Urban legends?

steddyeddy

My granny was very superstitious and she always told me fantastical stories about old Dublin city. The stories ranged from a banshees to gypsy curses. Best of all I remember the urban legends she used to tell me.

One she used tell me was about the pig woman of the rotunda hospital. The story goes that a rich woman was asked by a gypsy woman for money for her child. The wealthy woman who was pregnant at the time said to the beggar "go away you pig". The woman later gave birth to a "pig faced woman" and out of guilt founded the rotunda hospital.

Another one Involved the hellfire club and the devil made an appearance during a poker game. Im not saying these are true (their not) but have you heard any good urban legends or have you got any favouraites?

delricyo

Its always friend of a friend ....

A fella in work came in to work one day with a really worried look on his face. Starts telling me about the cousin of his friend. She was driving home on her own, when an unmarked Garda car turned on the blue lights.

I interrupted him and asked if she called the Garda station and they said it wasnt a Garda car and that she should drive to the nearest Garda station. The look on his face was priceless. He didnt know how i knew about it ...

My favourite is the one about the babysitter getting the weirdo calling her when she is on her own in the house. She rings the police and they tell her its an internal call ...

Shryke

delricyo wrote: »

Its always friend of a friend ....

A fella in work came in to work one day with a really worried look on his face. Starts telling me about the cousin of his friend. She was driving home on her own, when an unmarked Garda car turned on the blue lights.

I interrupted him and asked if she called the Garda station and they said it wasnt a Garda car and that she should drive to the nearest Garda station. The look on his face was priceless. He didnt know how i knew about it ...

My favourite is the one about the babysitter getting the weirdo calling her when she is on her own in the house. She rings the police and they tell her its an internal call ...

The killer in the back seat is one of the best.

AnonoBoy

I've heard one recently about this monkey-faced eejit who apparently wanted nothing more than to build a big soccer pitch and call it after himself. But try as he might he couldn't get it done so in the end he just ran the country into the ground instead.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

There's a florists in Bray and if you go in and ask for a single yellow rose, you get taken out the back and get your "noodle" sucked for a fiver.

A friend of a friend thing........I didnt have a fiver at the time.

dodderangler

He's half man
Half bear
And half pig
Yes the terrible MANBEARPIG

Archeron

Every single housing estate in every Irish town and city is built over a graveyard.

delricyo

Also heard this from a friend about his friend ....

Thought it was true until I read it on AH
He got lucky in a niteclub with a member of the travelling community. Went back to hers where he was instructed to "Lob it in there, boss" :eek:

Rayne Wooney

delricyo wrote: »

My favourite is the one about the babysitter getting the weirdo calling her when she is on her own in the house. She rings the police and they tell her its an internal call ...

I'm pretty sure that's a movie, "When a Stranger Calls" ?

Gummy Panda

Lads at a party in some apartment doing drink and drugs. They're taking turns on some girl in the bedroom. One lad goes in and starts riding her dodgey. She turns around and its his sister so he jumps out the window

niallo27

The one with the babysitter told the parents that the kids were alright when they came home but that lifesize clown doll in the bedroom freaked her out, but they didnt have a lifesize clown in the kids bedroom.Some thing like that, it scared the ****e of me when i was younger anyway.

SusieBlue

Not sure if anyone here is familiar with The Lough in Cork but my Nana told me that there was once an underground castle where the Lough is situated, with a surrounding. There was a Princess living in the castle, and when the Prince ran away (!) she cried so much it flooded the castle and the village and that's how the Lough came to be :pac:

baalthor

steddyeddy wrote: »

One she used tell me was about the pig woman of the rotunda hospital. The story goes that a rich woman was asked by a gypsy woman for money for her child. The wealthy woman who was pregnant at the time said to the beggar "go away you pig". The woman later gave birth to a "pig faced woman" and out of guilt founded the rotunda hospital.

My mother had a similar story but it was about the Shirley family of Carrickmacross. One of the ladies of said family was pregnant and while out in her carriage one day passed a beggar woman with 10 kids. "Oh, look at the sow with her litter!" she exclaimed. So, of course the beggar woman cursed her and she gave birth to a son with a pig's trotter in place of a hand.
And everyone knew the story was true because the son always wore long leather gloves when in public.

admiralofthefleet

Archeron wrote: »

Every single housing estate in every Irish town and city is built over a graveyard.

a cow graveyard. well we were told edenmore was.

i remember the round hill in cadburys in coolock had a myth where if you ran aroumd it 3 times you would see the devil

Red Hand

WhiteRoses wrote: »

Not sure if anyone here is familiar with The Lough in Cork but my Nana told me that there was once an underground castle where the Lough is situated, with a surrounding. There was a Princess living in the castle, and when the Prince ran away (!) she cried so much it flooded the castle and the village and that's how the Lough came to be :pac:

I heard t'was a blocked toilet that caused the Lough.:pac:

DEFTLEFTHAND

Bono and Bruce Springsteen in a Dublin restaurant paying for the meal of a fellow patron. There's different versions of this it usually goes that the person in question approaches the pair seeking Bono's autograph while not realising who the other man is, in the end Bruce picks up their tab or something along those lines.

steddyeddy

If anyone is familiar with Mt Jerome cemetery in harolds cross you may be familiar with many of the legend that it was built by a freemason. Im not sure how true it is but It is a very strange cemetery. My Gran is buried there and I noticed some of the older tombs have images of a skull surrounded by a pentagram. Seriously creepy place!

Archeron

steddyeddy wrote: »

If anyone is familiar with Mt Jerome cemetery in harolds cross you may be familiar with many of the legend that it was built by a freemason. Im not sure how true it is but It is a very strange cemetery. My Gran is buried there and I noticed some of the older tombs have images of a skull surrounded by a pentagram. Seriously creepy place!

I really like the statue of the dog howling into the air on top of its masters tomb.

steddyeddy

Archeron wrote: »

I really like the statue of the dog howling into the air on top of its masters tomb.

Edit: Wrong legend!

The legend around the monument is that someone called William harvey's relatives erected it in his honour when Harvey's Irish wolfhound wouldnt leave his grave for weeks after his master died. The statue is a monument to the irish wolfhound.

steddyeddy

Actually I found a pic of the occoult engraving in Mt.Jerome cemetery!

http://0.tqn.com/d/goireland/1/0/a/A/-/-/skull_star_david.jpg

Its not a pentagram but a skull surrounded by the star of david.

GAAman

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Lads at a party in some apartment doing drink and drugs. They're taking turns on some girl in the bedroom. One lad goes in and starts riding her dodgey. She turns around and its his sister so he jumps out the window

Riding your sister would count as a dodgey one I guess...... :pac:

Spore

steddyeddy wrote: »

Another one Involved the hellfire club and the devil made an appearance during a poker game.

Conor McPherson spun that tale into successful play called The Seafarer and ironically a character mentioned in the play was called Steady Eddy...

dodderangler

delricyo wrote: »

Also heard this from a friend about his friend ....

Thought it was true until I read it on AH
He got lucky in a niteclub with a member of the travelling community. Went back to hers where he was instructed to "Lob it in there, boss" :eek:

Heard something similar was more like
' no messin about just Horse it into me'

B.A._Baracus

The African woman at the bus stop.


Story goes a bus pulls up to a stop. An african woman with a buggy is looking to get on. The driver states there is no room for the buggy as the bus is packed. African woman proceeds to leave the buggy at the stop and says to the driver "I'll leave it there. I'll get another one from the social welfare"

Merch

Shryke wrote: »

The killer in the back seat is one of the best.

Or the one where a person (usually a woman) driving along a country road, stops as there is a person laying in the road, turns out it is a dead dog dressed in clothing, freaks them out so they head on.....

niallo27 wrote: »

The one with the babysitter told the parents that the kids were alright when they came home but that lifesize clown doll in the bedroom freaked her out, but they didnt have a lifesize clown in the kids bedroom.Some thing like that, it scared the ****e of me when i was younger anyway.

That is creepy now! :eek:

mauzo

niallo27 wrote: »

The one with the babysitter told the parents that the kids were alright when they came home but that lifesize clown doll in the bedroom freaked her out, but they didnt have a lifesize clown in the kids bedroom.Some thing like that, it scared the ****e of me when i was younger anyway.

Ugh I remember that one...

NOt going to sleep tonight now

BillyMitchel

steddyeddy wrote: »

If anyone is familiar with Mt Jerome cemetery in harolds cross you may be familiar with many of the legend that it was built by a freemason. Im not sure how true it is but It is a very strange cemetery. My Gran is buried there and I noticed some of the older tombs have images of a skull surrounded by a pentagram. Seriously creepy place!

That's one creepy creepy place. The place is ancient. It would take serious amount of money to spend a night there! Lots of anti social behaviour in it too!

massdebater

Another 'friend of a friend' classic was the one with the pet snake where the snake used to lie at the bottom of the girl's bed but after a while the snake started sleeping length ways beside the girl and stopped eating food for a few weeks. The girl went to the vet to find out why the snake was acting like this and the vet says that the snake was sizing the girl up to eat her.

Friend of a friend stories are the best. I normally try to keep a straight face while they tell the whole story and expose it as an urban legend at the end. The awkward fumbling and trying to save face afterwards is the best part!

niallo27

Merch wrote: »

Or the one where a person (usually a woman) driving along a country road, stops as there is a person laying in the road, turns out it is a dead dog dressed in clothing, freaks them out so they head on.....



That is creepy now! :eek:

mauzo wrote: »

Ugh I remember that one...

NOt going to sleep tonight now

A teen female was babysitting for a wealthy family with a very large house, location - Newport Beach, California.
The parents planned on dinner out and a late movie. Wanting to ease the babysitter's concerns about being in such a large house, the father directs that the babysitter use a certain tv room after putting the kids to bed, so she can hear the kids easily should they awaken before the parents' return. After the parents leave, the babysitter visits with the children, and they all share a nice supper that was prepared ahead of time by the kids' mother. Afterward, the babysitter spends time with the kids doing various activities before their bedtime. Nothing is amiss and all are having a pretty good time and enjoying each other.

After the babysitter puts the kids to bed, she goes downstairs to the room mentioned by the father of the household. She understands that this is the best room to be in so that she can hear the children should they stir in their sleep and need her to come and comfort them, but she is bothered by the clown statue in the corner of the room. To her, it is very unnerving! She tries to ignore the clown statue and watches a little television, but finally, her nerves get the better of her and she dials the father's cell number. She knows she shouldn't disturb the couple she is babysitting for, but under the circumstance, she felt it best to phone and ask permission to go against the prior directions to stay in the father's room of choice. Perhaps he would be able to suggest a similarly convenient place in the home for listening for noise from the children. Of course, she also wouldn't want to get in trouble for directly disobeying, either.

When the father answers his cell phone, the babysitter asks, "Would it be alright with you if I find a different place in the house to sit - or if I go read quietly with the little lamp in one of the kids' rooms while I wait for you to get home?" When the father asks if it might not be better for her to just read from the tv room, she admits, "I know this sounds very silly, but I'd rather read upstairs and don't mind not watching tv until you get home because this big clown statue in the TV room is really creepy!"
Immediately, the father says, "Go upstairs, get the kids - quickly - " and he outlines a quick route through the large house to the back door. "Go directly to the neighbor's house - phone me once you're there - go do this now!" Alarmed, the babysitter asks, "Wow, what's going on?" The father just repeats, "Go now, follow my instructions exactly - go!" The babysitter does exactly as instructed, and once she gets the kids to the neighbor's house, she calls the father back. "What was all that about" the babysitter asked. "We do not own any kind of clown statue!" the father replied. "I have already phoned the police and they are on their way over to the house...you stay put with the kids - we are on our way to meet you at the neighbors."

hefferboi

Yeah that clown one was going around for ages. The version I heard was that it was a foreigner dressed as a clown!

mikemac1

Was out one night and I meet a traveller girl and we went home together, back to the site! Me in mortal fear her brothers would kill me for being with her

Anyways, there we are and she says "none of your fancy stuff boss, horse it in"

This girl gets around, she's been with several of my friends too, she said the exact same thing to them

---

Did I tell ya I do the lotto every week, same numbers and the one week I didn't do it my numbers came up?

---

My great grand parents or something along those lines had tickets to Titanic but missed the boat in Cobh.

---

My other great grand father was a top man, great friends with Pearse and Clarke and Connolly.
Was in the GPO I tell ya.
Seems there was 100,000 brave Irish men there!!

---

I was also getting Bus Éireann from Galway to Limerick and we stop at Bunratty

These Yanks on the bus says "oh look they built the castle so close to the freeway, that was smart"

The Yanks find this very impressive as I've heard this story several times from people who swear it is true!

---

Friend of a friend had trials with Blackburn but he never went, too fond of the booze and chasing girls.
Actually, for my final one, this one is true. I do know a lad like this, pisshead who more talent then anyone I ever played with

I'm sure you know someone too who had talent and offered trials but threw it away

Merch

mauzo wrote: »

Ugh I remember that one...

NOt going to sleep tonight now

reminds me of "the thing" creeped me out
While she was on the phone, wouldnt the clown/person hear all this, and when she turns away to get the kids be standing there with an axe :eek:

It sounds less scary when you say statue, and more as a life sized clown doll!

the dead dog one creeped me out, The driver (woman) of the car on a quiet road stopped for a person laying on the road, turns out its a dead dog dressed in clothes, weird, creeped out she then drives on but get chased down by a car flashing its lights (you know where this is going), she heads to the first lit house she sees, gets out, the other car still keeps coming, the owner answers the door and she explains whats happened, they hide inside, person that drives up to house bangs down the door, when they get sense out of him, it was because he saw someone climb into the back seat of the car when she was looking at the dog that she thought was a person.They call the gardai, some kind of serial offender/rapist in the back seat :eek:
Happened to someone that someone I know knows, their cousin or something

AnonoBoy

delricyo wrote: »

Also heard this from a friend about his friend ....

Thought it was true until I read it on AH
He got lucky in a niteclub with a member of the travelling community. Went back to hers where he was instructed to "Lob it in there, boss" :eek:

I actually said that to a girl I brought home once as a joke. She thought it was hilarious.

And then she lobbed it in.

fishy fishy

steddyeddy wrote: »

My granny was very superstitious and she always told me fantastical stories about old Dublin city. The stories ranged from a banshees to gypsy curses. Best of all I remember the urban legends she used to tell me.

One she used tell me was about the pig woman of the rotunda hospital. The story goes that a rich woman was asked by a gypsy woman for money for her child. The wealthy woman who was pregnant at the time said to the beggar "go away you pig". The woman later gave birth to a "pig faced woman" and out of guilt founded the rotunda hospital.

Another one Involved the hellfire club and the devil made an appearance during a poker game. Im not saying these are true (their not) but have you heard any good urban legends or have you got any favouraites?

that must have been some bump she had on her if she gave birth to a pig faced woman. Surely it was a baby? :rolleyes:

podgemonster

A lad from work and his friend went to see Keith Barry in the Olympia back in 2011. Anyway the friend gets called up on stage for one of the opening tricks. He is asked to give Keith his watch, who puts it in a velvet bag and then hammers it with a hammer into little pieces. Keith tells him not too worry as its not very valuable but the friend says it's actually his deceased grandfathers watch, my workmate saw a flicker of guilt on Keiths face.

Anyway Keith pulls out the watch undamaged and yer man returns to his seat. While the show goes on, the friend is constantly looking at his watch and eventually realises its a replica. Not wanting to cause a scene he waits until the end of the show to approach the backstage entrance but is blocked by security. His claims over is watch are laughed upon, enraged and upset he lives with my work colleague.

A few days later he meet his girlfriend for a coffee in the IFSC, while his girlfriend is ordering some doughnuts at the till, he see Keith Barry leaving with a coffee. Almost spilling his own coffee, he gets up and heads out after him. When he gets outside he looks for Keith but he has dissappeared. Distraught again he returns to his girlfriends table. Unable to talk he goes to take a bite out of his doughnut.....

And what was in the Doughtnut??

........... Jam <

Bruce7

mikemac1 wrote: »

Was out one night and I meet a traveller girl and we went home together, back to the site! Me in mortal fear her brothers would kill me for being with her

Anyways, there we are and she says "none of your fancy stuff boss, horse it in"

This girl gets around, she's been with several of my friends too, she said the exact same thing to them

Pretty sure this is true. A friend of mine was with this girl from Kilbarrack at a disco when he was a teenager. They went off somewhere and were kissing etc. He put his hands up her top and started feeling her tits, but didn't go any further. After a while of this, she broke away, looked at him scornfully, and asked:

"Are ya gettin' a thrill ou' a tha'?"

padd b1975

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I actually said that to a girl I brought home once as a joke. She thought it was hilarious.

And then she lobbed it in.

Sounds like she was a he.:cool:

the culture of deference

Heard this 20 years ago.

Guy driving home pissed. Comes to garda check point. The garda realises the fella is pissed and is about to take the car off him when there is a car crash down the road.

Garda has to go to the crash so tells the drunk to wait, he does until garda is gone, gets back in the car and drives home. A few hours later the gardai call to his house. He answers the door with a glass of something in his hand and the garda says do you remember me. The guy goes No, should I. The garda explains the situation and the man denies it. No I wasn't driving, car in the garage all night.

Cop asks to see the car, guy goes no prob, opens the garage door, and there inside his garage is the garda car.

AnonoBoy

padd b1975 wrote: »

Sounds like she was a he.:cool:

Sounds like you get jokes.

samk1

i liked the 1 about the devil in the castletown house in celbridge coumty kildare.
story goes Connoly the house owner met a stranger while out on his horse 1 morning.The 2 men went hunting and Connoly invited him back to the house.They played cards all nite and the stanger won every game.Some cards fell on the floor and Conolly went to pick them up but when looking under the table he relised the stranger had hoofs!!
He called for the parish priest and after a while the priest trew a bible at him but it went straight through him and hit a mirror and cracked it.
Untill this day any time the mirror has tried to be replaced it cracks !!

Im living in Castletown estate now makes the story much more fun !!

fishy fishy

here's a good one.

Parents have only one child, a daughter. They go out for a night, tell the daughter to lock the house. They are not too bothered as they have a dog who will protect the teenage daughter. Anyway off the go, all is fine, and the girl heads off to bed. The dog usually sleeps under her bed. She sticks her hand under the bed and the dog gives it a reassuring lick. Suddenly she hears dripping - she runs down to the kitchen to check the taps - all fine. She returns to her bed, puts her hand down and the dog licks her hand. Jumps back into bed. Again, she hears dripping - she gets up, runs to the bathroom, checks taps - all fine. Again goes back, jumps in bed and puts her hand down for a reassuring lick from the dog. Again, more dripping sounds - this time she hears it coming from her wardrobe - she opens the wardrobe - there is her dog with his neck slashed - and written in blood on the door of the wardrobe is the words "humans can lick too". :eek::eek::eek:

movingsucks

samk1 wrote: »

i liked the 1 about the devil in the castletown house in celbridge coumty kildare.
story goes Connoly the house owner met a stranger while out on his horse 1 morning.The 2 men went hunting and Connoly invited him back to the house.They played cards all nite and the stanger won every game.Some cards fell on the floor and Conolly went to pick them up but when looking under the table he relised the stranger had hoofs!!
He called for the parish priest and after a while the priest trew a bible at him but it went straight through him and hit a mirror and cracked it.
Untill this day any time the mirror has tried to be replaced it cracks !!

Im living in Castletown estate now makes the story much more fun !!

Thats just a rip off of Loftus Hall!!

The clown in the bedroom story makes me laugh my friend was almost in tears telling me it happened near her.
Another great one is the dogs microchip in the chinese take away. Had a guy swear to me this reallt happened to his friends uncle or something.
I love the one about the pet snake preparing to eat its owner too.

whatsername42

I love the one about the prisoner in a horrible prison for life. It's such a terrible place that prisoners are dying there all the time.
He hatches a escape plan with the prison gravedigger. The plan is that when the next prisoner dies, he will seize his chance to get into the coffin before the burial when noone is looking and at midnight the gravedigger would come and dig him up.
When the next prisoner dies, he climbs into the coffin and is buried. Time passes and passes and noone comes. In a panic, he lights a match and turns - the deceased is the gravedigger!!!:eek:
Freaked me out when I was a nipper!

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

delricyo wrote: »

Also heard this from a friend about his friend ....

Thought it was true until I read it on AH
He got lucky in a niteclub with a member of the travelling community. Went back to hers where he was instructed to "Lob it in there, boss" :eek:

Maybe she's related to that Traveller who once told his girlfriend 'Sure of course I love ya, doesn't I ride ya and buy ya chips!'

Duckworth_Luas

whatsername42 wrote: »

I love the one about the prisoner in a horrible prison for life. It's such a terrible place that prisoners are dying there all the time.
He hatches a escape plan with the prison gravedigger. The plan is that when the next prisoner dies, he will seize his chance to get into the coffin before the burial when noone is looking and at midnight the gravedigger would come and dig him up.
When the next prisoner dies, he climbs into the coffin and is buried. Time passes and passes and noone comes. In a panic, he lights a match and turns - the deceased is the gravedigger!!!:eek:
Freaked me out when I was a nipper!

An episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents back in the late 1980s.

Matt_Trakker

Heard this one off two different people working within a kilometre of each other on baggot st within a month.

"A female cousin of my friend".......scored some guy in a nightclub and she went back to his place, didn't have sex but they just kissed. Said his flat was a bit strange, spotlessly clean but like an icebox. Slept in the bed with him but no sex. Took his number but never called him.
A week or two later her lips begin to get rather itchy and her stomach is constantly bloated. Finally went to the doctor and he had to run some test because he didn't know what to make of it.
A week later gets the results back from the hospital and she's called into the doctor.
Dr. asks her something along the lines of "Has anybody in your family died recently? Have you been to a wake where you kissed a dead body? You have gastroenteritis, a disease that you can get from kissing, or being intimate with, a dead bodie.

dun-dun-dun!

Another one:
"my best mate's cousin..(insert female name) it was her 30th there a while ago"..... She lives alone except for her dog. Before she left, she pulled the partition over in the living room so the dog wouldn't bark at the neighbour's cat when she ran across her garden.

She went off to work on the day of her birthday and thought it was strange that none of her family had called her to wish her a happy birthday. Went on about her work and her mood became more and more dreary because not one single person in work said a word to her about her birthday or gave her any wishes, no card, no cake, nothing. It was like nobody even knew.

Ms. X went home, depressed as hell. Even called her mother along the way but got no answer, called her brother and got nothing as well, no reply, not even a text message back. So she went home to her loyal hound and decided she'd do what she always did when she was down in the dumps.
She went into the kitchen and got the tin of dog food and went back to the living room. She took off all her clothes and put some dog her on her gee and beckoned the dog over to lick it off her.
Just as the dog begins slurping and she begins moaning, the partition door opens and her family and friends jump out yelling "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

AnonoBoy

Matt_Trakker wrote: »

] You have gastroenteritis, a disease that you can get from kissing, or being intimate with, a dead bodie.

That Urban Legend needs to check its facts.

u_c_thesecond

dodderangler wrote: »

MANBEARPIG

Hes bloomin real

i saw him...

That is to say ive seen him

Matt_Trakker

AnonoBoy wrote: »

That Urban Legend needs to check its facts.

aye

everyone know that gastroenteritis can only be got from water that has been contaminated by dead bodies and not by actually touching them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_risks_from_dead_bodies#Real_risks

SocSocPol

Not sure if this counts but I heard that there was a political party called Labour and they promised everyone that if they voted for them in the 2011 general election that the country would be run labours way not Frankfurts way, not another red cent would be paid to bondholders or bankers and that people would be put before bankers!

Anyway they got elected and guess what......:D

AnonoBoy

Matt_Trakker wrote: »

aye

everyone know that gastroenteritis can only be got from water that has been contaminated by dead bodies and not by actually touching them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_risks_from_dead_bodies#Real_risks

There's loads of ways to get it. There was an outbreak of it in my primary school when we were kids - no dead bodies were floating around at the time (that we knew about anyway!)