Scariest Urban Legends in Each State

State Location Legend Description
AK Southern Alaska Kushtaka Shape-shifting creatures that are a cross between an otter and a man, the Kushtaka make noises that mimic children and wives to lure fishermen, though they are sometimes helpful tricksters.
AL Huntsville Dead Children's Playground During late-night hours, swings move by themselves as spirits of buried children come to play.
AR Quitman Dog Boy A werewolf-like ghost walks on all fours and haunts his childhood home. This myth is based on the sad story of a real man, Gerald Bettis, who was rumored to experiment on stray animals and reportedly abused his elderly parents.
AZ Kingman Slaughterhouse Canyon One day, a father failed to return to his cabin during the 1800s gold rush, and his family starved. The mother went insane, put on her wedding dress, and chopped her children up. Today you can still hear her cries for forgiveness.
CA Santa Lucia Mountains The Dark Watchers Featureless dark silhouettes, often with brimmed hats or walking sticks, stare down travelers during twilight and dawn in the Santa Lucia Mountains. John Steinbeck briefly mentioned them in 'Flight.' They should not be addressed or acknowledged.
CO Riverdale Road in Thornton Riverdale Road Riverdale Road is a home to a hose of legends
CT Monroe Annabelle, The Demonic Doll The demonic doll in 'The Conjuring' and 'Annabelle' is inspired by a real-life Raggedy Ann doll supposedly inhabited by the spirit of a dead girl, which was given to two demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, after some extremely malicious paranormal activity.
DE Cape Henlopen Corpse Light There's no lighthouse in Cape Henlopen, but there is a phantom light. It crashed the ship Devonshireman on Christmas of 1665, when more than 200 men died. Allegedly, the light is a curse from a local Native American tribe after British soldiers slaughtered attendees at a wedding ceremony.
FL Cassadaga The Devil's Chair The Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp is full of odd ghosts, but one chair supposedly is a favorite for the big cheese himself. According to local lore, if you sit in it, he'll whisper horrible things in your ear, forever changing you, and if you leave a beer on his chair overnight, he'll drink it, sometimes even if the can is still sealed.
GA Augusta The Cursed Pillar After a preacher was told he couldn't deliver a sermon next to the pillar, he declared that the whole town would be destroyed and the pillar would be the only thing left standing. A freak tornado later destroyed most of Augusta, with the pillar left standing.
HI Hawaii Nightmarchers Deadly ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors that march on the waters during nights honoring ancient gods, the Nightmarchers are heralded by chanting and conch shells. If you hear that, run!
IA Villisca Villisca Axe Murder House Based on real events, this 1912 cold case features a whole family (two parents, four children, and two house guests) being bludgeoned to death in their sleep. Since then, the house has been the source of odd paranormal activity, such as a ghost hunter stabbing himself in the chest in 2014.
ID Pocatello Water Babies of Massacre Rocks Sit by the river and you can hear the sounds of babies crying -- they're the babies that mothers were forced to kill during a famine rather than see them starve. Some say that these babies evolved into tricky creatures with fins and gills.
IL Forest Park Ghost Elephants A real-life 1918 train wreck of circus cars leading to troop deaths has popularized the legend that elephants had to be buried where they fell. Now, supposedly, the circus still takes place at night in Woodlawn Cemetery.
IN Quitman The Green Clawed Beast in the Ohio River With hairy arms, clawed hands, and green skin, this human-sized creature grabs unsuspecting women. (Some believe the specific incident that inspired the legend was an extraterrestrial visit related to the Kentucky Goblins sightings, which happened on the same day.)
KS Stull The Gateway to Hell One of the several gateways to hell in America, the stairs in an old demolished church open to the other side on Halloween and the spring equinox.
KY Hopkinsville The Kentucky Goblins The Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter was a supposed extraterrestrial visit by small, goblin-like, green 'hairless children' with three toes. While most skeptics easily dismissed them as owls, there has been a new wave of recent sightings of them on the other side of Kentucky.
LA Acadiana The Rougarou A pale white werewolf-like creature prowls the swamps and often stars in stories to encourage children to behave, such as hunting down Catholics who don't practice Lent.
MA Hockomock Swamp Pukwudgies Tiny gray tricksters resembling humanoid porcupines will lure people off cliffs or trap them in sand in the swampy regions of Massachusetts.
MD Prince George's County The Goatman This legend stirred so much enthusiasm that the USDA at one point had to formally deny the creation of the Goatman in their Beltsville Research Agricultural Center. The half-man half-goat creature likes to chase down teenagers in Lovers' Lane and distract driver on Crybaby Bridge.
ME Bucksport Colonel Buck's Tomb After a woman became pregnant with Col. Buck's son, he forced her out to take care of the baby alone, later having her burned as a witch. The son ran off with the witch's leg, that had rolled out of the bonfire, and he later cursed the colonel's tomb, which now bears the stain of a leg, despite several attempts to clean, replace, or remove it.
MI Detroit The Nain Rouge Detroit is haunted by a small impish hobgoblin who predicts misfortune and has cursed the city. He was seen in the 1805 fire, which nearly destroyed the whole city, the 1968 riots, and the 1976 ice storm. Today, a banishment parade is celebrated yearly.
MN Northern Minnesota Wendigo This is one of the oldest legendary monsters, dating back to the folklore of Native Americans, who hunted these 15-foot-tall, shape-shifting creatures even into the early 20th century. Anyone who resorts to cannibalism and tastes human flesh will become one.
MO Wildwood Zombie Road Stories about strange deaths along the road as far back as Native American times and drownings in the nearby river made it a fun haunted spot for teenagers for decades, but many of them have perished in strange accidents, too. Today, dark shadows follow you, seen only out of the corner of your eye.
MS Mississippi Mercritis This story is an odd myth - it's about a disease! Supposedly, a horrible outbreak wrecked much of a rural Mississippi town and was later covered up by the government and medical community. If a man ingested too much lead, he would produce a smell that would cause a hormonal reaction in women who'd descend into mad homicidal fits.
MT Cascade County Phantom Hitchhiker of Black Horse Lake A Native American man with long black hair wearing an outdated, baggy jacket and jeans collides with cars, suddenly appearing on their windshield, only for him to vanish without a dent. He's also been known to hitch a ride and chase cars at inhuman speeds.
NC Bladenboro The Vampire Beast of Bladenboro Gruesome deaths in the 1950s of mutilated livestock and dogs drained of blood led to reports of something vaguely feline and huge living near Bladenboro.
ND Missouri River The Miniwashitu The red bison-like water monster of the Missouri River travels upstream to break ice. Anyone who sees it alone in the daytime will go insane.
NE Nebraska Radioactive Hornets This is a recent urban legend
NH Hampton Goody Cole Eunice 'Goody' Cole was blamed for numerous local tragedies and accused of witchcraft twice. Legend says the locals staked her heart to make sure she wouldn't bother them, but they continued to blame numerous events on her. Some say she still pays a visit from time to time.
NJ Passaic County The Ghost Boy of Clinton Road Hiding under one of the bridges of Clinton Road is a ghost boy - but don't worry, he's pretty nice and helpful! If you throw a coin into the river, he'll return it to you.
NM New Mexico La Mala Hora If you're traveling alone in country crossroads after dark, avoid this demon, which appears as a woman. She drives people insane, and if you see her, either you or someone you love will die.
NV Pyramid Lake The Spiteful Mermaid of Pyramid Lake While Area 51 gets all the fame and glory for its supposed alien autopsies, fewer people know about the curse on Pyramid Lake, which happened after a Paiute man fell in love with a mermaid. His tribe rejected her and told him to throw her back in. She cursed the lake, brought the settlers, and ignited a war. (Talk about spite!) In modern times, the lake has drowned locals, spitting them out as far as Lake Tahoe.
NY Staten Island Cropsey This escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand would snatch children in Staten Island, but the old legend became horrifyingly real when a killer named Andre Rand was caught in the 1970s.
OH Loveland The Loveland Frog A humanoid, 4-foot frog apparently hangs out on the sides of roads in Loveland at night, and it will stand up on its hind legs, wave a wand over its head, and shoot sparks to deter humans.
OK Beaver The Men in Black at Shaman's Portal Beaver Dunes Park is the Bermuda Triangle of Oklahoma, with weird disappearances dating back as far as Coronado's time, when his men disappeared in flashes of green light. In recent times, archaeologists have been chased away from the site by mysterious government officials. According to superstition, anyone who learns anything about what's truly buried underneath the sand disappears.
OR Cannon Beach The Bandage Man The ghost of a logger who died in a grisly sawmill accident attacks cars and terrorizes teenagers. The smell of rotting flesh predicts a visit.
PA Pittsburgh Charlie No-Face Rumors of a murderous faceless man roaming the streets at night were based on a real-life person who'd suffered an extreme accident that destroyed his face. He wasn't, as it turns out, a murderer, he walked at night because he wanted to get fresh air and be left alone. The legends stuck, however.
RI Bucksport Mercy Brown, The Vampire Outbreaks of tuberculosis caused a vampire scare in 1892 when a full family contracted the disease, while most of her family's bodies decomposed, Mercy's body seemed to be frozen in time, making people suspect her to be a vampire. While it was obviously superstition, the legend persisted.
SC Southern Coastal region Boo Hags Gullah folklore tells us about evil souls who stay behind after death and become skinless, vampire-like witches who take other people's skin for a 'ride.'
SD Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Walking Sam A 7-foot-tall specter whose job it is to collect the souls of suicide victims stalks lonely, depressed adolescents. Perhaps he's an explanation for the alarmingly high suicide rates in the area or the few recent attempts at mass suicide.
TN Walland Skinned Tom Don't woo the wrong lady, like young Tom did. He ended up getting skinned alive by a beautiful woman's angry husband. His bloody ghost hangs around Lover's Lane to punish cheaters.
TX Terrell The Candy Lady Candy left out on the windowsills is meant to lure out children so a spectral woman can pull out their teeth, kidnap them, or stab them in the eyes. This story may have been linked to a real person, Clara Crane, who killed her husband by poisoning candy and was later released from an institution.
UT Escalante The Curse of Escalante Petrified Forest Anyone who takes petrified wood from the state park befalls bad luck, job loss, sickness, and accidents. Park managers claim they get dozens of packages every year sending back chunks of wood from regretful thieves.
VA Clifton The Bunny Man On Halloween many years ago, a bus of transferring asylum inmates crashed, with one of the inmates escaping. For years, skinned, half-eaten rabbits were found hanging from the trees near 'Bunny Bridge,' even after the supposed culprit died. Eventually, he allegedly attacked humans, too, bodies strung up over the bridge.
VT Montpelier Deep Frozen Folks Frugal Vermonters facing extreme winters have been said to freeze their elderly and thaw them in the spring. Is this more scary, or utilitarian? Or both?
WA Cadboro Bay Caddy of Cadboro Bay While the legendary Bigfoot gets a great deal of attention in this state, you might not have heard of Caddy (short for Cadborosaurus), the local sea monster hanging out in Cadboro Bay.
WI Rhinelander The Rhinelander Hodag An ugly, stumpy critter with a spiked tail, the hodag features in Paul Bunyan stories and reportedly likes to eat bulldogs.
WV West Virginia The White Things Mothman might be the more popular mystery, but rural West Virginia is also home to mysterious dot-like creatures the size of a lion with white shaggy fur.
WY Platte River The Platte River Ship Through thick mist, usually in February, a ship can be seen sailing the Platte River, its phantom crew frosted over. On the deck, you'll allegedly see the body of someone you know or yourself. Either way, the person's death will come soon.