Forbidden Lore / Tag
Folklore
Stories and accounts connected to folklore.
Folklore & Legends
The Jersey Devil: The Monster That Haunted the Pine Barrens
For centuries, stories have described a winged creature stalking the forests of southern New Jersey: a horse-headed, bat-winged thing supposedly born as the cursed thirteenth child of Mother Leeds. But the history behind the Jersey Devil may be stranger than the legend. Religious feuds, colonial politics, Benjamin Franklin, newspaper hysteria, hoaxes, and a remarkable week in January 1909 all helped transform the Leeds Devil into one of America's most famous monsters.
Folklore & Legends
Mothman: The Winged Creature That Haunted Point Pleasant
In November 1966, two young couples near Point Pleasant, West Virginia, reported a towering winged figure with glowing red eyes beside an abandoned World War II munitions plant. Over the next thirteen months came more sightings, UFO reports, strange phone calls, Men in Black stories, and warnings of disaster. Then the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people. The creature became known as Mothman.
Folklore & Legends
The Wendigo: The Insatiable Hunger in the Northern Woods
Long before the Wendigo became an antlered monster of modern horror, stories across several Algonquian-speaking cultures described something more disturbing: a cannibalistic being of winter, starvation, greed, and endless hunger. Humans could become Wendigos, communities feared them, and historical cases ended in real deaths. The legend has survived for centuries—but the creature most people picture today is not the one found in the oldest traditions.
Regional Folklore
The Bell Witch
In early nineteenth-century Tennessee, stories began to surround the Bell family and a mysterious entity said to torment their household. The legend grew into one of the most enduring supernatural traditions in American folklore.
Urban Legends
The Highway Woman
Drivers have told the same story for decades: a woman appears beside the road after midnight, asks for a ride, and disappears before they reach the next town.