Uncanny Atlas
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Everything in the atlas

Every published entry, A to Z. Each one says what kind of claim it is.

574 entries · page 3 of 12
Disputed
James Dean and the Little Bastard Porsche
James Dean died on 30 September 1955 in a crash in his Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed the Little Bastard. Later accounts tie the car to a warning from Alec Guinness.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder
The Porsche 550 Spyder in which the actor James Dean died, and the curse story that grew around its wreck, which Dean archivist Warren Beath traces to the car customiser George Barris.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
Jangsan beom, the Jangsan tiger
An urban legend from South Korea about a white, tiger-like creature on Mt. Jangsan in Busan that copies human voices. Korean Wikipedia dates the legend to 2009, and it spread widely after a 2013 webtoon.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
Japan Air Lines Flight 1628
In November 1986, the crew of a Japan Air Lines cargo jet flying over Alaska toward Anchorage reported unidentified objects pacing their aircraft.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 4 of 7
Hoax, proven
Jenglot
The jenglot is a creature that Wikipedia calls an actively believed myth, one many people hold to be real. A 2009 study in the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences found jenglot hair unlikely to come from any animal species.
Something Left BehindObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Jiangshi, the hopping corpse
A reanimated corpse in Chinese legend and folklore, sometimes called the Chinese hopping vampire. Hong Kong films fixed its modern image: a stiff corpse in the robes of a Qing dynasty official.
Something ToldObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Jikininki, the corpse-eater
A shapeless thing comes in the night and eats a corpse and its offerings, while Musō, keeping watch beside them, can neither move nor speak.
Something ToldObscurity 2 of 7
Disputed
Jinmenken, the human-faced dog
A Japanese urban legend about a talking dog with a man's face that races cars at night. AERA dot and Japanese Wikipedia both report that the leading theory is that Popteen magazine's editors and a writer planted it.
Something ToldObscurity 6 of 7
Religious tradition
Jinn
In Islamic scripture and theology, the jinn are beings made from fire who live unseen alongside the visible world. The Qur'an names them often, and its chapter 72 carries their name.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Told
Disputed
John White's return to Roanoke
On 18 August 1590 John White came back to Roanoke Island and found the colony he had left in 1587 abandoned, with the word CROATOAN carved on a post.
Something Left BehindObscurity 5 of 7
Disputed
John Williams's dream of the Perceval shooting
Williams, a Redruth man in Cornwall, said he dreamed of a shooting in the House of Commons lobby before Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was shot there on 11 May 1812. The accounts disagree on which night he had the dream.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Kappa
A river creature of Japanese folk tales, said to seize people and animals. Old families and temples across Japan keep documents said to be written apologies from captured kappa.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Kapre
The kapre is a giant of Philippine folklore. Wikipedia says its modern image grew out of racist depictions of Negrito peoples by Christianized lowlanders in the Spanish period.
Something ToldObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Karakoncolos
The karakoncolos is a winter figure of Turkish folklore said to roam the streets in the coldest part of the season, Its name is tied to the Greek kallikantzaros, and scholars disagree over whether the word began in Turkish or Greek.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Documented
Katharina Kepler is cleared of witchcraft
Katharina Kepler was cleared of a witchcraft charge by the Duke of Württemberg on 4 October 1621, after her astronomer son Johannes helped defend her.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Disputed
Katie King's farewell sitting
On 21 May 1874 the figure called Katie King held a farewell sitting at Florence Cook's home, according to those present. The date ended a series of sittings that William Crookes held with Cook from December 1873.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 1 of 7
Claimed sighting
Kenneth Arnold's flying saucers
On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold said he saw nine shining objects race past him close to Mount Rainier, Washington. His report gave the world the phrase "flying saucer".
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 2 of 7
Disputed
Kerala's red rain
From 25 July 2001 red rain fell on parts of Kerala. Indian botanists said algae; two physicists proposed cells carried by a comet.
Something SeenObscurity 4 of 7
Religious tradition
Keramat shrines
Keramat are holy places of Malay communities where people make vows, often linked to pious figures. Singapore's Kusu Island has three, visited by Malay and Chinese pilgrims, while religious authorities in Malaysia and Brunei have acted against the practice.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Somewhere You Can Go
Religious tradition
Kitsune and Inari
Foxes in Japanese religion and folklore. Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto reveres them as the unseen messengers of Inari Okami, while folk tales tell of fox wives, and of foxes said to haunt houses or to be kept by families.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Told
Folklore
Kongamato
A creature of the Jiundu swamp in western Zambia, recorded in 1923 as a river danger that floods fords, and later described as a pterosaur-like cryptid.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Krasue
The krasue is a Thai ghost pictured as a woman's floating head with her innards hanging beneath, said to feed at night on raw or rotting food. Neighbouring countries tell of close relatives.
Something ToldObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Kuchisake-onna, the slit-mouthed woman
A rumour about a masked woman whose mouth is split to the ears. It started in Gifu Prefecture late in 1978, reached print in 1979 and frightened schoolchildren across Japan.
Something ToldObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Kuldhara
Kuldhara is a Paliwal village in Jaisalmer, long abandoned, with a reputation as a haunted place. One story says the departing villagers cursed Kuldhara to stay empty; a survey of the site suggests its water supply failed.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 2 of 7
Religious tradition
Kumari, the living goddess
The Kumari is a Newar religious institution of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley in which a girl who has not reached puberty is worshipped as the goddess Taleju Bhawani. Michael Allen dates the earliest known written references to Kumari to the late 13th century.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Told
Folklore
La Corriveau
Marie-Josephte Corriveau was hanged in 1763 for the murder of her second husband, and her body was displayed in an iron cage. Ghost stories about her followed.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
La Llorona
La Llorona is the weeping woman of Mexican and Latin American folklore, a ghost who wanders crying for the children she drowned. Writers have traced her to pre-Hispanic figures, and films and plays have retold her.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
La Pascualita
A lifelike mannequin that has stood in the window of La Popular, a bridal shop in Mexico, since 1930. A story told by Ripley's Believe It or Not! says she is the embalmed body of the 1930 owner's daughter.
Something Left BehindObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
La Sayona
La Sayona is a Venezuelan legend of a woman's spirit who appears to unfaithful men. A Caracas writer in 1882 reported that one set of appearances had been staged with stilts and a skull.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
La Siguanaba
La Siguanaba, also Sihuanaba, Ciguanaba, la Sucia or la Cegua, is a night apparition of Central American folklore: a woman who lures or frightens men.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Disputed
La Voisin and the Poison Affair
Catherine Monvoisin, called La Voisin, a sorcerer and fortune-teller, received a death sentence on 22 February 1680 during the Poison Affair after naming clients at court.
Something ToldObscurity 2 of 7
Disputed
Lake Vostok
A freshwater lake under about 4 km of ice beneath Russia's Vostok Station in central East Antarctica, first detected by airborne radio-echo survey in 1974-75 and confirmed by satellite in 1993. A 2013 report of a new bacterium in its water was later put down to contamination.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
Letta Me Out
A wooden, child-sized doll that Kerry Walton says he found under a house in Wagga Wagga, Australia, and named Letta Me Out.
Something Left BehindObscurity 3 of 7
Folklore
Leyak
A Balinese figure pictured as a flying head trailing its heart, lungs and liver, said to seek out pregnant women and newborns. Miguel Covarrubias wrote in 1937 that the Balinese blamed leyaks for most of the island's troubles, sickness and death among them.
Something ToldObscurity 6 of 7
Religious tradition
Lilith
Lilith is a female figure of Jewish texts and practice, feared as a threat to childbirth and newborns and, in a medieval telling, Adam's first wife. Childbirth amulets tied to her story are still used by women today.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Left Behind
Folklore
Lincoln's funeral ghost train
A story told along the Hudson River Railroad says a phantom copy of the train that carried Lincoln runs each year on 25 April, the date the real train passed Hyde Park in 1865.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
Lord Brougham's vision in the bath
From his bath, Henry Brougham saw his friend G--- sitting calmly on a chair. He wrote the whole thing down at once, dated 19 December.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 3 of 7
Claimed sighting
Lord Derwentwater's Lights
On the night of 6 March 1716, people across England reported battles and flames in the sky, and the display was later called Lord Derwentwater's Lights.
Something SeenObscurity 7 of 7
Religious tradition
Ma'nene, the Toraja rite for the dead
Ma'nene is a rite of the Toraja people in which the bodies of the dead are taken from the grave, washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. One Torajan quoted in the press says it also brings together relatives who live far away.
Provenance · Living tradition
Somewhere You Can Go
Religious tradition
Mae Nak Phra Khanong
Mae Nak is the ghost of a woman who died giving birth while her husband was at war, the most popular Thai ghost story according to the Bangkok Post. Her shrine on Sukhumvit Soi 77 in Bangkok draws devotees who bring offerings and requests.
Provenance · Living tradition
Somewhere You Can Go
Claimed sighting
Magnetic Hill, Ladakh
A stretch of road near Leh where vehicles seem to roll uphill. Wikipedia says the road slopes downhill and the effect is an optical illusion.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 6 of 7
Folklore
Maha Sona
In folk tradition in Sri Lanka, Maha Sona was a warrior named Ritigala Jayasena who was revived after death with a bear's head fitted backwards.
Something ToldObscurity 6 of 7
Hoax, proven
Majestic 12
Documents that surfaced in 1984 describing a secret committee called Majestic 12, said by ufologists to prove a hidden UFO group. The FBI called the document bogus.
Something Left BehindObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Major André's hanging and his ghost
The officer John André was executed as a spy by hanging at Tappan, New York, on 2 October 1780. A legend says his horse's hoofbeats are heard on the road where he was seized.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Major Weir's trial
Thomas Weir of Edinburgh confessed to incest, sorcery and other crimes and was tried on 9 April 1670. His house in the West Bow later gained a haunted reputation.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 4 of 7
Religious tradition
Mami Wata
A water spirit honoured by worshippers and priestesses in much of Africa, and carried to the Americas by enslaved Africans. Her name is pidgin English and can be read as Mother Water.
Provenance · Religious tradition
Something Told
Folklore
Man Proposes, God Disposes
An 1864 Edwin Landseer painting at Royal Holloway, University of London, which students have long believed makes them fail exams. The college covers it with a Union Flag during exams.
Something Left BehindObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Manananggal
The manananggal is a Filipino night creature said to split at the waist and fly off with its upper half, leaving the legs behind. It has relatives across Southeast Asia, most of them flying heads.
Something ToldObscurity 1 of 7
Claimed sighting
Mandy the doll
A porcelain baby doll made between 1910 and 1920, given to the Quesnel & District Museum in British Columbia in 1991, whose staff say odd things happened around it.
Something Left BehindObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Mangkukulam
The mangkukulam is the witch of Philippine folklore, a person believed to harm others with spells and potions. The name first appears in Juan de Plasencia's Customs of the Tagalogs, written in 1589.
Before you read on. People in the Philippines accused of black magic were often shunned and in many cases attacked, especially during the Spanish colonial period, according to Wikipedia. In one mid-nineteenth-century case a curate ordered the killing of 57 people he suspected of sorcery.
Something ToldObscurity 3 of 7