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Dear readers and writers of horror and scary stories, let's discuss urban legends. They make for delightful frights in summer around the campfire. What are they? Where do they come from?
And who licks your hand when you let it hang off your bed at night? |
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Urban Legends
Urban legends make delightful frights told on mild summer nights around the campfire.
Urban legends are related to myths and folktales. Their origins are usually much older than what we think. Although there are some modern zingers.
Slenderman is from 2006. That one went right over my head. By the time I had found out about Slenderman, the fad was almost over.
Another modern urban legend is actually a feel-good story. During 9/11, a labrador who was a blind man's guide saved almost 1,000 people from one of the burning towers. He was awarded the first ever animal medal of valor by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
An older one also involves a dog. That one is old. The Licked Hand was written down the first time in 1871, but since it came from oral tradition, there is no way to tell how old it really is. To make it believable to modern audiences, it has received some updates in the setting. It goes like this. A young girl feels creeped out in the evening. She takes her dog into her room and makes him go to sleep under her bed. After a while, she wakes up and hears sounds of something dripping in her bathroom. Worried about the sound, she reaches under her bed and her dog licks her hand. She feels relief that the dog is there with her. The dripping sound persists. She reaches under the bed again, to be comforted by her dog as he licks her fingers. In the morning, she goes into her bathroom. Her dog has been decapitated and hangs over the bathtub. The dripping sound was his blood dripping into the bathtub. On the bathroom mirror, it says in blood, "Humans can lick too."
What makes urban legends so compelling to tell, to listen to, and so weirdly believable?
Anonymity makes them more believable. If your dad tells you a story, you can pretty easily figure out when he's pulling your leg. But if he says he heard from a neighbor who has a relative ... now you don't know who tells the truth anymore.
Familiar environments keep the stories vague enough so that anyone can envision them. You can tell by the Licked Hand story above that it would not be scary if it were told sounding like something medieval. But a girl who has a dog, a bed, and a bathroom ... now I'm pretty sure you know one. Maybe you have a bathroom too.
Some urban legends come with a declaration that the story is real. It will be presented like a warning. This really happened. To make it even more believable, it will have happened to a friend.
There will be just enough details to keep you glued to the storyteller's lips and your mind will want to believe what you hear.
And because they often include a disgusting detail or uncanny detail, they stick with us.
Be sure though that not all urban myths are just make-believe and intentionally negative so that you learn from it. You should absolutely not drink with strangers in a bar. Unless, that is, you want to wake up in a bathtub filled with ice cubes and a cellphone so that you can call 911.
What is the scariest urban legend you ever heard? or told? |
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Replies to my last horror/scary newsletter "Nature Monsters" Which nature monster really exists, according to your beliefs?
dragonwoman  wrote: Actually, spaceships may be able to cloak or vanish temporarily I think, so you wouldn't always see them!
Quick-Quill  wrote: I have been watching all the paranormal shows on Netflix. I loved the secret of skinwalker ranch, Mystery at Blind Frog ranch. Along with every show like them on the History Channel until they pulled them off and put them on Discovery+
Beholden  wrote: Thanks very much for including my story, Jimmy's Last Job, amongst the Editor's Picks.
Lilli 🧿 ☕  wrote: Great topic and info! These 'nature monsters' are always delightful to read about! Thanks for the trinket, too! What a view!
Scifiwizard Retired wrote: The prehistoric Megalodon shark.
s wrote: I've done a fair bit of study into ancient monsters and beliefs, as well as cryptids. What started as an assignment for a university degree back in the early 2000s has ballooned into a book in excess of 210k words with, I think, the majority of monsters from belief and legend included.
The only cryptids I believe in are misplaced animals - some (not all) of the big cat sightings in the Australian forests, kangaroos and wallabies in the UK and USA - because they were pets that were set loose and bred, and can often be traced back to their origins.
I believe in NOTHING else. The research I have done over the course of 19 years (and counting) has shown me that these are just beliefs and, as such, are just explanations of things not understood, misidentified or taken as truth because it fits in with the personal predilections of the believers.
And that's fine - believe what you want. Just don't tell me it's true because I hate laughing in people's faces.
Having said all that - the research has meant I have written some stories with some great monsters that no-one else knows about. It has opened up a whole plethora of possibilities in my horror writing, extending beyond werewolves, vampires, chupacabra and kaiju. Some awesome creatures that make for some really interesting stories.
So, no, I don't believe a thing, but I will use them to my heart's content.
LinnAnn -Book writer  wrote: Vulture Bees, found that on Google
Amyaurora  wrote: Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Wendigo
jolanh wrote: Sharp elbows I don't care if he/she/they exist but they are so epically evil
Mishipeshu: the underwater panther. Lizard cat anyone
Ahklut: wolf/orca hybrid. Hunt in packs, can walk on land or swim
Valraven: bad ass bird who transforms into a bird man with enhanced intelligence an fighting ability
elephantsealer wrote: According to my beliefs, Yetis are monsters that "really exist". I have not seen any but I have learned through reading that these monsters do exist. And I think I believe them to be bears, the big ones that roam the forests. I believe someone did see a Yeti, and because he/she did not know the name of the animal, he/she called it Yeti; which in the modern era maybe a BEAR!
ForeverDreamer wrote: Selkies. Selkies are fairy folk in Celtic legend. They are similar to mermaids. They look like seals when in the water. They shed their skins to turn into humanlike form.
The females are sometimes coerced into marriage by human men who find and steal the skin.
The males are prone to seduce human women.
TheBusmanPoet  wrote: The real monsters lie deep within a persons psyche/Id. The rest are just myths, legends and folklore IMO.
To some, the real monsters that live among us are in-laws.
Victoria Anne Emslie wrote: The only monsters are the ones in human form. Everything else is just fantasy or legend or long since dead. Wait ... wuuuut? With that username you don't believe in monsters?
Dragonfly wrote: Loch Ness type creatures, I don't think I'd call them monsters just living dinosaurs. I believe they are hiding deep in many bodies of water all over the world.
Anna Marie Carlson wrote: I believe that a nature monster really exists, according to my belief, is when a tree would be angry enough to reach out and grab you, scaring the heck out of you. This would be a nightmare in my opinion.
K2  wrote: Humans would be considered the monster. Would they not? We kill those who dis-earn trust and replace it with betrayal. "Kill," might refer to literal actions or maybe just killing their self esteem, confidence, happiness, mind set, control, etc. Humans are creatures of some sort that we may never truly understand. You will turn out to be something great or disastrous. It might feel like it is up to us but the true reality is that we are our own monsters and we can only help ourselves. That's what makes us selfish. |
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Horror/Scary: June 16, 2021 Issue [#10817]
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