“Oh dad! I’ll fetch your stick”, Mary said and ran out into the night.

“No Mary, don’t do that!”

But it was too late. Mary disappeared and ran as fast as she could to the graveyard. When she got there she saw the stick. She bent to pick it up and heard a voice coming from a grave.

“Mary Culhaine, help me out!” She didn’t want to, but she had to do what the voice said.

“Give me your hand.” She put her hand into the grave and suddenly another hand came up and grabbed hers. It pulled her arm and grabbed her body. She looked into the hole and saw the thing, a dead body was using her to climb out of it’s grave. It spoke to her and said “Now we can go to town.”

They came to a house the dead body began to sniff. He said “Go on, Mary! Not this house.”

“What do you want?”, Mary asked.

“I am looking for a house without a cross or holy water or a bible.” he answered. “Straight on, Mary Culhaine!”

After eight houses he sniffed and said “Stop, Mary Culhaine! This is the right house.” He began to laugh and though she didn’t want to hear him, she had to. Mary was so scared. It was late at night so she said “You can’t open the door, it’s locked.”

“No door is locked for me on this night,” he said, and he used his bad magic to open the door. He said, “Go in, Mary Culhaine!” She didn’t want to, but she had to do it. They came into the little house, and the dead body said, “Mary Culhaine, go into the kitchen and make me some porridge!” Mary didn’t want to do it but she couldn’t stop herself. The dead body sat down at the table and Mary began to make the porridge. She put oats and milk and water into a big pot.

“I need blood for my porridge”, said the dead thing. Mary found a large bowl and went with him up the stairs into a bedroom where they found three young boys. She saw a razor in the moonlight and, against her own will, she used it to cut the first boy’s finger. She bled his finger into the bowl and in a few minutes he was dead.

She went to the second boy and then the third boy and cut their fingers, took their blood and left them dead, lying in their beds.

“Take me down into the kitchen, Mary Culhaine”, said the evil thing that brought her there. She didn’t want to do it what it said, but she had to. Her feet moved alone. “Let’s go, Mary,” it said. She went downstairs and into the kitchen with the big bowl of blood. She poured the blood into the porridge and the dead body said to her, “Now we must eat it.”

It took a spoon and the bowl with the porridge and it ate and ate, smacking it’s lips with each bite. “Mary, you eat it too!”

Mary took a spoon and a little bit of porridge with the blood. Mary didn’t want to eat it and this time she was able to fight against the monster’s will. Mary took her scarf and filled it with the porridge. The dead body was fooled and thought she ate the bloody meal. Mary hid the scarf behind a chair.

The body brought Mary back to the graveyard. On the way Mary asked, “What about the three dead boys?”

“They are dead and they can’t live again, because we ate the bloody porridge. The bloody porridge is the only thing that can bring them back to life but we ate it all! Ha-ha-ha!” laughed the dead body.

They arrived at the cemetery and approached the body’s grave. “You must come with me into the grave”, said the dead body. She had to keep moving with it towards the grave. She knew it wanted her to climb with it into that grave where it was cold and dark. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t stop her legs from moving forward. Very slowly she went to the grave.

They heard a noise, “Moo!” Mary Culhaine stopped.

“It’s only a cow in the field”, said the dead body. “Go on! The night is coming to an end, Mary Culhaine!” She went on, very slowly.

“Mah-ah-ah!” Again, she hesitated, listening to the noise. “Go on, Mary Culhaine! It’s only a sheep in the field!” said the dead body. “Go on! The sun is coming!” and Mary Culhaine went on.

They found the grave and the body climbed down into it, grabbing Mary’s arm to pulled her along. Mary Culhaine didn’t want to go into the grave, but the dead body was strong.

“Cock-a-doodle-do!” The sun came up and the power of the dead body vanished. The thing collapsed, lifeless once more. Mary Culhaine fell down with it and her hand found her father’s stick. She stood up, took the stick and ran home.

On her way she came to the house without across, bible or holy water. She heard a voice, “Our sons are dead!” She remembered what the corpse had said and went into the house.

“I know how the boys can come back to life!” she said. Mary Culhaine went into the kitchen and found the scarf with the bloody porridge. She took it upstairs and began to feed the three bodies in the beds. And as the bloody porridge touched the lips of the boys, they came back to life.

Scotie Rainwater from Houston Texas

Now she is haunting the train stations of Japan, dragging herself with her elbows and sometimes her hands. She is known to kill people with her scythe and split people in half with the harsh speed of the Shinkansen to make her victims feel her pain. Her name is “Teke Teke” or “Bata Bata” because of the noise she makes when she is dragging herself around.

Miranda Savanah from Okinawa

The Suicidal Man

For a few years, I lived in a building in New Jersey. It’s an old building, built in the late 1800s, so it was always creaky and slightly unsettling. I never thought anything of it until one day my mother and I were sitting outside when an elderly man approached us. He asked if we live in the building, and when we replied with yes, he went on to tell us how he has been living in Swedesboro since he was born. He said that back in the early 1900s there was a heavy man who lived on the top story. It was hard back then to make ends meet. After living there for a little while, the man lost his job, which caused him to fall into a depression. It was impossible for him to find a job and pay his taxes. He couldn’t take it anymore, so one dark night before he was to be evicted, he climbed up to the top of the fire escape. Saying his last goodbyes into the wind, he jumped. The old man said the couple who lived down the street didn’t sleep for weeks because they kept recalling the sound of him hitting the ground from the third story.

We shared this story with the rest of our building, but none of us really thought anything of it, until one night when Jessica, who lived in the apartment upstairs, told us that she was coming home late and saw someone standing on the fire escape stairs. She called out to him, but he didn’t answer. For just a moment, she turned around to get her cell phone and call for help, but when she turned back around, the mysterious figure wasn’t there. After knowing Jessica for years, I was really spooked to hear what she had seen. Next time you’re driving by the Swedes Inn, look across the street. Maybe you’ll see the suicidal man too.

Becca Gomez from Swedesboro, NJ

Built in 1771 and formerly know as the Washington Tavern & Old Ford Hotel, the Old Swedes Inn is on the Gloucester County’s register of historical landmarks. The inn is haunted by 12 yr. old Edith, who died of scarlet fever in the mid 1800′s and has been seen by many employees, psychics and ghost hunters. She moves chairs, emits odd smells and lingers under the tables on the porch.

Back in the 1940′s, my Great, Great, Great Grandpa named Francis Hatfield (Known by many as "Picklebean") was riding his horse (Yeah in Pike County we were still riding horses in the 40′s) down Ballfork mountain. It was dark and he was returning home from his job at the coal mines. He had to go up and back down the mountain to get to and from work. The moon was high in the sky and was the only source of light.

After Picklebean got to the top of the mountain and started going down, he felt something jump on the back of his horse! It’s long, hairy arms held him tight. It’s breathing was heavy and felt steaming hot on the back of Picklebean’s neck. As Picklebean kicked his horse into high gear, he remembered the story that some miners were talking about earlier that day. They mentioned some kind of creature that lives on Ballfork mountain and it would jump on the back of people’s horses and the only way to get it off is to get to the bottom of the mountain.

Picklebean yelled at his horse to go faster and faster, as the grip of the beast grew tighter and tighter, Picklebean was gasping for air. Right when Picklebean gave up hope of ever seeing his family again, the horse got to the bottom of the mountain and the creature jumped off! As Picklebean was riding away he heard a chilling voice say "I’ll see you tomorrow night!".

After that experience, Picklebean requested to be assigned to a different mine. And that was the last he saw of the "Ballfork Creature".

This is a true story! After coming home, Picklebean took his shirt off and there were bloody scratches all over his body. My grandma was a little girl at the time and she was at his house that night. She saw the scratches. There’s even a hollow named "Picklebean Hollow" in Pike County, Kentucky, in honor of my ancestor.

Jojo King from Pikeville, Kentucky

When we looked up the “Ballfork Creature” we found a couple of posts, including the one below, by a “kittenz” who talks about a “Bigfoot-like Creature” known as the Ballfork Monster from the 1970’s. Originally posted at cryptomundo.com

Liz from Chicago, IL

Since the above reader submitted story was rather short, ULO looked for another version of this tale and found this account posted here: thecobrasnose.com 

In 1889, Jane Addams founded Hull House as a shelter for hapless women and children in one of Chicago’s worst neighborhoods. A rumor spread through the Italian immigrant population that a devout Catholic woman hung a picture of the Virgin Mary on her wall and her atheist husband tore it down, proclaiming he’d rather have the devil himself in residence. Soon after, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a hideously deformed child-some say with scales, horns, and cloven hooves. To spare it from community torment, she left the creature at Hull House.

Here the stories diverge. One claims members of the Hull House staff took the infant to be baptized, but that it danced and laughed and broke away from the priest before the ceremony was completed. Thereafter it was incarcerated in the upper floors of the house, where its ghostly image can still be seen in the upper windows. Another version states Addams herself planned to baptize the baby after the priest refused, but when she turned her back on it whilst making preparations in the church it vanished and was never seen again.

Stories of the Devil Baby (which are allegedly the basis for the film Rosemary’s Baby) persisted for years, people would come to Hull House demanding to see the child. Jane Addams devoted forty pages of her autobiography to debunking the story, but did report therein that footsteps were heard and an apparition seen in one of the upper rooms.

Written by Sharon C. McGovern

Hundreds of years ago, a poor woodsman lived in the cottage with his wife and baby. They lived happily until the woodsman was pressed into military service by the local landowner during the English Civil War. The woodman’s wife waited and waited for months for any news of her husband, but none ever came.

One new year’s day, a group of soldiers on horseback came riding through the woods, part of a force that had been plundering the surrounding countryside. Coming across the cottage, they broke in and demanded the woodsman’s wife hand over all her money and any strong drink she might have. When she refused, the soldiers beat and raped her savagely, before taking the baby and riding off, laughing wickedly.

From that day on, the woman dressed in black and roamed the woods searching for her missing child, accosting anyone she met and begging them for any news of the baby. She soon earned a reputation as being quite mad, and so people began to give the woods a wide berth.

The woodsman never returned home, and the woman continued to roam the woods, desperately searching for her lost baby until the day she died.

Legend has it that her ghost still wanders the woods today, and if anyone is brave enough to walk into the woods on new year’s day and shout

"Black lady, black lady, I’ve stolen your baby!" three times, the woman shall appear and confront them.

Antony from Grimsby, England

That woman roams around during foggy evenings, with her face covered by a surgical mask, which would not be especially unusual, as people with colds often wear masks for the sake of others in Japan. When she encounters someone, primarily children or college students, she will shyly ask, "Am I beautiful?" ("Watashi kirei?").

If the person answers yes, she will take off her mask and say, "Even like this?"

At this point, if the victim answers "No," she will slay them with a pair of huge scissors.

If the victim tells her she is pretty a second time, she follows the victim home and slays them in their own doorway. This is because  the word "kirei" , Japanese for ‘pretty,’ is a near homophone of "kire", the imperative form of "to cut".

If the victim answers "You’re average", they are saved.

Also, the answer "so-so," causes the Kuchisake-onna to think about what to do, and her victim can escape while she is in thought. One way to escape is to present the Kuchisake-onna with amber, hard candy. Another is to say "pomade" three times (in some versions, six times). This will make her either falter and turn or run away. If the victim has pomade, they can write with it behind her back to keep her from following. The reason is that this reminds her of either the dentist’s or (plastic) surgery smells, or that her boyfriend used it.

Kyla from Seattle, WA

The Bus has a way of showing up when you are at your lowest. You will hit a certain point, feel a disconcerting crumple in an inner place you thought solid, like a hand crushing an origami box. Just then you look up to see The Bus a block away. You always need to run for it, but just a little bit. Just enough to show you need it. It will wait.

There is an automated voice. It does not say Route forty, service to Second and Lombard. The Bus does not deal in those specifics. It says only Service from and the name of the intersection you are standing at. The doors clunk open, you get on board, the doors hiss shut, and the bus moves on. The driver does not ask where you want to go, but many passengers tell him anyway: Just drive. You pay fare if you can, but if you can’t, the driver will nod, with eyes covered by his blue hat, and you will nod and you will head to your seat.

The shifty and the shameful and the shameless ride Philadelphia’s buses. But most of them are trying to get somewhere. They want to see someone, or acquire something, or get to a place by a time. The Wandering Bus is not for them. Its riders are the people who need to leave wherever they are at that moment. Just leave. The bus goes everywhere. It has been seen in West Powelton, and Grad Hospital, and Center City. It drives down Passyunk, and Haverford, and Dauphin. Most people don’t notice The Bus because it isn’t the one they’re looking for. If your heart is bright and your spirit buoyant, it is likely that you have never seen The Bus.

The Wandering Bus serves a wider clientele than you might think. The failing businessman, the addict’s sister, the questioning Reverend have all ridden on The Bus. Even a mayor and a police chief and a manager of the Phillies. There is no conversation on The Bus. What’s more, when you get off, you cannot recall who was on The Bus with you, or how crowded it was. You remember only that you sat by the window and watched the city slide through your translucent reflection. At some point, you were moved to pull the cord and disembark. One night, your feet hit the pavement, the bus pulled away, and you found yourself near to where you needed to be.

Folks say that some people have ridden The Bus for years on end. Others predict that The Bus will one day leave the city, taking its passengers with it. A woman who knew many things said there was a Wandering Bus in every city she had ever visited. There are even a few who claim that if you ride The Bus long enough, you will one day be dropped off back before your troubles began. But those people are never on The Bus when they say it.

Devin from Fontana, CA

*Though Devin submitted this urban legend to the site, it does seem to be copied directly from this site: http://nmirra.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/philly-urban-legends-the-wandering-bus/ So we’d just like to give this person credit for a pretty great story. That is all…

The freaky bit is this, they say it is hard for a person to stare into the girls eyes for longer than 5 minutes, there are reports that some people have taken their own lives after doing so. People say the picture changes,as you view it there is a hint of a growing taunting smirk appearing on the girls lips or a dark ring grows around the girl or her eyes.

Catequise from Bamberg SC

40 years ago, there was some construction being done in the gymnasium of the High School. There was an accident and the roof collapsed. One of the workers fell 60 feet through the ceiling and died that tragic day.

The spirit of this worker haunts the school and has been the cause of a high turnover in the janitorial staff. Custodians come and go, many quit when they encounter the spirit who makes his appearances mostly in the school gymnasium, where he fell.

There is a soft, indented spot, on the gym floor where the man fell. .They say strange sounds can be heard when the spirit is around, like doors opening and closing and locking by themselves. Basketballs can be heard bouncing on the floor, when there aren’t any around and voices seem to be coming from the musty air in the gym.

Brian Johnson Sand Springs OK