POST#10: Urban Legends: Urban Legends in Movies

Recently, there are now some movies that were related to Urban Legends. It is funny that even though Urban Legends is not that popular among us, there are still some people who manage to tell those legends, and some even made them into a video, and into a movie. One of its example is the Urban Legends Series.

Urban Legend is a 1998 horror film which is about a group of college students, where they encountered murders and bizarre deaths inside the campus that were connected about Urban Legends and also had conversations and explanations about some certain legends.

The movie revolves around a group who were talking about an urban legend called “Stanley Hall Massacre” where a psycho professor killed students at a closed down dorm on campus. As the movie goes on, each person on the group get killed, one-by-one; and all of the murder are somehow connected to Urban Legends.

Some Urban Legends that were used and mentioned on the movie were:

• Aspirin mistaken for birth control pills

- Where the daughter used her mother’s birth control pills and replacing it with Aspirin.

- It was mentioned by the caller in Sasha’s radio show.

• The Promiscuous Cheerleader

- It is about a cheerleader who promised to have an oral sex with the school’s football team if they won the game. And after doing her promise, she got sick and got taken on a hospital and found a gallon of semen inside her stomach.

- It was mentioned by the caller in Sasha’s radio show.

• The Killer in the Backseat

- The Legend is about a woman who got her car broken and asked for assistance, and while paying her bills,

 she was warned about an armed and dangerous looking man who sneaked on the back seat of her car.

- It happened to Michelle, Natalie’s friend on the first part of the movie.

• Rock Candy and Soda

- A kid ate 6 packs of Pop Rock at a party, and then drank a soda afterwards. As the two substances combined inside his stomach, it exploded and he died horribly.

- It happened to Parker, where he died as he was forced to eat the Pop Rocks and Soda with bathroom chemicals

• Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?

- It is about a two roommates where the other girl was murdered as her room mate entered to get her things without knowing that her friend was being murdered. The day after that night, as she entered the room, she saw her roommate, dead, with a message on the wall, written with her roommate's blood that says "Aren't you glad you didn't turn off the light?"

- It happened to her goth friend, Tosh, where she thought that she was having sex with the guy she met online, but in reality, she was being murdered.

Another movie is Urban Legends: Final Cut, which was a 2000 movie and a sequel of Urban Legend. It was

all about a group of students who were preparing for their thesis and films for the Hitchcock Award. The group encountered different murders that were also connected to Urban Legends. As the story goes no, the heroine eventually unravels the mystery about the murder.

The Urban Legends that were used on the movie were:

• The Kidney Heist

- It is about drugged travelers who will be waking up in an ice-filled bath tub, discovering that their kidney has been taken away.

- It happened to Lisa, where she was drugged and woke up, finding herself in a tub full of ice, and found out that her kidney is removed.

• Scream Session Rape

- A woman was raped during a campus midnight scream session to relieve their stress, but they didn’t hear her screams because her voice got unnoticed.

- It happened to Simon where he was attacked by the killer during the scream.

• Taco Bell/Cockroach eggs on envelopes

- There was a girl who had a swelling jaw and soon discovered that there are cockroach’s eggs that she got while eating a Taco or from licking envelopes.

- Sandra tells a story of a burrito that contains roach’s eggs, which is then hatched inside of the girl’s nose.

And the third one is Urban Legends: Bloody Mary

It is about a girl named Samantha Owens, that was blacklisted by the football players with her friends after doing an article about them, so they wasn’t able to go to the party. Samantha tells her friends an urban legend about the two friends of Mary Banner were drugged by their prom dates and she tried to escape it, unfortunately, she was killed and hid her body in a trunk of the school’s basement. Samantha tried to speak to “Bloody Mary” by calling her name three times. Along the night, the three girls were kidnapped by the football players as a prank and Samantha had visions about Bloody Mary. After her schoolmates was killed, she went to a person who was also abused before, and found out that the victims were the descendants of the three football players who killed Mary, and as for Mary is seeking for revenge.

Obviously, the Urban Legend that was used in the movie was “Bloody Mary”; however, with a different story. On the Movie, Mary was killed by three men and put in the school’s basement, which is more modern than the original legend which is a bit old.

On the other hand, one example of Urban Legends that was used in the movie is:

• The Tanning Bed

- Where a woman who wanted to look her very best that she had lots of tanning session that he burnt herself.

- This happened to roger where he was burnt on a sun bed.

And other Urban Legends that has happened on previous movies like the Kidney Heist, Humans can lick too, and the Pop rock and Soda.

There are still several movies that are related to different kinds of Urban Legends. Some people might find it interesting because of on how the murderers kill their victims in a variety way, and some with a twist; not like the other that they kill their victims in common ways. 

POST#9: Urban Legends: Some Philippines' Urban Legend

Philippines has a lot of different Urban Legends where we sometimes utter without us having an idea, that the stories we have been telling is actually an Urban Legend.

Ken Lace, the writer of the other article that I have found while researching for an introduction in Philippines’ Urban Legends, stated that Urban Legends here in our country focuses on paranormal creatures, business competition strategies, historical figures, health issues, western influences, and others. Urban Legends here in our country is also called “Kwentong Bayan” but in modern way. It is also called “Kwentong Kotsero (Driver’s Tale),” “Kwentong Kalye(Street Tale),” and “Kwentong Barbero(Barber’s Tale),” that sometimes, they are being used as a joke when someone tells a story because the story are sometimes exaggerated that it is already hard to believe. The main elements of the story are composed of supernatural events, just heard, or real from foreign tale-tellers. Ken said that, not all urban legends are false, and some of them were actually real. People start to tell that it is not untrue, because of the exaggerated way of how it is being told or it is added with excessive details and information.

Apparently, Filipinos today still remember their traditional lower mythical creatures even if they are now influenced with the Western Culture. Examples are Manananggal in Tondo, Sigbins are cure for AIDS, and the White Lady of the Balete Drive.

And “The Proctor and Gamble’s issue of being connected to a satanic organization,” “The Romblon Triangle,” “Alien Abductions,” and the “Moviegoer Scares,” are examples of western influences which made a large impact to Filipinos.

These legends give cautionary effect on people that makes them think, going on the said companies and buy their products. Legends were sometimes told to give a bad image to the company or to a person; some gives meanings to the person who looks like a certain person who is famous, and some just wants neither to scare nor to entertain the others.

Ken stated that every country is composed of numerous, different kind of stories and folklores, traditions and customs, and every single group of ethnicity has their own Urban Legends.

Here now, I will cite examples of some Popular Urban Legends from Ken Lace, which is popular:

The San Juanico Bridge

The San Juanico Bridge was the longest bridge in Samar-Leyte, Philippines. According to the rumors, it is said that Imelda Marcos ordered to kidnap children to become for the foundation to make the bridge stronger. Blood of numerous children was mixed in cement and used on the bridge and the other rumors were the body of the children was put in a cement mixer to grind the body. It all started when Imelda was in charge of the bridge. She consulted a clairvoyant and has been told that the bridge won’t be finished unless she adds children’s blood on the foundation. So Imelda ordered the construction workers to kidnap children and slit their throat and add the blood on the bridge’s location.

Their bodies were thrown in the river. Probably, the rumors said that a goddess got frustrated on what Imelda did and cursed her as Imelda grew scales on her legs and she smelled fishy and that’s why she often wear long skirts.

It is because they say that children offered and sacrificed on certain demonic rituals can make the structures stronger. That is why the bridge is haunted with lost souls. Others say that the bridge is not the only structure that used children as a foundation; they also used them as a structure in some buildings.

I also have read stories from particular horror books that every time they pass by the bridge, they will experience a supernatural even where the spirits of the dead children will show their selves, in a bloody form, and knock on their car’s windows.

Cat as Main Ingredient of Siopao

Do you like Siopao?

This Urban Legend was quite popular in Philippines where the rumors said that Cat Meat was used in making of Siopao because it is much cheaper than the pork meat. Some says that in Quiapo, Manila City, there were restaurants caught, throwing heads and body parts of cats. Some says that they actually saw those cooking cats. The Urban Legend started way back in Japan where they use Cat Meat as a substitute when there was a scarcity of meat.

Cat meat was actually eaten as uncommon cuisines in China, Vietnam, and some other in Swiss Cultures. In some times, people was known to eat cat meat desperately because of famine and scarcity of food; rather, meat. For example is the famine in Siege of Leningrad.

Sometimes, this urban legend was used and told for business competitions. Some is used by the elders to prevent their children to eat various foods.

There are still a lot of popular Urban Legends in our country. Some are told, and some has still hasn’t. But nevertheless, it depends on a person whether he will believe it or not, because Urban Legends are also told to give information, and to warn people to become aware on our surroundings, as we don’t know what will happen next; that we might experience those Legends ourselves.

POST#8: Urban Legends: Philippines' Urban Legend

Have you ever heard someone who uttered unusual stories that you haven’t heard nor you have heard

before?  Of course, several of us know unusual stories like “The White Lady of Balete Drive” and “The Robinson’s half-snake and human.” In fact, we are not aware that those stories were actually urban legends. Philippines is actually rich with unusual kinds of stories which can be also called Urban Legends. As the matter of fact, there are various kinds of urban legends in every part of our country.

While I was searching for an article about the Philippines’ Urban Legends, I happened to come upon a discussion regarding about my topic.

Meiros, who posted her thoughts about our urban legends on the discussion explained that in our country, the Philippines, has different kinds of legends; particularly, most of them were all about mythical creatures

such as aswang, manananggal, mangkukulam, and mambabarang. Meiros family tend to believe that all of them are true for the Philippines was a part of a lost civilization who practices dark magics, voodooism, witchcrafts and others; however, because of our improving society,  those activities became infamous but somehow survived through time.

She stated descriptions about Aswang where her grandmother said that Aswang(s) were just ordinary people; and their power came from a certain stone that is handed down from their ancestors to the next generation and it has the power to live long whatever age they have, unless, they give that stone to an heir and continue the curse of their elders being an aswang as well. One of their abilities is to transform into a dog, pig, bird, and a turkey. They can also turn a banana trunk into a corpse to confuse people when they abduct their real victims and their favorite food are body parts –particularly, the heart and the liver.

There are two types of aswang; the tik-tik and the wak-wak, but they have the same sound as they move.

Tik-tik obviously makes a ticking sound and so on the wakwak. Her grandmother told her that when an aswang is far from you, you can hear its voice really near and when it’s near from you, its voice sounds afar. They also have their pets which they order to look at their victims which was called “hinop-tanan,” and they can sneak even in a small opening of a house. It is because of their oil that makes their bodies slippery that can enter any small openings.

So to identify whether a person is an aswang or not, you can use the oil from a coconut mixed with plant’s stem and prayed by the Lord’s Prayer. And to stay them back, you can use garlic, holy water, salt and ginger. Bringing coins could also help you, because when you have coins with you, aswangs cannot carry you when they fly, and finally, to kill them, you must have a tail of a stingray as a whip.

As she ended her post, she added a story which has circulated and that is related to aswangs.

There was an event, a festival where they were celebrating their honor to their patrons. There were three guys who were invited by their friend who was a girl to go to their house and celebrate. As they went to the barrio, they saw the liveliness of it where they became excited and they became hungry as well because of the food they see everywhere. While walking, they happen to come up with an old man, and asked them if they live on that barrio. The three answered no, and the old man told them to leave the barrio when suddenly, they heard the voice of their girl friend, calling them and approached her. When they looked back to the old man, he mysteriously vanished. When they entered her house, it was a typical Filipino house made of bamboo and dried grass. They was served with a lot of food and they ate as if there is no tomorrow. They ate different kind of Filipino cuisine; lechon, adobo, and the girl’s mother’s best dish, dinuguan. While eating, one of the guys accidentally ate a chunk of meat; afterwards, he realized that he just ate a human finger with a nail on it! Their friend asked them to stay there for a night because it’s already late. The two other guy agreed but the guy who ate the finger excused himself that he will just going to urine outside, and he took the chance to escape and luckily found a vehicle to go home and he returned home safely.

For what I believe, aswang(s) are real. Just look at the pieces of information that several people have, and there were numerous sightings of aswang lately. In addition, aside from mythical creatures, Philippines also focus on business competition, historical figures and health related issues.

  

POST#7: Urban Legends: Some Popular Japanese Urban Legends

There are numerous legends and stories that were circulating around the internet and even in the real life; nevertheless that not all of the people knows that particular story, there is still some who knows them and keeps on being entertained by those certain stories.

Japanese Urban Legend seems to be really popular and can be seen through the internet lately, and in fact, most of them were about terrifying stories. So because of that, I searched for different stories and legends that came from Japan.

One of the legends that I found and was written on wickedbones’ blog is about Kuchisake-Onna, or also called The Slit-Mouth Woman, is a Japanese Urban Legend about a woman with a slit-mouth who wears a surgical white mask to cover her mouth.

Kuchisake-Onna wanders around the streets of Japan, murdering mainly children with a pair of huge scissors but she appears to ask them questions before killing them. She asks them “Am I pretty?” and if the victim answers “Yes,” Kuchisake-Onna will remove her mask and will ask the same question, “How about now?”If the victim says “No,” she will kill him and if he says “Yes,” she will get her scissors and cut the victim’s mouth, making him have a slit-mouth just like hers, but she will let you live. It is said that it is almost impossible to escape Kuchisake-Onna because she can move at a super-human speed.

However, there are few ways to escape her:

One is, if you tell her that she looks normal, she will be confused and you will have enough time to escape.

Second is, if you ask if you’re pretty, she will be confused and will leave.

And the third and the newest answer is tell her that you have to attend a previous engagement, she will pardon her manners and excuse herself from her presence (Isn’t she a bit polite?)

Some says that Kuchisake-onna got had her mouth like that because her surgery gone wrong, some says that she is a mental hospital patient who was so insane that’s he cut her own mouth. But the most popular legend is her husband sliced her mouth with a sword because she was cheating on him and he yelled “Who’ll think you’re beautiful now?!” on her.

Around 1979, the rumors started to spread like a wildfire in Japan about the sightings of Kuchisake-Onna, hunting down children.

Another story is about Tek-Tek or Teke-Teke. Teke-Teke is an urban legend about a girl who fell under a train and was cut in half. She took a long time to die while crawling and now, her ghost roams through Japan, dragging her top body part using her claw-like hands, and every time she moves, she will make a “Teke-Teke” sound.

Once there was a young boy who was walking from school. As he turned his head back, he saw a beautiful girl sitting at a window. He wondered why the girl was there, because the school was an all-boys school. When the girl saw him, she smiled and suddenly leaped out on the window, realizing that the girl does not have legs, and started crawling fast towards him. Because of the boy; filled with terror, he wasn’t able to run and got cut in half by Teke-Teke.

Not all of the Japanese Legends is about horror and terrifying stories; there are also about fantasy and meant to be told for children. And for non-terrifying legends, here comes Momotaro.

There was an old couple who lives in the country of Okayama. While washing clothes, the old woman happens to saw a big peach, floating down the river. It looked delicious so she decided to take it home and eat it. The old couple cut the peach into two and to their surprise, they saw a small boy inside, and called him Momotaro, which means “Peach Boy”

They raised Momotaro and one day, he decided to defeat the Ogres who trouble the villagers. On Momotaro’s journey, he met a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant and made them help Momotaro to defeat the ogre, in exchange of the Millet Dumplings which is the old woman made for him.

When they reached the Ogre’s harbor, they fought the Evil Ogres and defeated them as the Ogres started to cry for mercy. They gave Momotaro their treasure and he returned to his village, and Momotaro and the old couple lived happily ever after.

There are still numerous of different kinds of Japanese Urban Legends that has been told, read and heard. Japan is rich at stories and legends. However, all of them can catch your attention and interest and some can really scare you, and that is the best of their Urban Legends.

POST#6: Urban Legends: Japanese Urban Legends

Rokurokubi

Japan is also known for having numerous of Urban Legends and Myths; however, most of them were likely about terrifying stories. One of the popular is Kuchisake Onna, also known as Slit-Mouth Woman which she has a slit mouth that extends from ear to ear and will ask certain questions and the victim must answer her question wisely, or the victim will die. Also The Long Neck Woman or Rokurokubi, a Japanese Urban Legend about a female who looks and lives like a human, but at night, her neck will stretch and will move around independently.

On the other hand, while searching for an introduction about Japanese Urban Legends, I happen to find an article about it, named “Introduction to the Japanese Folklore.”

Freddy Yep; the writer, stated that Japan has so many folklore that is heavily influenced by Buddhism and Shinto, the two primary religions in the country and it often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes assorted supernatural beings such as Kami (gods and revered spirits), Yokai (monster-spirits), Yurei (ghosts), and animals with powers such as Kitsune (fox), Tanuki (raccoon dog), Bakeneko (transforming cat), and there are also sacred or possessed objects. Though, there are some stories that are handed down from generations to generations that have a basis of a little fiction and superstition thrown over time.

Different kinds of Yokai

He said that Japanese folklore is divided into several categories:

• Mukashibanashi (tales of long ago)

• Namidabanashi (sad stories)

• Obakebanashi (ghost stories)

• Ongaeshibanashi (stories of repaying kindness)

• Tonchibanashi (witty stories)

• Waraibanashi (funny stories)

• Yokubaribanashi (stories of greed)

And it also encompasses Yukar, or Ainu folktales.

The folklore of Japan has been influenced by foreign literature and as well as the kind of spirit worship that has spread throughout the prehistoric Asia. Some stories of ancient India shaped the Japanese stories by providing them materials because Indian materials were greatly modified and adapted in such a way that would appeal the common people of Japan in general and get transmitted to China and Korea.

Freddy also stated some well-known Japanese folktales and legends:

• The story of Kintaro; the Superhuman Golden Boy

• The story of Momotaro; the oni-slaying Peach Boy

• The story of Urashima Taro; who rescued a turtle and visited the bottom of the sea

• The story of Issun-boshi; the One-inch Boy

•  The story of Tokoyo; a girl who reclaimed the honor of her samurai father

• Bunbuku Chagama; the story of a teakettle which is actually a shape-changing tanuki

• Tamamo-no-Mae; the story of wicked fox-woman

• Shita-kiri Suzume; the story of the tongue-cut sparrow

• The story of vengeful Kiyohime; who became a dragon

• Bancho Sarayashiki; the ghost story of Okiku and the Nine Plates

• Yotsuya Kaidan; the ghost story of Oiwa

• Hanasaka Jii-san; the story of the old man that made the flowers bloom

• Taketori Monogatari; the tale of the Bamboo Cutter; about a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime who is said to be from the capital of the moon

• Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari; the tale of the Gallant Jiraiya

For the fact that most of the Japanese Urban Legends that were acknowledge were all terrifying, there are still several Japanese Urban Legends that belong in different kinds of categories. That is why regardless about the story of a certain legend; they never fail to entertain people.

POST#5: Urban Legends: Mythical Creatures

Aliens

Recently, there are numerous sightings of unusual creatures around the world; unknown flying objects and animals with strange, bizarre and explainable features. Rumors began to spread about those weird creatures as they rendered that they were monsters, and as the time goes by, people called them Mythical Creatures.

While I was searching for an article on the internet, I happened to found Patch32’s article about Mythical Creatures. As he explained that Mythical Creatures are literary creatures that generated popularity out of the literary circulation and story-telling. They are legendary creatures that are believed to be real but sometimes, they are believed as myths.

Loch Ness, the sea monster.

It can be divided into two groups; the first group is a group that consists creatures that most of the people agree that they exist and the second group is composed with creatures that most people doesn't agree that they have existed. In addition, the first group consist convincing pictures, articles, and journals that make people think they are real.

He also stated that Mythical Creatures that came out from books and became popular are called Ancient Greece Mythical Creatures such as Centaurs, Minotaur, Nymphs, and Pegasus. As he said that these kinds of literary stories that contains power and magic creates an impression that makes people have their interest in it and those legendary creatures will live on for centuries to come and more.

An edited photo of "Ningen"

Regardless of ancient myths, there are still many myths that have been carried into our modern era, myths such as UFOs, Big Foot, El Chupacabra, The Loch Ness Monster and more.

Every country has their own folklore that contain mythical and magical creatures, monsters, and legendary heroes and will always be present throughout the years.

There are people who don’t believe on such creatures because of lack of evidence, still, there are also several people who have actually encountered such creatures that made them have their hope that they exist and some has their proof such as pictures and videos, that makes the audience wonder, and in the meantime, will accept it and believe.

These are popular examples of Mythical/Legendary creatures from different countries that are somehow credible to be true:

These pictures were taken by Filiberto Caponi from Italy 

back in 1993 as he encountered a mysterious creature near his home 

and took photos of it.

Aliens and UFOs

UFO is technically an “Unidentified Flying Object.” These are objects that cannot be identified or explained by an individual. Recently there are several sightings of UFOs and Aliens around the world. Now, start wondering if they are real or not. As the matter of fact that the universe has no boundary and we know that humans are not the only beings who are living within this universe, we can assume that there are other beings that live whether outside or inside our planet which we call Aliens.

The Jersey Devil

There are several sightings of Jersey Devil and mostly of it were in the Pine Barrens in New Jersey.  The kangaroo-like creature has a head of a goat, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, cloven hooves and a forked tail. It usually avoids human and often emit a “blood-curdling scream.”

Ningen

A Ningen is a gigantic 20-30 meters humanoid form that is said to be seen around in Antarctic and it is seen having a legs, arms, and even five-fingered arms, sometimes; it has a large mermaid-tail instead of legs and the only features that can be seen are the eyes and its mouth.

Mermaids

A mermaid is a legendary creature that has an upper body of a human and a tail of a fish. In Greek mythology, mermaids were called Sirens where they have neither a lower part of a fish nor human legs. They lure men by their singing.

Aswang

Finally, meet our own mythical creature. Aswangs are specially popular in the Western Visayan regions such as Capiz and Antique. It can transform into different creatures like pig, cat, dog, and bird. They usually suck fetuses on their mother’s wombs and sometimes, they would prefer children.

Even though some of us haven't seen any one of these creatures, they maybe real and we don't know that someday, we might encounter one of these with our own eyes.