ORIGIN OF THE LEGEND

“Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began.” Both the Hook Man and The Boyfriend’s death possibly spawned from actual true crimes! It was not uncommon for a guy and a girl to go to Lover’s Lane to make out. But, what you maybe didn’t know was that some of these teenagers were caught off guard and murdered by an unknown killer. The residue of news stories about those events would likely remain around for a while, mutating into cautionary tales with the addition of bloody hooks and scraping sounds on the roof of the car.

THE HOOK

The Hook is an urban legend that began widely circulating in the 1950s. There are many variations, but the basic story is the same. It begins when a teenage boy takes his unsuspecting date to Lover’s Lane for a make-out session. While there, they hear a report of a murderer who has escaped from a nearby insane asylum; the newscaster says everyone should be on the lookout for this crazy man, who has a hook in place of his right hand. The girl becomes frightened- especially when the couple hears a strange scratching sound coming from outside the car- but her date insists everything is fine and tries to continue making out. The girl resists, and eventually the boy relents and drives her home. When they arrive back at the girl’s house, the girl exits the car and begins screaming hysterically. When her date exits the car as well, he sees a bloody detached hook embedded in the roof of the car- and realizes that the Hook Man would have scratched through the interior of the car had they stayed at Lover’s Lane any longer.

THE BOYFRIEND’S DEATH

The Boyfriend’s Death is another Urban Legend, often connected to that of The Hook. This was the Hook Man legend that the episode was based on. A teenage guy and his date go to Lover’s Lane and park their car under a tree. They begin to make out, until they hear a noise coming from outside the car! The boy tells the girl that he is going to go check it out and orders her to stay in the car just in case. The girl complies, while in the car the she begins to hear scraping sounds on the roof of the car! Sometimes the girl stays inside the car, while other versions of the legend say that she exits the vehicle wanting to see what was causing the noise. Upon looking back, the girl sees such a grotesque image that her hair turns white with horror! In the American version of the legend the girl witnesses her boyfriend, murdered, hanging from a limb on the tree above and his feet hitting against the car. In the European version of the same legend, the girl sees the murderer himself, holding the boyfriend's decapitated head in one hand and tapping on the roof of the car with his fist or bloody axe! The earliest documented instance of this urban legend was collected in 1964 from a freshman at the University of Kansas.

‘AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU DIDN’T TURN ON THE LIGHTS?’

This urban legend, contrary to the episode, has no connection to the hook man once so ever. The means in which it is used, however, does closely correlate to the story of the episode. The legend basically states that a female college student returns to her dorm room late one evening and discovers that her roommate has been murdered. Depending on which version of the urban legend you hear: sometimes she comes back to the dorm room to pick up a sweater, sometimes to pick up her books, or just to check up on things. While in another variation, the female college student is not the first to arrive at the dorm room and instead she returns to find the police already surveying the crime scene. In another variation of the legend the female college student comes home late, she finds all the lights are out and assumes her roommate is already asleep; the next morning, when she wakes up, the girl is horrified to discover that her roommate has been viciously slaughtered- and written above her body, in her own blood, are the words “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the lights?”

AVENGING ANGELS

An angel is an ethereal creature who assists and serves God or the gods of many religious traditions. In the Christian bible, angels are portrayed as powerful and dreadful, endowed with wisdom, correct in their judgment, holy, but not infallible. When their duties are punitive, they are known as avenging angels and are mentioned in verses such as II Sam xxiv, 15, in which an angel annihilates thousands on God’s command. These avenging angels are used by God to punish men for their sins.

THE INVISIBLE MAN

“One freaked out witness who didn’t see anything? Doesn’t mean it’s the Invisible Man.”

Click here to read the story that started it all

ROCK SALT/ ROCK SALT GUN

A rock salt gun is a nonlethal weapon. Rock salt ammunition is often used by police to control crowds or riots. Spirit hunters also use Rock Salt Guns as a defense against ghosts and other supernatural spirits. The fired salt alone will not destroy the spirit, but does act as a deterrent, forcing the spirit to dissipate briefly.

OZONE

Ghosts, spirits, and other supernatural beings often leave behind evidence of their presence. One type of evidence is ozone, which is a poisonous unstable gaseous form of oxygen, formed from diatomic oxygen by electric discharge or exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Ozone can be detected by its smell. The stronger the smell, the stronger the spirit’s presence. Ability to smell ozone differs from person to person, but most people can smell it at about .015 ppmv. Ozone is also the primary cause in the scent that precedes a rainstorm.

 

By Dean5339