URBAN LEGEND STORIES

Room 261 of the Cecil Hotel. The water. Elisa Lam. A fictional account told as first-person from a guest who checked out early and later sees the news.

We stopped at a highway rest stop at 2 AM. A man in the parking lot was very friendly, very helpful, and wrong in a way I couldn't identify until we were back on the road.

Something followed me home from the bar last night. Not a person. I saw it in the window reflection. It stayed on the other side of the street, keeping pace. It was shaped like a person but it didn't move like one.

About four years ago I was walking home from a friend's place at 2 AM. I lived in a neighborhood where this was perfectly normal. I mention this because what I encountered was not normal.

In rural communities across Central and South America, there is a figure called El Silbón — the Whistler. You can hear him coming from miles away. If the whistling sounds close, he is far. If it sounds far, he is right behind you.

Between February and April of 1996, shortly after the Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Green, reports emerged of a spike in illness among Japanese children aged 7-12. The common thread was Lavender Town.