NationStates Jolt Archive

My partner in crime and I are going to teach our English club about some of our respective country's myths, tall tales and legends. Personally, I've always liked these suckers as they usually speak to what we WANT ourselves as a collective (Nation I mean) whole to be. So what non-religious* figure/story do you like from your area? Why? And, pull up a seat at the fire and spin us a tale or two about them.

As for me, from the American side of things, I always liked Paul Bunyan. Any man whose mess tent took up 7 acres and who ate pancakes that had to be pulled in by a team of oxen has my respect.

From Japan, Kintaro, the Golden Boy, the strongest kid on earth who would sumo wrestle bears and who could up root tall trees when he bumped into them when learning how to walk.

*Non-religious BTW because I just KNOW what this thread would become if I didn't say otherwise.

Myths and Legends in our area have been banned since we lost the Civil War, lol...

Or, at least thats what im gonna say cause i cant think of any...

Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed. Good stuff. *nod*

Also, I don't know how religious or non-religious you consider them, but there's also the Greek Heroes.

Odysseus was always one of my favorites.

Belle Starr is big here. She was a real person, but there are a lot of tall tales about her and her sharp shootin'.

As for me, from the American side of things, I always liked Paul Bunyan. Any man whose mess tent took up 7 acres and who ate pancakes that had to be pulled in by a team of oxen has my respect.
And the unimportant lumberjacks on the team had to tie bacon to their feet and skate around the skillet required to make the food in order to grease it.

Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett stories were staples of my childhood. Of course they both existed, but the tales spun about them made them larger than life.

The other legend that I really enjoyed was Pecos Bill. Pretty fun stuff about "How the West was Made" in those stories.

Sétanta\Cúchulainn is always a winner (Sétanta being Cúchulainn's name when he was younger, see).

Even better if you take the whole of the Táin.

Nice bit of Irish mythology never went amiss.

Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed. Good stuff. *nod*

Also, I don't know how religious or non-religious you consider them, but there's also the Greek Heroes.

Odysseus was always one of my favorites.

Big fan of good old Pecos Bill.

Add Mike Fink, Davy Crockett, and Daniel Boone to that list.

How abouth the Aurthurian legends?

Also, don't forget crypto-zoology legends and lore: Bigfooot, Skunk Ape, Mothman, Jeresy Devil, jackalopes, etc.

And America's founding myths like George Washington chopping down the cherry tree (that one in particular should go down well) and throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River. (And his wooden teeth as well.)

The Pilgrim story is another good founding myth.

Being from Texas, the revolution, particularly the Alamo and San Jacinto loom large to me. Not sure Nevada has anything quite so well known...

Ohhh... just found a goody for ya: http://www.americanfolklore.net/lesson-plans.html#1

Back in Nova Scotia Glooscap is a famous one- He is a Mi'kmaq (Native/Aboriginal) figure. According to legend, he dug the valley where I used to live, and is also responsible for several islands (Including Prince Edward Island, which is a Canadian province unto itself).

There was a provably real guy, Giant MacAskill, from the island where my grandparents live (Glooscap did not form that one, as far as I know). MacAskill was very tall, at nearly eight feet/over 2.25m, and also incredibly strong. He died almost a hundred and fifty years ago, but everyone on Cape Breton Island still knows his name and tells of his feats.

Santa Clause, thats my favorite Myth, lol...

Who doesnt like Santa Clause? Hell it even makes a great religion, everyone should live by the principles of Santa (kudos to anyone who gets the reference)

Maco Station Light: From the Backwoods of North Carolina! (http://www.ibiblio.org/ghosts/maco.html)

I have always liked the Iroquois tale about why Owl looks the way he does. It's also good for school because it teaches kids not the pester the teacher with needless questions. ;)

I seem to remember a LOT of stories about ghosts at UCSC.

Not sure Nevada has anything quite so well known...
Sure, there's a number of odd characters who have a number of tall tales attached to them. The legendary Hank Monk and what he did to New York Times editor Horace Greeley (Never tell a Nevadan you're in a hurry), Old Pancake himself, and of course, Mark Twain. The problem with using them is that the myths are, ah, rather colorful in nature and require some difficult English. Given I'm pitching this to 4th graders...

I'm a huge fan of Norse mythology. Nothing tells kids to do anything for their dreams than the story of Odin gouging out his eyeball for knowledge.

They also teach you how to be senselessly violent (take Thor), kill everything that's different than you are (again, Thor), and how to weasel your way out of punishment (Loki).

...On second thought, don't teach that to your kids.

Maco Station Light: From the Backwoods of North Carolina! (http://www.ibiblio.org/ghosts/maco.html)
I remember reading that a long time back...

I remember reading that a long time back...

Yep, of course legends says that he doesn't show up anymore because the rails were pulled up in 1977.

The Chasse-Galerie. Outrunning the devil in a flying canoe is the most badass thing ever.

Here's several hundred from around 20 or so states. (http://www.prairieghosts.com/)

How some old lady's cow(Mrs. O'Leary or something like that, I forget) kicking over a lantern started the Great Chicago Fire. 100% false, but still funny to hear.

Well, if you want national icon stories, I guess you can't go wrong with George Washington and the cherry tree, and Paul Bunyon and so on.

If you want a little edge, I suppose you could go with that hypocritical horror show called the First Thanksgiving, or you could go out on a limb and talk about the dime novel versions of the Earp brothers or Frank and Jessie James versus the real people.

I personally prefer darker, weirder legends. My personal favorite, which is quite obscure but very juicy, is the story of the house at 135 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island, also known as the Shunned House. It's a story with legs, and just goes to show how much mileage can be gotten out of one moldy patch on a cellar floor. For full details, look up the book Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires, by Michael E. Bell.

The story of 135 Benefit Street has to do with about a century's worth of TB epidemics; vampire exorcisms; two or three connected families spanning Rhode Island and Vermont with their weird beliefs; a moldy patch on the dirt cellar floor that kept coming back no matter how many times it was scrubbed, covered, or dug up and replaced, and which people swore up and down was human shaped and phosphorescent; and the house served as both inspiration and setting for horror stories by many authors, most notably Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. I think (hope) the house still exists. Last I heard, it was a historic landmark. No recent word on the mold in the cellar, though.

Now, if you know anything about molds and fungi, the fact that the patch kept coming back is not remarkable, but it is amazing the effect it had on the minds of the people who lived with it, and their neighbors, and how the horrible stories they told about it took wing and spread, leading to so many literary treatments all about the same thing in the same building.

The Shunned House is still there. Interesting note. Part of the basement wall is above ground, since the house is on a slope. It bulges outward, as if some titanic thing is resting against it.

The Shunned House is still there. Interesting note. Part of the basement wall is above ground, since the house is on a slope. It bulges outward, as if some titanic thing is resting against it.
Yes! Excellent! :) And that titanic thing I believe is the hill it is partially built into, which will someday be its destruction, no doubt. Though I do believe Lovecraft had a different explanation for it. (You should know. ;) ) Gods, I love New England.

Personally, I'd guess that it's from water or something. Lovecraft never mentioned the wall bulging outwards, and with his exceedingly verbose descriptions I'd be inclined to think that if he didn't mention it, it wasn't there at the time. It's a wooden wall, I think. Whatever it is, it's not stone or brick.

Actually, I could probably get a picture if I remember. I work in the general area, so the hardest part would be finding a damn camera.

The Chasse-Galerie. Outrunning the devil in a flying canoe is the most badass thing ever.

I remember that story! *nostalgia*

I remember being locked in a very dark bathroom, crying and sobbing, standing in front of the mirror, and saying "bloody marry" three times."

Nothing happened, save my sister opening the door and saying boo, causing me to scream and cry, then she bought me ice-cream and I was happy for the rest of the day.

Anyways, Bloody Marry is supposedly some curse from a dead queen (Her name skips me, but Her last or middle name was Mary) who killed little girls and washed herself in their blood (or maybe I'm thinking of another queen, can't remember for the life of me). I'm not sure where the myth started, but apparently if you said her name 3 times in a mirror the mirror would break, her soul would come out and kill you and anyone near by.

There are multiple variants, a friend told another one where she rips out your soul and feeds you to her three headed cat. That is my favorite variant simply because of the three headed cat.

I remember being locked in a very dark bathroom, crying and sobbing, standing in front of the mirror, and saying "bloody marry" three times."

Nothing happened, save my sister opening the door and saying boo, causing me to scream and cry, then she bought me ice-cream and I was happy for the rest of the day.

Anyways, Bloody Marry is supposedly some curse from a dead queen (Her name skips me, but Her last or middle name was Mary) who killed little girls and washed herself in their blood (or maybe I'm thinking of another queen, can't remember for the life of me). I'm not sure where the myth started, but apparently if you said her name 3 times in a mirror the mirror would break, her soul would come out and kill you and anyone near by.

There are multiple variants, a friend told another one where she rips out your soul and feeds you to her three headed cat. That is my favorite variant simply because of the three headed cat.

Mary I (Tutor)?

Mary I (Tutor)?

Yes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England

Though again, the variation I was brought up with had her having killed virgins and bathing in their blood.


Another rather local (It comes from living in New Mexico for 23 years.) myth was based on La Llorona, it is by far one of the most common myths in Mexico or near the Mexican border, at one point me and a friend actually told the story to some kids, a variant that we were raised upon but the kids didn't know about.

The basic myth is as followed. "A beautiful woman named Mary met a handsome man, and they soon had multiple children. Soon he paid more attention to his children then his wife. Mary eventually became so furious she took her children to a river a drowned them in a rage. Once the adrenaline was gone, she realized her mistake she walked the entire river crying and asking for her children. Eventually townsfolk found her near the river, she had died of unknown causes and they buried her the same day. That night, many villagers heard wails and cries for her children. They then named her La Llorona (it means the weeper or the crier in English.)"

One of the most popular versions when I was a kid (probably due to the gore and violence in it.) was that instead of drowning her kids, she smashed their heads against a rock and then slit her own neck.

It was also used as a defense system so no kids would go out and cause trouble at night, because "She would take you as her kid and drown/bash your head against a rock till you die." It worked for me.

Mary I (Tutor)?

Yes, Mary I (Tudor) - bloody Mary was more to do with her habit of killing Protestants, which is fine except she did it because she was Catholic rather than the fact that Protestants are just annoying.

Yes, Mary I (Tudor) - bloody Mary was more to do with her habit of killing Protestants, which is fine except she did it because she was Catholic rather than the fact that Protestants are just annoying.

Apparently the Three Blind Mice was about her IIRC as was the Mary, Mary quite contrary rhyme.

I have always liked the Iroquois tale about why Owl looks the way he does. It's also good for school because it teaches kids not the pester the teacher with needless questions. ;)

I seem to remember a LOT of stories about ghosts at UCSC.

I lived on the haunted floor of the Porter B building. "The Bat Cave," freshman year. We decided we liked the whole little ghost story thing and the name, so we put up paper cutouts of bats on the walls.

Anyway, I quite like the Coyote myths of Native American (unfortunately I do not remember the specific tribe or tribes) origin.

Paul Revere is a good founding myth, as told (the actual history is a bit different). Molly Pitcher is also a great story.

Emperor Norton doesn't even have to be a myth to be a great dude to talk about.

Sétanta\Cúchulainn is always a winner (Sétanta being Cúchulainn's name when he was younger, see).

Even better if you take the whole of the Táin.

Nice bit of Irish mythology never went amiss.

the Tuatha Du Danan do make for good stories.



Around here, I'd have to plumb for Maui and his fish, how he pulled a big fish out of the sea and it became the northern half of my country, and how the southern half is a capsized canoe.

(look at a map, if you squint, NZ does look like a stingray or manta with it's tail trailing north, close to a canoe to it's south.)

In Israel we've got Bar Kokhba and Shimshon Ha'gibor (or Samson the Hero), and I suppose if you're not religious you could add some other notables from the OT.

Edit: Oh, and there's also a lot of stories about Rabbi Akiva.

Personally, I'd guess that it's from water or something. Lovecraft never mentioned the wall bulging outwards, and with his exceedingly verbose descriptions I'd be inclined to think that if he didn't mention it, it wasn't there at the time. It's a wooden wall, I think. Whatever it is, it's not stone or brick.
It's likely either from water, or rot, or termites, or all of the above. My mention of the hill was because water runs downhill. Houses at the bottom of slopes often have drainage problems, which would also account for the freakin' mold. Lovecraft's story ended with the characters running for their lives from some giant thing rising up from the moldy patch after they dug it out. I was just thinking that whatever it was they unleashed may have banged the joint up a bit. ;)

Actually, I could probably get a picture if I remember. I work in the general area, so the hardest part would be finding a damn camera.
Cool. :)

It's likely either from water, or rot, or termites, or all of the above. My mention of the hill was because water runs downhill. Houses at the bottom of slopes often have drainage problems, which would also account for the freakin' mold. Lovecraft's story ended with the characters running for their lives from some giant thing rising up from the moldy patch after they dug it out. I was just thinking that whatever it was they unleashed may have banged the joint up a bit. ;)


Actually, the protagonist destroyed the thing with acid.

Yes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England

Though again, the variation I was brought up with had her having killed virgins and bathing in their blood.

<snip>
You're likely thinking of Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Báthory

Actually, the protagonist destroyed the thing with acid.
Did he? Well, then I guess it's down to bad drainage. ;) *goes to reread the story*

I really should make a pilgrimage to RI one of these days. I've lived in Lovecraft territory my whole life, starting in NYC (The Horror of Red Hook), then Vermont (I think The Whisperer in Darkness, the one about Newfane, VT), and now Boston (Pickman's Model and others) and, of course, Massachusetts in general. :)

my local favorite is elfego baca who at 19 declared himself deputy sheriff and rode off west of here to kick some texan ass that was messing with the hispanic locals. he lived a long and colorful life.

http://www.hiltonopen.com/Elfego0401.htm

a wpa interview with him http://www.hiltonopen.com/Elfego0401.htm

My favorite local legend is that of Didemy Gilliam, who came to Virginia during the reign of Elizabeth, married to a man who didn't survive long after dragging her deep into what was then the frontier.
This legend has legs from three hundred years ago, complicated by the fact there's a Didemy every generation or so in the family tree. The first one raised a fairly large family in the hills, the most notable being her firstborn, son of the man who brought her to America. He was a piece of work-Didemy doted on him and he ended up raping a local maiden. Her family took none too kindly to this, and lynched him. Native lynchings being what they were, instead of hanging, they chopped him up and scattered him over the mountains.
Didemy wanted him buried proper and entire, so she took to late-night wanderings, seeking out his remnants, then taking them home, preserving them in beeswax and stitching them together as she got enough parts.
Her lantern was seen by all, and all knew she was seeking her son's parts, and nothing was said of it, even as the practice continued well after his remains would have been eaten by animals or otherwise decomposed. In fact, all people saw of Didemy was her lantern off in the distance, as she wandered the mountains.
The story goes, after a harsh winter, Didemy was seen no more, just her lantern at night, and what she'd found of her son vanished from her root cellar.
To this night, you wander the mountains near Clinchco County at night, you'll see a bobbing light moving at the pace of an old woman, winding through the trees in the distance. You get close enough, you'll hear an old woman's voice reciting a list of body parts, though whether it's what she's found or what she lacks is unknown.
Hunters up the mountain add the further tidbit: you see the lantern, hide. It's not the wizened crone muttering her list that scares them so, but the shambling thing that follows, a patchwork monstrosity of flesh and thread that reeks of beeswax...

Black Volga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_volga)

In Britain we scare small children with tales of 'Milk Snatcher' Thatcher, an evil old woman of all our nightmares.

All of Kipling's Just So stories, I have a tape of them done by Jack Nicholson!! Makes them ever so much more enjoyable...:) I mean, common, hearing that nasally voice say the Limpopo River almost makes the entire series...

Apparently the Three Blind Mice was about her IIRC as was the Mary, Mary quite contrary rhyme.
"Mary, Mary quite contrary" was Mary Queen of Scots, a cousin to the Tudors. "Bloody Mary" was Mary Tudor, so-called because she killed a lot of Protestants. I had never heard of any connection to "Three Blind Mice". The story about the lady who slaughtered little girls to bathe in their blood (this would keep her youthful) is true, but it was countess Erzbeth of Hungary (of the Bathorty family, roughly contemporaneous with but not related to the Tudors).

Fionn MacCumhail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionn_mac_Cumhaill)

Local myths and legends...

I was going to say something about the Sewer Alligators around here, but I can't compete with all that supernatural stuff.

Ghostly Sewer Alligator?

"Mary, Mary quite contrary" was Mary Queen of Scots, a cousin to the Tudors. "Bloody Mary" was Mary Tudor, so-called because she killed a lot of Protestants. I had never heard of any connection to "Three Blind Mice". The story about the lady who slaughtered little girls to bathe in their blood (this would keep her youthful) is true, but it was countess Erzbeth of Hungary (of the Bathorty family, roughly contemporaneous with but not related to the Tudors).

Elizabeth Bathory probably did not actually kill young women and bathe in their blood. It was likely a fabrication designed to imprison her and take her holdings.

all I really have from my town is the story of the Monastery that the Grosvenor Centre was built upon of which subsequently caused a ghost monk to appear at night and clean the place (speaks volumes about the midlands :p)

Eh, at my hometown, we have some wacked out stories. Some people talk freely, others laugh if you ask them about it, and a few refuse to recount some of their stories.

It inolves some backwoods trails that run through the thick woods near a small town called "Vergas".

One story is of the "Hairy Man of the Trails". Multiple variations of the story exist, however after a bit research I came across the original telling of the story. In the 1950's, there was a group of teenagers who were driving through the trails when their car stalled. A man came along and killed them all, in a horrible, gruesome manner, and disappeared into the woods. He became a hermit, and he grew his hair gnarled and matted. Every now and then, people see a strange man walking through the trails. He lets out woops and howls, and chases after anyone whom he sees.

Another variation is that he killed his wife and kids(There's an abandoned house in the middle of the woods out there), and etc.

Another... idiotic... variation is that he is bigfoot. Of course, this isn't the original story at all, and only became attached after the Bigfoot craze of the 70's and 80's.

Then there is the Cemetary in the middle of the woods. It dates back a couple hundred years, and is smack dab in the middle of the woods(There is *barely* a trail leading up there, and it's almost impossible to drive to the location). Some have seen strange light floating about, others have seen candles light themselves on the gravestones(Who places the candles there? Nobody knows...), and still others tell stories of the gravestones "turning"(They face one way during the day, the other during the night). Finally, some rather nasty apparitions are said to haunt this place, and will chase down those who create mischief in their resting place.

Still other stories involve the Occult, which is apparently true. From what I hear from the Old-Timers there was some odd Satanic Cult that worshipped in the woods, with their compound an octagonal building, about 20 years ago or so. Some of those who dared get near this unholy place speak of animal sacrifice and mutilation, and conjurings of unholy beings.

The building burned down in the late 80's, but the strangest part is yet to come: The metal bolts and nails holding the building together had melted in the heat, yet much of wood used as supports remained intact and hardly scorched. What kind of fire could have melted metal, yet not scorched wood?

And more. Small towns are fun.

Elizabeth Bathory probably did not actually kill young women and bathe in their blood. It was likely a fabrication designed to imprison her and take her holdings.
I think she actually did. There were, after all, lots of people whose lands it would have been nice to steal, who did not get such stories told about them.

I think she actually did. There were, after all, lots of people whose lands it would have been nice to steal, who did not get such stories told about them.
I think she probably did a number of brutal murders as well, though the stories almost certainly have had drama added. The versions I've heard of it say that she was not imprisoned for the murders because, technically, there was no law to stop her from using the peasants under her control anyway she liked -- they were hers to murder. It was when she started making vague threats of witchcraft and/or poison against other aristocrats that her peers started demanding that something be done about her. I heard one version in which there was an allegation that she killed the daughter of a member of the gentry and that was the charge brought against her at last, but that account could be false -- just something cooked up to give the crown a reason to take action. However, all the versions agree that she could not be executed for murder because the Bathorys were related to the Hungarian throne, and no one of royal blood could be executed for a common crime. That is why there was no trial, and they just locked her away.

If her relatives or neighbors had just wanted to seize her property, there were a number of other ways they could have done it. What was done to her sounds like there was some very, very bad crime involved.

Don Pelayo (Pelagius of Asturias), our Asturian hero of course!:p

He was the founder of the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling from 718 until his death. He is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors, insofar as he established an independent Christian state in opposition to Moorish hegemony, but there is no strong evidence that he either intended to resuscitate the old Visigothic kingdom or was motivated by any religious desire.

The chief sources for Pelagius' life and career are two Latin chronicles produced in the kingdom he founded in the late ninth century. The earlier is the Chronica Albeldensia, written at Albelda towards 881, and preserved in the Codex Vigilanus with a continuation to 976. The later is the Chronicle of Alfonso III, which was revised in the early tenth century and preserved in two textual traditions, called the Rotense and the Ad Sebastianum, which diverge in several key passages. The only likely earlier sources from which these chroniclers could derive information are regnal lists.

Pelagius was a Visigoth nobleman, the son of Fafila. The Chronica Albeldensia states that this Fafila was a dux of Galicia who was killed by Wittiza. The Chronicle of Alfonso III calls Pelagius a grandson of Chindasuinth and says that his father was blinded in Córdoba, again at the instigation of Wittiza. Wittiza is also said to have exiled Pelagius from Toledo upon assuming the crown in 702. All of this, however is a late tradition.

According to the late tradition, Munuza, the Berber governor of Iegione (either Gijón or León), became attracted to Pelagius' sister and sent word to Tariq ibn Ziyad, who ordered him to capture Pelagius and send him to Córdoba. That Munuza's seat was at Gijón or León is sufficient to demonstrate that the Arabs had established their rule in the Asturias and that Pelagius was not therefore the leader of a local resistance to Arab conquest. Rather, Pelagius may have come to terms with the Arab elite whereby he was permitted to govern locally in the manner of the previous Visigoths, as is known to have occurred between Arab rulers and Visigothic noblemen elswhere, as in the case of Theudimer.

At some point Pelagius is said to have rebelled, but for what reasons is unknown and such rebellions by local authorities against higher ups was a common theme in Visigothic Spain. An army was sent against him under the command of Alkama and the Christian bishop of Seville, Oppa. That Alkama was the general and that there was a bishop of Seville named Oppa among his ranks is generally accepted. A battle was fought near Covadonga (in monte Asevua or in monte Libana) and Alkama was killed and Oppa captured. Moorish chronicles of the event describe Pelagius and his small force as "thirty wild donkeys." The battle is usually dated to 718 or 719, between the governorships of al-Hurr and as-Sham, though some have dated it as late as 722 and the Chronica Albeldensia mis-dates it to the 740s.

After royal election by the local magnates in the Visigothic manner, Pelagius made his capital at Cangas de Onís. His kingdom was centred on the eastern Asturias. He married his daughter Ermesinda to his eastern neighbour, Peter of Cantabria. Pelagius reigned for eighteen or nineteen years until his death in 737, when he was succeeded by his son Fafila.

He's also considered to be a saint (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5339) in these parts.

There's a bridge in Fairfax County (which is nearish to me) where, every Halloween, there is supposedly a madman dressed as a rabbit who kills people at the bridge. According to the legend, there used to be a lunatic asylum that was moving to a new building, two inmates escaped, one was found dead along with a bunch of dead rabbits. I believe he is called: the Bunnyman.

EDIT: Here we are, linky (http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/branches/vr/bunny/bunny.htm).

As for Bloody Mary:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/bloodymary.asp

That bastard Nain Rouge (http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/mi4.html)

Leave it to Detroit to have it's very own harbinger of doom.

I think she actually did. There were, after all, lots of people whose lands it would have been nice to steal, who did not get such stories told about them.

And who didn't have bodies found on the grounds and a strange lack of young maidens in the neighboring towns.

That bastard Nain Rouge (http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/mi4.html)

Leave it to Detroit to have it's very own harbinger of doom.

Based on my experience with Detroit, it's more likely there are about 100,000 of these guys running around.

Best known one from the Northeast U.S. would probably be Washington Irving's telling of Sleepy Hollow (the Headless Horseman).

Based on my experience with Detroit, it's more likely there are about 100,000 of these guys running around.

I'm convinced that Kwame Kilpatrick is the Nain Rouge....

This thread must continue. I'm stealing its ideas for Dungeons and Dragons scenarios.

This thread must continue. I'm stealing its ideas for Dungeons and Dragons scenarios.
Uh... How?

Uh... How?

Easily. The woman who sewed pieces of her son back together? That's going to be a Hallowe'en one-shot adventure for my local crew.

Sawney Bean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawney_Bean)

Murderer, cannibal, hard rock enthusiast. *Nods*

I have always liked the Iroquois tale about why Owl looks the way he does. It's also good for school because it teaches kids not the pester the teacher with needless questions. ;)

I seem to remember a LOT of stories about ghosts at UCSC.
I worked on a film by a graduate of UCSC who swore that she saw elves and they were real. It wasn't the acid, they were REAL.

It couldn't have been the acid she took for the first time.

Emperor Norton doesn't even have to be a myth to be a great dude to talk about.

I was going to say that. Emperor Norton rules.

In Niles (a district of Fremont, CA in the SF Bay Area) I heard people talk about the Niles Witch-there's a twisty dark road in Niles and if you pass a hitchhiker you're not suppose to look in your mirror because she'll be there in your back seat. I'm sure this is a variation of stories all over the place. When I first heard it I had a two seater sports car so I always joked that I was in the clear.

In Niles (a district of Fremont, CA in the SF Bay Area) I heard people talk about the Niles Witch-there's a twisty dark road in Niles and if you pass a hitchhiker you're not suppose to look in your mirror because she'll be there in your back seat. I'm sure this is a variation of stories all over the place. When I first heard it I had a two seater sports car so I always joked that I was in the clear.You .... never .... checked .... the .... TRUNK ....
damn, do you have to leave your dirty socks back here? Pewwww!

In Niles (a district of Fremont, CA in the SF Bay Area) I heard people talk about the Niles Witch-there's a twisty dark road in Niles and if you pass a hitchhiker you're not suppose to look in your mirror because she'll be there in your back seat. I'm sure this is a variation of stories all over the place. When I first heard it I had a two seater sports car so I always joked that I was in the clear.
My cousins and family used to scare me with that story when I was little. We always go by way of Niles Canyon to get to my Aunt's house for Thanksgiving and that means coming back through that spooky place in the dark...