds, and possess supernatural speed and strength.

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8. Huggin' Molly

The legend of Huggin' Molly is a story that anyone in Abbewille, Alabama, knows, even though its origins are blurry. The tale features a seven-foot-tall woman who jumps out of the shadows at night, squeezes you tight, and screams in your ear. Many parents used the legend to keep their children from wandering out late in the evening.

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9. The Vanishing Hitchhiker

You've likely heard some version of the Vanishing Hitchhiker. The legend, put simply, involves a man driving down a deserted road at night who comes across a woman in white standing at the side of the road. He offers to give her a ride, only for her to vanish; asking the person at the address reveals that the woman had died years before. In other versions of the story, the man and woman date, only for her to disappear one day, which prompts him to head to her address, where he finds out the truth.

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10. Kuchisake-onna

Kuchisake-onna, or the slit-mouthed woman, is a Japanese urban legend. It describes a tall malevolent spirit that keeps her face partially hidden behind a mask while carrying a pair of scissors. She is known to approach potential victims by asking if they think she is pretty; if they say no, she attacks them. If they say yes, she'll remove her mask and repeat the question. Depending on the second response from the victim, she will either disfigure their mouth or end their life outright.

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11. The Ghost Bus of Beijing

Legend has it that on the night of November 14, 1995, the last bus—Bus 375—to Fragrant Hills, carrying a few passengers, picked up three men at the side of the road. When they got on, they were dressed in traditional robes from the Qing Dynasty, their faces ghostly pale. Convinced that there weren't real people, one old woman ushered the last passenger off the bus, leaving only the driver and the female conductor. The next morning, the bus had failed to report to the station. It was found two days later in a reservoir 62 miles (100 kilometers) from Fragrant Hills, three bodies decomposing in the river: the driver, the female conductor, and an unidentified man.

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12. Pocong

Deeply rooted in Indonesian and Malaysian culture, Pocong is a ghost that appears as a corpse wrapped in a shroud. This shroud, called kain kafan in Indonesian, is a cloth that's specially used to cover dead bodies. If the ritual isn't done correctly to free the soul housed within the body, then legend says that the undead body will come back to haunt the living by hopping or teleporting around. 

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13. La Llorona

Known as the "Weeping Woman" in English, La Llorona is Mexico's most notorious phantom, said to roam the streets and near bodies of water at night in search of her lost children. The tale goes that she had drowned her children after discovering her husband had been unfaithful, and whoever hears her cries at night will suffer either misfortune or death.

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14. Chupacabra

Chupacabra, or "goat-sucker," is a creature known to attack domestic animals and livestock by drinking their blood. It was first reported in Puerto Rico in 1995, and these early reports claimed that it was a beast with huge red eyes and a body that resembled a kangaroo's.

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15. Black-Eyed Children

Black-eyed children appear exactly as the urban legend is named. Originating from American folklore, these paranormal creatures resemble teens and young children with pitch-black eyes and pale skin. It's claimed that they impersonate real human children to gain access to homes and vehicles with sinister motives.

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16. Night Marchers of Hawaii

The legend of the Night Marchers of Hawaii is a tale that any native Hawaiian is familiar with. Said to be the ghosts of ancient warriors, the group makes their presence known with the swaying lights of torches and the dull sound of distant drumming that gets progressively louder the closer they come. If you can't run away or escape in time, you're told to lie face down and avert your eyes; making eye contact can be deadly, unless you're related to one of the warriors.

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17. Momo the Monster

Also known as the Missouri Monster, this creature is similar to Bigfoot in appearance. It was reportedly sighted by people in the 1940s in rural Louisiana, Missouri, and was described as a tall, humanoid figure with a pumpkin-sized head and dark hair that emits a foul odor.

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18. Seven Gates of Hell

Rumor has it that if you travel to Hellam Township, Pennsylvania, and roam into a wooded area near Toad Road, you go straight to Hell if you pass through all seven gates. The myth has prompted many tourists to explore the grounds, though the land is privately owned, and trespassers may be reported and charged.

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19. Screaming Jenny

In Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, there's a chilling tale about a woman named Jenny who lived in a small town near the B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad. One night, while heating up dinner, a spark from the campfire caught her dress and set her aflame. Screaming in agony, she tried to call for help from an approaching train, but tragically fell onto the tracks and was killed. People claim that on the anniversary of her death, you can see a burning woman running near the tracks, her screams echoing late into the night.

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20. Charlie No-Face

Folks who live in Pennsylvania are likely familiar with the urban legend of Charlie No-Face, or the Green Man. But there's a twist: this was no urban legend at all, and the tales people had been making about seeing a disfigured man late at night actually turned out to be a real person called Raymond Robinson, who was involved in an electrical accident during childhood. Because he worried that he'd cause panic in the daylight, he went out for strolls later in the evening—and sightings by locals turned him into folklore. Robinson passed away in 1985, at 74 years old.

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