Legends
Cryptids, hauntings, vampires, and the folklore that refuses to die — the legendary creatures and stories investigated for what really lies behind them.
9 articlesLatest in Legends
The Bermuda Triangle: How a Legend Gets Manufactured
The Bermuda Triangle was invented in 1964 by a writer for a pulp fiction magazine. This is the story of how a manufactured mystery became one of the twentieth century's most durable legends — and what the famous disappearances actually show.
Vampire History: The Real Origins of the World's Most Persistent Legend
Vampire mythology spans thousands of years and dozens of cultures. Behind the folklore lie real historical figures, genuine medical conditions, and a set of fears about death and contamination that are entirely understandable given what people once knew about disease.
Moon Myths and Hoaxes: From Cheese to Bat-People to Hollow Spaceship
Humanity has been inventing extraordinary stories about the moon since we first looked up at it. A tour through history's strangest lunar myths — from a Victorian newspaper's bipedal beavers to a Russian theory about alien armour plating.
The Beast of Gévaudan: France's Three-Year Reign of Terror
Between 1764 and 1767, a creature killed 112 people across a remote French province. Unlike most cryptid accounts, these attacks were documented by church officials and government authorities — making this one of history's most well-recorded animal mysteries.
Borley Rectory: The Truth Behind England's Most Haunted House
For decades, Borley Rectory held the title of the most haunted house in England. Investigation reveals something more mundane and more interesting: fabrication, fraud, and one very ambitious ghost hunter.
Mothman: What Point Pleasant Actually Saw
Between November 1966 and December 1967, dozens of residents of Point Pleasant, West Virginia reported encounters with a winged figure with glowing red eyes. Thirteen months later, a bridge collapsed. The question was never whether people saw something — but what.
More in Legends
The Bermuda Triangle: What the Numbers Actually Show
The Bermuda Triangle has swallowed hundreds of ships and aircraft in the popular imagination. The data tells a different story — one about the history of maritime insurance, selective reporting, and how a legend gets built from nothing.
Drunken Ghost Hunters 2 - Electric Boogaloo
A team of overqualified researchers gets drunk and investigates a haunted cabin in Australia's Hunter Valley, using EMF meters, spirit boxes, and deliberate ghost antagonism to test whether spirits actually exist.
Bizarre Things People Actually Believe About the Moon
Explore the strangest moon beliefs throughout history, from the ancient "moon is made of cheese" folktale to modern conspiracy theories about hollow moons, Nazi bases, and holographic projections.