The Skirvin Hotel was a luxury hotel built in 1910 in Oklahoma City by oil magnate W.B. Skirvin. Skirvin dabbled in illicit affairs as well as oil and got one of the hotel maids pregnant in the 1930s.
“The maid soon conceived and in order to prevent a scandal, she was locked in a room on the top floor of the hotel,” LegendsofAmerica.com says. “The desolate girl soon grew depressed and even after the birth of her child; she was still not let out of the room. Half out of her mind, she finally grabbed the infant child and threw herself, along with the baby, out of the window.”
The unnamed maid’s spirit is said to haunt the halls of the Skirvin to this day.
“He’s So Unusual” is a song from the late 1920s performed by Helen Kane, who was the inspiration for the Betty Boop character. The song was written by Al Sherman, Al Lewis and Abner Silver. Released on June 14, 1929, “He’s So Unusual” was featured in the motion picture, Sweetie. Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. Inc. are the publishers of record.
“He’s So Unusual” was later covered by Cyndi Lauper, in a short (45 second) version, on her Grammy Awardwinning album, She’s So Unusual. The sung lyrics continue in the background of the subsequent song “Yeah Yeah”, while the beginning of the song plays before “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” in the song’s music video.
You talk of sweeties, bashful sweeties I got one of those Oh, he’s handsome as can be But he worries me; He goes to college and gathers knowledge Hooh! What that boy knows! He’s up in his Latin and Greek But in his sheikin’, he’s weak!
‘Cause when I want some lovin’ And I gotta have some lovin’ He says, “Please! Stop it, please!” He’s so unusual!
When I want some kissin’ And I gotta have some kissin’ He says, “No! Let me go.” He’s so unusual!
I know lots of boys who would be crazy over me If they only had this fellow’s opportunity You know, I would let him pet me But the darn fool, he doesn’t let me! Oh, he’s so unusual that he drives me wild!
When we’re in the moonlight He says, “I don’t like the moonlight Aw, let’s not talk in the dark.” Huh, he’s so unusual!
And when we’re riding in a taxi He converses with the cheuffeur Oh, why don’t he talk to me? Oh, he’s so different!
Others would be tickled pink to bop-op-a-dop-e-dop! He don’t even know what bop-op-op-a-dop’s about! He says love is hokum Oh, I’d like to choke, choke, choke him! ‘Cause he’s so unusual that he drives me wild!
You might as well be by yourself as in his company When we’re out together, I’m as lonesome as can be
But still I’m mad about him And I just can’t live without him; ‘Cause he’s so unusual that he drives me bop-bop-a-dop-bop!
Also known as the “Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks,” the Carroll A. Deering was a very real schooner at the center of a mystery. The National Park Service website tells the details of the ship’s true fate: In August 1920, “the Carroll A. Deering set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, in tip-top shape, with an experienced captain and a crew of 10 men bound for Rio de Janeiro with a cargo of coal. The ship departed on August 22, and although Captain William H. Merritt fell ill a few days later and had to be replaced by the hastily-recruited Captain W. B. Wormell, the ship delivered its cargo on schedule and set sail to return in December.”
In January 1921, the captain of a lightship reported having seen the Deering and crew at what is now the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, heading for home. When the Deering was next spotted, on January 31, the schooner was abandoned and caught against the Diamond Shoals. “The crew had vanished like ghosts. Gone with them were personal belongings, key navigational equipment, some papers, and the ship’s anchors. Despite an exhaustive investigation by the FBI, no trace of the crew or the ship’s logs has ever been uncovered.” The ship was later scuttled but people say the ship can still be seen floating along the coast of North Carolina.
The story surrounding this grave is pure legend, yet it continues to lure visitors to Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City, Miss. A woman thought to be a witch is reportedly interred in a plot surrounded by chain links, which led to a legend printed in 1971 in the book “Good Old Boy,” written by local Willie Morris, who died in 1999 and is buried 13 steps south of the witch’s grave.
According to the legend, the old woman lived on the Yazoo River, and was caught torturing fishermen who she lured in off the river. The sheriff is said to have chased her through the swamps where she was half drowned in quicksand by the time the sheriff caught up with her. As she was sinking, she swore her revenge on Yazoo City and on the town’s people. ‘In 20 years, I will return and burn this town to the ground!” No one thought much of it at the time. Then came May 25, 1904… The Fire of 1904 destroyed over 200 residences and nearly every business in Yazoo City – 324 buildings in total.
This unusual legend has its roots in a modern event. According to a story, a Halloween attraction in northern Louisiana (no exact location is given) was closed after people went crazy in a cube-shaped room or shed, its walls lined with mirrors, near the end of the attraction. Reportedly the room is all that remains of the attraction. Those who dare to venture inside will have their souls stolen by the devil, legend says.
On September 30 2020, Clare Bronfman was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. Nine former members of NXIVM testified against her, detailing her role in the organization’s unabated, years-long legal pursuit of them. On October 27 2020, “Vanguard” Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years, after many hours of victim statements from fifteen former NXIVM members and victims of his abuse. On June 30 2021, Allison Mack received a sentence of three years in prison, three years of supervised release after serving her prison term, plus a fine of $20,000 dollars. On September 8 2021, NXIVM’s co-founder Nancy Salzman was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Detractors say he runs a cult-like program aimed at breaking down his subjects psychologically, separating them from their families and inducting them into a bizarre world of messianic pretensions, idiosyncratic language and ritualistic practices.
The Pope Lick Monster, also known as the Goat Man, is said to be a half-man, half-goat creature (some say a sheep is in the mix somehow) who lives beneath a railroad trestle in Fisherville, near Louisville.
According to an article by WDRB News in Louisville, the creature hypnotizes or lures his victims onto the Pope Lick trestle where they will be struck by a train. In other legends, the creature jumps from the trestle onto cars below or attacks victims with a blood-stained ax. The Pope Lick trestle is still in use and is extremely dangerous to visit.
Like many lakes in the South, Lake Lanier is the source of numerous legends. One of the most frightening stems from the fact that a town with cemeteries and homes was flooded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create the lake.
According to reports the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reported more than 200 deaths in the lake in the past 30 years. Supposedly, the lake is cursed because some of the bodies were not removed from the cemeteries before the land was flooded in the 1950s.
“Legend has it the ghost of a long-dead woman roams this lake in a flowing blue dress. Mysterious arms reach out for swimmers from the watery depths. Angry spirits call people home to submerged graves,” CNN says.
Adjoining Huntsville’s historic Maple Hill Cemetery is a playground that looks much like any other, featuring a modern swing set and climbing apparatus. But this playground isn’t like others. Passersby often say they can see the swings moving on their own volition, as well as orbs or spectral figures.
So how did the innocent place get its gruesome name? According to legend, many children who died in Huntsville during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic are buried in Maple Hill plots adjoining the playground. The spirits of those children, some say, come out after dark to run and play, as they might have in life. An online search turns up photos of unexplained shadows and orbs.
According to legend, a young bride dressed in her white dress took her life at a natural geologic formation near the Arkansas River in Pulaski County.
The woman, Martha Sanders “lost her husband, Gustavus Sanders, days after their wedding,” according to a Arkansas Facts for kids website. Gustavus and Martha were married at the top of the Natural Steps, their favorite rendezvous.
“Unfortunately, the honeymoon was short for the young couple because just days later he was dead and was laid to rest behind the old wooden church,” the website says. Martha, overcome with grief, disappeared not long after his funeral and was never seen again. Legend says she took her life by jumping from the Natural Steps into the Arkansas River and her ghost haunts the site until this day.
Mark Bere Peterson’s Counterculture, Urban Legends, Paganism & Witchcraft 