Urban Myths Collection, Mihaela Bogdan [learn to read books .TXT] 📗

the chef made himself disappeared and he’s still seeking by the local authority. And the costumers who ate the famous liver and onions at that restaurant, well, some became vegetarians, some become very ill and refused to eat again and unfortunately a big number of them committed suicide.
  Until today, that town banned any type of meat to be sold in its area. No one wanted to eat it again after hearing or witnessing the horrible and disgusting truth behind the former famous dish served at the unknown restaurant.
  I said this once and I will repeat it: this story may or may not be true. I don’t know for sure if these events even happened and this is the attraction of an urban myth, right?! To let his audience decide what is real and what is not.
  And furthermore, I would like to apologize if this myth that I wrote have caused some ... trouble or feelings of ill to those who are more sensitive. But I warned you from the beginning that you may feel sick or even give up eating meat. And the title should tell you what to expect, right?!
  Therefore, please don’t accuse me if you will have some unpleasant condition. VIII. Complaints Street

Thanks to my best friend Georgiana a.k.a. nikyangelg, I have a new myth for you guys and girls: the Complaints Street.

Now you are probably wondering what is so special about this street. Well, this street is ten meters far from the local cemetery. It is said that it’s a border which keeps all the spirits inside the cemetery during the full moon nights at midnight. If somehow, someone is out during that time of night, and to his/her bad luck he/she crosses this border, all the spirits will possess the body until sunrise. The spirits are not bad, maybe they just want to see how things are outside the cemetery.

We may never know for sure. Or maybe let’s ask this drunk guy that you’re about to read.

It was midnight. The dark clouds were unveiling the bright full moon, illuminating the Complaints Street.  It was quiet and peaceful since no one dared to go outside because of the rumors mentioned earlier. No one in their right mind that is. 

But suddenly a male voice began to fake sing out of nowhere, breaking the silence of the night. By the sound of it the man was well drunk. He was medium sized, dressed in a pair of old jeans, a dirty T-shirt and some shabby sneakers with the laces untied. Once or twice he stepped on the laces and he was about to fall on the ground, but luckily, he managed to gain his balance very quick.

“Oh, my love I’m coming hoooome ... *hick* ... my love I’m coming hooooome .... *hick*. Now, wher’ am I now?” He asked himself out loud, trying to look around for a clue to tell him at least the name of the street.

Right in font of him was a pole and he came closer to it to read the blurry letters.

“Complaints Street. Good. I’m almoust home.” He managed to make one step before a fog blocked his view completely. After the fog disappeared, the drunk man was gone as well.

The next morning, his wife and some police men tried to find the drunk men by remaking his footsteps. His wife knew his route from the local bar to their home and she remembered with fear the name of the last street which ended the route.

The police men were very serious about the search mission and advice the wife to abandon the mythical theory about the Complaints Street. “Madam, if we’ll follow this superstition, your husband will never be found. We suggest that you should return home and leave the searching operation to the experts.”

Good luck, officer. You’re going to need it, because the people that were possessed by the spirits so far vanished for ever. I know this since, well ... no one returned alive to tell the truth!

IX. The Witches Puddle

"The Witches Puddle” is a cursed patch of water near Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

There is a legend which says that the puddle is haunted by unholy forces from other realms. At only half an hour distance from Bucharest, it is a mysterious zone being known after the people began to embroider around it all sorts of stories.

But the truth tells us the story that transformed “The Witches Puddle” into a legend well known by those whom live near the capital.

The story begins in the village Boldești, in Boldu-Crețeasca Forest:

“Near Bucharest, at only half an hour distance from Cernica Forest, there exists a cursed puddle, recognized and feared inclusively in the present by the locals. Hidden in the middle of Boldu-Crețeasca Forest, at first sight, the puddle seems to appear as a trivial patch with more than modest dimentions, with a diameter of only five meters. Despite its usual appearance, it is said that this patch of water is surrounded by forces from other realms and it is a place of inexplicable manifestations.” Says an article titled Horror Stories on a Facebook page.

The rumors say that the puddle became known among the witches as well, whom, around some important holydays gather around its surface. It seems that any type of spell, curse or untying chant caste on the shore of this puddle will come true without fail.

Some locals, it shows on the Facebook pages, have been witnessing around this puddle many strange occurrences, such as lightning or storms appearing out of a sudden. Therewith, it is said that many animals refuse to drink the water from here, preferring to die of thirst instead than to touch the surface with their tongues.

Besides all these stories arisen from “The Witches Puddle”, one is truly fascinating. It mentions a theory that the puddle may be abysmal. Of course, the specialists deny this theory and say that all these are just made up stories contrived by people over time.

 

 

The Witches Puddle existed for over 400 years at the intersection where today is the beginning of Republics Street.

In its first years of existence, women whom were suspected of being witches, were thrown into the water with heavy weights tied around their legs and if they succeeded in reaching the surface, they were condemned as Satan’s servants and burnt alive on wooden stakes.

In the Medieval Era, any woman which claimed that she was a healer and prepares cures for several diseases using herbals was labeled as a witch. Also, the most seductive natural beauties that weren’t house wife material and stole the hearts of countless men were labeled as witches as well, especially by the jealous ordinary house wives.

During those times people thought that those kind of women can subjugate men with only a glance because they were worshiping the devil. The fear of witchcraft was so big that the puddle from the center of Brașov became the cemetery for the women that refused to live by the rules of the medieval society.

“In those days, anything out of the ‘patterns’ was considered witchcraft. Fear was very big and wide spread and people believed they were doing society and its families a huge favor if they got rid of any so called witches. The Witches Puddle from Brașov is mentioned in many documents, but nobody knows exactly how many claimed witches ended up in that puddle. The legend says that they were up to 100 accused women. Witch hunting was an ordinary practice in the Medieval Era, but also little later after.” Said Ioan Paloian, an historian.

He also added that: “Murdering witches was a true ritual, a very macabre show to which the entire community was participating. All the executions were public at that time. Those whom were keeping them were inducing fear among the watchers, as well as discouraging women to stray from the ‘pattern’ of society.”

The witch trial was a boundless cruelty. The accused women were brought in front of a crowd, gathered around the puddle, with heavy metal chains around their necks, wrists and ankles. There, heavy boulders were tied with the metal chains and then they were thrown into the muddy water. Those who didn’t drawn, were condemned as real witches, servants of the devil, with evil supernatural powers unknown by the common mortals. If they somehow managed to reach the surface and survive the trial, they were brought quickly on the shore and immediately burnt on the stake.

However, there is no document nor any historical mention that any of the accused have survived this trial.

The legend also states that the unmarried girls weren’t allowed to see witches floating on the puddle because bad luck will keep them company all year long. The same legend also mentions that if an unmarried girl would watch a witch burning she would become ugly and sinful. To keep the curious young girls far from this puddle during the trials, several guards were hired to patrol around it day and night.

A triptych which banishes the spirits from the Witches Puddle was drained at the beginning of the 19th century and today it is crossed by the Heroes Boulevard. At the place mentioned in the legend it is now a triptych dedicated to the heroes of the Revolution in 1989.

The most superstitious ones say that actually the triptych’s cross protects the area from the evil spirits of the dead witches, whom on the night of Saint Andrew they return to the place where they were tortured and killed.

 

X. The haunted tunnel from Teliu

 The biggest tunnel in Romania is originated in a small village called Teliu (near Brașov city). It’s construction started around the year of 1920 and it lasted seven years. At that time it