Just to kick this board off..

cryptozoology, definately. i find it so appealing - sort of holding on to the idea that there are still places and creatures undisturbed by man (or at least Westerners).

my fav is probably the possible "giant octopus" (distinct from the actually existing Giant Squid), with a strong second going to the supposed Giant Salamanders in the Trinity Mountains here in Cali.

Nah, my favorite is the story of the hippie babysitter. That was some creepy shit.

Posted by SnArF Nah, my favorite is the story of the hippie babysitter. That was some creepy shit.

not familiar with... do tell.

Ok, read it all because this is really good.
Ok, so, these people justed moved in to a new house with their newborn child. They want to celebrate by going out to eat at a resteraunt, but theres a problem. They can't find a babysitter. So the Mom calls up her sister, and asks her to reccomend a good babysitter. Her sister sends the babysitter she uses over immediatly. When the babysitter shows up, it turns out she's a hippy. But, since mom's sister recommended her, they leave the baby for a night out on the town.
Halfway through dinner, mom calls the babysitter, and asks how things are going. "Perfectly fine, man. I'm baking you guys a turkey for when you get home." Thats good, says mom. Her and dad finish dinner and head home.
When they get home, they smell something cooking. But when they walk in the door, they see the babysitter laying face-up on the table "looking at the stars". It turns out, she tripped out on Acid and cooked the baby because she thought it was a turkey.
Good story, eh?
-SnArF

I'm tossed up between hauntings & cryptozoology.

I believe there are things out there that we have yet to discover, or never will. I've seen some pretty nasty critters in my basement that I'm sure aren't cataloged!

Had to go with hauntings on this one. Mainly since they tend to be the main draw for people to go into something abandoned/creepy. The first large scale place I ever went to was Byberry in Philly to see if the stories were true. Found out about 90% were false, but the other 10%...well that's another matter.

I had to go with hauntings as well... Though unexplained happenings are nice as well. Do those actually qualify as urban legends? I'm thinking about rains of various objects, spontaneous combustion, mysterious disapperances, and the like.

Yeah, In my opinion it counts.

I'm all about the cryptozoo. They're a little more down to earth than ghosts but not as ordinary as crazy people...

Lol, Snarf, thats just kinda gross..

You think that one was sick? Alright, listen to this one.
This lady goes to Mexico on vacation. While she's down there, she runs across a stray dog. The dog looks like a chihuahua, so she assumes thats what it is. Well, a week or two after she brings it back, it dies. She cant beleive it, so she brings it to a vet. After a few minutes of examination, the vet comes out, and gives her a funny look and says "Lady, that wasn't no chihuahua. That you had there was a mexican sewer rat."
Stupid tourists.
-SnArF

Yeah, I've heard that one before...

not as gross as the baby one...

Ok, how about this one...
This girl just turned 10, and her mom and dad are going out for the night. She says "Daddy, I'm to big for a babysitter. I'm grown up." Her parents reluctantly say yes, and right before they leave mom says "Remember to lock all the doors and windows before you go to bed." The girl replys "Dont worry, I've got Rex (her dog) here to keep me safe."
Well, time goes by, and its time to go to bed, so she locks all the doors and windows, except for a small basement window. She says to her dog "Oh well, who would try to get in through this window anyway." And with that she goes to bed.
about 12:00 Midnight, she wakes to a sound coming from the bathroom. She hears a distinct drip...drip...drip. She gets kind of scared, but she feels her hand being licked, and knows everything is ok. With that, she falls back asleep.
She wakes up in the morning, stretches, gets out of bed, but cant find her dog. When she walks in to the bathroom, she see's her dog....hanging from a showerhead disembowled, with the same drip drip sound she heard last night from the dogs blood dripping. And as she turns to the mirror, written in the dogs blood, it says "People can lick too"
Creepy, eh?
-SnArF

Hey, I've always enjoyed the legend of the "Jersey Devil" - sort of a Blair Witch type thing.

Here's one version:
http://www.halloweenghoststories.com/legends/creatures1-3.html

Enjoy!

Weird NJ has a TON of Jersey Devil stories. Even the supposed place where it lives. I never quite understood how something that weird could possibly live at all.

Yeah, the jersey devil is a little bit weird even for me to believe. But on the other hand, the Tasmanian devil was pretty messed up looking but we know as truth that that did exist (maybe it still does...)

Jersey Devil looks like one of those old devil creaturs that you'ld see in stain glass windows from the middle ages depicting scenes out of Revelation...

i have actually been on a couple NAPE (north american ape) quests in my younger days, near the trinity mountains. first two i experienced nothing unusual.

the final time myself and the group i was camping with were woken by a very strange set of animal cries that went on for a few minutes - i am familiar with the night sounds of coyotes, birds, bats etc and this was none of those. sounded vaguely like screaming, but too deep and inarticulate to be human. never saw anything, but it freaked us out pretty good.

the jersey devil seems pretty unlikely, but i think the Chupacabra has to be the most unlikely north american crypto-beast - lets face it, the thing is clearly a combination of a vampire, a devil and an alien - and it only showed up in the 1970s or so.

Posted by Burzum the jersey devil seems pretty unlikely, but i think the Chupacabra has to be the most unlikely north american crypto-beast - lets face it, the thing is clearly a combination of a vampire, a devil and an alien - and it only showed up in the 1970s or so.

Oh ya...The "Goat Sucker" ...
Here we go... http://www.elchupacabra.com .


And for those who have everything, an "El Chupacabra Crossing" BBQ Apron:


My god! Just send me your money if you want to waste it!

Automatic!

good god, even by internet standards that is incredably lame...

weird, too. every one of their chupacabra images looked almost nothing like any of the others...

Posted by Plytheman Yeah, the jersey devil is a little bit weird even for me to believe. But on the other hand, the Tasmanian devil was pretty messed up looking but we know as truth that that did exist (maybe it still does...)

The Tasmanian Devil is a REAL animal! Little, hyper and mean things too!