Why do we let scary stories and urban legends get under our skin? As an adult, it's easy to declare there's most certainly nothing in the closet or under our bed, but from the moment we hear that's where the monsters live we spend the rest of our lives flipping on the light in the closet "just to be sure." Something about urban legends serve, not as a story, but more of a warning.
Reddit user, u/nousernamesbeleft, wanted to hear something scary when they asked:
What are some scary urban legends you have heard of?
Built Into Our Code
season 1 GIFGiphySkin Walker. Something that pretends to be human, but isn't.
Also [apparently] there's this thing in humans that if we see something that resembles something too human we get uncomfortable, almost like our ancestors needed this evolutionary defense against something that could mimic humans.....
(Ps, there's a theory it could be defense mechanism against dead bodies, but it's not as spooky, so please ignore this)
Zero Evidence, Real Fear
Red rooms on the Dark Web.
There's no evidence that they ever happened, but the legends say they're livestreams of someone being held hostage, and they torture them live on camera. Viewers can interact and request certain things done to the victim.
Seriously Spooky.
This was kinda something that was just talked about in a pool of friends with me but here we go anyway:
So one day I was out in the woods with a couple of my friends and neighbors. My neighbors had to go back to their house for lunch so me and my friends decided to split up and look around the woods for some branches to build a fort out of. My friends went a little further out than I did, so I was waiting at the fort for a bit for them to come back when I heard rustling behind me.
I figured it was just a deer because there was and still are a ton of them in my area, so I just kinda ignored it, but I kept hearing it back and forth in what sounded like the same spot but getting closer each time, I tried to ignore it but I eventually turned around and I saw what looked like a person on all fours covered in moss and dirt, and then they ran away. Scared the Jesus out of me so I ran away, but yeah, never found out what it was. Had to text my neighbors that I had gone inside, my friends saw me sprinting up the hill to my house. Not super spooky but it gives me the chills to remember what it looked like.
not spooky? not spooky?? what the hell do you think is spooky???
What A Name.
My hometown had a man whose face was severely disfigured from an electrical burning; he lost his eyes, nose, and one ear.
He would take walks on a lonely stretch of road at night, as he was hesitant to go out during the day. He'd feel his way along with a walking stick. He was hit by cars more than once.
He was called Charlie no- face, or the green man for no apparent reason. People would go out on that stretch of road listening for the tap-tap of his cane, and offer him a cigarette if they found him during his walk.
Protect Your Bones
hungry homer simpson GIFGiphyNot sure this counts as urban legend because it was SUPER specific to where I grew up, but my elementary school had a big field for kids to play in during lunch and whatnot. On one side, right by the fence, there was a huge tree that someone had tied a bunch of chicken bones to, all up in the branches. So being small and having underdeveloped brains, all the kids believed those were children's bones and that if you went to the tree alone at night, a man would come out of the roots, eat you, and add your bones to the tree.
Every Country Has A Woman That Kidnaps Children, It Seems
Eight Feet Tall or "Hachishakusama" is a Japanese urban legend about a tall woman who abducts children. She is 8ft tall, wears a long white dress and makes a weird humming type of noise.
Sounds a lot like the old La Llorona legend in the Spanish speaking world. Creepy tall lady who goes around saying something like "mis hijos" which means my kids. According to legend she will take any children that she sees after dark.
Something That Can Get People Hurt In Different Ways
The one about gang initiations where the new guy has to kill someone. They get in a car at night, drive with headlights off. First motorist to flash their lights is the target.
A Story That Changes Your Behavior
The one that sticks with me is:
A woman is driving home at night down a dark back road. She passes a big eighteen wheeler, which swerves into the left lane behind her right after she passes and begins flashing its lights. She checks to make sure her brights aren't on (they aren't) and speeds up, thinking the truck driver must be angry with her. But he keeps riding her bumper, periodically flashing his lights.
Eventually, she pulls into her driveway, and the truck pulls right behind her, brights on full blast. The trucker runs up to the car carrying a loaded shotgun and fires into her backseat. She turns around and sees a dead man laying on her floorboards with a knife in his hand.
I don't get in a vehicle without checking the backseat (no matter how sure I am that I locked the doors) because of this old and infamous urban legend.
Nope, Nope, Nope, NOPE, NOPE
Embarrassed Hide Away GIFGiphySo this is an urban legend in my school's 4th floor bathroom. Basically a student walks into one of the stalls and does her business. Then a voice starts to whisper to her saying "respicite" over and over. She starts getting freaked out so she finishes up and leaves as fast as she could without looking back.
Then she tells the story to her very religious teacher who happens to be a good friend of hers. The girl mentioned the weird whispers and the teacher's face turned pale, because the word "respicite" is latin, and if translated into english, the voice was telling her to "look up" the whole time
There are rules in life where people are expected to just know how to operate without being told.
For instance, if someone falls down... help them.
When you like a sweater in a store... get money to buy it.
Just leaving with it won't go over well.
And there are more rules, or guidelines to adhere to...
Redditor christygl7 wanted to hear about what is expected in people's homes without words, so they asked:
"What's an unwritten rule in your household?"
If you have to pee... lift the seat cover.
The people in Port Authority always miss that one.
Routine
Cleaning Chores GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"Either my wife or I can do any chore when noticed. We thank each other for routine chores as we appreciate each other."
cwsjr2323
"That’s how my fiancée and I handle chores. Whoever’s around when the core needs to be done does the chore, typically. I find she does more regular cleaning of the whole apartment while I do more dishes and cooking."
radtech91
Trashed
"Replacing the trash bag IS PART OF taking out the trash."
UndiagnosedReptard
"Similar to this, in my house, the rule is if the toilet paper ended on your turn (or there’s barely enough for the next person) then it is your job to procure the next roll and put it in the bathroom. It is NOT acceptable to let it run out for the next person."
wavesnfreckles
"We have extra stored in every bathroom. I make sure of it. However, if it runs low/out on the roll, my wife will 100% of the time take the new roll and set it on top of the empty tube on the spindle, refusing to replace it. I actually called her over and shamed her into changing it in front of me the other night (not in an abusive way - we were both laughing about it)."
on_the_nightshift
Finder's Keepers
"If you find money in the laundry while you are doing the laundry, it's yours."
Rich1926
"Yep. My boyfriend learned that lesson the hard way when we first started living together. He had a bad habit of just crumpling up bills in a big wad in his pocket, usually just ones, but sometimes he accidentally leaves a twenty in there. I tipped myself the twenty. It took him a couple of days of trying to figure out where it went before I took pity on him and told him."
"He now both turns out his pockets and washes his own clothes. I still find the occasional single dollar in the dryer."
Head_Razzmatazz7174
Dropped something?
"If food is dropped on the floor it becomes the property of the dog. The dog knew this rule before we did."
Altruistic-Bit-9766
"That was one of the hardest things after our family dog died. Dropped something? Who cares! Riley will get it. But then he didn’t."
"Also, I don’t live at home anymore but coming home to him barking and crying out of excitement and greeting me always made my day and I looked forward to it every time I opened the door and could hear him wiggling in excitement on the side hahaha. It’s a little less exciting coming home now."
ohno807
Obligations...
Water Stay GIF by Kinda FunnyGiphy"If the water you take from the Brita pitcher leaves what’s left below a certain line, you are obligated to refill the pitcher on penalty of death."
halcyon3608
If you stay in my home and don't refill the Brita pitcher...
I'm setting your hair on fire at 3 AM!!!
Flushed
Go Away Pink GIF by HacklockGiphy"Check the toilet after you flush."
NANNYNEGLEY
"This. My brother-in-law never does this. It's annoying and disgusting! You don't want to clean up after yourself because you think it's gross? How do you think it makes me feel to clean up after you?"
purplestarsinthesky
WAKE UP!
"Wake someone up if their alarm goes off. It's a pretty weird one but setting up alarms is a conscious and deliberate decision for all of us and you want to wake up when it goes off, so we just help each other out."
DonMartiniMacaroni
"I'll do this a few times, but my roommate needs to learn not to hit snooze because he's taught his body that alarms don't need to be woken up to. I don't wake him up anymore. He started waking up to them."
stumblinbear
"I’ll wake them up because it annoys me when people snooze especially if I’m next to them in the bed and I don’t have to get up."
chill90ies
No Exceptions!
"Shoes off at the door. No exceptions."
Next-Dark-4975"
"Shoes-on people must not be using the same public bathrooms that I do. 100% of them have a lake of dirty urine in front of the urinal. They must also be amazing at finding two urine-free spots that are shoe-sized on the shores of said lake. It’s fine if they want to bring that into their homes. It’s not allowed in mine, though."
Bmadray
Table Manners
"No tech at the table."
"Even with a teenage daughter this has proved eerily easy; we all love food though!!"
"Also murder is out of the question, it is non-negotiable. If any of us kills another then they are outlawed in the true sense."
"Other than this, we are pretty cool."
Dante2005
Woof
Well Done Applause GIF by MOODMANGiphy"Let the dog out to go potty before you use the restroom. (Seriously, the dog is asking to go out and you think she can wait while you take a 30-minute poop first? Not cool.)"
InfiniteBackspace
Always let the dogs go first.
If you wait, you won't like the surprise they leave!
Sometimes we look at a product and think "who would buy that, and why?"
For me the "Flowbee" home haircutting tool comes to mind. If you're unfamiliar, it's a shaver you attached to your vacuum cleaner so you hair was pulled past cutting blades.
It was sold on late night infomercials in the 1990s.
Who wouldn't want to style their hair like this?
As fabulous as that looks, results did vary with most veering toward "yikes!" yet by 2000 the company reported 2 million were sold.
And *surprise* you can still buy one—for about $150.
It seems no matter how bad a product is, someone will buy it.
