Otherwise known as urban legends. Tell me if you've heard about
The vanishing hitchhiker? Someone is driving on an isolated road when ahead of them they notice someone thumbing it. It's usually a young female, either in traveling clothes or, like the case of Chicago's Resurrection Mary, dressed in an old party dress. The person pulls over, and the hitchhiker gets in back and tells them her destination. The driver tries to strike a conversation, but the girl doesn't talk much. As they near the girl's destination, the driver happens to glance back AND THE GIRL HAS DISAPPEARED!
One of my creepy favorites takes place in a nursing college. The other nurses in training are jealous of one girl who always aces the tests, never botches her job, and has a perfect bedside manner. A group of them decide to pull a prank on miss perfect, and manage to pilfer the hand from a dissection corpse. They tie it to the light string in the girl's dorm closet, then go about their day, waiting for the scream of discovery. However, not a peep is heard. The next day the girl does not attend any of her classes, and a search is mounted. They find her quickly enough, sitting in her closet staring at the shriveled corpse hand, insane from shock and fear.
What about the one with the old lady who receives a puppy and a microwave as a birthday gift from her loving son. She leaves the puppy alone as she sees her son out the door, and when she returns, the animal has made a mess in the kitchen. She gives it a bath, but worries the puppy may get sick if it's wet too long. Then she remembers the microwave and figures it's a good time to test it out...
My home town of Lynwood has its own peculiar legends and myths, one of them being "The Devil's Clubhouse". A long time ago, two boys were possessed by the urge to build a tree house. They spent a long time scouting the forests for the perfect spot; choosing one in the exact center of the woods next to the school. They toiled for weeks, collecting scrap wood and supplies, until they completed the structure high, high up on an ancient tree. As they looked out the open doorway, something pushed them out! One boy has killed instantly, the other was seriously injured by managed to reach help. A few months later the surviving boy returned to school. He wasn't the same anymore, refusing to play with his friends, and at recess he would restlessly walk back and forth on the playground. Not too long afterward he was pacing the playground when he vanished right in front of everybody, never to be seen again.
The cool thing about this is that supposedly the Devil's Clubhouse still exists. A small patch of the forest still remains next to the school, and there are many trails running through it. If you follow them correctly, you will make it to the very center, where the ancient tree is located. You'll know you're getting close when all outside sounds disappear, and a dog starts howling and snarling. It gets to the point where it sounds like the dog is next to you, but you can't see it. Once you get to the tree house even if the sun is shining directly into the open doorway, there is only blackness inside. No one has ever dared to climb up the tree, much less go inside. It used to be a tradition for the gym teacher to take fifth graders to see it on Halloween, but my class was so bad that year that we weren't allowed to go.
Yeah, I know I've been going on and on about a different postcard design since portfolio class started, but this one popped into my head on Friday and I couldn't resist. For some reason I associate Russian Nesting dolls and Gremlins in the same thought pattern (can't think of one without the other). I should post the concept sketches, some of them were pretty outrageous.
