Quote from Angela on January 1, 2022, 11:36 am

What better way to welcome in the New Year, than sharing some truly terrifying folklore which ended up being true.

Many urban legends are just that, legend, tale, entertainment.

However, there are a select few which actually turned out to be more fact than fiction.

And sometimes, monsters step OUT of nightmares and INTO reality.

CANDYMAN

Candymans popularity exploded with the movie of the same name. The tale of a vengeful spirit of a freed slave, who was brutally murdered by his accomplices, given over to a dark entity.

If you stare into a mirror in the dark and repeat the name Candyman three times, this malevolent spirit is believed to manifest.

Surely just a myth right?

In 1987 a young woman in Florida made a panicked call to local police. She claimed there was someone in her mirror taunting and tormenting her and she felt her life was in danger. Police discovered her apartment ransacked yet there was no sign of the forced entrance to the apartment.

To their horror they found her body lying in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor. She had been shot but forensics revealed this was not a self inflicted attack. The circumstances of her death remain a mystery to this day. It was almost as if someone, or something, had persuaded the woman to take her own life.

The incident became known as the Candyman case.

THE PLAGUE DOCTOR

Italy, 1557, a whole array of plagues broke out. It was believed these pandemics stemmed from Naples. Many could not afford medical treatments and accepted the services of local doctor known as The Plague Doctor.

The doctor wore black gloves, cape and bird beak like mask with glass dome eyes, the beak was a preventative barrier so as not to allow viruses to spread as he went from house to house. The doctor was a very real person who actually used remedies such as bloodletting, leaches and spiders.

SPRINGFIELD JACK

Springfield Jack was initially thought to be a Victorian legend dating back to 1904 in England, United Kingdom. This dark phantom was said to look just like the devil blade like fingers.

He would effortlessly jump over walls after slicing at unsuspecting victims. He was known as 'the terror of London'. January 1838, the Mayor of London addressed the issue and stated he was certain it was all just an elaborate prank, yet offered a reward for any legitimate sightings of Springfield Jack.

Hundreds of people came forward, revealing their terrifying encounters with Jack. Mothers had even claimed their children had told of being attacked in the night. Many were left scratched and traumatised. Yet nobody ever captured him.

Children described a man wearing a black cloak with eyes like fire and sharp fingers who warned them to do as he said or else they were in trouble. Adults said he was completely hideous. This character was not imaginary at all, but a very real menace who traumatised the streets of England with many individuals actually dying 'of fright' upon encountering him.

CANNIBAL ESCAPE

Located on a remote island in the Australian outback Penal Colony, during the 1800s, there was a high security prison which held Australias most notorious offenders.

The prisoners were abandoned and resorted to cannibalism. Many prisoners fled. Others escaped, now with an embedded thirst for blood and flesh.

Could this explain the array of unexplained disappearances reported from the surrounding communities at that time?

Can you add to our list of factual folklore terrors?