There are certain places, that when you pass them on a dark night, you cannot help but to speak in                                 whispers. These are the houses so worn with age their frame bends inward, as though the very    foundation is unhappy. They are the train tracks that run, far off into the distance, defined against the stark black. The cemetery with metal gates, that swing with little wind, and shutter in the dark. Is it any wonder that places such as these grow tales that seem as old as they? Stories that are passed from person to person until they seem as though they could be true.  And perhaps they are, your heart insists on that dark October night. It certainly holds a charm to believe, if only for a minute, that urban legends could be real.

      Most begin with truth. There is a road in in Illinois that teenagers go for a little thrill. They roll up to the train track and stop, right in the middle. Their bumpers are sprinkled with powder, ready for the prints of small children. As the rumor goes, they push stalled cars over the tracks. According to the legend, a bus load of children were hit by the train, and all perished. The road really exists and many people claim to see a ghost train roll by at 11:04. The legend holds so much sway, there is now a movie called Munger Road which was released September 30 outside Chicago.

      A more attainable legend is the legend of the Spider gate cemetery.  This secluded cemetery, which can be found in Leicester Massachusetts, is the burial ground of Quakers.  The actual name of the cemetery is “friend’s cemetery” but is more often called by the shape of its gates. According to legend, the Gates are the eighth gate to Hell. There is also a rumor that a young boy hung himself on a tree, and stones with ancient runes can be found in rocks.  The tales which spring from the place, seem to coincide with many other legends that relate to cemeteries.  Some say that urban legends like these reflect the human fear of unknown, and within that, death.

      One legend passed along via the internet expresses the ever present fear of darkness. Called the “Midnight Man”, it is one of many which allow a person to attempt to subdue this fear. It states that if one completes a series of tasks at 12:00, they invite the Midnight Man into their home. At this point the person must wander their house, in total darkness, trying to evade the Midnight Man until 3:33 in the morning. Signs that he is around are said to include a shadowing hulking figure on the wall, and a voice that continually whispers. You are supposed to carry only one candle, and when that blows out, you have ten seconds to relight and get out of there. If you do not, according to legend, you experience vivid hallucinations of your worst fears until you wake up at 3:33.

      Whether you believe them to be true or not, urban legends have a certain merit. They make fear tangible, something you can wrestle with and overcome.  All are about people or places you can either visit or interact with in the hopes of showing off your bravado. Others are simply fun in the telling of them. Whatever the reason, they will always exist, as long as humans are afraid.