I am making this thread with my comments on making the “Western” SciAdv in mind. I mentioned there’s no shortage of strange happenings and places over the breadth of North America. This is true, and with the eccentric crowd we’ve accrued here on the BBs, I’m sure some of you are familiar with esoteric stories and anecdotes from obscure people and places.
I don’t plan on doing anything with this now, but it would be nice to have a place to pull ideas from if I/we ever decide to put pen to paper.
So please post any strange stories, occurrences, urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bizarre tales you are familiar with. Age is not a concern for the moment, I only ask that:
In general, they are broadly North American in origin. There may be exceptions to this and if you have a good one from Europe or elsewhere, go ahead. I’d rather have more than less. I know we have some Canucks on the board and your input is more than welcome.
NEVERMIND JUST POST ANY FROM ANYWHERE ANYTHING GOES!!!!!!!!!
They don’t need to be obscure necessarily. Even mainstream stories that you think could be adapted into a plot premise is fine.
Supernatural/magical stuff is totally fine as well.
If you have a link to a good article or small web site that deals with your story, please provide it. Even if nothing ever comes of this idea, it’d be cool to have a repository like this just because.
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Last edited by NonoEnjoyer on Fri Sep 18, 2026 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
In general, they are broadly North American in origin. There may be exceptions to this and if you have a good one from Europe or elsewhere, go ahead. I’d rather have more than less. I know we have some Canucks on the board and your input is more than welcome.
Instantly barred from entry... It's over for us Eurobros.... All we have is the great replacement and shitty folk tales that exist only in small isolated villages that may as well be uncontacted tribes.
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Provided we agree to leave our bodies behind, we are able to enter these increasingly efficient planes of semiotic exchange.
We must strive for incorporeal badassery at every step, and the net is the only way!
In general, they are broadly North American in origin. There may be exceptions to this and if you have a good one from Europe or elsewhere, go ahead. I’d rather have more than less. I know we have some Canucks on the board and your input is more than welcome.
Instantly barred from entry... It's over for us Eurobros.... All we have is the great replacement and shitty folk tales that exist only in small isolated villages that may as well be uncontacted tribes.
Not me tho, we have a ton of folklore and horror stuff. Some even got into the news and even had scientist searching for some stuff.
I have this wild conspiracy theory that a tiny minority of people, the extremely wealthy, control the politicians, police, military, factories, farms, housing, markets, etc and induce an unnecessary state like slavery on the majority of the population. Most wars are fought on the behalf of this extremely wealthy minority of people despite the fact they nearly never see the front lines, nor any other kind of violence. All organized religions are used to trap people in the system created by the parasite class and most politics are just theater to distract people from the fundamental inequality of the haves vs the have-nots. Scarcity is artificially created and many people are forced to work unnecessary jobs to keep the system "working".
If the majority of people worked together to get rid of this parasite class, and shaped society to work in a more efficient way, everyone could enjoy a much higher standard of living, wars would largely end, the environment would begin healing, most mental illness would go away, prisons would largely empty, etc.
Even many "feminists" and "anti-racists" are conned into fighting battles on the behalf of the elites to protect the fundamental system of inequality despite good intentions. And other well-intentioned people are fighting for "reform" -- but really, they are just fighting to live in gilded cages.
Maybe less than 5% of Americans, Europeans, etc believe in this theory but it is probably not so obscure. But it's so illegal in my country and misrepresented -- to the point that millions of people suspected of believing in this theory were murdered ~60 years ago by deputized gangsters -- that it's worth giving it a mention
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Shill time! There's actually a kind of old internet urban legend that's stuck with me since I first learned of it, and I happened to investigate and write about it on our (currently sadly underused) blog that tackles this exact type of stuff!
Please check it out! We also have at least 2 other articles on here about other things that I think you guys may also like
I have a few folk bits from England. A couple that are quite regional. I'm just rattling off from memory with these, so I apologise for not being able to provide any further reading.
Knockers - Some sort of spirit that inhabits mines and was either seen as malicious or warding. They were said to knock on the shaft walls or timbers prior to cave-ins or collapse, being the cause or warning of the event. I believe that there was tradition to leave some food in the tunnels for them, though I'm not too sure on this. This one comes mostly from West England, Wales, and the South West, and I think it may have spread to America in some fashion.
The Black Dog - A mostly national legend that is a large black dog that would be seen at night. A bad omen! Probably responsible for livestock being killed, or just a sign of bad luck for the future.
Jack Frost - Another spirit who is said to bring in the cold weather, and also one who works at night. When there is frost, it is said that Jack Frost has paid his visit.
Father Christmas - A physical embodiment of Christmas, really little else from memory. This is not to be confused with Santa Claus and the symbolism of St Nicholas, and in some regard is a precursor to the modern image of Santa. Instead Father Christmas is said to wear a long green fur lined cloak and a wreath on his head, being tall and lean, or fit, rather than pudgy and fat.
Peg and Nanny Powler - Peg Powler is the more known one, and they are both said to drag people into a couple rivers; Peg Powler into the Tees, Nanny Powler into the Skerne.
The Lambton Worm - This tale goes as follows: in medieval England, a man of the town of Lambton skips church on a Sunday to go fish. When he packs up to catch the end of Mass, one of his worms falls out his bait kit. This worm grows into a large beast and begins to devour the sheep and other livestock in the countryside. Eventually, I believe the worm ends up killing and eating one of the man's sons, or maybe vice versa, and he swears to avenge his kin, so goes out to kill the worm.
The Hell Kettles - A couple of strange sinkholes that opened up next to one another. So strange in fact, that it captured the attention of the king at the time, where in experimentation a sheep was thrown in, and they were deemed to be bottomless pits, or maybe ones that went all the way down to hell! Either way, these bottomless pits have since filled with a bottomless amount of water, quite the miracle!
Ghost of Sexhow - Yes, there really is a farm hamlet called that. The ghost is said to inhabit the farm at Sexhow, and first appeared to tell the farmer of the whereabouts of some treasure. I believe it's said to now just walk around the roads of the farm at night.
I'm sure that there are some more that will re-enter my memory. The magic of England fades, and hopefully these little folk tales were a fun read. Again, I apologise for not being able to go into further detail, all of this has been picked from my brain. Some of these are really quite local, I will admit, and I'm sure that I'm missing out on a lot of the more regional or national bits and pieces.
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Provided we agree to leave our bodies behind, we are able to enter these increasingly efficient planes of semiotic exchange.
We must strive for incorporeal badassery at every step, and the net is the only way!
All we have is the great replacement and shitty folk tales that exist only in small isolated villages that may as well be uncontacted tribes.
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