11 Spine-Chilling Urban Myths That Turned Out to Be Real

Urban myths—those eerie, unverified tales of terror that fuel our imagination with increasingly sinister details each time they’re told—have existed for ages. While the internet has certainly sped up the spread of these stories, humans have been swapping spooky yarns for centuries. Psychologists argue that we’re drawn to these stories because of our morbid curiosity and our love for gossip. Combine those two elements, and it’s a mix too compelling to resist.

Urban myths often come with a healthy dose of skepticism. (For the record, no, there has never been a killer with a hook hand stalking couples.) But every now and then, these chilling tales turn out to be based in reality. Take a look—maybe under the covers, flashlight in hand—at these 11 terrifying stories that actually took place.

Toilet Bowl Rats

You stumble into the bathroom at 3 a.m. to use the toilet. Half-asleep, you lift the lid and take your position. Suddenly, you hear splashing. Flicking on the light, you lock eyes with a rat staring up from the bowl. From that moment on, you’ll never be the same.

Tales of animals lurking in sewers have long been part of urban legend, with one of the most popular being about baby alligators being flushed down toilets, only to grow into giant adults in the pipes. These stories are most often tied to New York. (It’s not true. While alligators and crocodiles have been discovered in New York, they’re typically abandoned and found above ground, and it’s believed that New York’s cold climate makes it hard for them to survive long-term.) But finding a rat in your toilet, mere inches away from your most vulnerable spots, is a unique kind of homegrown horror—and it’s something that can actually happen.

Toilet drain pipes typically measure three inches or more in diameter, which is more than enough room for a rat to squeeze through. These creatures are drawn to sewage pipes because of undigested food in waste and can travel through the pipes until they emerge into your bathroom. And yes, rats can be a bit testy after making their journey. One such rodent bit the rear of a woman in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1999. In Seattle, it’s a common enough issue that public officials have even issued guidelines on what to do if you find yourself face to face with one (close the lid and flush).

Cropsey

For years, children living around Staten Island shared the chilling story of “Cropsey,” a boogeyman who roamed the woods and had a notorious habit of disemboweling children. Parents likely soothed their kids’ anxieties by assuring them there was no such monster lurking in the shadows.

But he did. In 1987, Andre Rand was put on trial and found guilty of a child abduction. It soon became apparent that Rand may have been involved in a string of child disappearances in the 1970s. At one point, he had worked at Willowbrook, a now-closed mental institution. Though he denies any connection to the other cases, it's clear that his actions had a profound impact on the rumors and stories that circulated afterwards.

The Leaping Lawyer

Sooner or later, the residents of Toronto will hear the strange story of a lawyer who had an unusual habit of running headlong into his office windows to demonstrate their strength. But this eccentric practice eventually caught up with him—he crashed into the window and fell to his death. This odd hobby was actually part of the routine of Garry Hoy, a senior partner at a local law firm in an office on the 24th floor. On July 9, 1993, Hoy attempted his signature stunt in front of some visiting law students. The glass finally gave way, sending him plummeting to his death. In a eulogy, managing partner Peter Lauwers referred to Hoy as “one of the best and brightest” at the firm.

The Body Under the Bed

Vacationing couples. Newlyweds. Disneyland visitors. All are part of an unsettling urban legend about hotel guests who fall into a peaceful sleep, only to awaken to a horrifying stench coming from either under the bed or within the mattress. Upon further inspection, they discover a dead body hidden there. And, of course, it's never someone who passed away from natural causes.

This chilling tale has been confirmed several times over. Numerous newspaper articles have described hotel rooms used as disposal sites for corpses. While the odor usually becomes noticeable immediately, at least one couple in Atlantic City in 1999 unknowingly slept on a mattress containing a body. Similar incidents have been reported in Colorado, Florida, and Virginia.

In 2010, guests at a Budget Lodge in Memphis were shocked to discover they had been unknowingly sleeping above the body of Sony Millbrook, a missing person. To mask the scent, fabric softener was stuffed into the ceiling tiles. At least three other guests had rented the room since Millbrook’s disappearance. Eventually, a court convicted her boyfriend, LaKeith Moody, for the crime.

The Maine Hermit

For years, visitors to central Maine’s North Pond area were baffled by items going missing—batteries, food from cabins, and even flashlights from camping tents. Whispers began to circulate that a mysterious, permanent resident of the area was foraging for sustenance and supplies.

They were right. For 27 years, Christopher Knight lived in isolation in the woods, silently observing hikers, canoeists, and other transient visitors. When he was confronted by a game warden in 2013, Knight admitted to committing around 40 robberies each year. Despite the dismissive comments from family and friends who scoffed at the notion of a hermit hiding in the woods, his identification proved that someone had been watching—and waiting—for almost three decades.

Candyman

Released in 1992 (and reimagined in 2021), Candyman—based on a short story by Clive Barker—continues to be a terrifying tale of revenge carried out by a Black artist (Tony Todd) murdered in the 1890s for having a relationship with a white woman. While it’s unlikely you can summon him by chanting his name in front of a mirror, the chilling concept of a killer emerging through a medicine cabinet actually has a basis in reality.

In 1987, the Chicago Reader published a story about Ruth McCoy, a woman living in a Chicago housing project, who made a desperate call to 911, claiming she was being attacked in her apartment. Responders later found her dead from gunshot wounds. Investigators concluded that the killers had gained access to her apartment by breaking through the adjoining unit’s wall and climbing in through her medicine cabinet. The building was designed with this feature so plumbers could easily access pipes by removing the cabinet. It eventually became a common method for burglars—and in McCoy’s tragic case, her murderers.

The Fake Cop Ruse

You may have heard a concerned parent or friend warn you about individuals pretending to be police officers, using their supposed authority to prey on unsuspecting victims. While it’s rare for these impostors to wear full uniforms or drive marked vehicles, there have been numerous incidents where criminals have posed as law enforcement. In Bloomington, Illinois, a man used flashing lights to pull a vehicle over. When he approached the car, he attempted—but failed—to overpower the driver, who managed to escape. In Fayetteville, Georgia, a man dressed in a uniform stopped a teenage boy riding his bike and forced him to empty his pockets. Later, while talking to actual police officers, the boy mentioned that a second car had pulled up, with a man matching the description of someone who had been caught impersonating an officer two weeks earlier.

The Legend of the Bunny Man

If you lived in or around Virginia during the 1970s, you were likely familiar with the legend of the Bunny Man. According to the tale, an escaped mental patient began by gutting bunnies and hanging their remains from a bridge underpass. Over time, the man was said to escalate, eventually killing and hanging teens in a similar fashion. Locals were warned to stay far away from the underpass, which became infamously known as 'Bunny Man Bridge,' particularly on Halloween night.

This story likely originated from a very real, frightening incident involving a madman in the area. In October 1970, a couple reported encountering a man wearing a white suit and bunny ears, who shouted at them for being on private property. To emphasize his point, he threw a hatchet at their windshield, shattering it. Two weeks later, a second sighting occurred when a security guard witnessed a man with a hatchet attacking a porch railing. Despite efforts from the police, the man was never found. Although he didn’t harm anyone, the unsettling image of an adult wielding a hatchet and wearing bunny ears is chilling enough.

The Legend of Polybius

Vintage video gamers have long shared tales about a strange arcade game from the early 1980s in Portland called Polybius. The game was rumored to cause feelings of dizziness, memory loss, addiction, and even suicidal tendencies in players. The machine’s cabinet was said to be entirely black, and mysterious men would occasionally visit the arcades to collect data from the machine before vanishing. Was this all part of a CIA experiment, a byproduct of MK Ultra, the infamous study on psychoactive drugs conducted on unsuspecting individuals?

Charlie No-Face

Picture yourself walking alone at night on a quiet, empty street. Suddenly, you hear footsteps closing in. You turn to see a man with a grotesquely deformed face, and in a panic, you run, overwhelmed with fear. Word spreads fast, and soon everyone in Pennsylvania is talking about the man with no face.

“Charlie No-Face,” or the Green Man as he was sometimes called, was not a figure of imagination but a real person named Ray Robinson. Born in 1910, Robinson suffered severe disfigurement after a horrific electrical accident at the age of 8, which left him permanently scarred. Aware of the unsettling effect his appearance had on others, Robinson would take nightly walks along Route 351 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Despite his peaceful intentions, his late-night strolls sparked fear and gave rise to the legend of a boogeyman haunting the town. Robinson passed away in 1985.

The All-Too-Real Corpse Decoration

The notorious outlaw Elmer McCurdy gained a strange afterlife following his death. In 1911, McCurdy's embalmed body became a macabre sideshow attraction across Texas, with curious onlookers flocking to see the infamous criminal on display at funeral parlors and carnivals. Though his journey was largely undocumented, he eventually ended up in Long Beach, California, where someone mistakenly took him for a prop. McCurdy's body was hung in a funhouse at the Nu-Pike Amusement Park, and it wasn't until 1976, when a crew member on the set of *The Six Million-Dollar Man* attempted to adjust him, that his true identity was revealed—dislodging his very real arm. The following year, his remains were finally laid to rest.

*This article was originally published in 2018; it has been updated for 2024.*