Oregon
Cannon Beach, Oregon is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a man who was chopped into pieces at a nearby sawmill. Locals say the ghost looks like a mummy and is called the “Bandage Man,” as he appears to be covered from head to toe in bandages that keep his chopped-up body together.
Pennsylvania
There’s nothing legendary about the real-world Eastern State Penitentiary, a real prison that was shut down over concerns regarding the staff’s cruelty toward prisoners. The building’s still there, and locals say you can still hear the screams of the tortured prisoners if you tour the prison at night.
Rhode Island
Cult horror classic The Nightmare on Elm Street was reportedly inspired by the legend of Fingernail Freddie from Rhode Island. The local legend holds that Fingernail Freddie was a woodsman with ridiculously long fingernails who would jump out of the wilderness to attack campers.
South Carolina
South Carolina was home to the country’s first female serial killer, Lavinia Fisher. She reportedly killed many guests at an inn she ran alongside her husband John. They would poison their guests and drop them in a trap door. One lucky would-be victim survived the poison and contacted the authorities, resulting in the couple’s hanging. Lavinia’s ghost reportedly now haunts the Charleston jail.
South Dakota
South Dakota’s legend of Walking Sam might have been the inspiration for Slenderman. Both are lanky, woods-dwelling cryptids that cause those who directly witness them to want to take their own lives. Walking Sam is reportedly somehow connected to the mythology of the indigenous Lakota Indian tribe, too.
