Prepare to be spooked! These 23 urban legends have us looking at some of our favorite games with wide eyes.
There is something inherently fascinating and entertaining about a spooky urban legend, especially one that is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps it stems from our innate nature to find thrills in being scared, like going on that particularly intimidating roller coaster ride or sitting through a heart-pounding thriller movie. Maybe it's the forbidden or mysterious nature of these tales, beckoning a curiosity based on our desire to explore and unearth cryptic secrets they might contain. It seems like the less we know about a myth, the more drawn to it we are, especially when said myth is tinged with a degree of fear or danger.
Whatever the reason for their appealing nature, we seem to be drawn to unsettling, creepy legends and myths, and it's become increasingly apparent that video games are an excellent avenue for this. Unlike movies, games can contain a massive and complex virtual space to explore and interact with, inviting the potential for spooky encounters, easter eggs to discover, and rumors to flourish and grow. They allow for imaginative gamers to run wild with thought-provoking theories, whether by branching from a grain of truth, or through completely fictional stories. With games susceptible to things like glitches, hidden secrets, and dark themes, one could see how gamers can run with stories regarding in-game hauntings, secret sinister messages, game curses, and so on.
With this list, we will venture into the dark and vast depths of gaming mythology, and explore some of the spooky urban gaming legends that have grown and mutated over the years, taking on a life of their own. Whether loosely based off of real-life events, in-game encounters, or merely fabricated gaming folklore, these stories are sure to make for a sufficiently unsettling read. You may want to keep the lights on for this one!
23. A Possessed Copy Of The Legend OfZelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask already contains some spooky undertones and themes, but this supposedly cursed copy of the game takes things to a new level. The story goes that a game cartridge owned by a child named Ben, who perished at the hands of a lake, is still haunted by the boy.
Things get increasingly strange if a player tries deleting their file, and an ominous message "you shouldn't have done that" appears.
When playing his save file, a player who picked up this copy reported seeing eerie images of figures, dark, glitchy environments, and Link inexplicably bursting into flames before collapsing to the ground. The player reported that he's slowly losing his mind, as Ben looms over and stalks the gamer, first in-game, then in real life.
22. Pokémon Creepy Black
This tale involves a bootlegged version of Pokémon Red which comes in a solid black cartridge. In it, you fight with a ghostly Pokémon appropriately named "Ghost," who freezes its opponents in fear and uses a curse move on them.
The game would eventually fast-forward you into a much older version of yourself. Here, you found yourself alone, surrounded by nothing but the tombstones of vanquished foes of cursed trainers. The Pokémon you had cursed flash before you, and you soon run into your old Pokémon, Ghost, who would finish you and delete your file for good by using the curse on the player.
21. The Madden Curse
Take the mysterious qualities of gaming myths and combine them with the superstitions often found in sports, and you end up with this significant urban legend - which is seemingly backed up with some supporting evidence.
Much like the Sports Illustrated curse, gamers and football pundits alike began to notice players which appear on the cover of a Madden title often end up with some sort of significant injury, misfortune, or poor performance on the field. See the devastating injuries of Garrison Hearst, Rob Gronkowski, and the abnormally poor performance of Daunte Culpepper for just a few of the several examples.
