A creepy little story called The Jigsaw Puzzle is what I selected to place on hub number 10 for the Hub Challenge.
The Jigsaw Puzzle falls into a theme with a 'lingering stalker' in the tale, but some will classify the urban legend as another 'axe-murderer' tale or 'murdering madman' legend.
Actually, this urban legend fits into a number of categories, including 'cautionary tale,' but this time, teens aren't being warned not to have sex. In this instance, for some reason, the elderly are being warned about something.
Here's how it works:
Basically, the elderly woman in the story SHOULD NOT be exercising her independence. She SHOULD BE living somewhere that is not so isolated, and she should be living with other people. Due to her independence and insistence on living alone after her husband dies, her insistence on retaining her home, the woman ends up in a "killer" situation...or - she is going to die at the hands of a killer.
Some of this legend is likely an attempt from the society who made this urban legend - to say, "Hey...a happy MATURE couple has two people...a man and a woman who grow old together. If one of these personas is NOT in place, the picture is not right." Basically, if one of a pair - if a mate dies - the remaining individual has to give up autonomy. And YES...this legend may have been told to aging people in order to get them to give up isolation and move into certain kinds of care facilities...more likely, the urban legend is told to people of all ages, to instill the idea that the 'societal norm' should be that old members of society need to turn toward living in extended care facilities (nursing homes) rather than living alone once a mate dies.
Read: The Jigsaw Puzzle on my hub
* Tip - close the blinds/curtains of your windows before you read this, particularly if you're reading after dark!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Hub 9 in the Hub Challenge: The Bunnyman of Clifton
Here's a legend I just love! The Bunnyman of Clifton follows some of the same format as The Goatman of Maryland but it's a real mind-phok legend.
Mind-phokking because it seems that people, particularly adolescents REFUSE TO LEAVE THE BUNNYMAN ALONE!
The Bunnyman has been legend-over-legend-ed (I know, I know, makin' up my own words now, and my own phrases). What I mean is - a legend was placed over The Bunnyman of Clifton YEARS after the supposed Bunnyman story died (bad pun) off for a bit.
There are dead (k, so the pun stays) end in The Bunnyman Legend, just like in The Goatman Legend - and the stop-ups are the same...namely that NOBODY CAN TRACE the first person who saw either the Bunnyman or the Goatman. There are 'apparent' incidents but nobody has ever found the first person to tell the tale of "someone I know told me about the goatman/bunnyman."
Spoooooooooooooooky - and very cool. This lack of "original person who saw" detail means that we are definitely dealing with a cool URBAN LEGEND!! (not a historical detail, not a fairy tale, not something else - just plain, decent, urban legend)
With the Bunnyman, there are DATES...some supposed incidents from the past are told about in this legend, lending a feel of 'history' to the story...but when traced, THE EVENTS ARE VERIFIABLY NIL....... nada - didn't happen, not possible
...which makes The Bunnyman Legend EXTRA awesome because PEOPLE STILL TELL IT over and over again, time and time again, even when it is easy to find details surrounding this legend which tell that the most basic part of the story is not real !
People would rather be skeeeeered of a madman/bunnyman/ghost-of-the-bunnyman than simply STOP TELLING THIS LEGEND.
Also, sometime in the 1970's, the legend of the Bunnyman died down quite a bit but then some OTHER form of Bunnyman appeared - this time, nothing quite like the frightening madman-bunny-killer asylum-escapee from the original tale. This time, a man in a bunny outfit who was said to act out in a crazy way was in the Clifton area, scaring people........part of THIS NEW persona became legendary for a little while.
This secondary bunny-suited-individual seems to have played upon the old Bunnyman legend and frightened people during his time in Clifton - but this person was also feared because nobody could figure out WHY someone would act out, scare teens away from roadsides and throw an axe at cars in the Clifton area. No doubt, this person's behavior was very ODD and potentially dangerous, although nobody reported being directly assaulted by hand from this strange individual (perhaps there are those who didn't escape this weirdo and who didn't live to tell of an assault - makes ya wonder...) After a little while and a few incidents, the bunny-suited man disappeared, hmmmm.
I feel like I need to go have a carrot snack
You can read up on the Bunnyman:
The Bunnyman of Clifton
Catchya later!
Mind-phokking because it seems that people, particularly adolescents REFUSE TO LEAVE THE BUNNYMAN ALONE!
The Bunnyman has been legend-over-legend-ed (I know, I know, makin' up my own words now, and my own phrases). What I mean is - a legend was placed over The Bunnyman of Clifton YEARS after the supposed Bunnyman story died (bad pun) off for a bit.
There are dead (k, so the pun stays) end in The Bunnyman Legend, just like in The Goatman Legend - and the stop-ups are the same...namely that NOBODY CAN TRACE the first person who saw either the Bunnyman or the Goatman. There are 'apparent' incidents but nobody has ever found the first person to tell the tale of "someone I know told me about the goatman/bunnyman."
Spoooooooooooooooky - and very cool. This lack of "original person who saw" detail means that we are definitely dealing with a cool URBAN LEGEND!! (not a historical detail, not a fairy tale, not something else - just plain, decent, urban legend)
With the Bunnyman, there are DATES...some supposed incidents from the past are told about in this legend, lending a feel of 'history' to the story...but when traced, THE EVENTS ARE VERIFIABLY NIL....... nada - didn't happen, not possible
...which makes The Bunnyman Legend EXTRA awesome because PEOPLE STILL TELL IT over and over again, time and time again, even when it is easy to find details surrounding this legend which tell that the most basic part of the story is not real !
People would rather be skeeeeered of a madman/bunnyman/ghost-of-the-bunnyman than simply STOP TELLING THIS LEGEND.
Also, sometime in the 1970's, the legend of the Bunnyman died down quite a bit but then some OTHER form of Bunnyman appeared - this time, nothing quite like the frightening madman-bunny-killer asylum-escapee from the original tale. This time, a man in a bunny outfit who was said to act out in a crazy way was in the Clifton area, scaring people........part of THIS NEW persona became legendary for a little while.
This secondary bunny-suited-individual seems to have played upon the old Bunnyman legend and frightened people during his time in Clifton - but this person was also feared because nobody could figure out WHY someone would act out, scare teens away from roadsides and throw an axe at cars in the Clifton area. No doubt, this person's behavior was very ODD and potentially dangerous, although nobody reported being directly assaulted by hand from this strange individual (perhaps there are those who didn't escape this weirdo and who didn't live to tell of an assault - makes ya wonder...) After a little while and a few incidents, the bunny-suited man disappeared, hmmmm.
I feel like I need to go have a carrot snack
You can read up on the Bunnyman:
The Bunnyman of Clifton
Catchya later!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Hub 8 in the Hub Challenge: The Goatman of Maryland
Okay, I'll admit it right now - I have "Goatman-a-phobia!"
I have no trouble telling freely that I had to stay up and both read a funny story and watch silly cartoons after making the Goatman hub - for about 3 nights in a row...
I also admitted right on the hub already that the Goatman scares me...
Now that the hub challenge is over for me, I can say I'm glad I put together The Goatman of Maryland hub during a time of 'writing on demand,' for a personal challenge contest, because this allowed me to push forward quickly and get to researching on other urban legends and related information...so I was able to 'forget' about how the Goatman legend unnerves me.
The Goatman is very much related to "lovers lane" scares and falls in the heading of 'blatant cautionary tales for teens' The purpose of The Goatman Legend may be primarily to scare off teenagers from engaging in sexual activities in remote, private areas (lovers lanes), but the 'cryptid' form - the half-man/half-goat form of the Goatman is particularly unnerving for me.
I can deal with "Hook"-like additions on a crazed madman, such as is notable in a similar cautionary tale-lovers lane scare legend "The Hook," and I can deal with a very angry man in the woods, like in "Skinned Tom," another lovers-lane-caution-against-sex-tale, but when men/man turns into a cryptid/half-man creature, I start to loose my cookies and my senses start to say "run like HELL."
For this reaction, I suppose that The Goatman of Maryland does precisely what it's supposed to do...scare the heck outta me to ensure that I never go out to a wooded area around Maryland to engage in sexual activities...nope, ya won't be seein' me disrobe near the woods in Maryland at all. EVER...
So why am I sittin' over 2000 miles away from Maryland, U.S.A. with my pulse fired up?
I dunno...I wonder if there is such thing as goatman-a-phobia...
If there is, I've got it!
I have no trouble telling freely that I had to stay up and both read a funny story and watch silly cartoons after making the Goatman hub - for about 3 nights in a row...
I also admitted right on the hub already that the Goatman scares me...
Now that the hub challenge is over for me, I can say I'm glad I put together The Goatman of Maryland hub during a time of 'writing on demand,' for a personal challenge contest, because this allowed me to push forward quickly and get to researching on other urban legends and related information...so I was able to 'forget' about how the Goatman legend unnerves me.
The Goatman is very much related to "lovers lane" scares and falls in the heading of 'blatant cautionary tales for teens' The purpose of The Goatman Legend may be primarily to scare off teenagers from engaging in sexual activities in remote, private areas (lovers lanes), but the 'cryptid' form - the half-man/half-goat form of the Goatman is particularly unnerving for me.
I can deal with "Hook"-like additions on a crazed madman, such as is notable in a similar cautionary tale-lovers lane scare legend "The Hook," and I can deal with a very angry man in the woods, like in "Skinned Tom," another lovers-lane-caution-against-sex-tale, but when men/man turns into a cryptid/half-man creature, I start to loose my cookies and my senses start to say "run like HELL."
For this reaction, I suppose that The Goatman of Maryland does precisely what it's supposed to do...scare the heck outta me to ensure that I never go out to a wooded area around Maryland to engage in sexual activities...nope, ya won't be seein' me disrobe near the woods in Maryland at all. EVER...
So why am I sittin' over 2000 miles away from Maryland, U.S.A. with my pulse fired up?
I dunno...I wonder if there is such thing as goatman-a-phobia...
If there is, I've got it!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Hub 7 in the Hub Challenge: Vanishing Hitch Hikers
Vanishing Hitch Hiker tales are many and diverse, and these tales have existed for a long, long time. One may assume that the legends of Vanishing Hitch Hikers have only been around for as long as automobiles have been around - in order that someone has a vehicle with which to offer the (vanishing) hitch hiker a ride...
Not true... there are 'walking traveller' stories involving disappearing people or entities, too - where no vehicle at all is present in the story.
In present day, the item of a vehicle has actually been inserted into much, much older tales about the unexplained, whereby people vanish without apparent reason.
Many old tales are excellent ghost tales, as are the newer versions which now include automobiles.
Wagons and carts on land - and many canoes, rafts, and boats of various kinds by sea have been incorporated into ghost stories and stories about the unexplained, so these hitch hikers or passengers who hitch a ride have been hitching for hundreds of years already.
You can read more about Vanishing Hitch Hikers at the hub I created for the Hubpages Hub Challenge:
Vanishing Hitch Hikers
Don't worry if the hub is a little short at the moment...there are so many versions or vanishing passengers (even on trains!) that this hub will be updated many times. If you know of any vanishing hitch hiker stories, contact me through hubpages or through this blog.
Information that will be updated on the hub will include details about frightening versus helpful vanishing hitch hikers, as both 'good' and 'bad' hitch hikers figure in a number of vanishing passenger myths, legends and tales.
Sometimes the stranger/passenger arrives as a sort of beneficial steward of warning to the driver in a vanishing hitch hiker tale.
Most often, these tales are quite scary, if not unnerving, however, I have been surprised by the number of vanishing passenger tales whereby the unexplained disappearing person brings timely information to aid the driver in some problematic concern in his or her life.
Enjoy the information - and check for updates soon.
Not true... there are 'walking traveller' stories involving disappearing people or entities, too - where no vehicle at all is present in the story.
In present day, the item of a vehicle has actually been inserted into much, much older tales about the unexplained, whereby people vanish without apparent reason.
Many old tales are excellent ghost tales, as are the newer versions which now include automobiles.
Wagons and carts on land - and many canoes, rafts, and boats of various kinds by sea have been incorporated into ghost stories and stories about the unexplained, so these hitch hikers or passengers who hitch a ride have been hitching for hundreds of years already.
You can read more about Vanishing Hitch Hikers at the hub I created for the Hubpages Hub Challenge:
Vanishing Hitch Hikers
Don't worry if the hub is a little short at the moment...there are so many versions or vanishing passengers (even on trains!) that this hub will be updated many times. If you know of any vanishing hitch hiker stories, contact me through hubpages or through this blog.
Information that will be updated on the hub will include details about frightening versus helpful vanishing hitch hikers, as both 'good' and 'bad' hitch hikers figure in a number of vanishing passenger myths, legends and tales.
Sometimes the stranger/passenger arrives as a sort of beneficial steward of warning to the driver in a vanishing hitch hiker tale.
Most often, these tales are quite scary, if not unnerving, however, I have been surprised by the number of vanishing passenger tales whereby the unexplained disappearing person brings timely information to aid the driver in some problematic concern in his or her life.
Enjoy the information - and check for updates soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)