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American Urban Legends: Killer on the Loose

American Urban Legends: Killer on the Loose

For Halloween 2022, I am taking a quick detour from my usual posts and the lore vs the facts for something more fun - American Urban Legends! We all have our favorite ones, told around the campfire or at slumber parties. No one ever really knows how the legend started, but we all know some version of it...

Stepping away from the facts and with no debunking allowed, this spooky season I want to bring you not just the generic story, but possible locations for origins, eyewitness accounts of monsters, and any possible "how-to" when it comes to summoning...whatever goes bump in your lore.

Now don't say I didn't warn you. After all, I didn't check the facts. Today's legend might not get you, but go looking too deep and I'm sure another one will.

Killer on the Loose

You're driving late at night on an unfamiliar road and you see a bridge ahead. Pulling over, you grab your phone to check the GPS. Even though it's a clear night, your phone can't seem to locate exactly where you are. As you fiddle with it, an emergency alert pops up. An escaped convicted murderer is on the loose and everyone is advised to stay in their homes with the doors and windows locked. The prisoner was last seen at the Old Town overpass with a large knife.

Absentmindedly, you glance at the info before swiping away the notification. You really need to figure out where you are. It's not getting any earlier and you just want to be at home. Climbing out of the car, you start walking around, raising your phone up, hoping it locates your position. You've never been down this patch of road before and there isn't anything aside from the bridge in sight.

But, hey! Your phone chimes that it knows exactly where you are. A quick glance and your heart stops before rapidly beating so fast, you can't breathe. Old Town Overpass. What did that alert say? Who was out here? Surely if it was anyone that dangerous, you would see or hear cops, right? I mean, the cops have to be around here somewhere if it's where an escaped prisoner is, right?

You try to take a deep breath. Your heart is pounding in your ears, but you try to focus. Looking up from your phone, you see the bridge and your car. And a dark figure standing between the two...

When it comes to American Urban Legends, who hasn't heard some version of the tale of an escaped convict or mental patient ready to slice and dice anyone who gets in his way? I mean, even good ol' Michael Myers fits this legend (and y'all know I love my Mikey). From the Hookman to the Bunny Man, it seems every town in America has at least one killer on the loose urban legend.

The Hookman

The legend that started it all, or at least so it seems. The Hookman is always the first urban legend I think of when 1) asked about urban legends and 2) asked about urban legends that involve killers on the loose. While the story itself doesn't seem to have a true place to call home (several states have possible contenders on this bid), it has been part of American urban legends since at least the 1950s.



The Bunny Man - Fairfax County, Virginia

The Bunny Man is an urban legend from Fairfax County in Virginia. Legend has it that a man by the name of Douglas Grifon escaped from a crashed bus of mental patients being transferred to a new prison in the early 20th century. It's reported that he would capture and eat bunnies then hang their little, half-eaten, gutted bodies up from a local bridge. Then on Halloween, he attacked, gutted, and hung a group of local teens from the same bridge. (Gross dude.)




Texarkana Moonlight Murders - Miller County, Arkansas, and Bowie County, Texas

One of the possible origins for the Hookman legend, this string of killings back in 1946 features a killer stalking teens at lovers' lane. While this killer used a gun instead of a blade, the fact remains that this legend has a lot of similarities to the popular tale of caution.




The Cropsey Legend - Staten Island, New York

Sometimes true crime stories inspire legends and other times legends inspire true crime. Unfortunately, for children living in Staten Island, an escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand wasn't just a story, it was a waking nightmare. Back in mid-1980s, there actually was a man by the name of Andre Rand preying on children. This is an interesting one as the area had the Cropsey legend before it had the Cropsey killer as 2 separate films were made in the early 1980s about the legend.

(So, no lie, I might be circling back to this one in a later post or two to separate the lore from the facts as I am intrigued and I watched the documentary. Do I remember anything about it? Nope, because I am fairly certain I fell asleep during it (not a knock on the film, it is well-documented Lily can fall asleep anywhere and at the drop of a hat if given a cozy blanket) but I digress. Remind me to circle back to this one. I need space to focus on it in detail!)



Now fellow lore lovers, I hope you have enjoyed today's urban legends. While they might not have the chance for ghost hunting like other urban legends, at the end of the day, who isn't a bit more scared of a crazy killer on the loose than possible floating sheets?

Don't forget to check out the rest of the American Urban Legends. I will update the main page as I share posts but to make sure you don't miss a legend, sign up for email notifications. I swear, I will only message you when there is a new post or extra important news, like I just caught a ghostie on camera, peed myself, and am currently hiding in the closet with a bag of salt, waiting to be rescued. 😂

Until next time lore lovers, stay spooky💖

~Lily

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Location: United States

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