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What are the real-life origins of urban legends? Why are there so many stories about babysitters in distress? And how did a real human corpse end up on display at an amusement park haunted house?
Erin (@erincmccarthy) breaks down the origins of the Mothman and the Goatman, along with some scary stories you probably heard at a sleepover at some point in your life.
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The Real Origins of 15 Urban Legends | Mental Floss
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0:00
In the not-too-distant future, director Nia DaCosta will be ushering in a new version of
0:04
Candyman, the popular 1992 horror hit about a vengeful spirit who is summoned by saying
0:09
his name five times. In one of the movie's most terrifying scenes, the villain bursts
0:14
through a medicine cabinet in the bathroom to attack his victim. While Candyman himself
0:18
isn't an urban legend—the character is based on a short story by Clive Barker—the
0:22
idea of a killer attacking you through a bathroom mirror is rooted in fact. In 1987, a woman
0:28
named Ruth McCoy was killed when a burglar crawled through a false wall behind her medicine
0:31
cabinet, which was put there to make it easier to assess plumbing issues in the Chicago Housing
0:36
Authority project. Like many famous modern myths, there can be a good deal of truth in
0:40
the fiction. Whether intentional or a strange coincidence, two of the characters in the
0:45
1992 film actually shared the last name McCoy with the real-life victim
0:49
Hi, I'm Erin McCarthy, and we're taking a look at the origins behind some of the most
0:52
popular urban legends in this episode of The List Show. The List Show. The List Show. Okay
0:59
I'm done
1:08
Urban legends are supposed to be disturbing—the kind of thing you tell your teenaged friends
1:12
under a sofa cushion fort at a sleepover. Naturally, a lot of them revolve around killers
1:17
And since a lot of teenagers take on babysitting jobs for friends and family, it's not surprising
1:22
that one of the most disturbing urban legends involves a killer targeting this vulnerable
1:26
demographic. For decades, stories have circulated about a babysitter home alone who receives
1:31
harassing phone calls. When the call is finally traced by police, the babysitter is horrified
1:36
to discover it's coming from inside the house. While that exact scenario doesn't seem to
1:40
ever have been documented, there have been unsettling reports of babysitters being assaulted
1:44
In 1950, 13-year-old Janet Christman was killed by an intruder while babysitting in Columbia
1:49
Missouri. Police suspected a man who had been friends with the family of the three-year-old boy she was watching, but he was never charged. The legend probably picked up steam because
1:57
it struck a psychological chord. The 1970s was an era of women's liberation, and some
2:02
argue that the idea of a man lurking out of sight was, in a way, a rejection of that new
2:06
paradigm. You could consider it anti-feminist propaganda, but either way, being a babysitter
2:11
meant being alone in a strange house. It was a relatable fear
2:15
If you like killer animal mashups, there's the Goatman, a purported half-man, half-goat
2:20
fond of devouring dogs and attacking people in Prince George's County in Maryland
2:24
While the Goatman had been whispered about for years, he got an explosion of publicity
2:28
in 1971 after a reporter named Karen Hostler delivered a one-two punch lending credibility
2:33
to his existence. In a Halloween article, Hostler passed along research from state folklore archives that
2:37
presented the Goatman as a former researcher at the Beltsville Agricultural Farm who experimented
2:42
on goats. One day, he lost his mind and ran into the woods, growing his hair long and attacking
2:48
cars that passed by. Just two weeks later, Hassler reported on a family that awoke to the sounds of what
2:53
they later described as a two-legged animal on their property that was howling and squealing
2:58
The next day, the family found their dog, Ginger, decapitated. Then people reported seeing an animal walking on its hind legs near Fletchertown Road, where
3:05
poor Ginger was found. From that point on, teens in Maryland learned to fear the goat man
3:11
And no urban legend rundown is complete without mention of the Mothman a strange creature who purportedly terrorized West Virginia in the 1960s This winged menace was spotted numerous times including by a gravedigger and two couples sitting in a car in 1966
3:26
They described it as having bright red eyes and a massive wingspan ten feet long. Both
3:30
sightings took place in a small community named Point Pleasant, and the Mothman myth
3:34
has persisted ever since. The truth? Eyewitnesses might have seen a sandhill crane, which is
3:39
nearly as tall as a human, and has bright red flesh around its eyes. Not the kind of
3:44
Same thing you want to see late at night, but probably not mortal danger either
3:47
After all, the birds live on grains and small animals. The only problem with this explanation is that sandhill cranes aren't all that common
3:53
in the area. Not all tales of killers result in people dying
3:57
Sometimes it's the near misses that prove to be effective stories. In one urban legend, a person wakes up in response to some strange noises
4:04
As they let their hand dangle at the bottom of the bed, they feel a reassuring lick from their family pet
4:08
The next morning, the pet is found dead, and a note reads, Humans can lick too. This O'Henry-esque twist ending dates back as far as 1871
4:17
when a story made the rounds in England about a jewel thief who hid under a bed and licked
4:21
the hand of the homeowner so he wouldn't get up to investigate. Another near-Miss urban legend
4:25
involves a driver who is seemingly harassed by a car following hers. When she finally stops
4:30
it turns out the other driver was trying to warn her of a killer hiding in the back seat
4:34
It's actually hard for murderers to try and hitch a ride in a back seat without being seen
4:38
but this story does have some basis in reality. In 1964, an escaped murderer hid in a car
4:44
In a twist, the car belonged to a police detective who shot the criminal
4:49
Ever hear the one about the haunted house that left a real corpse on display? You're probably
4:53
not going to find a dead body at your local haunt, but if you were a crew member on The
4:57
Six Million Dollar Man in 1976, you would have realized that this was no myth. A man working on
5:02
the show was setting up a sequence at a fun house at the New Pike Amusement Park when he tried to
5:07
adjust what he thought was a fake corpse. As the LA Times put it, quote, a technician moved it
5:12
and an arm fell off. It was the arm and the body of Elmer McCurdy, an outlaw who was shot by
5:18
authorities after a train robbery in 1911 and then embalmed in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Elmer's body was
5:24
then taken on tour. At the time, it was common for people to want to see the corpses of famous
5:29
criminals. Eventually, McCurdy got mixed up with some wax dummies and wound up in Long Beach
5:33
California, where he became a macabre prop. He was given a proper burial in Oklahoma in 1977
5:39
The Six Million Dollar Man was a big hit in the 1970s, and so was Mikey, the star of the
5:44
Life serial commercials where it's declared that a picky child approves of the serial. Soon, word
5:49
spread that Mikey had succumbed to a dangerous combination of soda and the effervescent candy
5:54
Pop Rocks. The rumor grew so widespread that in 1979, the mother of child actor John Gilchrist
5:59
who played Mikey, got a condolence call from a stranger. The story likely stemmed from schoolyard
6:04
discussions about Pop Rocks, which were fizzy, carbonated candy, and how eating them seemed
6:09
dangerous. It wasn't, but the story was so widely believed that it seriously damaged sales of the
6:14
candy. General Foods, which owned Pop Rocks, even begged John Gilchrist's parents to let him film
6:19
a commercial letting people know he was still alive. But they refused. The grisly story continued
6:24
for years, and all the negative publicity forced General Foods to discontinue Pop Rocks soon after
6:29
They have made a comeback, however, in case you'd like to test this theory out for yourself
6:34
For some reason people just can get enough of urban legends about food causing living creatures to explode For years couples planning their wedding have been warned about not throwing rice at the ceremony because birds will be tempted to eat it causing them to blow up That can actually happen Rice
6:49
whether it's cooked or uncooked, poses no threat to birds. But Connecticut state legislator
6:53
Mae Schmeidel tried to introduce a bill in 1985 that would ban rice throwing. She called
6:58
the bill an act prohibiting the use of uncooked rice at nuptial affairs, and insisted birds
7:03
can't digest uncooked rice. Schmeidl said ministers had told her they found dead birds
7:07
after weddings, victimized by innocent rice celebrations. The myth was repeated in Ann
7:13
Lander's advice column. In 2002, a project conducted by a biology professor at the University
7:18
of Kentucky tested this theory and found that while rice expands in size by 33 percent when
7:22
soaked, bird seed expands by 40 percent. Since your bird feeder isn't surrounded by detonated
7:28
birds, rice is probably fine. The professor even fed rice to birds and noted no adverse effects
7:34
From birds to…well, more birds. Have you ever heard about the munchkin who is believed to have taken his own life on
7:40
the set of 1939's The Wizard of Oz? People who watched the movie would swear they could see a shadowy figure as Dorothy and
7:46
her new friends stroll along the yellow brick road. There is something a little off in the background, but it's not a dead munchkin
7:52
Because the movie was shot on an indoor set, filmmakers allow birds to roam around to give
7:56
it more of an outdoor feel. That strange figure is almost certainly just a bird hanging out and spreading its wings
8:02
For years, gamers have traded stories about a strange arcade game titled Polybius. The
8:07
all-black machine was said to be a CIA operation meant to study players or even induce strange
8:12
physical effects. Sort of like MKUltra, the infamous mind control experiment, only this
8:17
time with pixels. Polybius never existed, that we know of. But elements of the story are true. In Portland
8:23
in 1981, a video game player at an arcade contest drank too much soda and got sick during
8:28
a 28-hour marathon gaming session. A few days later, news reports appeared saying federal authorities had raided Portland arcades
8:35
to seize cabinets that had been declared gambling devices. There was even an East German arcade machine a few years later called Polyplay, and some
8:42
versions of the story credit Polybius to a mysterious German firm. Put all these elements together and you have a recipe for urban legend success
8:50
If you're a Beatles fan, you've probably had a discussion at some point about whether Paul McCartney died all the way back in 1966
8:56
That's because a rumor persisted that McCartney had perished in an automobile accident, and
9:00
the rest of the group, fearing they'd be finished without him, hired a lookalike as
9:04
a replacement, then left subtle clues in future albums hinting at McCartney's actual fate
9:09
The cover to 1969's Abbey Road, for example, features Ringo Starr dressed in black, like
9:14
a pallbearer. McCartney is in bare feet because he's actually dead. According to conspiracy theorists, this was common burial practice in England at the time
9:22
What started this theory as unknown, but Beatles scholars have a good idea of how it spread
9:26
In 1969, a college sophomore named Tim Harper wrote a story for the Times' Delphic, Drake
9:31
University's college newspaper, laying out the theory. It was based on a rumor Harper
9:36
had heard from a friend who had heard it from some traveling musicians. It's possible
9:39
the rumor picked up momentum because the Beatles broke up in 1970, and fans wanted to believe
9:44
it was for a reason other than the fact that the group just wasn't getting along anymore
9:48
The more famous you are, the more urban legends tend to circulate about you. And few people
9:53
have had more tawdry rumors about them than Fred Rogers the late and very much missed host of Mr Rogers Neighborhood In the most persistent urban legend about Mr Rogers it said that he was a Navy SEAL or possibly a military sniper with confirmed kills The reason he favored long
10:08
sweaters was supposedly to cover up his numerous tattoos. That's almost as silly as picturing Dr. Ruth Weistheimer, the amiable sex therapist and
10:16
media personality, as a trained sniper who was seriously wounded in a bomb blast. Or Julia
10:21
child serving in the Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA during World War II
10:27
Except, both of those stories are actually true. Maybe that's why some people had no
10:31
trouble believing Fred Rogers also had a secret military past. In fact, Fred Rogers was a sharpshooting Marine. But it was a different Fred Rogers
10:39
According to the screenwriters behind the recent Fred Rogers biopic, that Rogers used FredRogers.com for his security business for a brief period of time
10:47
and that's likely what led people to confuse the two Freds. Some of the most effective urban legends take familiar things and give them a sinister connotation
10:55
And while you may not have warm feelings about sewers, it is disturbing to think alligators
10:59
might be lurking in them. This scenario stems in large part from writer Robert Daly's 1959
11:05
book, World Beneath the City. In it, Daly describes an eyewitness account from Teddy May
11:09
who was New York City's superintendent of sewers. According to May, sewer workers have
11:13
been telling him about alligators as far back as 1935, but he didn't believe them. Eventually
11:18
May went down to see for himself, and spotted several alligators averaging 2 feet in length
11:22
They appeared to be quite content, according to May. It was later said that he was prone to tall
11:27
tales, so it's a bit hard to separate gator fact from gator fiction. Though there are reliable
11:32
accounts of the occasional alligator in the sewer, according to the New York Times, New York's
11:37
Animal Care and Control rescues 2 to 4 alligators, crocodiles, or caemans a year, but they're usually
11:42
above ground. The bacterial load of your average sewage system makes it pretty inhospitable to
11:47
alligator life. Beware, though. Some animals have been known to crawl through plumbing
11:51
and into residential toilets. Rats are particularly adept at this, which is good information to
11:57
have if you never want to be able to go to the bathroom in peace for the rest of your life
12:01
Finally, some kids and their parents had second thoughts about temporary tattoos when it was
12:05
rumored that some of the stickers were spiked with LSD. Adults were warned about tattoos
12:09
that feature blue stars or cartoon characters. This urban legend was prevalent in the 1980s
12:15
But the concept of contaminated sticky stuff goes back to at least the 19th century
12:19
In 1885, The Lancet gave an account of a man who habitually took large quantities of morphine
12:24
One day, the opiate enthusiast licked the adhesive surface of an envelope and sent it off
12:29
The recipient, for what I'm sure were very good reasons, opened the envelope and then
12:33
decided to lick it shut again. As The Lancet described it, quote, "...the mere touch of the tongue of the taker of morphia had rendered the gum intensely nauseous
12:42
If this could happen, obviously there must be grave peril of the transmission of disease
12:46
by such means. Many years later, police warnings over blotter acid mentioned kids could be susceptible
12:52
This was misinterpreted to mean that kids have been exposed to acid. To date, no one with a temporary Care Bears tattoo has ever been unknowingly dosed with
12:59
LSD, though watching the cartoon might make you feel like you have
13:03
Our next video is all about cryptids, animals which people claim exist despite a lack of proof
13:08
Think Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the like. If you know about a cool creature of dubious veracity, let us know about it in the comments
13:15
for a chance to be featured in that video. And remember to check out Mental Floss every Wednesday for new videos
13:20
We'll see you soon
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