10 Urban Legends That Inspired Real Crimes
Urban legends are supposed to be fictional stories that we read for entertainment, while these urban legends might inspire a few nightmares at the end of the day. We know these stories aren't real, however there are a select few people who are greatly inspired by these stories and even risk their freedom to show their dedication.
1. Wrinkles The Clown
Urban legends surrounding clowns are less than positive, usually they involve someone going down the sewers having bad dreams or something that will cause you to have to go to therapy for the next 20 years. Websites are full of clown related urban legends that tend to pick up momentum on social media, then these stories end up perpetuating copycat incidents that once again end up on the news thus the never-ending cycle continues and the urban legend grows stronger. For example parents in South Florida were hiring a clown by the name of a Wrinkles to hide in their children's bedrooms and scare them at night. Why in the world would parents do this to their children? Well to scare them into behaving properly because nanny cams basically record everything that's happening videos began to surface of Wrinkles appearing under beds and placing stuffed animals next to the child before turning off the camera to wreak havoc, basically this is where horror movies get their ideas from. Granted this wasn't technically a crime, but it was likely that these parents probably got a visit from social services. Perhaps instead of saving for a college fund, and they need to put up a therapy fund for their child.
2. Penpal
Probably one of the most unsettling things one can experience is when they receive pictures of themselves in the mail from an unknown source, it forces you to realize that you're being watched, and there's nothing you can do about it. It forces you to realize that regardless of how protected you may think you are, you are still vulnerable. A story called Penpal made its way onto the website Creepypasta. It was about a boy who was participating in a school project where they released balloons to see if they can get a Penpal. The boy ended up not getting a letter. but instead he got tons of polaroid pictures. Initially they were blurry, but once he looked at all the pictures he realized he was in every photo. So it makes it all the more unsettling when there were true stories out there remotely similar to this seemingly urban legend. There was a story in Connecticut of a school principal named John Bean who was following his students to Walmart and taking their photo. In North Carolina a school's volunteer of the year got in trouble for taking pictures of elementary school girls without their permission. Walter Shore ended up pleading guilty to some pretty awful charges
3. Slender Man
Spoiler alert: this won't be the last time you hear about Slender Man It's amazing how a made-up character managed to inspire some pretty intense crimes We'll start off with the most famous crime where two young girls who lured their friend into a park bathroom and proceeded to do her in like Julius Caesar. Miraculously the girl survived. Why did the two girls do such a heinous crime they wanted to sacrifice their friend to Slender Man, so that they could go live with him in his mansion. Well as we know, Slender Man isn't real and he's based on a meme from creepypasta. the mansion actually came from a video game That was inspired by Slenderman. So he know that preteen girls aren't always the smartest people in the world, but did they really think that they were going to get away with such a terrible act? One of the teens was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital. If she was so gullible to do this to someone for the sake of an urban legend ,that's probably the best place for her.
4. Laughing Jack
You know what would really lift up our spirits? Let's talk about clowns again! Yay!! The story of Laughing Jack is definitely not for the faint of heart. Laughing Jack is basically an imaginary friend. Who is the opposite of nice. He infiltrates children's dreams very much like Freddy Krueger, and he replaces their organs with candy. Ain't that nice? Anyway, of course you could read the story online and be able to tell right away that it's just a scary story And an urban legend. Yet one girl thought that Laughing Jack was the real deal. Apparently instead of being filled with candy, Laughing Jack told the girl to pretty much end the life of her stepmother the twelve-year-old not only did her stepmother in, but she also set the apartment on fire. The kid actually ended up admitting that she committed the crime. And she was eventually declared too incompetent to stand trial. That basically means that she'll be spending the rest of her adolescent in a psych ward.
5. Walking Sam
Walking Sam is a similar entity as slender Man, who drove teens from a Sioux tribe in South Dakota to harm themselves. Basically the urban legend has a few variations were Walking Sam is either wandering the earth to collect souls or he drives people mad because he looks so spooky. Either way Hundreds of people between the ages of 12 and 24 attempted to end their lives. The local tribe even had to remove nooses that were placed at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Out of those hundreds around nine people were sadly successful at their attempt. While one can say that the author of Walking Sam's story is an incredible storyteller. It is also Alarming at how gullible an entire generation can be? But because it's the Internet and a lot of people don't know how to distinguish fact and fiction. It's entirely possible that people thought this was the real deal.
6. The Call
The urban legend goes like this. There's a babysitter working the late night. She gets a call from a mysterious caller who says "Have you checked the children?". There might be some heavy breathing for a few calls and of course the babysitter is scared. When she calls the cops they trace the call and the big twist is that the call is coming from inside the house. This urban legend was inspired by an unsolved case from 1950 in Missouri. An 8th grader named Janett Christman lost her life one night while she was babysitting a three year old boy. She was later discovered at 1:00 a.m. Too late. Calls had been coming to the house, but unlike the urban legend, the police weren't able to trace them. The boy Janet was babysitting was thankfully safe. This story is often told at slumber parties as well as camp outs. Some have even tried to emulate the urban legend only to run-in with the police afterward.
7. Constant messaging
We've all heard that iconic urban legend, where a man is receiving Facebook messages from his long past girlfriend. It made us all wonder whether the girlfriend was actually alive she turned into a bot or she was a ghost still checking her social media from beyond the grave. However one man seemed to be inspired by the ghost messaging and decided to use it to try to get away with a heinous crime. Todd Colhab kidnapped a woman named Kayla Brown as well as her boyfriend Charles Carver. In order to make it look like Kayla and Charles were fine and enjoying life, Todd was posting on their Facebook pages, posing as them. There were status updates and everything. However, when deputies were searching Todd's property and ready to serve a search warrant. They passed a metal container and Kayla made a bunch of noise. She was found inside the container with a collar around her neck and chained like a dog. Sadly Charles did not survive the crime.
8. Pope Lick Monster
This might be better categorized in the people who do stupid things for urban legends. The Pope Lick Monster is a goat human hybrid creature that lives on top of a bridge above a railroad track. Legend has it that the public monster will hypnotize its victims and draw them to the tracks where they will get hit by a train. If you think that there aren't people curious enough to check it out for themselves, think again. There have been a startling amount of people who have lost their lives looking for the Pope Lick Monster. Most of them end up getting hit by an oncoming train. So in this instance would this be more truth than urban legend? Well the local police in Louisville Kentucky had to issue public statements declaring that anyone looking for the Pope Lick Monster will be trespassing plus in the United States wandering the train tracks can be considered a federal offense and receive charges of terrorism. So is it really worth looking for this terrifying urban legend?
9. Don't turn on the light
One of the creepiest urban legends is of a person in their bedroom hearing strange noises. When they wake up the next morning, they see a horrifying message written in bodily fluids that says "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" It's a story that has given us nightmares and inspired us to check every nook and crevice in our house before going to sleep. But this story did inspire someone to try it out for themselves. In 2016, a teenage girl from England received a text message. That said "I'm watching you.". She also got a text that said that he would end his life outside her bedroom window. The teen was so creeped out that she decided to sleep with her mom. She also didn't take the sender seriously when he said that he was in the house, but the next morning the sender was discovered to be in the house. He was sleeping under her bed.
10. Slenderman... again
It seems that some of the most horrifying crimes have been inspired by the one and only Slender Man. With his tall and faceless persona, you would think that people would automatically know he isn't real or they'd head for the hills. There are a lot of people who are willing to risk their freedom and personal safety for the sake of the iconic urban legend. In 2014 a 13 year old girl heard her mom repeatedly with a knife.The mom miraculously survived. Then a 14 year old girl from Florida tried to burn her house down for Slender Man. If you think Slender Man is only hitting up the teenage girls He also inspired a man named Jared Miller to attack two police officers and a civilian before he took his own life. Investigators found out that he liked to dress up a Slender Man for fun.