
Myths or legends are usually a collection of stories that have been recorded in some way after being passed down orally for centuries. Sometimes they are related to the relgions, sometimes it's folklore that has no connection to the rituals of the area they originate.
Stories passed down by generations through word of mouth can now be recorded and shared on the internet for people to read across the world. It's exciting, but also easy to get lost in translation as things shift away from their original mythology.
Some of these myths are quite strange but have stood the test of time and continue to be shared in their local communities over the years.
Reddit users shared some of the strangest they've heard from their own home countries.
Redditor adwiwon asked:
"What is the weirdest story/myth your country/religion has?"
Here's some bizarre myths and legends from all corners of the world.
Struwwelpeter, or "Shockheaded Peter."
"One of the weirdest is the one of the guy that chops off a kid's thumbs because it still sucks them."
"Who has no thumbs and don't care? ...him, I guess."
"Even weirder is, that this is from a book with several of such weird stories yet parents f*cking love reading them to their children."
"We truly are a weird bunch."
"Think about favorite nursery rhymes. Jack and Jill, Hansel and Gretel, etc. Most of them are about harm coming to children. I've always found it odd."
"If the point of the stories was to make children feel all warm and fuzzy, then yeah, it would be weird. But if the point is to warn children against potential dangers, like going to a stranger's house, walking through the woods alone, climbing hills alone, or to prevent undesirable behaviors like thumb sucking, it makes sense."
"My mom always told me that putting shoes on the table was bad luck. Turned out, she just didn't want shoes on her f*cking table."
The dog eating cereal with a spoon.
"In Monterrey, México, there's a creepy urban legend about a dog eating cereal with a spoon, and believe it or not, a lot of people are afraid of [it]."
Essentially what happened is a family came home and a little boy found a dog that has disappeared sitting at the table eating cereal with a spoon.
"It's so absurd that the sight of it drove a man mad. Now that's a story with a twist. It wasn't scary but so weird that it's depicted having the same effect as witnessing a Lovecraftian horror. Seeing the un-seeable, a dog eating cereal with a spoon."
This story was first seen on Facebook but was translated to English and posted on the Creepypasta Reddit page.
Johnny Appleseed.
"Johnny Appleseed is a trip.
"He wandered around planting apple seeds and the story talks about how he fed westward expansion. Except... apples from seeds? You're almost certainly not going to get an edible apple. You can make fermented hard apple cider from them, though..."
"He didn't feed expansion, he boozed it up. And this is a children's story!"
Astramancer_
"You forgot the part about how he wore a metal pot for a hat. While it sounds like a weird folksy embellishment, he really did wear one!"
PocketBuckle
"Appleseed was a die-hard Swedenborgian, a Christian offshoot that preached about living in harmony with nature, and a reason for why he never planted grafted trees -- essentially, it was forbidden to mess with nature. I recently read an account in a book that claimed that he once destroyed a pair of shoes because he inadvertently stepped on a living creature."
"The guy seemed to be a pretty genuinely good dude for the most part. He was pretty successful as a businessman (he often acquired the land he was planting his trees on as he traveled, but still tried to remain true to his ideals and certainly didn't travel in luxury."
"Well, he got apples for cider. He also did help spawn some of the more American varieties because he didn't graft but insisted on planting from seed, so the apple trees that survived were the ones better suited for the local climate. Most were crabapples, but there were enough sports/mutants with more desirable traits for edibility that were spread around with grafting."
Fragrant water.
"I grew up pretty close to this small town whose name means 'fragrant water' in my local language. How did that come to be, you say? Well well well I'm glad you asked."
"Apparently long long ago there's a king who's suspicious of his wife. He's all like gurl you're cheating, you gotta be! And the queen was like nooooo I'm not! I swear! But the king was not convinced, and kept accusing her. Eventually he decided that the queen is to be sentenced to death. Exasperated, the queen said, 'Fine, kill me. But then throw my body into this water right here and if I'm innocent the water will become fragrant.'"
"The king was like LOL yea right, go die now. /stab."
"Well, she died. But they humored her and threw her body into the, uh… river or lake or whatever. It's a body of water. Anyway, lo and behold, a strong flower fragrant starts wafting in the air, just as the queen said it would if she was innocent. The king fell to his knees, probably waving his fists to the clouds yelling a dramatic NoOoOooOoOO!!!"
"And then they named the town Fragrant Water. After this legend of a lady who died of sh*ttyhusbanditis, an extremely common disease back in the day. I'll let yall decide what message / lesson they're trying to convey by naming their town after this legend. Think before you stab your wives, I guess?"
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing smells is no basis for a system of government."
Harold Holt swept out to sea.
"In 1967, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Harold Holt, swam out to sea and was swept away. It was said that he was caught in a 'rip', and dragged out by the current. One of the biggest search operations took place in order to locate him, but was unsuccessful."
"His body has never been found, and this has generated a whole bunch of theories. But yeah, pretty weird. You can read more about it here."
"I want to emphasize that the fact Harold Holt went into the ocean and never came back is true, but the many theories on how he went missing range from plausible to pretty bloody unlikely and we will never really know what happened to old mate Harold. I also want to add that one of the ways we chose to honour our late leader was to name a f*cking swimming pool after him."
Groundhogs Day.
"Some groundhog crawls out of a hole and predicts the seasons."
"The Nacerima sure have weird rituals, huh?"
The original Maui.
"Not a local to New Zealand, but read about the myths the Maori use to tell that explained how things were. In particular, some revolved around a demi-god named Maui. Not Maui from Moana, the historical Maui. There's a lot of odd stories about him, but I'll recap my favourites. Of which I have 2 to mention."
"First, the story follows the villagers of Maui's group(?) to become mad, because according to the myth, a full day took 12 hours, instead of 24. Understandably, the villagers were pretty pissed off about it. So, Maui and his companions, including his brothers; set out to cross the ocean to find where the sun rises. They then PULL THE ENTIRE F*CKING SUN DOWN with hooks on ropes. Maui yells at the sun god to give his people longer days, or they'll keep him down forever. The sun complies and the gang leaves, now with 24 hour days."
"The next one isn't as mind blowing as the last, but still ridiculous. One day, Maui and his brothers go out on a waka (Wah-ka, basically; it's a polynesian canoe.) And head north, in search of fish. As according to my memory, there wasn't enough fish near the mainland. So they travelled out to sea, for a long while. Eventually, they came to a nice fishing spot and Maui used his hook to fish. (It should be noted at this point, Maui's trusty hook is actually made out of one of his grandfather's bones.) Eventually, Maui catches a stingray, but not just any stingray. The stingray was the size of the entire north island of New Zealand. Using only his hook and strength mind you. (Although, he was a demi-god, still that's pretty impressive.)"
"He pulls it up to the surface and admires his catch, he warns his brothers not kill the fish as he had to go and do something. (can't remember the something he had to do.) Of course, his brothers give into temptation and kill the gigantic stingray. Causing it's body to transform into an island, sprouting trees and forming mountains. Maui comes back and is pretty pissed off with his brothers. He then returns back home with his brothers and they argue a bunch (I think.) And according to Maori mythology. That's why the north island is shaped like a stingray. (For those who don't see it, Wellington is the head, New Plymouth is one of the fins, and Kaitaia is the tip of the barbed tail."
"Sorry for the long story, but I just found these two interesting enough to talk about. If you wanna hear more stories like this about Maui, do some googling. There are plenty more stories than those two."
These are some strange and some hilarious myths and legends that have been around for decades. They've stood the test of time and generations of story telling.
We don't think anyone who originally shared these myths expected to see them talked about on Reddit one day.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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