If you get this ask, tell us a story from the folklore or mythology of YOUR COUNTRY (e.g. if you are German, tell us a German myth). Then send this ask to ten people! Just want to see more people talking about lesser known myths ;)
tfw you're an american who lives in a place where folklore isn't really discussed, and doesn't really have much mythology, and it disgruntles you. rip.
i admit i had to look some up because that's how out of touch with folklore i am. rip. but i've got a few stories of my own too...eheheheh.
Iowa has 31 ghosts towns btw
Living towns though-
In Council Bluffs, there's the Black Angel, who's said to "bless" anyone who touches her with sickness, and has been said to fly away at night.
In Burlington, there's a cliff named Stoney Hollow Cliff where a woman named Lucinda waited at for her lover, so they could run away. When he failed to show, she committed suicide. You can summon her ghost by climbing the cliff at night and saying her name three times, much like Bloody Mary. And if she drops a rose at your feet, you're gonna die the next die. spooky!
In Iowa City, there's another Black Angel, except this one will kill you if you touch it. It's also said if a pregnant woman walks beneath it's outstretched wings, she will miscarry. stay away juuuust in case.
Here's a strange one. In Clarion, there's a haunted house. go upstairs and take one of the photos from inside. sleep with it under your pillow at your house. when you wake up, it'll be gone. go back to the house, and you'll find the picture...with a black figure in it now.
A lighter tale! The Zodiac in the Memorial Union at Iowa State University. If you walk over it, you will fail your next test - but don't fret! You can reverse it by throwing a coin into the fountain outside <3
Legend also says if you see the ghost of C.Y. Stephens at Iowa State University before a show, he brings good luck!
Another ghost story: You can see the ghost of famous explorer Julien Dubuque at the Hotel Julien, and even at his gravesite!
(Sidenote: I have actually visited his gravesite, on a trip with my dad! He's buried inside a small tower. Didn't see anything spooky though.)
*finds a thread on Reddit* *starts scrolling*
*gets the shit scared out of me by the story of the "Ticky Man"*
if you want to know. here's the link to the thread. find the user Myzyri's story. prepare to be scared. do NOT read at night (i read at night).
Ever heard of the Exorcist? Iowa has the place that inspired it- Earling. Earling is one of the known last-recorded sanctions of an exorcism. A woman went through a three-week long exorcism to rid her of multiple demons/spirits, and it was recorded in the Pamphlet "Satan Begone".
I've never seen the Exorcist, nor do I plan too, but uh...spooky!
guys Iowa can get scary. send help. lmao
OKAY TO SOMEWHAT LIGHTEN THE MOOD A GHOST STORY
You can see "Helen" at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, a student who died from Spanish Flu and still trying to finish her college career...sad :(
Iowa has some witch stories too. In Burlington, a witch who hated all children set a school on fire while it was in session. She died in the blaze and was buried nearby, where a gnarled tree grew over her grave. The creepy part? Her face was etched into the bark.
The tree was cut down, but her grave still has a fence around it...
In more recent times, especially in colleges, witches have formed more of a community btw!
Country-wise, though, I do know of a few American legends and folklore. The Yellow Rose of Texas, for example, or what inspired the Star-Spangled Banner (our national anthem). Then ofc there's the Lost Colony of Roanoke, where the entire colony just...vanished without a trace. No bodies no nothing was ever found of them. spooky!
Boston Tea Party. This is something we Americans tend to joke about, especially around July 4th. During that time in particular, whenever something "upsets" us, we go; "TIME TO DUMP SOME TEA INTO THE HARBOR!!"
it's an American thing. young and old, we crack up over it all the time LMAO
Paul Revere's Ride is famous for warning Colonial troops to incoming British forces, where he rode through the whole night warning towns along the way, allowing troops to prepare and eventually engage in the battles of Lexington and Concord, pivotal moments in the American Revolution.
The Battle of the Alamo is also infamous, despite- or maybe even because of- the rebelling Texans' massive defeat. It was this battle that pushed America to send aid to them, ultimately winning Texas their independence from Mexico, and eventually joining the Union.
And do I even need to say anything about The Salem Witch Trials? That's a pretty infamous and significant spot of history.
Anybody read The Crucible? Not accurate to what happened but still a fun read. Read it in high school. Made a game with Lolling based off of it for a homework assignment. We were actually the ones to put probably the most effort into it lmao
In Native American cultures, especially from where I'm from, is the thunderbird! According to the Algonquian tribe, the thunderbird creates thunder by flapping its wings, and lighting by flashing its eyes! It's a being of power and strength, and are protectors. Cool!
A tale I've known since I was a kid is John Henry. Legend states that John Henry, an freeman African American railroad worker, stood up for worker's rights when the drilling machine started to take jobs away from people, mostly African Americans. John Henry challenged the people in charge, and competed in a race to build a railroad tunnel. His opponent? A steam-powered drilling machine. During the race, both competitors had to dig through a rocky mountain.
You'd think John Henry would lose because of this. You'd be incorrect, for the drilling machine encountered trouble in its mechanics, and broke down.
John Henry? He persevered and hacked his way through, completing an interconnected railroad to the whole United States...and died, hammer in hand, the moment he finished from the exertion.
a moment of silence for the legend himself. RIP.
His tale is told in many formats, from songs (which is where I first heard of him), to books, films, and even postal stamps.
A quick family tale: Before my great-grandpa died, he was living with my grandparents (grandma is his daughter). He was on his bed, by the big window, and smiling out of it. My grandpa asked him what's made him so happy, and he just says; "She's there."
We think he was talking about my great-grandma <3 He was married twice in his life, the first was my biological great-grandma, but I never knew her. I've visited her grave once, with my grandma and mom.
The one I grew up calling great-grandma was his second wife, and the great-grandparent I was probably the closest too! She and him would even babysit me because they lived in the same town we do.
(Honestly, I think I was closer to my grandma's parents than my grandpa's. I hardly remember anything about his dad, though I will always and forever associate his mom with Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies because she always gave me one when I visited. I called them great-grandma cookies hehe!)
Another little thing: When I did a project for the local Historical Society, I did find my family name in the records, and on an old, framed drawing to boot. I didn't get to investigate any further, but it's still kinda cool, especially since my surname is not very common in the area I live in.
Really makes you wonder, huh?
Another ghost story now...but one my mom experienced (and, technically, me).
this was when I was like 3-4 years old. she had moved us into an apartment in Iowa after she and my dad divorced.
it begins like this: my mom would put me to bed, and she'd stay up a bit longer to watch tv or something.
then she'd hear someone running down the hallway. over and over. after this happened a few times, she opened the door to check it out.
nobody was there.
she went back to her tv. she'd hear it again, and this time with childish giggling accompanying it.
the next morning she asked the neighbors if anybody had been up in the middle of the night. nobody was- and here's the kicker. there weren't many kids on that floor either, let alone in the apartment itself.
there was an incident that happened in the apartment too, our landlord told my mom. a child did die inside it...and it had something to do with the elevator we all still used.
(it was an old elevator. the one you walked inside and it goes up on a pulley. i loved it lmao.)
the supernatural stuff continued the entire time we lived there, about a year or so. it never escalated to anything more, and I was completely oblivious to it.
though mind you i did have some freaky-ass dreams in that place. i still vividly remember one in particular, which is strange because the only other dreams that have ever stuck with me was 1) a vampire nightmare in kindergarten (so 5-6 years old) and 2) a minecraft nightmare in fourth grade (9-10 years old).
(feel free to ask me to share. the first was freaky and the second was honestly kinda funny but freaky at the same time. maybe i was just a freaky child lmao)
anyway this dream involved me at the top of the narrow staircase in the apartment. i'm looking down it, and then these various things start crashing through one side of the bottom of the staircase - where the elevator was btw - and ramming into the opposite one. there was a cheetah. there was a biker. there was a fucking TANK.
LITTLE ME BARELY KNEW WHAT A CHEETAH WAS, AND I'M PRETTY SURE I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT A TANK WAS THEN.
and...i'm pretty sure there was a kid at the bottom of the staircase too. the memory is fuzzy, and again, this is a pretty old dream, and one i don't remember fully, but...I'm pretty sure I remember them looking back up at me, and wearing red overalls.
huh. weird.
idk if that was part of the supernatural shit going on or just wild child imagination, but there's that.
furthermore, after we moved out, a couple of our family members moved into that very same room!
but they had a different experience than we did.
along with the hallway noises, my cousin and her husband would wake up at 3 am to find the lights on and feeling very cold underneath the very heavy blankets mind you.
the most nerve-rattling thing? one time, they were BOTH woken up by their (very heavy) blanket being thrown off their bed and across the room, lights flickering wildly.
that freaked them out so much they moved out.
apparently whatever was haunting the place liked my mom and me more and was just being cheeky with us rather than...whatever would motivate that.
