CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio - "I’m a PhD Student Researching Urban Legends" Creepypasta

Episode Date: May 18, 2020

Devil’s Tower is a stone clock tower located in Alpine, New Jersey.¹ According to tradition, driving one’s vehicle around the tower three times summons an angry spirit who crashes the driver’s car.² While this is mere superstition, anecdotal evidence suggests that the prescribed ritual serves to perpetuate the legend. A recent fatal wreck demonstrated that circling the tower disorients drivers, placing them at elevated risk of a crash.³CREEPYPASTA STORY►by Blue_Wake: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comm... Creepypastas are the campfire tales of the internet. Horror stories spread through Reddit r/nosleep, forums and blogs, rather than word of mouth. Whether you believe these scary stories to be true or not is left to your own discretion and imagination. LISTEN TO CREEPYPASTAS ON THE GO-SPOTIFY► https://open.spotify.com/show/7l0iRPd...iTUNES► https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...FOLLOW ME ON-►Twitter: https://twitter.com/Creeps_McPasta►Instagram: https://instagram.com/creepsmcpasta/►Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/creepsmcpasta►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CreepsMcPastaCREEPYPASTA MUSIC/ SFX- ►http://bit.ly/Audionic ♪►http://bit.ly/Myuusic ♪►http://bit.ly/incompt ♪►http://bit.ly/EpidemicM ♪-This creepypasta is for entertainment purposes only-

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Goar for. Find what you need on Amazon.com. com. I'm a doctoral student in a major university in New England. To keep the experiences

I'll soon disclose separate from my public academic persona, I won't say exactly where. I study cultural anthropology anthropology, which is the study of the ideas, traditions, which shape human societies. The specific focus of my research is contemporary folklore, commonly known as urban legends.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the stories that my schoolmates relayed in whispers on the playground or at sleepovers, flashlights held low to illuminate their faces. These stories captivated me with their appeals to the supernatural, mystery, promising knowledge of forbidden secrets lurking under society's facades. Unlike some classic folk tales, which are obviously fiction, urban legends are presented as truth. If you've ever heard an urban legend, you know the deal. This story really happened to so-and-so's friend's cousin's girlfriend.

That beguiling promise of truth, that if I look closely in the story. enough, I'd find some of these tall after all, maybe why I took an academic interest in urban and, if they are only stories, what is it that entrenches them in our collective consciousnesses, kept alive from one generation to the next by word and mouth alone? That's the question I seek to answer in my upcoming dissertation. My research process consists of both review and academic literature and actual fieldwork. In the field, I conduct archival research, and surveys of locations relevant to various urban legends.

This research often explains the phenomena associated with certain stories. Take, for instance, Gravity Hills. Many American towns contain roads where local legend says that if you put your car in neutral, the spirit of children killed in hit and run accidents will push your car uphill to prevent you from suffering a similar fate. However, research of public records usually proves that no children were fatally struck by automobiles in those locations. Review of scientific literature explains these roads as optical illusions, where an absurd horizon makes a downhill slope look like an uphill slope.

Location surveys also come in handy. One example is my survey of New Jersey's Heartbeat Road. Folks in the town of Montville say that back in the day, an axe-wielding maniac attacked a teenage couple and killed the girl. for years afterwards was parked in the road listen quietly to the sound

of the girl's ghostly heartbeat. Inspecting the site myself I found a defunct water pump house off the road. Back when the pump house was in operation it would have emitted a noise that sounded like a loud heartbeat. A simple explanation.

But some urban legends defy explanation. In rare instances, investigation only strengthens their claims. That brings me to one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had in the field. My visit to Devil's Tower. I'd been on an extended research trip visiting sites connected to several legends, including Heartbeat Road. After wrapping up in Montville, I began to drive back north to New England. After a few stops planned along the way

The next was the Devil's Tower Less than an hour northeast Devil's Tower is an old stone structure That looms above Rio Vista An extravagantly wealthy neighbourhood In Alpine, New Jersey Before Rio Vista was a residential neighbourhood It was part of an estate

constructed by Sugar Baron Manuel Rionda The Rionder estate was sprawling over 200 acres and beautiful, on the cliffs, overlooking the Hudson River. According to local legend, Rihonda built the tower in the early 20th century

to give his wife, Harriet, a view of New York City's vast skyline. But the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan weren't the only thing she could see. One night, Harriet was looking out from the tower when she noticed her husband with another woman. Filled with despair,

Harriet leapt the house. to a death from the tower. Some time later, of supernatural occurrences despite the re-upispution of the Rihunda estate and later development of Rio Vista, the stories persist to this day.

The most significant rumor concerns what happens new driving circles around the Devil's Tower, which serves as a roundabout at the end of a long road. There are a few versions of the story, but most agree, that if you drive around devil's tower three times at night,

Harriet Ronda's ghost will appear and cause your car to crash. Opinions are split and whether one must drive forwards or backwards to properly complete the ritual. Many legends I research involve small rituals like this one. Performing these rituals provides valuable insight, but my supervising professor doesn't always condone it. Sometimes they require trespassing, or other not-so-legal activity. They also aren't always safe. Putting your car

to see if it rolls up hill isn't the smartest I almost always perform the rituals anyway. The night I travelled the devil's tower, my goal was simple. Test both versions of the ritual by driving around the tower three times backwards and three forwards. As I turned onto Rio Vista's long entry road, I was awestruck. Opulent chateau- lined the road

set back behind massive lawns and thickets of manicured the homes were protected by the type of walls you'd expect to find securing a medieval fortress but these magnificent homes were side shows to the true spectacle the imposing Gothic tower at the end of the road I drove closer marvelling at its grandeur

made of large grey stones it must have been a hundred feet tall. I parked at the end of the roundabout and stepped out to take a closer look. A series of glassless windows stretched up the tower, culminating in a row of three near the top. Long ago they'd been filled with real stained glass. Now there was only an empty frame exposing the tower's dark interior, where legend said Harriet Ronda could still be seen. At the tower's base was a giant archway, through which I could see the other side of the roundabout. The archway was gated, a sign warning against vandalism hanging on its iron bars. I had read that the tower had been sealed off long ago to discourage mischievous teenagers, and there was no longer access to its peak. If I saw something up there, it wouldn't be a living human being. I chose the circle the tower backwards first, and a hunch that it was the real version of the ritual.

Driving forwards was too simple. For a supposed To survive as an urban legend It has to be a hassle If it's too easy Everyone will do it And the legend will lose its mystique And be forgotten

I was starting the car back up When I noticed another vehicle in my rearview It had turned off a side street That snaked off the long road leading to the tower The car was a few hundred feet behind me Advancing slowly Expecting it to turn into one of the drive-waters

along the road before I didn't hesitate. I pulled into the roundabout, with the archway at the base of the tower. I planned to use the archway as a marker. After passing it three times, I would know I completed three full circles. As I put my car in reverse, I realized that the vehicle behind me hadn't stopped. It was so close now that I could see exactly what it was. A white hatchback, emblazoned on its side. I should have expected such a luxurious neighbourhood to have private security, but I'd come too far to turn back now.

I began driving in reverse, the security guard who was no doubt tasked with the deterring pests who came to see the tower, pulled into the roundabout to follow me. I was not dissuaded. Earlier in the day I'd practiced driving loops in reverse in an empty parking lot. I was confident I could do it safely. A portly man, maule-the-cups' trailed me as I drove in reverse. We were face-to-face, gliding in unison like synchronized skaters.

It must have looked like something out of one of those fast and furious movies. The archway appeared beside me, one circle. The security guard laid on his horn, trying fruitlessly to get me to stop. I kept going and saw the archway again. and saw the archway again. As I crossed the halfway point, the security guard flicked on the red and blue lights atop his vehicle.

I ignored it for just a few more seconds as we passed the archway once more. Three circles. The security vehicle was facing me, almost bumper to bumper, blocking my path forward. I couldn't put the car in drive and do the ritual in the other direction as I planned. I decided to pull over and talk to the security guard, explained to him,

I wasn't just some punk making trouble, but a scientific researcher, and maybe he wouldn't report me to the police. Maybe he'd even let me drive back around the tower and leave. I pulled out of the middle of the roundabout back into the long roadway. I started to pull over, watching the security vehicle drive towards me, and then it happened. The moment that still torments me in my nightmares. The security vehicle swerved wildly, accelerating until it escaped my rearview mirrors filled

of view. Out of sight, I heard the sickening sound of metal crunching. I ran out of my car towards the security vehicle. Edd crashed head first into one of the pine trees lining the road. The front of the car was totaled. The hood mangled like crumbled tinfoil. When I reached the driver's side window, the security guard was slumped over the steering wheel. leather soaked in wet blood. Something dawned on me. When the security guard chased me as I circled

the tower backwards, he'd completed three circles forwards, standing in the centre window at the top of Devil's Tower, shrouded in the darkness of the decrepit chamber which had long been sealed shut. It was a woman in an early 20th century dress. Harry was a woman in an early 20th century dress. Harriet Runder at the mayhem below and smiled I'd been wrong which variance of the ritual was correct

driving around the tower backwards was a perversion of the real ritual driving forwards this ritual stuck around for decades despite its simplicity because it actually worked I called 911

and explained the events leading up to the crash truthfully to the responding officers They conferred before one He was dead on impact. He was dead on impact. It looks like, after you led him driving around in circles, he became dizzy, vertigo, that's what it's called. He lost control of the car.

We're not going to charge you with anything. Just get on out of here. I was shocked. If the police thought I'd caused the accident driving in an admittedly reckless manner, why wasn't I given so much as a ticket, much less arrested. Get out of here, the officer repeated, for your own good, I understood that he knew the truth. I was responsible for the accident, just not in the way he'd said.

Who knows how many times this small town cop had had the misfortune of responding to an accident at the tower. I got in my car and drove away, out of the shadow that a vulnerable tower. over Rio Vista. I will regret that I will regret that disastrous a devil's tower until the end of my days. I never anticipated that I would unleash the deadly wrath of an angry spirit and another human being.

But that is exactly what happened, and it will always haunt me. After that night, I cancelled the remaining stops on my trip and returned to New England. I took a break from fieldwork and worked on my dissertation, but I struggled how to write about the tower. Eventually, I settled on addressing its dangers in a scientific manner acceptable to academics on the dissertation committee. I choose to reveal Devil's Tower's true nature, only to a more open-minded audience. You.