The longer he searched the more frusturated he became and he was soon furious thinking she had left. He decided the game wasn’t funny anymore and went home without his bride. As weeks went by, he accepted that she’d had second thoughts and went on with her life so he did the same.

A few years later a cleaning lady dusted off an old trunk in the attic of the building where the reception had taken place, out of curiosity she opened it.

Inside the trunk was the rotted body of the missing bride who’d apparently became locked in the trunk she’d chosen to hide in. Whether she’d suffocated or starved was unknown, but her face was frozen in a scream.

Samantha from Ormond Beach, FL
Thonazzina Tree from Toronto, Ontario

As soon as Johnny mentioned Celia’s name, I knew he had it bad for her. To hear him talk, Celia was the most amazing woman who had ever graced God’s green earth. She was the sister-in-law of the captain, and all the young men on the base were infatuated with her. Celia was the prettiest of the eligible ladies that graced Fort Union society. She liked the spice of adventure to be found so near the wilds.

Johnny alternated between elation when Celia talked with him and despair when she flirted with another man. I watched their courtship from afar and was troubled. There was something about Celia that I didn’t like. I never mentioned it to Johnny, but I thought she was too much of a flirt. I wished Johnny had fallen for a nicer woman.

About a month after I arrived at Fort Union, a birthday dance was given for one of the officers. To Johnny’s elation, Celia agreed to be his partner at the dance. Johnny was dancing on cloud nine all night, until a messenger came gasping into the room to report an Apache raid. With a small scream of terror, Celia clung shamelessly to Johnny and begged him not to go even though he was the lieutenant put in charge of the mission. Well sir, Johnny proposed to her right then and there and Celia accepted. Furthermore, Celia told Johnny that she would wait for him, and that if he didn’t come back she would never marry. I doubted Celia’s sincerity, but Johnny just ate it up.

I was assigned to Johnny’s troop, so I had to leave too. We started out the next morning, and had a rough week tracking down and fighting the Apaches. Johnny split up the troop; taking command of the first group and giving me command of the second. My men reached the rendezvous point with no casualties, but only half of the other group arrived, and Johnny was not among them. They’d been ambushed by the Apaches. I had to take command of the troop. We searched for survivors, but never found Johnny’s body. As soon as I could, I ordered the men to turn for home.

Celia made a terrible, heart-rending scene when she found out Johnny was missing. She flung herself into my arms when I gave her the news and sobbed becomingly. The display turned my stomach, it was so obviously insincere. I excused myself hastily and left her to the ministrations of the other soldiers. From that time on, I was careful to stay away from Celia, who mourned less than a week for my friend before resuming her flirtatious ways.

About a month later, a rich handsome lieutenant arrived at Fort Union. He was from the East, and Celia took a real shine to him. Johnny was completely forgotten and so was her promise to him. It wasn’t long before Celia and the lieutenant were engaged and started planning a big wedding. Nothing but the very best would suit Celia, and her bridegroom had the money to indulge her.

Everyone in Fort Union was invited to the ceremony, and the weather was perfect on the day of the wedding. Everyone turned out in their best clothes and the wedding was a social success. After the ceremony, all the guests were invited to a celebratory ball.

We were waltzing around the ballroom when the door flew open with a loud bang. A gust of cold air blew in, dimming the candles. A heart-wrenching wail echoed through the room. The music stopped abruptly and everyone turned to look at the door. Standing there was the swollen, dead body of a soldier. It was dressed in an officer’s uniform. The eyes were burning with a terrible fire. The temple had a huge gash from a hatchet-blow. There was no scalp. It was Johnny.

The whole crowd stood silent, as if in a trance. No one moved, no one murmured. I wanted to cry out when I recognized Johnny, but I was struck dumb like the rest of the wedding guests.

Johnny walked across the room and took Celia out of her bridegroom’s arms. She was frozen in horror and could not resist. Johnny looked at the musicians. Still in a trance, they began to play a horrible, demonic sounding waltz. Johnny and Celia began to dance. They swept around and around the room, doing an intricate waltz. Johnny held the white-clad bride tight against his dead body while a deathly pallor crept over her face. Her steps slowed but still Johnny held her tight and moved them around in a grisly parody of a waltz. Celia’s eyes bulged. She turned as white as her gown and her mouth sagged open. She gave one small gasp, and died in his arms.

Johnny dropped Celia’s body on the floor and stood over her, wringing his blood-stained hands. He threw back his head and gave another unearthly wail that echoed around the room. Then he vanished through the door.

Released from the trance, the crowd gasped and exclaimed. The bridegroom ran to Celia and knelt beside her, wringing his hands in the same manner as Johnny. His cries were all too human.

Unable to bear the sight of the stricken bridegroom, I took my captain aside and asked permission to take a small detail back to the place where our troop had been attacked by the Apaches to search once more for my dead friend. He sent a dozen men with me. We combed the area, and finally found Johnny’s body hidden in a crevice. It looked exactly the same as it had appeared on the night of Celia’s wedding.

We brought Johnny back to the fort with us and the captain buried him beside Celia. Celia’s bridegroom went back East shortly after we buried Johnny, and I resigned my commission a few days later and went home, never wanting to see that cursed place again.

I heard later that Celia’s ghost was often seen at dusk, weeping over Johnny’s grave, but I never went back to Fort Union to see it for myself.

Alexa Suick from Duluth Minnesota

There was the husband who was in the habit of taking the family dog for a nice long walk each evening. It was good exercise for both of them, his wife felt, and the dog became so used to the routine that it positively drooled to be taken out on schedule every night.

When her husband was sick one evening, the wife took the dog out instead. And to her surprise the dog pulled vigorously at the leash and led her around the block to a house around the corner and began to scratch at the door. A female voice called out, "I won’t be a minute, darling."

Soon the door was opened by an attractive young woman in a negligee, and the dog dashed in straight to a dish of meat that was waiting for him — as usual.

Angelica from Charleston, SC

Her terrified husband screamed, "Stop! Stop! You’re not going to cut it off, are you?"

With a gleam of revenge in her eye, his wife put the saw in his hand and said, "Nope. I’m going to set the shed on fire. You do whatever you have to."

Jason Qualls from Elkhart Indiana

This is a story of darkest woe. In ancient Japan there lived a vicious husband called Shitai who by his actions, turned his wife into a ghost. His unfortunate wife’s name was O’lwa and he murdered her because he desired another woman. His wife had barely risen from child birth when her deceitful husband Shitai poisoned which caused her hair to fall out in bloody handfuls, her eyes to bulge from their sockets and her pretty mouth to blacken. With certain death overcoming her she realized to her utter horror that her husband had poisoned her. In her despair, she killed her newborn and herself.

Shitai felt no remorse, for now he could do as he wished, or so he thought. He soon found that his dirty deed had a terrifying price.

With a ghoul’s fury, O’lwa appeared to him everywhere as a furious spirit.

Everything he looked at assumed the staring ghostly face of O’lwa mouthing curses at the deceitful geezer. If he walked in the garden he would find her there wailing over the lifeless body of their child.

Her bitter accusations sounded ceaselessly in his ears.

Defiant and undeterred, Shitai married his young mistress thinking that O’lwa would realize the futility of further hauntings.

On the day of his wedding, he lifted his lover’s bridal veil only to find O’lwa’s ghostly image looking back at him in ghoulish disgust.

Instantly, Shitai drew his sword and beheaded the terrifying specter. Silence fell on the gathering as to everyone’s total dismay he had murdered his bride, not the ghost.

Bob Angeles from Scunthorpe UK

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online

HELLO? ANYBODY THERE?

Annalisa bought a new address book. As she was writing the names from the old book, she noticed her friends name. Linda had died several months ago. She felt silly transferring the name to the new book, but she felt a little strange to just ignore it. She knew she was being a bit morbid, but something was telling her to dial that number. Maybe to know and hear that it didn’t belong to her friend anymore might bring some closure to her. She was having trouble dealing with the grief that was with her almost daily.

Much to her shock, LINDA ANSWERED. Taken aback, she stuttered the beginning of a conversation. In no time, they were talking like the old friends they were. The last several months were especially hard for Annalisa. In addition to losing Linda, her fiancee left her, so she used the opportunity to pour her heart out to Linda. In doing so, the bitterness and hurt she felt lifted from her soul.

Linda asked why Annalisa hadn’t called in so long. "Why hasn’t Bruce Called?" Linda cried. "He promised to always be there for me."

Bruce was the driver of the car that took Linda’s life. He was driving her home after her bridal shower and the shower gifts were packed not only in the trunk but high in the back seat, blocking the back windows. They were to be married in just three short weeks. Bruce was injured in the accident and had been in a deep coma since that day. He knew nothing about Linda’s death.

Annalisa was thrown off guard. How do you answer such a question? Linda continued, "Why haven’t you called all these long months? Why hasn’t Bruce called?" She asked this over and over.

Not knowing what else to say, she gasped "BECAUSE YOU DIED." Annalisa heard no reply. All she heard was the DIAL TONE! Her heart was pounding in her ears, as she hurriedly dialed the number again. "Pizza Hut Pizza" announced the voice on the other end.

Jason Qualls from Elhart, IN

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online

A butcher named Joe owned a diner with his wife, whom he loved dearly. One evening Joe came home to find his wife having sex with his best friend. Joe went crazy finding out about their affair this way. He yelled and screamed and during their heated argument, Joe killed them both. He disposed of the bodies by chopping them up and sending them piece by piece through his meat grinder.

The next day, Joe called his dearly departed wife’s parents and the parents of his ex best friend and invited them to dinner at the diner. There he told them that the two cheaters had run off together and left him a note telling him she wanted a divorce and that she and his friend were to be married.

Joe served the uncomfortable and confused parents their dinner. Ground meat in a special sauce on a bun. The meat had a unique flavor, one none of them had never tasted before. His mother-in-law said "This is delicious, but it’s kind of sloppy Joe."

Since then, Joe started selling Sloppy Joes at his diner.

It’s also the reason that sloppy Joes are also called “Man-Wich”. The meat in the sandwich was made from the man and the “witch” who committed adultery and the horrible act of betrayal against the butcher.

Chris from Savannah, GA

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online

A young couple was married amid much joy and hoopla. The wedding was a large, elaborate festival; the bride was radiant and the groom handsome. Both families were delighted.

During the reception, the bride’s father placed his dinner jacket on the back of his chair and went off to dance and socialize. Later in the evening, he looked into his jacket pocket for several thousand dollars CASH to settle the final bills with the hotel, band and service people. The money was gone! What would he do? His daughter’s wedding couldn’t end in disaster.

Fortunately, one of his closest friends had an American Express gold card. The guest paid all the bills, and the next day, the bride’s father repaid him in cash. But both were still astonished that a wedding guest had stolen the money. A week later, the videographer delivered the wedding video to the bride’s family. The father was amazed and sickened to see footage of his new son-in-law removing his jacket from the chair, removing the cash from the inside pocket, and placing it in his own wallet.

Posted via email from Urban Legends Online

Years went by and the couple became engaged to be married. On their wedding night, her new husband again said to her, "We are married now so you can take off your scarf." Again she said, "No, I will take it off when the time is right."

More time passed and the young couple grew old together. The old woman lay on her death bed and addressed her weeping husband kneeling by her side. "I’m so sorry to keep this secret from you for so long. Take off my scarf and you’ll see why I’ve always had it on."

Her husband took the end of the scarf in his hand and slowly removed it from her neck. Horrified, he watched his wife’s head roll off the bed and across the floor. She’d been wearing the scarf to keep her head on!

Another Version

Black Velvet Ribbon

There was once a pretty lady who always wore a ribbon around her neck. She wore the ribbon when she slept, when she went to church and every single time she went out. No one ever saw her without her ribbon. One day she met a young man and they fell deeply in love. When he noticed the ribbon was always there, he asked "Why do you wear that ribbon?"

She just smiled and said, "I’ll tell you when we get married one day." Four months later they were married and living happily together. Whenever he asked her why she wore the ribbon, she would say, "I’ll tell you someday,  just don’t take it off."

One night he couldn’t take it anymore and had to know why she wore the ribbon. He snuck up on her when she was sleeping and slowly loosened the ribbon. As soon as he untied it, her head fell off and rolled to her husband’s feet. The eyes opened and the head yelled, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO REMOVE MY RIBBON!!!" The poor man went mad and was never seen again.

It was the day before a couple’s wedding. The bride to be wanted to look beautiful in her white wedding dress so she went to a local salon to get a “healthy looking” tan.  Afterward, she felt like she was still pretty pale so she lathered herself up with deep tanning lotion and visited every tanning salon in her town.

The next day, right after the couple said "I do", the bride fell over dead. The autopsy reported that her organs had been cooked ten times.

Paula Coyle from Greenville, SC
Shelby Duerr from Clarksville, IN

YouTube video of this legend