Topic: Urban legends

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Montauk Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Montauk Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

At the eastern end of Long Island’s southern point, there is an abandoned air force base. In the base sits an enormous radar dish. The dish, which had been installed by the government many years ago, was intended to provide warning of incoming Soviet threats from the Atlantic during the height of the Cold War. But as is the way with such things, as technology advanced, the dishes were rendered obsolete, and the site was closed in 1969. The area, called Montauk Point, has since become a public park.

But the radar dish is still there. And there are… stories. Tales of something going on, something bigger than the ghosts, real or metaphorical, that haunt every abandoned air force base and army site. Because you see, the experimentation with electromagnetic shielding hadn’t ended with the Philadelphia Experiment. It continued. And that continuation was known as THE MONTAUK PROJECT. More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: Ghostwatch

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: Ghostwatch

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted, Paranormal State, Ghost Adventures… These days, television is full of paranormal programming that purports to track ghostly phenomena, and each and every one of them swears up, down, left, and right that they’re the real deal. But in 1992, these types of shows were far from the norm. So when the BBC decided to air a 90-minute special on Halloween that claimed to be a live, on-air investigation of ongoing poltergeist activity at a house in Northolt, a neighborhood in west London, the public’s reaction was a great deal less jaded than our own would have been—especially given how the tragic events of the night unfolded. The program was called GHOSTWATCH, and it would go down in history as one of the BBC’s biggest mistakes. More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Black-Eyed Children

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Black-Eyed Children

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

On January 16, 1998, a journalist named Brian Bethel posted a message to a ghost-hunting newsgroup prefaced with the following text:

“Ghosters:

Well, believe it or not, the Ram Page follow-up still languishes unfinished on my hard drive. I don’t know when I’ll have it done, and I’ll probably have to break it up into multiple posts to get it in any way manageable. Patience, I pray.
But since a lot of people seem to be requesting this one, here’s some info on those darned black-eyed kids.
I’ve just woken up from a mega nap. It’s 1 a.m. I’ll never get to sleep again. So why not write, eh? I guess I was exhausted from too many forays onto Sixth Street in Austin at my reporting conference.

Enjoy. Or whatever.”

Whatever the Ram Page follow-up was has been lost to history; but the important part is that second paragraph. This, you see, was the beginning of the legend known as THE BLACK-EYED CHILDREN.
More »

Exclusive: 10 Probable Reasons Why Nickelodeon Banned ‘Cry Baby Lane’

Exclusive: 10 Probable Reasons Why Nickelodeon Banned 'Cry Baby Lane'

On October 28, 2000, Nickelodeon aired an original movie as part of its seasonal Halloween SNICK line-up. Based on an old Ohio urban legend, the movie was called Cry Baby Lane. But after its initial airing, Nickelodeon was hit by an onslaught of parental complaints deeming the movie far too disturbing for a children’s network. The film was buried: It was never re-aired, and it was never released on video or DVD. But never fear! We here at Crushable managed to get our hands on a copy. As we sat down to watch it, we had only one question: Just what about it was so awful to result in Cry Baby Lane being banned? Sit back and make yourselves comfortable, because have we got some theories for you! (SPOILERS, of course.) More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Dybbuk Box

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Dybbuk Box

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

In June of 2003, an auction appeared on eBay. This (naturally) was not an unusual occurrence. Nor, at first glance, was the object up for auction itself unusual: A small wooden cabinet, old, measuring 12.5″ x 7.5″ x 16.25″, intended for the storage of wine. The contents of the box, however, were somewhat less mundane: Inside the box were two locks of hair, one granite statue, one dried rosebud, one goblet, two wheat pennies, one candlestick– and one dybbuk (alternately spelled “dibbuk”), a malevolent spirit believed in Jewish folklore to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. Thus, the item’s name: THE DYBBUK BOX. More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Holders Series

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Holders Series

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

In any city, in any country, there’s a mental institution or halfway house where certain Objects wait. There were once 2,538 of these Objects, but 2,000 were lost.

They are kept by THE HOLDERS, and the remaining 538 must never come together. Ever. More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Indian Lake Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Indian Lake Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

On July 9, 1997, a metal box was discovered in a wooded area around Indian Lake in upstate New York. The box had clearly been buried for some time; it was only found after a hiker tripped over an exposed edge which had worked its way free from the ground. The lid of the box was decorated with three shapes– an upside-down triangle and two circles– and had no lock. Inside, the hiker found 21 photographs with varying degrees of water damage, three reels of 8mm film, and an assortment of documents. The photographs largely depicted children, and the documents indicated that these children had been part of a government-run experiment between the years of 1952 and 1955. The experiment was known as:

THE INDIAN LAKE PROJECT More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Eon 8 Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Eon 8 Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

You find a timer. It’s counting down. You don’t know why, and you don’t know what to. But something is going to happen when that timer hits zero– and it won’t be good. So what do you do? Take a look inside the event that most call:

THE EON 8 PROJECT More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: Tales of the Silver Screen

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: Tales of the Silver Screen

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

When it comes to unsettling stories, a little truth goes a long way. Something can be 99 percent false, but if there’s one little bit of reality somewhere within it, it immediately becomes terrifying. You know it’s fiction… and yet, there’s a little tiny voice niggling at the back of your mind telling you that it could be true, that it could happen to you. Nowhere is this more powerful than in movies. This Friday, Super 8 joined the collection of cinematic tales floating around out there that manage to capture something in its footage that maybe– just MAYBE– could be real. In honor of it, let’s play a little game this week: I’ll tell you a few tales; you guess what they are. They’re all stories you’ll know, if you dig deep enough in that place in your brain that locks away the things that frighten you. Ready? Here we go… More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Rake

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Rake

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a new series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

What is it about creature features that fire the imagination? Keep your fancy technology, your haunting soundtrack, your stunning special effects; what we come back to time and time again is the idea of the monster hiding under the bed, or lurking in the closet, waiting until we are at our most vulnerable to strike. The unseen is more effective than the seen for the simple reason that the unknown is scary. Then, when you finally DO get a first glimpse at the creature you thought couldn’t exist, it’s all the more chilling. This week, let’s visit a creature I like to call:

THE RAKE More »

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: The Marble Hornets Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: The Marble Hornets Project

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t is a new series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.

Well, well, well. Back for more, are we? Let’s see what I’ve got for you this time. How does the tale of a filmmaker driven mad by his work sound? What if I told you that his work was floating around out there, ripe for the viewing by unsuspecting Internet users? And what if I told you that we haven’t quite seen the last of our friend Slender Man? Shall I go on? Welcome to:

THE MARBLE HORNETS PROJECT More »

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