Urban Legends and Ghostly Myths

There are a lot of ghost stories out there. Some are old, some are new and some are mere legends. There are videos and photographs of spirit sightings too, although I admit I am not always convinced of their legitimacy. Having said that I must confess that I find any tale pertaining to the supernatural fascinating and I read each one I come across with the hope that this may be the one that contains the answer to life’s biggest mystery; what happens after death. Have you ever seen a ghost?

Some say that although they have never ‘seen’ a spirit they have felt its presence. I read a comment on a forum from a person who considered looking into a mirror a paranormal experience. This individual used to stare at his or her own reflection and wonder if “Is it me looking at my reflection...Or is my reflection looking at me?”

There are superstitions that entail mirrors being used as portals to the “other side”. The “Bloody Mary” is an urban legend from Pennsylvania. It is quite scary; I’m not sure I’d want to try this.

It was originally a children’s game consisting of summoning an evil witch like spirit. The idea is to light a candle stand in front of a mirror and call out Bloody Mary thirteen times. Taking part in this game would command the horrifying witch to appear and commit dreadful acts such as scratching the caller’s eyes out and clawing the face or worse causing the person to drop dead or disappear into the mirror for eternity. There are variations to these games but the end results sound pretty terrifying.

The history behind the Bloody Mary legend is said to have originated around 100 years ago. A witch apparently dabbled in black magic and was eventually executed for her sins and her disturbed spirit is still haunting people in this weird fashion. I have also heard and read about different variants to the origin of this spooky tale like the one being about a barren woman who suffered a couple of phantom pregnancies and her bitter spirit reacts to the chant” I stole your baby” which is also performed in front of a mirror. It is mentioned in places that the name Bloody Mary was taken from Queen Mary Tudor who reigned in England (r.1553-1558), who was also known as Bloody Mary, although the game has nothing to do with Queen Mary I.

A more modern story is that of young John Smith of Plainfield, Wisconsin who opened up his inbox one day in November 2007 and read an email from two girls who claimed to be his sisters named Lisa and Sarah; they signed the email “Smith sisters”. John was quite puzzled by this because as far as he knew he was an only child. John replied to the email and told the sender to go away because he did not have any sisters. A second email arrived and it enticed him to check his bedroom closet, where he found “Lisa and Sarah - 1993″ scratched on the floor. The girls described living in the same house and sleeping in what was now his bedroom and asked him to open an attachment to the email which was an old newspaper clipping stating that two sisters Lisa 19 and Sarah 15 had been brutally murdered in their home in November 1993 and their bodies were found in the bedroom closet. They had been skinned alive.

It is unknown what happened next but John was found the next day by his parents in his closet and like his siblings had been skinned alive! This story was pieced together by what was found on his computer and by the carvings inside the closet which now included “John 2007” underneath his sisters’ names.

John’s parents had declined to tell him that he had not been the only child in the family due to the horrific circumstances in which they had lost their two girls 14 years earlier and the Police had no clues to the murderer. The case was eventually closed in 2000.This story has been used in bogus chain letters sent to kids threatening that their parents would kill them if they didn’t pass it on. Pretty sick stuff.

Another interesting tale is about the cast from the film “Poltergeist” which was beset by problems. There have been three “Poltergeist” films and deaths have occurred around them. Dominique Dunne, 22 who played Dana Freeling in the first film died after an attack from her boyfriend who choked her into a coma. A friend inside Dunne's house allegedly turned up the Poltergeist soundtrack to drown out the noise Dana and her boyfriend were making fighting outside.

12-year-old Heather O'Rourke who played Carol Anne Freeling died of septic shock on February 1st. 1988 after undergoing surgery to remove a bowel obstruction. She was in a commercial with actress Judith Barsi who also died 5 months after Heather’s demise at the age of 10. She and her mother were murdered by her father.

Wicked preacher Kane was played by Julian Beck in the second film and he died of cancer in 1985. He passed away during the time between filming and release.

Will Sampson played Taylor in the second film and he died in 1987 from post operative complications after receiving a heart-lung transplant.

Director of Poltergeist II, Brian Gibson, also died of bone cancer at the age of 59 in 2004.

These deaths have been related to a curse attached to the movie. One rumor claims that some of the props used in the movie were real human skeletal remains, which as you can imagine would not impress the spirits.

The house used for exterior shots was damaged by an earthquake in 1984. One of the stars claimed that each day she would turn up on set, straighten pictures hanging crookedly on the wall only to find them askew again the following day.

Actor Will Sampson was an Indian Sharman and he performed an exorcism on the set of Poltergeist II to eliminate evil spirits and as we know he died a year later.

Oliver Robins who played Robbie Freeling was injured when choked by a toy clown in his room due to a prop malfunction.

A photograph of co-star Zelda Rubenstein had shining light through her face and she claims that the picture was taken at the moment of her mother’s death.

Part of the movie set, a parking garage was demolished by flames during a fire scene injuring one crew member.

“Smith Sisters” and “Poltergeist are accounts that we all have probably heard about at one time or another. The Internet is one place that is inundated by such tales and chances are whatever truth lay in these stories more than likely has been embellished over the years, they have been labeled urban legends but they are still quite chilling all the same.

“Bloody Mary” I would be inclined to classify as a myth although you won’t be seeing me in front of a mirror chanting her name any time soon!

Myths are generally long established tales which involve supernatural beings and occurrences that defy logic and legends are typically stories that have been passed on but have not been validated with any proof and probably exaggerated with time.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has an interesting legend to share or better still has had a supernatural experience or knows someone who has.

I would like to create an entire article based on experiences that people have been willing to share with me so if you know of anything weird and spooky let me know!

In the meantime…sleep well, my pretty……