Hook Man| Urban Legends

An
Urban Legend is a story, whether humorous or scary, that is based on hearsay
and widely circulated as true.

But
every story has some truth, even if it is a fine grain of sand.

Good Evening Everyone, and Welcome to Between
Monsters and Men. Before we start on my new series, I would like to admit there
are a couple of series I’d like to start very soon. My videos will be scatter
brained in the fact I do not have a schedule of what comes up first; for
example, if I did a serious killers one Tuesday and Monsters another, doesn’t
mean it will rotate as such. I have many books and sources of different
interests for this series and am too excited to pick a line up for them so I
pick by random unless requested. With that said, let’s get into this video.

            There are
thousands of urban legends around the world; some are called stories, myths,
and folklore. They spread like wide-fire but most don’t realize they stem from
some sort of truth, and though they may be exaggerated, we should always be
alert in the dark and the unknown.

            Hook
Man

            The Hook Man
is or was one of the most infamous urban legends in America. Now, with the new
generation, the story of the Hook Man is seen mostly as a cinematic story made
by directors to entertain us. Not many know that Hook Man is based off a real
killer. This urban legend dates back to the mid-1950s but had gained a greater
acknowledgement when the story was reprinted in the advice column of Dear Abby
in 1960.

            Legends

           

            Lovers Lane

                A young, teenage couple drove to
Lovers Lane for a chance of a make-out session. The boy turned on the radio for
mood music, and they began their intimate pursuit. Minutes passed and the music
stopped, a reporter comes on and warns of a convicted murderer has escaped from
the state insane asylum – which was located half a mile from where they were
parked – the reporter urges that if anyone who notices a man wearing a
stainless steel hook in place of his right hand, should report his whereabouts
immediately.

                The girl became frightened, and
they left. When they arrived at the girl’s house, she got out of the car, and
when she went to close it, she noticed on the handle of the car was a bloody
hook.

                This is the most popular version
of the Hook Man Legend. From the site Urban Legends Online brings a little more
detail to this very popular version. That it was a summer night in Pennsylvania
where this had occurred and the Hook Man was a murderer who escaped from
Allentown State Hospital. The reason why he had a hook for a hand was due to
his own fit of madness where he hacked off his own hand in order to escape a
pair of handcuffs years earlier.

                There is an Allentown State
Hospital in Pennsylvania and it was used as an asylum. It is said to be haunted
but I found no links to the hook man in Pennsylvania other than from this one
site.

                Most of the rest of the
variations of the legend of Hook man stems from this very popular version that
I just mentioned but the endings vary.

                1: The couple spots the Hook Man
and try to escape, however, the murderer holds onto the roof of the car and
eventually kills them.

                2: The boyfriend gets out of the
car to relieve himself, or the car broke down, and he goes for help. But while
his girlfriend waits for him, she hears the radio broadcast. After she starts
hearing a scratching noise on the roof of the car. She gets out and finds her
boyfriend hanging from a tree and his feet making the scraping sound on the
roof of the car. A slightly different tale of this version is that he was
hanging from his feet and his fingernails were scraping along the roof of the
car. Within this version also comes a more gruesome tale; the girlfriend hears
a thumping sound from the roof, when she gets out she finds the Hook man
sitting on the roof, banging her boyfriend’s severed head onto the metal.

                3: The tale I am about to tell
you know I am very skeptical about and I will explain why after I tell it. This
variation is different from the popular story that the rest has stemmed from,
where the Hook Man goes to college dorms to murder sexually active students
instead. The murder takes place while the victim’s virgin roommate is asleep
and in the morning, she wakes to find a message on the wall that says, “Aren’t
you glad you didn’t turn on the light?” written in the victim’s blood.

                Firstly, this post comes from a
site called “Ranker,” which will be listed down below in the description. The
post was posted in 2016 to 2017. The reason I am critical of this post is
because it is the exact act that is played in Supernatural, the T.V. Show that
aired in 2005. This is the only site that posts this version. Supernatural is
an extremely popular T.V. show that features different cryptids, ghosts, etc
but they always tell slightly different versions of the tales to spider web
them to their own story and give them their own personality. So this tale isn’t
credible for me. Especially since the quote the Hook Man wrote on the wall, is
a slightly tweaked quote another urban legend uses in its own story.

                4: This variation of the legend comes
from
“Can of Mystery.” In Seymour,
Connecticut, there is a cemetery called “Great Hill Cemetery,” or also known as
Hookman’s Cemetery. Apparently, in the 1800s there was a cemetery caretaker who
had a hook for hand, who hung himself from a tree outside the cemetery. If you
park under the tree, your car will stall and you’ll hear the hook scratching on
the roof of your car. This is a very interesting version of the Hook man since
the stories on this is more of a “Haunting Case,” than a urban legend. When I
started looking up this version, I had to stop – I don’t find these two linked
together because I only found one or two apparent “experiences,” of this type
of hook man and it was nothing threatened but noises. The cemetery is a hotspot
for paranormal activity and thusly, I stopped so I can make a video on it
specifically but I do not believe it is linked to the urban legend, especially
since majority of the activity has to do with orbs and other ghostly events.
Now the site I learned of this version from did not post what I just told you,
I found that on a separate site, what “Can of Mystery.” states was that in the 1940s’ the story began
to grow about a caretaker with a hook that lived on the property. In one tale,
the man was accused of murder and since then haunts the cemetery. The site had
many grammatical errors, but they did site six books as their sources, none of
which I’d read. I can believe their sources are true but on the fact it is not
connected to the Hook Man Urban legend but instead of a cemetery haunting. I
will put Can of Mystery site in the description as well so you can make your
own opinions.

            Dear
Abby

            On November 8^th,
1960, the Dear Abby article printed in the advice column a state, a woman named
Jeanette sent in.

                Dear Abby: If you are interested in teenagers, you will print this
story. I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but it doesn’t matter because it
served its purpose for me: A fellow and his date pulled into their favorite
“Lovers Lane” to listen to the radio and do a little necking. The music was
interrupted by an announcer who said there was an escaped convict in the area
who had served time for rape and robbery. He was described as having a hook
instead of a right hand. The couple became frightened and drove away. When the
boy took his girl home, he went around to open the car door for her. Then he
saw – a hook on the door handle! I will never park to make out as long as I
live. I hope this does the same for other kids. – Jeanette.

            Moral of the story,
please?

            With the strange
story circulating for years with no telling at first where it came from, people
have come to conclusions as to why it was passed around.

                A
Freudian interpretation of the story is that the hook found on the door handle
that was severed from the killer’s hand represents castration. The boyfriend is
trying to have sex, when the radio comes on and interrupts him. His girlfriend
stops him and wants to go home. Ultimately leading the story to warn against
having sex. The interpretation tells of a man’s fears of being emasculated.

                Folklorist
Bill Ellis thinks that the legend teaches a lesson to prying and self-righteous
adults and not teenagers. He thinks the Hook Man’s disability presents his lack
of sexuality.

                Others
just believe it is a warning to not have sex, especially before the prime age
and at the prime time of marriage. One can truly “Lose their life,” if given
into this temptation, from early pregnancy or STDS.

            Very Real Lovers Lane
Murders

            Texarkana Moonlight
Murders:

                Probably
the most closely related to the Urban Legend, and the very real Hook Man, would
be the Phantom Killer. Without getting too deep into the killings, for that is
for another time, the Phantom Killer was an unidentified murderer who killed 5
people and wounded 3, spanning from February 22, 1946 to May 3, 1946. Four
years before the Hook Man legends started. The first and second couple was
attacked while parked on a secluded road known as a “Lover’s Lane” However,
none of the killings were done by a Hook; it is the most closely related story
to the Hook Man. Once the word gets out, stories can be exaggerated and twisted
into incredible different stories but unlike those, these two match pretty well
except for the weapon of choice.

            Opinions

            I do believe that
urban legends are stories that came from a point in time that may have been
real. Such as the Hook Man could have been real but his story and the events
that occurred have been tweaked to make it more fantastic when told and less
human.

                Within
the modern day the Hook Man is less heard of around camp fire and seen more on
the cinetamic screen. The stigma has died down significantly and doesn’t put as
much fear in teenagers today. If you’d like to watch or read anything inspired
by the Hook Man legend, here are a few:

                1997
I know what you did last Summer

                Stephen
King’s – Danse Macabre

                1992
Candyman

                2005
Supernatural Season 1 episode 7

                And
1998 Urban Legend are just a few.

                I
hope you enjoyed. Due to youtube demonetizing videos like mine, feel free to
check out my patreon page and become part of the family. I create videos on
Cryptids, Paranormal, Abudctions, Serious Killers and more. I’d like to also
thank my supporting patron thus far. Also please like, comment and subscribe.

Lilith| Between Monsters and Men

Good Evening Everyone and Welcome to Between
Monsters and Men, tonight we will be talking about the very dangerous Lilith.

                Discretion is advised, this
topic is a little touchy for those who are strict with their religious beliefs.
It may also mention sexual conduct. Note that this is just research and for
educational purposes.

                Next
to the Devil, no name is heard more when speaking of demons, than the name of
Lilith. She reaches our ears through imaginings within books, poems, art and
even now through media, and though she has grown from multiple religions,
little does one know that she’s wandered the Earth for 4,000 years.

Around the World

                Let
us follow her first tracks back in 4,000 BC in Mesopotamia. Within the lore of
this ancient land, Lilith derives from the demons known as Lilitu; whom haunt
the open country land and are very dangerous to pregnant women and young children.
These Lilitu demons are said to be called “Storm Demons,” at which they bring
disease, illness and death. The famous Epic of Gilgamesh is where she first
appears in history.

                Her
darkest origins are within the Babylonian demonology, where it is first
mentioned of amulets and incantations were used to counter against this winged
spirit, who also in this mythology, preyed upon pregnant women and infants. It
is within the Babylonian Talmudic, that Lilith becomes more than just a spirit
of darkness but also a figure of uncontrolled sexuality. She is seen more as a
succubus than a Storm Demon, and would fertilize herself with male sperm to
give birth to other demons; at which she is known as the mother of hundreds of
demons.

                In
3,000 BCE, she appears in the Sumerian myth of “The Descent of Inanna.” Here
she is believed to be a servant of the Goddess of Fertility, Inanna.

                After
this her name migrates, changing form in the world of ancient Hittites,
Egyptians, Israelites and Greeks; expanding thousands of years.

                In
the middle ages, she takes on her most iconic form that stems strongly from
Jewish mythology. It is within the Jewish Folklore that she is seen as Adam’s
first wife, who was created from the same dirt as he, instead of like Eve, who
was created from Adam’s rib. Immediately they fought, and Adam says to her, “I
will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the
bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.”

                She
responded with, “We are equal to each other in as much as we were both created
from the Earth.”

                She
left him. Adam prayed to his Creator, and at once, the Holy One, sent three
angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof to bring her back. They found her amidst
the sea, at which the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her of God’s
word, but she refused to return. So the angels, said, “We shall drown you in
the sea.”

                However,
they ended up with an arrangement instead. She told them that she would have
dominion over infants, but whenever she’d see the names or the forms of the
angels on an amulet, she’d have no power over that infant. She also agreed to
have one hundred of her children die every day, due to this, every day one
hundred demons perish.

                It
was around this time that the story can get a little fuzzy. One story says that
after she left the Garden of Eden she coupled with the Archangel Samael,
marrying him, but this didn’t last. God castrated Samael and “Cooled,” Lilith,
making her infertile. After this, Lilith left Samael and would couple with men at
night.

                It
is also within the Jewish belief that Lilith was the first woman, who also
tried tempting Eve in the form of a serpent and causing the Fall of Man.

                During
the Middle ages, Lilith was mentioned in more than just the Jewish Religion. In
folk tradition in early Middle ages, Lilith was a dominant female demon who
married Asmodeus, King of Demons. Asmodeus was known from the legends about him
within the Talmud. Asmodeus and Lilith were believed to procreate demonic
offspring constantly, and together, they caused chaos. Many disasters were
blamed on them such as: turning wine to vinegar, both men and women to be
infertile, and it was Lilith, again, who was blamed for the loss of infant
life. These stories were very real for the people of that time, much like
witches and werewolves.

                Her
stories continued even into the 18^th century, where superstition
took a hold in another way, as a magic circle that would be drawn around the
bedroom when a mother gave birth, and again would be given amulets to protect
them.

                There
are plenty more other stories of her, spread throughout the world in religions
all over. She makes a solitary appearance in the bible, as a wilderness demon
shunned by the prophet Isaiah. She is also mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls,
songs for a sage.

Media

                She’s
quite literally in every media known today: books, songs, movies, and
Television series. Her name and story have changed, from the iconic demon to a
woman of suffrage who fights back, but more on that soon.

                In
the Renaissance period, Michelangelo portrayed Lilith as half woman,
half-serpent, at which she coiled around the Tree of Knowledge much like her
single mentioning in the bible.

                In
the Romantic Period, German writer Goethe had Lilith in his play called,
“Faust.” Within the play she is a sorceress who suffocates men by winding her
long hair tightly around men.

                In
Victorian Period, Poet Robert Browning took a different approach and emphasized
that Lilith was an attachment to Adam, crawling like a snake to him and
promising to be his slave.

                Her
name is the title of a Jewish Women’s Magazine and a national literacy program.
An annual music festival donates its profits to battered women’s shelters and
breast cancer research institutes that are called the Lilith Fair.

So
who or what, was Lilith?

            From
a woman to a demon, to a beautiful winged creature, Lilith has taken on many
forms and for thousands of years she was feared. Storm demon, Succubus and even
a wilderness demon, she is mostly seen as a monster that harms infants and
their mothers.  She is an emotional,
spiritual being of the aspects of darkness, terror, sensuality and unbridled
freedom.

                Once
a source of devastating fear, she now, in this day an age is seen mostly as an
appearance of freedom. Many argue this belief, those who still consider her a
demon much like her myths. But maybe she deserves to be seen in a brighter
light?

                If
we were to look at the first mentioning of her being Adam’s wife and ignore her
demonic nature when she was known as Lilitu. We see that she was created from
the same dirt as Adam and wanted to be equal to him. She didn’t want to be subservient,
she was the same, same creation, same hierarchy through her eyes – she didn’t
see her sex as submissive but equal to her male counterpart. It was after she
left and refused to come back that she was seen in a dark light. As a demon, as
a creature who then turned evil. She took control of her destiny and pulled out
of repression. Let me read one of my favorite quotes that can explain why she
turned from repression into that of something dark and evil. Thomas More wrote
in his book Utopia, “For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and
their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for
those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be
concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.”

                She
was created, and on the first day of creation, she opposed Adam for what she
first saw was them being equal. And then she left, trying to find her destiny
at which three angels pursued her in claim she must return, be subservient or
die. Her first sight of the world was full of darkness, all that was in her
heart became darkness and all she knew to be, was then darkness.

                Modern
feminists celebrate her bold struggle from the independence from Adam, not
seeing her as a demon in their eyes but a woman who fought for her own sex.

               

                Today
Lilith is loved and feared. Orthodox Jews still make talismans against her to
protect their children. She’s in several movies, songs and Television today and
probably will never be forgotten. But how do you see her? As an evil demon,
corrupted to steal babies and to be feared? Or a woman who fought for her
independence and simply lost her way?

                Due
to youtube demonetizing videos like mine, feel free to check out my Patreon
page. There you can become part of the Patron family. I create videos on
Abductions, Serious Killers, Monsters and much more. If not, feel free to like,
comment and subscribe. It warms my heart knowing my passion is being enjoyed.
I’d like to thank my supporting Patron this far and also thank the subscriber
who requested this video.

                I
am very sorry it came up late, I lost track of time around the Holidays and had
so much planned for this channel. My greatest apologies. Hope you all had a
great new year.