For this past Halloween, I compiled a list of urban legends (which you can read here). For this urban legend compilation, I chose stories that originated from New York State.

(Rape and abuse TW)

1. Cropsey

This legend tells the story of Staten Island's own "boogeyman". It goes: there's a mentally ill man with a hook for a hand that would terrorize children, kidnap them and bring them to an abandoned hospital and they were to be never seen again. However in the 1970s this tale became reality. Andre Rand, a janitor at an institution for mentally disabled children began attacking kids around the area. He would kidnap, sometimes rape, and murder his victims. The institution he worked in was shut down for their abuse on the children, and it was believe their abuse influenced his crimes.

2. Hell's Gate Bridge

For decades children have reported troubling stories of a satanic torture chamber that is buried within the bridge's foundation. According to the story, a strange homeless man would lurk around the bridge at night, watching for children. He led said children into the chamber under the bride and would abuse. Depending on the teller of the story, the abuse would range from rape to torture to cannabalism, and the man had an accomplice who would take pictures of these happenings.

3. Mole People

Supposedly under the streets of NYC, there's a society of people inhabiting the dark subway lines across the city. The legend of the mole people tells that they develop actual societies in which they would have elected officials, nurses as teachers. Although this seems pretty imaginable, it is in some ways quite true. NYC is home to a vast amount of the homeless who do find shelter underground in the subways.

4. Mary's Grave

The tale of Mary's Grave has different variations. It originates from Long Island and there are many supposed Mary's Graves all along the island. Although each telling of her story is different, they do have a common chain of events, in which Mary died a terrible death and either haunts the place of her death or her tombstone and then either seeks revenge or protects others from her fate. One story tells Mary being raped, beaten to death, and an old couple finds her body on their property. They then dig her a grave in seclusion. On one account, a group of friends were driving in search of her grave and out of nowhere a woman in a white gown was running in their direction, fear clearly etched on her face and there was a tall hooded figure running after her. Obviously scared, they kept driving and further down the road, the saw the woman running past the again, with the same man running after her…

5. Lake Ronkonkoma

The legend of Lake Ronkonkoma is: there were two Indian tribes that lived across the lake from each other. The Indian princess of one tribe was involved in a secret courtship with a warrior from the other tribe. They had planned to meet at the center of the lake and elope. When she rowed out to the middle of the lake that night, no one came to meet her. Devastated and heartbroken, she remained a drift and died on the lake. Supposedly every year since her death, it is said she takes the life of a boy who goes out into the lake.

A supposed real life encounter tells, a woman recalls going out onto the lake as a young girl. There had been a slide on the lake which she went on. She recalls being pushed hard down the slide. As being young and inexperienced she struggled to surface once she went underwater. A few moments later she felt as though something let her go and she was able to resurface. After climbing out of the water, she asked if someone had pushed her, but no one did. Knowing the legend of the lake, she assumed the ghost of the Indian princess mistaken her for a boy and let her go.