Urban Legends Database

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One night a high school couple went to park on the grounds of a local state mental hospital. While they were parked, they heard on the radio of an escape from the hospital. The man who had escaped was very dangerous and identifiable from the hook where his hand should be.

At this point they decide to leave, but the car won't start. So the young man leaves to get help and leaves the terrified girl locked safely in the car. After a while she dozes off and is awakened by a knocking noise. She looks out to see, but sees nothing. This happens several times. Once again she is awakened by a knocking noise, but this time when she looks out, she sees a policeman knocking on the window.

She rolls down the window, and the policeman says, "Miss, get out of the car, but do not turn around." So she gets out of the car, immediately turns around, and sees her boyfriend hanging from the tree, with a hook through his neck, and his feet bumping the car roof.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hospital Deaths

Every Friday for several months, staff at Pelonomi Hospital in South Africa's Free State would find the occupant of a particular bed in the intensive care unit dead of unexplained causes. At first it seemed coincidental. Then doctors suspected a mysterious environmental disease, but they could find nothing. Finally, one Friday, a nurse observed the cleaning woman going about her weekly chores. The cleaning woman entered the ward, unplugged the life-support system beside the bed, plugged in her floor polisher, cleaned, replaced the life-support plug, and departed, leaving no trace of the cause of death.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I first heard this story in 1980 in North Wales. I believed it until I was told it again a matter of days later. It is usually told as happening to a friend or relative...

A young woman returns to her car from a day's shopping. She had parked her car in the town's multi-storey car park.

As she approaches the car she notices someone sitting in the back seat. She cautiously checks the registration plate to see if it is indeed her car, as it is a popular model and colour. The car is indeed hers, and as she gets closer she sees that it's an old woman sitting in the back seat.

The old woman replies that she had been shopping with her son and family but felt unwell and returned to the car to rest. She obviously had mistaken the young woman's car for her son's, as it was the same model and colour. The old woman then asks to be driven to a hospital, as she is still feeling unwell. The young woman agrees.

As she gets into the driver's seat something makes her very nervous about the stiuation and she asks the old woman if she is feeling well enough to direct her as she reverses the car out of the parking place. The old woman agrees, gets out of the car and proceeds to direct the reversing manoeuvre.

As soon as the young woman has the car out of the parking space she speeds out of the car park, leaving the old woman stranded. She then drives straight to the nearest police station and reports the incident.

A police officer then searched the car and found an axe concealed under the driver's seat.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's an email version of a well-traveled urban legend about Halloween. Who knows if it ever really happened? Who cares?

A couple was invited to a swanky masked Halloween Party. She got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone. He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed and there was no need of his good time being spoiled by not going. So he took his costume and away he went.

The wife, after sleeping soundly for one hour, awakened without pain, and as it was still early, she decided to go to the party. In as much as her husband did not know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him. She joined the party and soon spotted her husband cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every nice chick he could and copping a little feel here and a little kiss there.

His wife went up to him and being a rather seductive babe herself, he left his partner high and dry and devoted his time to the new stuff that had just arrived. She let him go as far as he wished; naturally, since he was her husband. Finally he whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to one of the cars and had a little bang.

Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make for his behavior.

She was sitting up reading when he came in and asked what kind of a time he had had. He said, "Oh the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you're not there."

He replied, "I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went into the den and played poker all evening. But I'll tell you... The guy I loaned my costume to sure had a real good time!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After telling "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Lights?" and discussing Bloody Mary, it was necessary to tell a few stories about the forces of good in order to sleep at night. Here is one I've heard dozens of times, always set at a different college depending on who was telling it. My southern friends said Ole Miss, my St. Louis friends said U of Missouri or Miami or Ohio...

On the campus of a small midwestern college there had been reports of several muggings and possibly a rape during one of the first weeks of spring. Everyone was one edge and heading the campus police's advice to not walk alone across campus at night. The fraternities had so kindly offered the service of escorting girls after dark, but the service only ran until midnight.

Sally was a sophomore at said university. She was miserably failing History 202 and spent a good deal of time at the library studying. One night she fell asleep atop her heap of books at table in the corner. When she awoke her watch read 1:03 a.m. Luckily (?) for her, a night janitor was there and let her out so she could make her way home.

Of course, Sally was petrified on her walk across campus. She clutched her books to her chest, walked briskly and prayed silently the whole way, "Oh, Lord, protect me. Place your angels around me. Oh, Lord, protect me. Place your angels around me." The trees took on scary shadows. Sometimes the echo of her own footsteps sounded like an other pair of footsteps. But she made it safely to the door of her dorm when she heard a blood curdling scream from behind her. She couldn't see, for the sidewalk bent through some trees, but it came from where she had just walked.

Sally ran inside and called the police. Since she placed the call and was the closest thing to a witness the police brought her down to the station. They apprehended the campus bandit, but they came too late that night. He had not mugged, not raped, but murdered a girl. It turned out he had been hiding in a bush, waiting for his next victim and attacked another girl walking alone who had come along about a minute and a half after Sally. Naturally, this was shocking news and Sally was very shaken. The police were a bit shocked when Sally asked if she could speak with the murderer, but they were curious and agreed.

An officer and a detective lead Sally back to the cell where the man, now shackled and in his inmates uniform, sat on his bed. He nodded at Sally as if he knew exactly who she was. Sally choked back the tears as she asked him the one question on her mind. "Why didn't you kill me?"

He replied, "How stupid do you think I am? Do you think I would attack a girl with two huge guys on her arm?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



	Urban Legends on this page: The Hook, Hospital Deaths, The Hairy Armed Hitchhiker, The Halloween Surprise, The Heavenly Bodyguards --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hook One night a high school couple went to park on the grounds of a local state mental hospital. While they were parked, they heard on the radio of an escape from the hospital. The man who had escaped was very dangerous and identifiable from the hook where his hand should be. At this point they decide to leave, but the car won't start. So the young man leaves to get help and leaves the terrified girl locked safely in the car. After a while she dozes off and is awakened by a knocking noise. She looks out to see, but sees nothing. This happens several times. Once again she is awakened by a knocking noise, but this time when she looks out, she sees a policeman knocking on the window. She rolls down the window, and the policeman says, "Miss, get out of the car, but do not turn around." So she gets out of the car, immediately turns around, and sees her boyfriend hanging from the tree, with a hook through his neck, and his feet bumping the car roof. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hospital Deaths Every Friday for several months, staff at Pelonomi Hospital in South Africa's Free State would find the occupant of a particular bed in the intensive care unit dead of unexplained causes. At first it seemed coincidental. Then doctors suspected a mysterious environmental disease, but they could find nothing. Finally, one Friday, a nurse observed the cleaning woman going about her weekly chores. The cleaning woman entered the ward, unplugged the life-support system beside the bed, plugged in her floor polisher, cleaned, replaced the life-support plug, and departed, leaving no trace of the cause of death. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Hairy-Armed Hitchhiker As told by Urban legend Member 98 of York, UK, 12/09/98... I first heard this story in 1980 in North Wales. I believed it until I was told it again a matter of days later. It is usually told as happening to a friend or relative... A young woman returns to her car from a day's shopping. She had parked her car in the town's multi-storey car park. As she approaches the car she notices someone sitting in the back seat. She cautiously checks the registration plate to see if it is indeed her car, as it is a popular model and colour. The car is indeed hers, and as she gets closer she sees that it's an old woman sitting in the back seat. She asks the woman how and why she is sitting in her car. The old woman replies that she had been shopping with her son and family but felt unwell and returned to the car to rest. She obviously had mistaken the young woman's car for her son's, as it was the same model and colour. The old woman then asks to be driven to a hospital, as she is still feeling unwell. The young woman agrees. As she gets into the driver's seat something makes her very nervous about the stiuation and she asks the old woman if she is feeling well enough to direct her as she reverses the car out of the parking place. The old woman agrees, gets out of the car and proceeds to direct the reversing manoeuvre. As soon as the young woman has the car out of the parking space she speeds out of the car park, leaving the old woman stranded. She then drives straight to the nearest police station and reports the incident. A police officer then searched the car and found an axe concealed under the driver's seat. The young woman had had a lucky escape! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Halloween Surprise! Here's an email version of a well-traveled urban legend about Halloween. Who knows if it ever really happened? Who cares? Contributed by Urban Legend member 34... A couple was invited to a swanky masked Halloween Party. She got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone. He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed and there was no need of his good time being spoiled by not going. So he took his costume and away he went. The wife, after sleeping soundly for one hour, awakened without pain, and as it was still early, she decided to go to the party. In as much as her husband did not know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him. She joined the party and soon spotted her husband cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every nice chick he could and copping a little feel here and a little kiss there. His wife went up to him and being a rather seductive babe herself, he left his partner high and dry and devoted his time to the new stuff that had just arrived. She let him go as far as he wished; naturally, since he was her husband. Finally he whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to one of the cars and had a little bang. Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make for his behavior. She was sitting up reading when he came in and asked what kind of a time he had had. He said, "Oh the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you're not there." Then she asked, "Did you dance much?" He replied, "I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went into the den and played poker all evening. But I'll tell you... The guy I loaned my costume to sure had a real good time!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Heavenly Bodyguards As told by Urban legend Member 21, 03/18/00... After telling "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Lights?" and discussing Bloody Mary, it was necessary to tell a few stories about the forces of good in order to sleep at night. Here is one I've heard dozens of times, always set at a different college depending on who was telling it. My southern friends said Ole Miss, my St. Louis friends said U of Missouri or Miami or Ohio... On the campus of a small midwestern college there had been reports of several muggings and possibly a rape during one of the first weeks of spring. Everyone was one edge and heading the campus police's advice to not walk alone across campus at night. The fraternities had so kindly offered the service of escorting girls after dark, but the service only ran until midnight. Sally was a sophomore at said university. She was miserably failing History 202 and spent a good deal of time at the library studying. One night she fell asleep atop her heap of books at table in the corner. When she awoke her watch read 1:03 a.m. Luckily (?) for her, a night janitor was there and let her out so she could make her way home. Of course, Sally was petrified on her walk across campus. She clutched her books to her chest, walked briskly and prayed silently the whole way, "Oh, Lord, protect me. Place your angels around me. Oh, Lord, protect me. Place your angels around me." The trees took on scary shadows. Sometimes the echo of her own footsteps sounded like an other pair of footsteps. But she made it safely to the door of her dorm when she heard a blood curdling scream from behind her. She couldn't see, for the sidewalk bent through some trees, but it came from where she had just walked. Sally ran inside and called the police. Since she placed the call and was the closest thing to a witness the police brought her down to the station. They apprehended the campus bandit, but they came too late that night. He had not mugged, not raped, but murdered a girl. It turned out he had been hiding in a bush, waiting for his next victim and attacked another girl walking alone who had come along about a minute and a half after Sally. Naturally, this was shocking news and Sally was very shaken. The police were a bit shocked when Sally asked if she could speak with the murderer, but they were curious and agreed. An officer and a detective lead Sally back to the cell where the man, now shackled and in his inmates uniform, sat on his bed. He nodded at Sally as if he knew exactly who she was. Sally choked back the tears as she asked him the one question on her mind. "Why didn't you kill me?" He replied, "How stupid do you think I am? Do you think I would attack a girl with two huge guys on her arm?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------