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Folklore

Local legends, oral traditions, and mythological figures tied to a specific place.

Naga Fireballs

Every October, glowing orbs are said to rise from the Mekong River along the Thailand-Laos border, drawing crowds who credit a giant mythical serpent. Scientists have proposed explanations for decades, none fully satisfying everyone who has seen it.

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Results · 16 mysteries

of 131 in the archive

Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
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Aokigahara
A dense forest on Mount Fuji's northwestern flank, historically associated with yūrei folklore and now requiring unusually careful, respectful treatment because of its modern reputation.
England, United Kingdom
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Black Shuck
A legendary spectral black dog said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, England, with the earliest written account describing a fearsome 1577 incident at churches in Bungay and Blythburgh.
Massachusetts, United States
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Bridgewater Triangle
A roughly 200-square-mile area of southeastern Massachusetts, centered on the Hockomock Swamp, associated with a dense cluster of reported phenomena, from Wampanoag legends of the "Pukwudgie" to UFO sightings and a string of unsolved cattle mutilations in the 1970s.
Brittany, France
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Brocéliande Forest
The legendary enchanted forest of Arthurian romance, now commonly identified with Paimpont Forest in Brittany and visited through sites tied to Merlin, Morgan le Fay, and the Lady of the Lake.
Virginia, United States
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Bunny Man Bridge
A man in a rabbit costume reportedly attacked people with a hatchet in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1970. The real incidents happened miles from the railway overpass that internet legend has since adopted as the 'Bunny Man Bridge.'
Kansas, United States
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Coronado Heights
A sandstone castle crowns the Kansas hill where legend says Coronado gave up his hunt for the golden cities of Quivira in 1541. A square of 16th century chain mail dug up nearby keeps the story breathing.
New Jersey, United States
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Jersey Devil
A legendary winged, cloven-hoofed cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, with origins in 18th-century "Leeds Devil" folklore and a notable wave of reported sightings in January 1909.
Salzburg, Austria
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Krampus
St. Nicholas's horned, birch-rod-wielding counterpart in Alpine folklore, who punishes misbehaving children each December, a figure the Catholic Church tried to suppress for centuries and which now draws thousands to torch-lit Krampuslauf parades across Austria.
Mexico City (Xochimilco), Mexico
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La Llorona
Mexico's most enduring ghost story, about a weeping woman who drowned her own children and now wanders waterways searching for them, first documented in 16th-century Mexico City and still reported along canals, rivers, and borderlands from Xochimilco to the American Southwest.

Naga Fireballs

Results · 16 mysteries

Aokigahara

Black Shuck

Bridgewater Triangle

Brocéliande Forest

Bunny Man Bridge

Coronado Heights

Jersey Devil

Krampus

La Llorona