Urban legends: They can be scary. They can be creepy. They can give you the willies. Every state has tales that span generations about ghostly encounters, unsolved mysteries and murders that are so realistic, you don't want to be alone at night.

What are some of the creepiest urban legends across the country? We examine the legends from each state that will give you goosebumps.

In Huntsville, Alabama's Maple Hill Cemetery is a playground (why there is a playground in a cemetery is beyond us) that will give visitors the heebie-jeebies. Here, swings swing on their own, and people have photographed and reported orbs and ghostly figures.

The cemetery was founded in 1822, and legend has it the spirits of the children entombed here come out to play. One YouTube video shows a young girl swinging alongside empty swings that are also swinging. It's completely bone-chilling, even if they rigged the swings.

Although the Bermuda Triangle gets more fame, Alaska has its own triangle. This vortex is filled with magnetic energy, and objects (including airplanes) and people are known to vanish without a trace.

In 1972, a plane carrying then U.S. House Majority Leader Hale Boggs' went missing. Despite a month-long search involving 90 planes combing 32,000 square miles, not a single remnant was found. Ever since, more than 16,000 people have entered the vortex and never returned. 

The Alaska Triangle can be found between Anchorage, Juneau and Barrow, but perhaps there are prettier areas of Alaska you'd like to enjoy instead?

Who wouldn't be terrified of encountering a creature believed to be a human that can transform into a dog-like animal and move on all fours?

The legend of Skinwalkers comes from the Navajo people of Arizona. It is said these shapeshifters are medicine men who have been lured to the dark side and can travel as much as 200 miles a night, terrorizing anyone they encounter.

The Navajo say that just talking about a skinwalker can bring its evil to your door, and skinwalkers have even been used as a defense in murder trials. 

This highway between Conway and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, has many tales of hitchhiker hauntings.

Most of the legends tell the tale of a teenage girl caught in the rain, cold and wet. It is said a man stopped to give her a ride, getting out of his car to put his coat around her. When he got her home, he went to open her car door, but she was gone. He went to the door, and a woman answered. When he explained what happened, she said her daughter had died in an accident years ago but hitchhikes home once a year.

Whether the story involves a man, a woman or a child, all have the same result: A passenger gone and a story of a ghost returning home annually. Although why does the ghost need a ride home if its a ghost? Isn't getting to travel wherever you want one of the perks?

Seven-foot-tall phantoms wearing capes and wide-brimmed hats while carrying walking sticks have been found in Central California's Santa Lucia Mountains.

Writers, including acclaimed John Steinbeck and poet Robinson Jeffers, have even referred to the Dark Watchers, or Los Vigilantes Oscuros, who also appear in indigenous cave paintings.

It is said the figures watch from the mountains, but if you attempt to get close, they will vanish into thin air. We're 100 percent fine with them disappearing if we were to spot one!

Another stretch of road with its fair share of ghost stories is Thornton, Colorado's Riverdale Road, believed to have Gates to Hell.

Along this road was the mansion of David Wolpert. Behind his iron gates, he went mad and murdered his family by burning the house to the ground. All that remains are the gates.

But the road has more tales, like the ghost of a lady searching for her children, the ghost of a jogger that may chase you or hit your car, ghosts of slaves hanging from trees, a fast-moving Camaro ghost car with one headlight that may challenge you to a race, hitchhiker ghosts in need of a ride and blood-red handprints on street signs. Yikes!

Connecticut's lost village, Dudleytown, is said to have been cursed so that anyone who tries to inhabit the former town will meet a gruesome demise.

Found in northwestern Connecticut near Cornwall, the former village was named for Gideon Dudley in 1747. He and his two brothers settled the area and are said to have brought a family curse that dates back to 1510 England when Edmund Dudley was involved in a plot to kill King Henry VIII. He was beheaded, and a curse followed.

Although the Dudleys cannot be traced back to Edmund Dudley, strange deaths and people going mad seemed common in the small village that eventually died out after the Civil War when the legend spread.

On Christmas Day in 1655, the Devonshireman spotted the light from a lighthouse that lured it to the shore of Cape Henlopen. But there wasn't a lighthouse or any reason for the light that drew the ship, which landed on rocks and sunk, killing more than 200 people.

A lighthouse was eventually added in 1769, where it later fell by erosion in 1926.

Some claim to spot the original phantom light in the night, and legend has it that it shines for the sunken ghost ship in a painful reenactment.

We all know how gravity works: Objects are pulled down not up. But in Lake Wales, just north of Orlando, is a road that can pull your car up a hill. 

This "magnetic hill" is tested by drivers who will go to the hill, put their car in neutral and watch as their car moves up the hill instead of rolling down.

Now on the National Register of Historic Places, Spook Hill is found on North Wales Drive, and the town has embraced its anomaly, welcoming you to test it for yourself.

Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery receives thousands of visitors, many of whom have heard the tales of its numerous hauntings. One statue that lures paranormal investigators is that of "Little Gracie."

Born in 1883, Gracie Watson died when she was only 6 years old. Her heartbroken parents returned to New England, leaving the child alone in her afterlife but not before having a sculpture of their beloved daughter made for her grave. Some report seeing the ghostly girl playing in nearby Johnson Square. Others, however, say if you remove any of the tokens left at her statue, her statue cries tears of blood.

Taking flowers from a grave shouldn't require tears of blood to make it a no-no.

Those who grew up watching reruns of "The Brady Bunch" may recall the Curse of Pele. Anyone who takes rocks or sand from the Hawaiian islands is rumored to be cursed by the volcano goddess until returned. (To her, the rocks are her children.)

To the Bradys, it was a cursed idol, but islanders and visitors who have broken the rules swear by this curse. Park rangers say they've received stones returned by mail with letters from those who departed the islands with a piece of Pele, detailing all the things that went wrong since taking the rocks. The parks receive an average of 100 returned lava rocks monthly. In 2017 alone, 1,275 lava rocks were returned to Haleakala National Park.

Besides angering a goddess, it is actually illegal to take rocks from the national parks.

Like Scotland's infamous Loch Ness Monster, Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho, has its own mysterious creature sightings.

This serpent-like creature has been reported to be between 10- and 50-feet long. The locals call her Sharlie, and she was first spotted in 1920. It's been 18 years since Sharlie was last seen, and some say the ancient sea monster has died.

But that doesn't stop the stores in the area from selling Sharlie stuffed animals and merchandise.

In a cemetery found in Hillside, Illinois, outside of Chicago, is the grave not only of Al Capone but also of Julia Buccola Petta, who was born in Italy.

At age 29, Julia died during childbirth, making her a martyr, and she was buried in her white wedding dress. Her mother, however, was distraught over losing her daughter and began to have nightmares that her daughter had been buried alive.

Six years after her death, Julia's grave was exhumed, and upon the opening of her casket, it was discovered Julia's body had not decayed. She looked as she had in life, with skin just as soft. The coffin, however, had been rotting.

Her mother took a photo of Julia in her casket and raised funds for a more elaborate tomb depicting a life-size statue of the bride and showcasing a photo taken of Julia in her coffin, six years after she had passed, as well as her wedding photo that matched the statue.

It was a tragic day for the school children riding on a bus in Jasper, Indiana, when their suicidal bus driver stopped the bus on the train tracks. The children watched in horror when a train came directly at them.

Or, at least, that is the story told around campfires. Legend has it if you drive to tracks on Devil's Road and stop on the tracks, the spirit of the lost children will push your car off the tracks to save you (no train needed). Further "evidence" can be found if you dust the hood of your car in baby powder, where the handprints of the kids will appear.

There is actually no proof of such a train accident, but that doesn't stop those seeking a paranormal experience.

In 1912, eight people were murdered in the small town of Villisca, Iowa. J.B. Moore, his wife and six children were killed with an ax in their sleep — a crime that has never been solved.

The murders sent a shock throughout the town, as residents began sealing up their homes and distrusting one another, trying to determine who could be capable of such an act. The crime scene revealed slabs of bacon left in odd places and doors that had all been locked from the inside, only adding to the mystery.

Today, the house has been converted to look as it did in 1912 and is open for tours and overnights, with past guests reporting strange occurrences. 

This isn't an ordinary haunted cemetery, according to urban legend. This is one of the seven Gates to Hell. Located outside Lawrence, Kansas, the cemetery used to be home to the remains of a burned-down church and is said to be home to the devil himself, who plays pranks every Halloween night.

It is said noises have been caught on tape, a ghostly child wanders the nearby woods and additional otherworldly phenomena occur drawing hundreds on All Hallow's Eve to experience it themselves.

The cemetery has been fenced off and receives daily patrol by the police for this very reason.

Perhaps naming a road Sleepy Hollow outside of Louisville, Kentucky, was a mistake. Many strange things have been reported to take place when you drive down this tree-lined, two-lane road at night.

One of the creepiest may be the black hearse spotted driving behind you, headlights on high beams as it speeds up and gets closer and closer, causing you to speed up until it pulls up beside you and forces you off the road.

At a portion of the road with a bridge, it is said you can hear the cries of a baby, as was the bridge where a mother tossed over her child she couldn't care for.

So frightening is the legend of the one-room cabin in northern Louisiana that a movie was made about it. Inside, the room is made entirely of mirrors facing inward, including the floor and ceiling.

It is said that, if you can find this cabin, enter it and stand too long within its walls, you will either go crazy or the devil will come and take your soul.

It believed the cabin was built as part of a Halloween attraction for Farmer Grave's Haunted Orchard. But, alas, the attraction had to be shut down a week after opening because people who entered the Devil's Toy Box could not stand to be inside for more than 5 minutes, and many had to be hospitalized.

Between Brunswick and Augusta is the small town of Sabattus, where it is said that a group of teens stumbled upon an old well. The friends dared one to be lowered into the well, but when he was pulled back up, his hair had turned white, and he had gone mad.

The legend says he lives in a Maine mental institution and yells out the windows. No one knows what happened to him deep within the well.

As mythical as Bigfoot, Prince George County, Maryland, has its Goatman to fear lurking in the woods.

First reported in 1971, this man-beast is said to follow along Fletchertown Road near Bowie. Those who have seen him — including a family who says their beloved pooch was beheaded by Goatman — say it walks on two feet and stands 6 feet in height. 

This picture made the rounds in recent years after it was shared on social media. Imagine coming across this in the night?

Salem, Massachusetts, is filled with tales of witches, although they'll tell you they are not evil. Someone who was evil, however, was Sheriff George Corwin who served during the Salem witch trials.

Corwin was known to torture accused witches and has been held responsible for signing warrants for the arrests and execution of innocent people.

It is said when near his home people feel the heavy weight of hands seemingly choking them.

Near the Upper Peninsula town of Sleepy Hollow (what is it with this name?) is another ghostly light.

Follow Old US-45 to its end at a forest, and you'll see a clearing in the woods for the stretch of power lines running through it. There is nothing out this way, yet a mysterious light can be seen.

People have reported this phenomenon since 1966, but no one knows what causes it. Some believe it is the ghost of a railroad brakeman who continues to haunt his old post.

Much of Minnesota's folklore revolves around its Native American culture. On Grey Cloud Island rests the biggest collection of Native American burial mounds in the country.

The island is named for the Crow Creek Nation Grey Cloud, who is said to roam the island along with phantom coyotes. When trespassers appear on the sacred grounds, a driverless white pickup truck is said to chase them off the land.

Maybe it's best to just leave the dead alone.

Like the singing beach, Mississippi's Pascagoula River has a tragic story that earned it the nickname the "Singing River." Residents have heard strange humming coming from the river.

This hum is said to be the ghosts of the Pascagoula people who drowned themselves in the river instead of being taken as slaves by the Biloxi tribe. It is said the Pascagoula sang their death song as they joined hands and drowned together.

What's creepier is this image was used as a stamp to commemorate the horrible mass suicide.

Actually named Carrico Road, the people of St. Louis bestowed the nickname to this scary road because not only is it dark and heavily tree-lined, but there are also said to be "Bubbleheads" that will chase you should you get too close.

No one is quite sure how the Bubbleheads got such large, deformed heads, but trespassers who dare trespass say they encounter beings that chase them at night. "No Trespassing" signs are all about to lend a little more truth to the fact that you are simply not wanted anywhere in this area of northern St. Louis.

Hunters and hikers in the canyon outside Bozeman, Montana, have reported seeing a girl roaming in the woods. Women need to be especially wary as she is said to lure females into the woods — perhaps she seeks a mother?

But she is not the only spirit spotted here. During snowstorms, people have spotted a fur trapper or a cowboy struggling. Since this only happens during storms, people think it is the ghost of someone who froze to death in the canyon.

It may look like an unassuming old schoolhouse in Papillion, Nebraska, save for the chilling tale of the killer teacher.

Legend has it that a teacher at the Portal School in the early 1900s went mad. One by one she killed each of her 30 students (some say she decapitated them) and then proceeded to carve out their hearts.

Nearby, the teacher tossed their hearts at what is now dubbed Heartbeat Bridge because some say they hear the hearts beating. And for those who get near the old schoolhouse? The feeling of evil surrounds them.

Don't go swimming in Pyramid Lake near Elko, Nevada, any time soon. The lake has two frightening legends that will make you want to stay far away from its shores.

The first involves deformed babies. Rumor has it the Paiute tribe knew babies with deformities would weigh heavy on its survival and tossed their unwanted babies into the lake. Not only are the remains of babies in the lake, but there are also angry spirits known to pull people right off their boats to drown them in revenge.

If that wasn't bad enough, there is also a mermaid who drowns swimmers in the lake. It is said she, a member of the Paiute tribe as well, was banished. She, too, gets her revenge by taking people down into the depths of the lake.

Either way, drowning seems to be the common thread and you should stay away.

So far into the north of New Hampshire that the woods cross into Canada, you may get the sense you are being watched. 

It's not Bigfoot. It's a Wood Devil. More than 7-feet tall and extremely slim, these fast-moving entities are said to hide behind trees.

First spotted around the early 1900s, the last spotting was in 2004 when two men hunting encountered one that must have been frightened because it gave off a high-pitched yell.

Another stretch of road to avoid can be found near West Milford. The 10-mile Clinton Road stretch has been the source of many a fright for more than 100 years.

Considered the most haunted of America's haunted roads, ghosts, devil worshippers, the Ku Klux Klan and even mobsters disposing of dead bodies have been spotted here in the dead of night.

One of the biggest legends is the boy ghost who haunts the bridge near Dead Man's Curve. It is said the boy drowned below, and you can summon him by dropping a coin in the water — he will return your coin to the bridge or the road by morning. He will also give you a shove if you get too close to the edge of the bridge — but don't worry, he just wants to make sure you stay safe.

For decades, people have believed UFOs crashed in the desert around New Mexico and that the U.S. government has a top-secret base where they keep the remains of alien beings and their flying saucers in what is known as Area 51.

Naysayers argue that this began with a high-altitude balloon crash in 1947 in which a photo of the crash looks like a spaceship. But conspiracy theorists say there are other incidents and believe the government is hiding something from us all.

The truth is out there.

In 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot his parents, two brothers and two sisters as they slept in their home in Amityville, New York, on Long Island.

The gruesome tale wound up inspiring a book and countless movies about the house that held spirits so evil they corrupted Ronald and caused him to slay his family.

This followed only after George and Kathy Lutz moved into the house in 1976. Within a month they left the house, telling reporters they felt a "very strong force" that told them to leave.

Today, the house is considered one of the most haunted homes in the nation and the movies continue to inspire thoughts that it is a gateway to hell.

In 1921, the Carroll A. Deering was found aground on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina. Many ships have crashed into the rocks of Diamond Shoals and have sunken off the coast of the Outer Banks. But the Carroll A. Deering was unique: It had no crew.

The ship with a crew of 11 was seen off the coast on Jan. 29 reporting to another ship that it had lost its anchors. The ship was spotted on the rocks two days later without its lifeboats. When boarded, it was discovered the crew, all their personal items, navigational equipment and the anchors were gone. Some say dinner was even prepared and left cooking.

The FBI investigated the ship, and there has never been a trace of the crew or any of the missing items found to this day. Theories include pirates and the nearby Bermuda Triangle as reasons for the disappearances.

Anyone who's anyone knows General Custer haunts the land, but only those in North Dakota know about the legendary Miniwashitu.

This river monster of the Missouri River is covered in bison-like fur of red and travels upstream, breaking the ice of the river.

While this story seems harmless, it is told a person who comes across the Miniwashitu will go insane and die. 

In Kirtland, Ohio, "Dr. Crow" performed scientific experiments on children who lived in an orphanage. No evidence of this doctor exists, but the story continues to spread.

In the tall tale, the children lost their hair and began to mutate. Dr. Crow also injected fluid into their brains, causing their heads to become larger than normal. The children finally had enough and in an uprising murdered Dr. Crow and burned down the orphanage. Now, the woods of Ohio are filled with these mutated children who live in the wild and have become cannibals.

(A similar story of melon heads can be heard in Michigan.)

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, another house has made a few too many people experience some shudder-worthy moments. The home of Carol Ann Smith was discovered to be the home of religious slaves, found by police living in cages in the dark basement in hypnotic states in 1944.

Turns out Smith earned a living cashing in on the life insurance policies of those she kept locked up as well as others not found. She was never charged with murder but fled the state.

The home was eventually torn down, but they say the basement is intact beneath a parking lot. Smith's house inspired the Hex House, a haunted attraction open during the Halloween season.

Captain George Flavel and his family resided in an elegant mansion in Astoria, Oregon. Perhaps they loved their 1886 home so much they decided never to leave it, even in death.

Now a museum, staff of the museum have heard ghostly conversations and music being played and have even seen the ghosts of a man and a woman.

But that's not all. The Captain's grandson, Harry Flavel, went on to have a number of spooky events of his own, including cornering his mother, ax in his hand. (They called him Hatchet Harry after that.) He was eventually charged with attempted murder and found guilty of assault in 1985.

Mining in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania is not unusual. An ever-burning mining town, however, is. Enter Centralia.

This coal mining town was once a thriving community of 1,500 residents when a fire in the coal mines in 1962 set off an unstoppable fire beneath the ground. No one knows how the fire started, but the eventual sinkhole and toxic gases caused by what was taking place underground forced the residents to flee. Just five residents remained in 2017.

The underground fire continues to burn, and the area has become a popular oddity destination, with graffiti artists leaving their mark on the ghost town roads, a.k.a. Graffiti Highway.

"The Conjuring" is another frightening movie based on true events. In the suburbs of Providence is a farmhouse known as the Old Arnold Estate.

When the Perron family moved into the home in the 1970s with their five daughters, angry spirits made themselves known right away, including the former mistress of the home, Bathsheba, who had lived in the home in the 1800s. She's buried close to the house and was considered a witch in her time, accused of performing Satanic rituals that included sacrificing a child.

Ed and Lorraine Warren, characters in the movie and true-life investigators, were called in and, well, watch the movie and decide if the home's new owners are a bit nuts. (They, too, claim to hear bumps in the night.)

The name alone should be enough to make you want to avoid this mythical spirit said to live in South Carolina's Lowcountry. 

The Gullah Blacks, similar to Creoles, of this area believed skinless beings will enter a house as you sleep, climb on your chest, suck out your breath, and then skin you and wear it like a coat to stay warm.

Who exactly are Boo Hags? Those who were evil and not granted entry into Heaven after death. You'll spot blue handprints with an eye in the center on houses across the Lowcountry to ward off these demonic beings.

The Sioux of South Dakota gave Sica Hollow its name, which means "evil," to ward others away. 

That's because this is where water runs red (believed to be the spirits of Sioux ancestors), trees are said to glow and swamps, bubble.

It's now a state park (the government didn't heed the warning), and visitors have reported seeing Native American spirits and hearing chanting and the beating of drums.

Near the Tennessee-Georgia border, one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles took place near Snodgrass Hill. Known as the Battle of Chickamauga, the blood spilled here is said to have lured a green-eyed beast.

Then again, other versions of the story have it that the beast was here well before the battle. Still, another story claims a green-eye soldier died here. No matter who it is, sightings of glowing green eyes by both visitors and park rangers at Chickamauga National Park have "confirmed" there is something here.

Frightened by the glowing green, drivers have even crashed cars here, proving this being isn't one to mess with.

Found not only in Texas but also Mexico, Puerto Rico and South America, El Chupacabra has been deemed the "Bigfoot of Latino culture" by CNN.

The hairless, dog-like beast attacks farm animals and drains their blood.

There have been various sitings, photos and even remains of unidentified animals, but no one has yet been able to identify what they are.

A pump house once used to irrigate farms has been said to have lights coming from the house at night — yet it is abandoned and doesn't have electricity.

The rumor is two men working alone one night were killed in the machinery — and they may be the voices heard coming from the pump house when further inspection proves it is empty.

This statue in Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier is creepy enough without hearing the stories. It is that of Thanatos (or "Death" in Greek mythology).

Presiding over the tomb of Montpelier businessman John Hubbard, who died in 1899, his wealth was showcased with a grand monument. Over time, Thanatos was nicknamed "Black Agnes," and it is said her eyes glow red at night.

But, for those who are willing to tempt fate, just take a seat in Agnes' lap. Or maybe don't because locals say anyone who does will die within seven days of doing so.

Avoid the bridge beneath Colchester Road in Clifton, Virginia, on Halloween night. It is here where the Bunnyman claims his victims at midnight. He gets his name for stringing up his victims like rabbits during a hunt. But he also has a name: Douglas Griffon. 

When an asylum near the bridge was closed and patients were being relocated, the bus they were riding crashed, and one patient was never found. Yup, it was Griffon. After weeks passed, the remains of dead rabbits began appearing in the woods — surely an escapee finding a way to survive.

Then, one day his tastes changed when a group of kids were hanging around the bridge on Halloween night. The Bunnyman strung them like rabbits and gutted them, and if you're here on Hallow's Eve, the same fate could happen to you!

In Maltby Cemetery in Bothell, Washington, there were once 13 steps that descended into the tomb of a wealthy family — what could be wrong with that?

Of course, the No. 13 has long been associated with bad things, and as soon as area teens started daring each other to do silly things in the cemetery, the rumors started. Legend has it that, if you descended down the stairs, each step gave you a glimpse further into hell.

So many have visited the cemetery to get a peek that the steps have now been bulldozed ... yet this hasn't deterred midnight visitors.

In Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a mysterious man-sized moth creature was frequently spotted in 1966 and 1967. The man could fly with its wings, and numerous reports said he had eyes that glowed red.

Writers began to spread the tale, including John Keel who wrote "The Mothman Prophecies." The book tied the Mothman to supernatural events, including prophesying the collapse of the Silver Bridge. (A movie was made in 2002.)

The people of Point Pleasant have embraced their Mothman and hold an annual festival in his honor.

Kate Blood had an unfortunate name, along with an untimely death of tuberculosis at age 23. Although she had a child with her husband, he remarried and Kate's grave is located away from his family, which led to many stories about the lonely tomb.

Depending on the story, Kate murdered her husband or had numerous affairs and was killed by her husband.

People claim to have seen a ghost near the Appleton, Wisconsin, grave in Riverside Cemetry and say that, on the nights when a full moon shines, blood seeps from the tombstone.

You definitely don't want to see the Death Ship that appears on the Platte River between Torrington and Alcova, Wyoming. Those who see it will experience death on the very same day.

The phantom ship is said to arrive with fog. The ship and its ghost crew are covered in frost overlooking a corpse they are about to toss into the river. When they step back from the corpse, the person revealed is that who will die.

The ship was first spotted in 1862 by Leon Weber who was shown the face of his fiancé as the corpse. She died on the same day.