25 Twisted Urban Legends That Will Cause You To Lose Sleep Tonight (And Tomorrow Too)

1. A creature stole children from the streets to eat

“NYC (specifically Staten Island) has an urban legend about a weird creature/man named Cropsey that steals children off the streets and brutally murders, and eats them. Apparently the myth was super popular in the ‘70s, and ‘80s I think but as it turns out, it’s totally based on a real dude.

There’s a documentary about him, and everything.” — CinnaSol

2. There is a ghost of a woman who cries for her missing children

“La Llorona (‘The Weeping Woman’) is a legendary ghost prominent in folklore of Latin America. This myth has a tendency to take aspects of an urban legend and is present throughout Mexican culture. According to the tradition, La Llorona is the ghost of a woman who lost her children and now cries while looking for them in the river, often causing misfortune to those who are near or hear her

Anyways she’s the lady in white. I was driving once in the fog an could have sworn I saw a women standing between a row of orange orchards. I turned around and looked for her but didn’t see anything. The orchard had been flooded and no signs of show tracks in the mud. The lady in white has been seen in many different cultures all over the world during different times.” — OhhDavie

3. The Dancing Girl is seen at midnight on the grave of her lover

“Whilst at primary school in my little village in North Somerset (UK), the local vicar told us about the ‘Dancing Girl’ who could be seen at midnight dancing on the grave of her lover at his church.

She was a daughter of a well-to-do family, and he was of a lower class and died mysteriously (probably murdered by the rich family). She then killed herself by hanging from a tree in the churchyard over his grave. Anyone who saw her dancing would die swiftly soon after, which the vicar said that he had.

I think he told us around Halloween, but it could have been the last talk he ever gave us (memory fuzzy). No-one ever saw him again, and the assumption was that the legend had got to him.

If he knew he was leaving his position, that is one hell of a way to go out. But what if…” — Alan_Wakes_Torch

4. There is a monster who cries like a baby and roars like a demon

“I am from Bosnia and here we have a so called ‘monster’ who makes very creepy and disturbing noises such as a baby crying and some demonic roaring. We call it Drekavac which means something like Screamer. It usually appears in the woods near a town called Drvar where the inhabitants have reported hearing the monster cries during the night mostly when it dawns. Others also report it usually deep in the woods. The people who encountered it claim that it is a very small goblin-like monster with claws, big head, pointy ears and sharp teeth. Those who have encountered it claim they had to carry the monster until morning as it jumps on the back of the poor guy and refuses to get off until morning. This was more famous in the early 2010s and some time during 2008 but the sightings are ultra rare now.” — Eagledx

5. Black eyed children try to sneak into your home at night

“Black eyed children.

You’re sitting in your den watching TV, it’s probably about 2330, when you hear a knock at the door. You go to answer the door and are greeted by two young children. One looks to be about twelve, the other no older than eight. Brothers, most likely. They give you some sob story about how they’re lost, can’t find their way home, and they ask you if they can come in and use the phone to call their mother for a ride. You’re just about to let them in when you notice something off. Their eyes. Their eyes are a deep, soulless black. The inconceivable fear that takes you over is like no other. They’re still asking you to let them in, just for a minute. Let them in. Let them in. You slam the door in their face. But they still cry out, banging on the door. You try to go back to watching tv but they do not relent. They follow you, tapping on the windows, begging to be let in.

I never answer my door after 9, at least, not without peaking out the window first.” — TyrionCauthom

6. A girl fell onto train tracks, was cut in half, and is now a vengeful spirit. 

“The bunny man legend (me and my friends even went to bunny man bridge one Halloween) and the Teke Teke one, the girl who fell on train tracks and got cut in half and is now a vengeful spirit, dragging herself looking for other people to cut in half if they can’t get away from her fast enough. I believe in a lot of urban legends honestly, I think they’re so interesting!” — lovemoontea 

7. There is a certain judge with a cursed headstone 

“In Maine, the headstone of a judge is supposedly cursed. The story goes that he sentenced a woman to death for witchcraft. Her last words were, ‘I’ll dance on your grave.’ A mark that looks like a leg appears on his grave marker. It’s been cleaned/replaced, but the leg comes back. I’ve seen pictures of the grave and want to believe the story so much.” — batmansmom84

8. An evil man with an axe waited by the side of the road

“That an old, flannel wearing woodsman named Wee Willy roamed the woods with an axe at night waiting for unsuspecting motorists who breakdown or pull over for intimacy.

I used to speed through the woods where there aren’t typically lights but also afraid of hitting a dear and getting stuck in the middle of nowhere.” — sallysippin 

9. A college girl was brutally murdered inside her dorm

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?

This one was big when I was in college. College girl going out to party loses her key and asks roommate to leave dorm room door unlocked so she can get in later.

Girl decides to spend the night with boyfriend but needs to grab her books from the room for classes the next day. She enters the unlocked room in the dark, grabs her books and leaves.

The next day she returns to the dorm to find police outside of her room. Her roommate has been brutally murdered and written in blood on the mirror in her room is ‘Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?'” — jonson365

10. A woman purposely killed everyone riding on her bus — except one man 

“The one about the female bus driver on a long-distance bus route. A bunch of thugs got on at a stop and tried to sexually assault the driver. None of the passengers said a word or tried to help her, except one guy, who couldn’t stop the thugs and ended up getting beat up. Afterwards, the female bus driver insisted that the guy who tried to help her should get off the bus. Confused, he protested by telling her he was sorry about what happened, but he did try his best to help. The driver however ignored his pleas and wouldn’t start the bus unless he got off. Now the passengers who were silent before are yelling at him to GTFO, and he eventually did.

The guy ended up walking for hours to the nearest town. Tired and pissed, he found a hotel room and crashed. When he woke up the next morning, he saw on the news that the bus he was on went off the road while on a mountain path, killing everyone on board.” — hdx514

11. A man picked up a dead girl on the side of the road

“My uncle told me this when I was a child and it kept me awake many nights. He said he was driving home for work after dark, spotted a young girl walking on side of road, stopped and picked her up because it was very cold outside and she was only in pajamas. He gave her his coat to keep her warm and drove her home. She got out of his car and ran into house. He went home. He realized she still had his coat when he got home so he figured he’d just stop at house on way to work next day and retrieve it. He got there knocked on door, Mom answers door but informs him her daughter died on that road several years ago and if he gave her anything it could be retrieved at her grave sight, as this was a fairly regular occurrence. He got directions and found his coat on her tombstone. Thanks Uncle Tim for scaring the shit out of me when I was just a kid.” — buckeye111

12. A woman jumped off a hill on her marriage day and now haunts the spot

“There’s an urban legend in my home town about a bride who jumped off a hill on her marriage day. Some say she’s dead while others think she survived the jump and sometimes goes to the exact same place at midnight, dressed the same way she was on her marriage. My friends and I went to the place once at 23:30 but none of us had the guts to stay there till midnight.” — NormieExterminator

13. The Black Shuck is the omen of death

“The Black Shuck, I don’t 100% believe in it but I think there’s some truth to it. For those that don’t know….

The Black Shuck is a black shaggy dog with red or green saucer eyes said to roam the country side of East Anglia UK (Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire etc). It is said to be an Omen of death with reports as early as 1127AD and as late as 1945 though there have been reported sightings in 2013.” — werenotthestasi

14. There is a snake that appears to people before death 

“My mum’s family are from Grenada and growing up my Grandma would tell me stories of La Diablesse and Ligaroo. She swore she saw La Diablesse one day while stealing fruit as a child. As much as it seems silly, my Grandma wasn’t someone who usually believed in these things.

Another time she told me about a snake that appears to people before death. She saw it once when my uncle died. I never believed it but when i was about 6 I had a vivid dream, so vivid I’m convinced its real, that a snake was wrapping itself around me and squeezing. Apparently that night I was hysterical and refused to sleep. 3 days later another of my uncles died. I’m a believer since.” — EvilBlackSmurf

15. There is a stretch of road that is said to be haunted

“Okay, here there are some sharp turns that are considered haunted as there were many accidents in the past because there weren’t many streetlights and people’s unfamiliarity with the road. There’s this turn next to an intersection that known for a pretty long time as being haunted by the victims. The road either way is a long stretched road and usually the accidents occur in nighttime where drivers or riders drive straight into a canal built higher alongside the road. However, I believe it from another perspective; the urban legend is spread so that people become aware and careful on the turns.

Anyway, there’s a house near the turns that legit never been resided for a long time. I’ve witnessed it myself from the very beginning of the house’s construction and after a few years, the house is mostly vacant. Everyone comes and goes in a short period of time. I heard rumors about it being haunted, but I don’t really know and want to know.” — javanese_ball

16. A woman was in mortal danger — but she was focused on the wrong man

“A woman drives into a petrol station late at night off a quiet motorway. The only person there is the attendant, a seedy looking individual with a strange smile plastered on his face. He fills up the car and she presents him with her card. A pleased look flashes over his face and he has to suppress a grin as he excitedly tells her that she cannot make the payment outside and requests her to come inside to the register. The woman is really torn as to whether to do so, being inclined to refuse but also afraid of getting arrested if she were to drive off without paying. She elects to send a quick text to her husband, telling him where she is, before cautiously entering the shop with the attendant. He ushers her into the manager’s office in the back of the shop. Then she spots the register near the door on the other side of the shop. Panicked, she prepares to make an excuse and run. She stops however, when she looks at his face. Whilst he is still smiling, an expression of sheer terror is in his eyes and he whispers the word; ‘please’. Against her better judgement she complies and he locks the door after them. Immediately regretting her decision, she panics and looks for something to hit the man with, putting the desk between her and the man. The man turns around. He is no longer smiling. He lunges forward… for the phone on the manager’s desk. Breathlessly, he splutters; “I saw the outline of a man in hidden your backseat as you pulled into the station. When I was filling up the car, I saw the brief shine of a knife in his hand. I’m calling the police.'” — MacHoirbin

17. We spotted a werewolf on the side of the road

“I never believed in werewolves or anything like that, until one night when some friends and I were cruising around the back roads of our town which is located in a hilly area along the Mississippi River. There wasn’t a whole lot to do where we lived, so driving around was a common pastime of our. I was sitting in the back/trunk area of my friends Jeep looking out the back window when I noticed something along the side of the road. It looked like a muscular shaggy dog, but stood at least 3-4 feet tall on all fours, had muscular looking legs that almost resembled human biceps, and I could see the reflection of it’s eyes staring at the vehicle as we drove past. Where it gets weird is when I mentioned it to my group of friends, we all became stricken with horror when we realized 3 of us had seen the same thing, along the same road on different nights, but never brought it up because coyotes were common in the area. I still don’t know what to think, but what I saw was too large to be a coyote and too shaggy to have been a cougar. To this day I wonder if some unknown creature lives in those hills.” — Wrecked3m

18. He posed as a cop to kill innocent victims 

19. Men dressed as clowns have lured children into their van

“In 1991 there were sightings of a guy in a clown costume who was supposedly trying to lure kids into his van. The police never confirmed it, but Chicago has since had a problem with creepy clowns that appear now and again. I’m pretty sure it might have been true because similar things happen all across the country.” — weirdinchicago

20. People have sworn to see the Jersey Devil

“One of the stories of the Jersey Devil.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother – this part is historical fact – was living in NJ for a time. He was a fan of hunting and so he goes out one winter day hunting bears. The bears in NJ are a different sort than in France so he was excited. This part begins the legend. He got separated from his bodyguards while he was following hoof prints. They looked like they were running because they were close together ankle to ankle but long in stride. He figured it was a deer running from something, possibly a bear. His suspicions were confirmed by claw marks high on a tree the prints passed, but there were no bear paw prints in the snow and it was fresh snow so there should have been.

Anyway he tracks the deer for a while and it goes under logs too low for a deer and skips terrain and all and seems to slow. He finds no spoor but broken branches, disturbed leaves, broken ice high up and in passes too narrow for a deer’s antlers. So he’s thinking this is some odd New Jersey creature. Well, he was right. Because abruptly the tracks stopped in a copse of pine. Couldn’t be found anywhere. He’s creeped out and decides it’s time to turn back, so he turns around and is confronted by a tall two legged satyr type of beast with bat’s wings, deer legs, man’s body but leathery and a donkey head – and its arms had claws for hands. The story is it screeched and he unloaded both barrels at it and was found pissing himself by his bodyguards.

Did he really see JD or just say it to avoid embarrassment? I prefer the first option, myself.” — DeucesCracked

21. A mysterious man with hooves for feet showed up at a local bar

“A local bar used to be a popular hangout for the locals but it has since been tore down. In the early eighties on a swinging Friday night, this guy in a long black trench coat walked in. He was white and really handsome. But he definitely stood out because this after all was a reservation bar and full of natives. The main thing that stood out to everyone that night was that he was very good looking and all the girls were oohing and ahhing over him. He started dancing on the dance floor with everyone and having a good time. Then a girl who was nearby looked down and the guy had hooves for feet. She screamed and yelled about it and he ran out the back door of the bar. A bunch of guys chased him and he ran around the corner of the building towards the front, and he just disappeared.” — Chewieandpumpkin

22. He killed a hound that had done nothing wrong

“This is the legend of our neighboring country Wales in the UK. Pretty sad but believable. Enjoy.

According to legend, the stone monument in the field marks the resting place of ‘Gelert’, the faithful hound of the medieval Welsh Prince Llewelyn the Great.

The story, as written on the tombstone reads:

‘In the 13th century Llewelyn, prince of North Wales, had a palace at Beddgelert. One day he went hunting without Gelert, ‘The Faithful Hound’, who was unaccountably absent.

On Llewelyn’s return the truant, stained and smeared with blood, joyfully sprang to meet his master. The prince alarmed hastened to find his son, and saw the infant’s cot empty, the bedclothes and floor covered with blood.

The frantic father plunged his sword into the hound’s side, thinking it had killed his heir. The dog’s dying yell was answered by a child’s cry.

Llewelyn searched and discovered his boy unharmed, but nearby lay the body of a mighty wolf which Gelert had slain. The prince filled with remorse is said never to have smiled again. He buried Gelert here.'” — Jenko_85

23. There are Indian burial grounds across the country

“There’s an Indian burial ground less than ten minutes away from me. People claim that the spirits of the Indians are now in the deer in the area. People who walk around the paths there claim that the deer follow you. They also claim to hear the sound of drums and strange lights.” — Blake_Majer

24. There is a such thing as Sasquatch and Wendigo

“I’ve grown up in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Sasquatch. (‘Samsquamch’ if you are from Canada). Wendigo. (Yes they are different.)

Just a couple hours in those deep woods and you will understand why there is a definite possibility of something hiding out in all that space.” — Zerhackermann

25. Mole people live inside of NYC sewers

“My mother believes that people live in the sewers or abandoned subway stations or something underneath New York City. She said that she saw someone who looked like a homeless person go down into the sewers.” — KingAlfredOfEngland