Nobody Cares About Laurie Strode?

I'm concerned about Laurie Strode. Laurie Strode is a character from the Hallowe'en movie series. She's Michael Myers' little sister.

The reason I'm worried about her is that I did a hub about her a while back, along with hubs on her brother, the psychotic killer and also on his doctor, Dr. Samuel J. Loomis. For some reason, as important as her character is - not just in the storyline and in the Hallowe'en series but in "horror movie-dom" itself, Laurie Strode is not receiving the views she deserves. Even Dr. Loomis gets more views.

The hub: Laurie Strode

Halloween Movie Trailer:



Now I know, I know - I went offline for a while and haven't exactly posted regularly since the summertime - but maybe you can leave some comments either on blogger or on the hub and suggest a few ways I might improve upon Laurie's hub.

After all - she's one of horror-dom's BEST and strongest "FINAL GIRL" characters!

E V E R !!!

Laurie Strode/Michael Myers (siblings) Tribute Video below:

• Would information about the importance of the 'final girl' role be useful on the hub?
• Perhaps more information about the actress (Jamie Lee Curtis) who played Laurie Strode?
• More details on her step-by-step actions in the original Hallowe'en and in the Final Hallowe'en?

I'll think on this a while and wait a week or so for some response before I set to work fixing Laurie up a little better.

Have a look, tell me what you think: Laurie Strode

In the meantime...BEK (Black Eyed Kids) stories are pouring in from r/l friends who've found out I'm not roasting chestnuts this holiday season (I'm 'hubbing' and researching on BEKs and more Urban Legends), so I'll have plenty to work on besides the Laurie Final Girl Strode hub!

So much for Santa and elves this Christmas Eve...I'm knee deep in black eyed kids.

Don't stop by, don't come a-caroling 'cos I won't open the door! I'm too scared, wrapped up in this research...merry ho ho ho

Final Girl

Hub 10 in the Hub Challenge: The Jigsaw Puzzle

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!

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!

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!

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.

Hub 6 in the Hub Challange: Fairies and Little People

Fairies and Little People will be a hub I'll have to update quite a bit after the Hub Challenge is over in a few more days!

"Fairies" as a topic alone - is HUGE! According to some cultures, Fairies have an intricate and complex hierarchy, including 'elite' fairies and 'common' fairies. There are generational lists of alleged fairy blood ties and everything! Competing or nearby peoples of different cultures will often even go so far as to DISAGREE with another culture's rending of or record-keeping of fairy generational and lineage details!

If you study "Fairies" for a little while, you'll find that the study branches out to include a vast array of other 'little people,' from brownies and pixies, all the way to imps and demons.

I decided to put Fairies and Little People as Hub 6 in the Hubpages Hub Challenge, even though the topic is something that can go on forever, depending on how finely one researches into folklore, fey lore, and fairy folk.

As always, I ask that you please email me or comment on hubs I publish whenever you know of a related version of myth, lore, urban legend or story persona that I have forgotten, so that I can do some additional research, or listen to a story from you - and add information to my hubs!

And now I must go...I have several half-researched hubs almost ready for publishing in the contest - work, work, work...

Then again, how bad can this 'work' be? I'm reading fantastic stories about fey folk and little people!

Hub 5 in the Hub Challenge: Categories of Folklore

Hub number 5 in the Hubpages Hub Challenge, "Categories of Folklore" has taken me off on another tangent - so don't expect another hub posted for a couple of days.

The Categories within the topic of "Folklore," I have found (as if I didn't know before? doh!), are many, varied and are essentially a string of other related research topics that go on and on and on...not to mention that they're all connected in interesting ways which toss a person mercilessly through and throughout many genres and mediums!

Most interesting to date is the category of "Child Lore" that I hadn't paid much attention to except for in a 'Fairy Tales' sub-heading...

I can't tell you much about what I have been finding under the heading of Child Lore but I can tell you that it is enough complex information to build another hub about!

So, for the next couple of days, I'll be working on this specific genre and phenomena concerning Child Lore within the paradigm of Folklore topics I have found in books, on the internet, and also from some personal interactions with KIDS!

That said...

Here's my hub: Categories of Folklore

No doubt, once the Hubpages Hub Challenge writing contest is finished, this Categories of Folklore hub will have to be constantly updated.

What was I thinking? Building a hub about such a topic...when there are libraries FULL of folklore items...

...well - I'd best be off to the library now, hadn't I?

Hub 4 in the Hub Challenge: Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is the subject of my fourth entry/4th hub in the Hubpages Hub Challenge contest, which started May 11.

What can be said about Paul Bunyan?

Well - you name it - if it relates to "BIG" - and if you can strettttttttch a story's details, exaggerate like crazy, and run off on a tangent, then you'll probably both love Paul Bunyan tales as well as be great at telling them.

Hub Challenge entry Hub #4: Paul Bunyan

Apparently, Paul Bunyan is the reason behind everything from the great and numerous lakes in the Michigan area, all the way to inventing double-decker ice cream cones! That is, according to 'legend' promoted primarily by North Americans!

Hub #3 in the Hub Challenge: Accidental Survival in Urban Legends

Accidental Survival happens in a lot of Urban Legends. More appropriately this is called "LUCK," plain and simple.

Some people whose lives are spared in many stories haven't really 'earned' their survival. Stories that involve accidents, murderers and stalkers, animal attacks, freak storms and violent natural elements, etc., often also contain messages about being cautious, planning ahead for emergencies, making good moral decisions...

However

"Accidental Survival" often happens when the main character has failed to plan ahead, has made bad decisions and hasn't been cautious at all...somehow the person's life is spared, anyway, despite risk-taking behaviors, distractions, short-sightedness, etc.

Sometimes a person survives due to a miscalculation on the part of a stalker, killer or other sort of attacker in an urban legend. Sometimes a 'safe person' or authority figure shows up 'in the nick of time' to save a person who has been careless, forgetful, or cocky in urban legends. In any case, with accidental survival, the character in question (the one in the most danger) doesn't actively save him or herself - the survival/saving happens from an external force.

On occassion, the person in danger hasn't actually done anything wrong and ends up in the wrong place at the right time, thus placing him/ or herself in danger. This is actually quite rare, but can happen in stories/urban legends.

More often, even something as seemingly small and insignificant as a person driving at nighttime - when they've been at a legitimate function and have done no wrong prior to the time of danger - is actually considered a 'mistake' and 'fault' on the part of the person......in other words, the person should have KNOWN to drive during the daytime. A situation like this is found in a few versions of "Don't Flash The Headlights/Gang Initiation" where a person flashes but somehow the "gang" car malfunctions, sparing the life of the person who flashed the headlights. If the 'victim' has survived for such reasons, this is like an accidental survival. A survival that wasn't planned out or made possible by the victim's own skills.

My third entry in the Hubpages Hub Challenge is called "Accidental Survival in Urban Legends."

So far on the hub, I have shown the "Knife in the Briefcase" urban legend - a basic version as well as the "Good Samaritan" version which isn't the same story but is similar in end-result. Both stories contain a man whose briefcase is somehow left in a car. In one version, a woman escapes from a killer 'accidentally' because she is actually forgetful, believe it or not! In a similar story, in the "Good Samaritan" version, a woman is annoyed with a man and acts assertively - then finds out afterward that he was intending on killing her.

Enjoy the hub!

Concerns Re: Content Quality During Hub Challenge

Hub Challenge Content Quality:

I'm a little concerned, only a few days into the Hubpages Hub Challenge contest. I'm checking around, looking at the new content submitted as "hub challenge" hubs and although most hubs I'm reading are quite nice, I'm noticing more hubs that are short on content.

"Short on content" is about the best description I can find for what I see in the hub challenge. Many hubs are just really SHORT - limited in words.

I suppose the hubs containing fewer words are an attempt from some hub authors to keep up with the demands of the contest - that is - attempts to push out numerous hubs in a short amount of time.

Although I see the strategy here, in writing many hubs with limited words, I'm worried that such a strategy will eventually be bad for the Hubpages site. I sincerely hope that new viewers who come across the Hubpages site while the Hub Challenge contest is in progress, and while people are pressing out short hubs, will not assume that 300-400-word hubs are the standard.

I've been a Hubpages member for over a year and most 'fan' lists that I am on are with authors who are writing a lot more original content than 400 words per hub. Most of my own hubs are well over 500 words, and - for the record - I intend to keep making sure that my hubs contain content of more than 500 words, despite having entered into the Hub Challenge contest.

I thought about the concept of 'content quality' just prior to the contest start date of May 11. The first information I read online about the contest was about the 100 hubs in 30 days, but after following a few more links around and checking up on this contest, I was happy to find a 30 hub in 30 days category.

I felt that 30 hubs in 30 days was more 'my speed,' and am awfully glad I didn't commit to building 100 hubs in 30 days now. Luckily, I'm not feeling much pressure to write short hubs in order to complete 30 of them in as many days. Actually, I haven't 'published' hub #4 yet, even though today is considered day 4 of the contest. I still think it's important to do some research for each hub, so I'll just keep plodding along this month, reading a lot, writing a lot, and see how I fare by the end of the contest!

Wish me luck!

Prompt Twitter Support - Thanks Lukester

A few days ago, I created a new Twitter .com account and within hours, my account was blocked.

I'm happy to report, however, that I received same-day attention once I noticed the problem and submitted a support ticket.

My account was blocked pending investigation of questionable activity, but once I reported the problem on a brand new account, support staff managed to check on the problem quite quickly.

My account was unblocked (during the same 24-hour period in which I submitted the ticket) by Lukester at Twitter .com

Thanks Lukester!

Obviously, I'm quite new to Twitter, and I'm still figuring out how to navigate around links through Twitter, so it's now nice to know that support staff are responsive at the site.

I just thought I'd post a 'successful site support ticket' blurb for a change because I don't often see people posting about good support attention online. Mostly I see people ranting and complaining when mistakes/bad things occur to their online accounts - but rarely do I ever see enough praises for the people who answer support tickets/emails online.

I think a lot of people just forget to post again after complaints, and once their issues have been resolved - but I didn't want to be one of those people who forgot!

Again - thx Lukester from Twitter support!

Springheel Jack - A Hub I WISH was in the Hub Challenge

Springheel Jack - Urban Legend

One of my favourite hubs to put together has been the Springheel Jack one that I published quite a while ago. I wish I had just thought of doing a hub on this notorious leaping entity more recently instead of months ago, because if I'd just completed the hub NOW, I could enter it in the hubpages Hub Challenge to get the hub the exposure I think it deserves!

The hub has had a fairly consistent score of 70+ often in the 80's but the score is starting to slip. Today the score on the hub is only 71, so I'll have to update the hub soon with fresh content.

I've enjoyed the Springheel Jack story and also the research involved in finding out more about Springheel Jack. He/It is a very mysterious entity, made more mysterious by the fact that reports of Jack's first appearances were in Britain during the Victorian era...

Record-keeping was being done back then but methodical , ethical and reliable record-keeping was questionable back when Springheel Jack was leaping around London and various locations in England. Therefore, I can track down a great number of reports - even newspaper reports that can be cross-referenced - about a Springheel Jack persona who terrorized areas of England, but these reports are largely unreliable.

Now, just because many reports from the recent-past are considered unreliable data - this DOES NOT MEAN that the documents are USELESS to us today...

What the old documents, sighting reports and personal accounts/interviews contain are very interesting data, displaying the general state of the human psyche in individuals who reported seeing or coming into contact with Springheel Jack.

No doubt, whoever or whatever Springheel Jack was - his/its presence created hysteria, confusion and fear - in a huge way all over England.

If you'd like to read about what I've been able to dig up so far about Springheel Jack:

Hubpages Hub: Springheel Jack

I'm not sure we haven't also seen a similar sort of hysteria in our own times - even though we are capable of better record-keeping today and though our sciences are more accessible and advanced as compared with Victorian times.

For me, similarities exist between the Springheel Jack legend(s) and a creature that turned up in the U.S.A. in the late 1960's named, The Mothman.

Both entities caused terror of the general public in the regions - several square miles - where they were visible. Though each creature/figure was described a bit differently, we are talking about Victorian era and vocabulary in England versus present-day, modern vocabulary in The United States of America...when discussing the two entities.

Both figures showed up suddenly - and were visible for a short span of time (days to a couple of years) - and then reports of sightings just stopped as suddenly as they had started concerning each of the entities in separate eras.

Makes ya say, "Hmmm"

Hub #2 in the Hub Challenge: The Exploding Cactus

"The Exploding Cactus"

My 2nd hub entered in the Hubpages Hub Challenge (which started yesterday, May11) is about an urban legend called "The Exploding Cactus."

In this incredible story, usually a family has been out of the country on vacation. The family brings back an exotic plant (almost always a cactus) that can't usually be found in their usual hometown or country.

Unfortunately, along with the exotic and rare cactus, the family unknowingly also brings back some other unwanted sorts of pets...which are somehow linked to the purchase of the cactus.

Read a version of the urban legend on the 2nd hub I submitted in the Hub Challenge at a website called "Hubpages."

Hub 2: The Exploding Cactus

Here are a few tidbits that aren't on the hub above yet...

One of the most important elements that makes the story, The Exploding Cactus, successful as an urban legend is the cactus itself, along with public ignorance about cactus plants.

(admittedly, I know almost nothing about cactus plants, myself - but knowledge of these items is not necessary for storytelling, either...)

Cactus or "cacti" are usually considered an EXOTIC plant. The care of these flora is necessarily different than that of plants that most people are familiar with. Therefore, not as many people KEEP Cacti as will keep 'ordinary' and more common plants.

This also means that people who know about cacti or cactuses have EXCLUSIVE information about their growth and care...

The average person who does not know anything or who knows very little about cacti can be easily taken in by the details given in the urban legend The Exploding Cactus. Those who know little to nothing about cactus plants easily assume that what happens in the story CAN REALLY HAPPEN!

Another tidbit: readers of this blog now have exclusive information about one of the most important things that makes The Exploding Cactus urban legend successful - because this tidbit has not been posted on the hub at all...

You see... 'logic' and plain 'common sense' of an average person who does not know anything about cactuses will actually MAKE THIS STORY APPEAR logical, true, plausible, etc.

Don't we live in a strange world? Where logic can actually allow a myth to perpetuate and spread?

Looking for Sawney Beane

Do you have information about a legend about Sawney Beane (sometimes spelled, "Bean")?

From my research efforts so far, what I have turned up is that no sure documents have been discovered about a person by the name of Sawney Beane who was actually proven to be a cannibal in fifteenth or sixteenth century Scotland.

According to legend, Sawney Beane, along with the help of his 40+member clan, is supposed to have murdered and performed acts of cannibalism upon over 1000 human beings - somewhere in the area of "East Lothian." Eventually, Sawney Beane and his clan grew too big, got careless and were found out. They were executed...

The cave where Sawney Beane and his notorious clan supposedly lived, undetected, for a quarter of a century was located in an area known as "Galloway." Galloway has been re-named and is now called "South Ayrshire."

Some people think that the actual cave is in existence today and is called the present-day "Bennane Cave." This cave is located between a burgh of about 8000 people called, "Girvan," and a place called "Ballantrae," both located in South Ayrshire.

Ballantrae is featured in famous author, Robert Louis Stevenson's book, "The Master of Ballantrae," written in (first ed.) 1889.

Hopefully, posting a few of these Scottish regional and burgh names will jog someone's memory - of a story heard or overheard about The Legend of Sawney Beane.

Most researchers of folklore and legends, as well as historians, believe the persona of Sawney Beane to be a purely fictitious figure - pure myth.

But - ya never know, now...

Legend of Sawney Bean:



The terrain of Scotland is notoriously varied in hills, valleys, caves - not to mention all the features of terrain caused by Scotland having maritime qualities...

What do you think? Could the Legend of Sawney Beane be rooted in truth?

Is is possible that a notorious cannibal and his despicable clan could have hid out in caves for a couple of decades and preyed - literally and physically - upon unsuspecting passersby who journeyed along 16-Century pathways?

Hub #1 in the Hub Challenge: Caller in the House

"Caller in the House"

...is the name of my first hub submitted in Hubpages' Hub Challenge, which just started today.

You know the story, don't you? (aside from several movies that have been made with the same 'babysitter stalked' idea).

Here's the basic stuff of the story...

A teen is babysitting at a house and everything is going fine. The kids are well-behaved, nothing is out of the ordinary - until the babysitter puts the kids to bed.

After the kids are in bed, upstairs in their rooms, then--

THEN - bad stuff starts to happen.

The babysitter starts to receive a number of very strange phone calls

Read more about this urban legend on my newest hub:

Hub: Caller in the House

Of course, there are several versions of this urban legend. 3 version are featured on my hub.

Enjoy...

Problems With Twitter

So, here I am getting all revved up for the Hub Challenge

New blog here, as suggested by the Hubpages Hub Challenge entry on the Hubpages blog...I've done a bit of topic research to get ready for building hubs, starting tomorrow, checked the coffee can to make sure I've got a good supply of java for the next few days - got my Twitter account all set up

...and then...

Logged back in to Twitter after taking a break from the computer for a couple of hours and...

My Twitter account has been suspended! (suspicious activity? after 2 updates?)

Well, hopefully, Twitter support will answer my support ticket...

Do You Know Who Mary Worthington Was?

I've written a hub on the HubPages site about "Bloody Mary" but I'm still researching versions of this legend.

So far, a number of legends exist, naming a person called Mary Worthington as a witch, a disfigured teen, a young mother whose young infant was stolen and who committed suicide, a young mother whose infant died shortly after birth (Mary ended her life in this version, as well), an innocent young female who was wrongly charged and executed for being a witch...

...the versions of the person of Mary Worthington are many but I have not been able to track down a REAL PERSON of Mary Worthington from our near-past who fits any description that the legends offer.

If you do know of a Mary Worthington who can be proven to have really lived a real life in our recent past (anytime between fifteenth century and twentieth century), please contact me!

My Mary Worthington Hub at HubPages: Mary Worthington

As well - if you have heard of or have played the "Bloody Mary" game (sometimes reported to be a very scary game) connected with the persona of this elusive Mary Worthington, drop me a line! I may be able to feature your 'version' on my hub or blog!

Entering the Hub Challenge

I've created this blog to record what happens for me in the Hubpages "Hub Challenge" which starts tomorrow (May 11 2209).

My ID on Hubpages is mythbuster and most of my hubs are about urban legends, folkore, legends, scary movies, and similar topics.

I've studied folklore, mythology, religion & theology, and folk and fairy tales at the university level for 4+ years...

...in the real world, what does one DO with knowledge of how urban legends, fairy tales, religion, folklore and mythology work? What PRACTICAL purpose is in these topics? What kind of work does one do with folklore, mythology and fairytales?

Well...

Writing about these things beyond school assignments and telling/re-telling snippets of stories in story circles and at campouts garners me some decent marks on paper and some scares and screams around campfires...

However, taking these topics to HUBPAGES is starting to earn me more money than any real life application I've managed so far!

It only seems natural now for me to enter the Hub Challenge!