Best Urban Legends Used In Supernatural

The legend of Bloody Mary states that if you chant her name in front of a mirror, the legendary cocktail from vodka, tomato juice, and various seasoning and garnishes in a tall glass with ice will appear in your hand.

However, that’s not entirely accurate; the urban legend states that if your chant Bloody Mary’s name three times in a dark room with a mirror, the vengeful spirit of Bloody Mary would appear—which is exactly what this episode of Supernatural was exploring, with Dean and Sam going on a mirror-smashing spree to end the vengeful spirit.

Though the Supernatural episode’s title might make some think of Captain Hook, the urban legend actually revolves around an escaped hook-handed convict. The stories usually start with a couple parked in a lover’s lane when they hear a story of an escaped hook-handed convict on the radio.

Of course, the girl hears noises and asks the boy to take her home, and upon arriving at her house, they discover a metal hook attached to the car door handle or lodged somewhere in the car’s exterior.

While the legend often serves as a cautionary tale that warns young people against parking in isolated and secluded areas, the makers of Supernatural used the urban legend in the series’ seventh episode, giving the legend a more gruesome twist.

The Woman in White is a well-known urban legend that draws roots from different folklore and ghost stories found in different cultures. It gained widespread popularity thanks to the classic English ghost story called The Woman in White, written by Wilkie Collins and published in 1859.

In Supernatural, however, she appears as a vengeful spirit hounding the highways and taking out unsuspecting men who are unfaithful to their partners—often being the cause of car accidents with fatal outcomes.

Crossroad Blues is a rather popular urban legend, especially among musicians, as it tells the tale of American blues singer Robert Johnson who allegedly sold his soul for success.

The legend was extensively mentioned in cinematography and other media. This Supernatural episode has several people selling their souls to the Crossroads demon in exchange for love, fame, or talent, but their souls are claimed by yet another urban legend—the Hellhound—after a certain period of time.

This urban legend was heavily modified for the purpose of Roadkill, the sixteenth episode of the Supernatural second season. The vanishing hitchhiker is a very well-known legend of a driver picking up an apparently lost hitchhiker. The hitchhiker would give a specific address where they would like to be dropped off, and the two would engage in conversation.

In most cases, when the driver arrives at the address, they would discover that the passenger has vanished from the car. The person they gave a ride to matches the description of someone who had died in a tragic accident or under mysterious circumstances days, weeks, or even years before.

Though skinwalkers are mentioned several times throughout Supernatural, they’re officially revealed in an episode called All Dogs Go to Heaven, when the protagonists capture a dog that transforms into a human.

The Skinwalker is a fascinating and eerie urban legend originating from Native American folklore, particularly among the Navajo and other tribes of the American Southwest.

It made its way to many modern stories, in which the grand reveal occurs when the Skinwalker, in human form, clutches a wounded hand or foot that matches the injury previously inflicted on the creature in its animal form.

While Rawheads aren’t typically known as urban legends, they’re also known by another name, the one we all know and have feared as children—the Boogeyman.

Rawhead is a precursor to the Boogeyman legend, a child-stealing water demon known to occupy staircases inside homes, steal naughty children from their homes, and, as the rhyme goes, “they are never seen again.” Rawheads aren’t frequently mentioned in Supernatural, and they’re only seen once.

Wendigos are yet another urban legend stemming from the times of old. They were pulled from the Algonquian folklore and mentioned by the Native Americans as a mythical man-eating creature who plagued regions around the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Coast.

To be entirely honest, the legend most likely stemmed from bear attacks, and in the opening segments of the Supernatural episode, it was believed that bears attacked the miners and missing hikers.