Urban legends are as old as time. Since before the inception of the internet, myths and rumors have always plagued our imaginations and feelings of “what if”. Urban legends are defined as “a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror”. While most urban legends can be easily debunked, there has been the occassional story that ended up being true. Open your minds for a moment and suspend your disbelief because maybe, just maybe, what you find to be impossible could become a reality. The truth is stranger than fiction, after all.
10. Aeris Coming Back to life
It should come as no surprise that one of the most memorable deaths in video games became the central point of a pretty widely believed urban legend. Not only did many gamers believe this one to be true, but a good number of Final Fantasy VII aficionados wanted this to be true. Countless of “guides” on how to bring the flower girl back to life circulated the internet, including mastering the revive materia and even the idea of sacrificing Tifa floated out there. While these turned out to be nothing but rumors posted in magazines and the early internet, one can’t help but admire the determination in wanting to bring back such a beloved character.
~ Paul Cesar
9. Ben Drowned
A well-known urban legend, this Creepypasta became a household story when gameplay footage and pictures of the game cartridge surfaced online. Ben Drowned is the story of a copy of Majora’s Mask with no label, marked in black marker as “Majora”, that was bought by a young college student hoping to relive the happy days of his youth. Little did he know that the game was once owned by a boy named Ben whose save file was still present. Upon playing the game, the NPCs began calling the boy Ben instead of Link. After deleting Ben’s file, things ran amok in the once peaceful, albeit slightly creepy game. Skull kids laughed and watched Link, music played backwards, a statue stalked the player. the already creepy mask salesman never stopped laughing, and finally Link was constantly on fire. After all this hysteria, the player’s game restarts only to reveal that the save files have changed to “Ben” and “Drowned”. The player continues on in fear as he believes the game is starting to communicate with him. Eventually, he realizes that the statue is Ben and he’s asking for help. After a few more odd things happen in game, the save files return to normal and Ben is never seen or heard from again.Gameplay footage and pictures of the cartridge still appear online from time to time, making us wonder if Ben Drowned really is just a story…
“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?”
~ Sierra Grafton
8. The Madden Curse
Any sports fan – particularly of the football variety – is well acquainted to the Madden curse. In 1999, Garrison Hearst appeared on the cover of the newest Madden. A running back for the San Francisco 49ers, Hearst rushed for over 1,500 yards and seven touchdowns and added an additional 535 receiving yards with another two touchdowns in 1998. After appearing on the cover of Madden 99, Hearst broke his ankle and missed two full seasons. In fact, over 90% of the athletes on the covers of Madden have suffered injuries or setbacks that have either completely derailed their careers or significantly impacted their performances. Sure, a few of the stars on the cover of the game have gone unscathed. Larry Fitzgerald, who, for example, shared the cover with Troy Polamalu, had a pretty successful 2010. With that said, Troy Polamalu sprained his MCL prior to the season, missing the first four games and injured himself again in November. Sure, there’s no scientific proof that this exists, and EA suggests that the athletes must regress after a peak performance … but it is eerie.
~ Evan Schwab
7. Squall is Dead
Few video game urban legends are as neat as the Squall is Dead theory. It’s a pretty popular legend believed by both critics and fans of Final Fantasy VIII. At the end of disc one, Squall is impaled by the Sorceress Edea’s blizzard spell and falls off her parade float. From where the icicles become lodged and the subsequent fall, it definitely seems like there’s no way Squall survived. But, alas, he awakens in the D-District prison in the 2nd disc. The theory is that everything after disc one is Squall’s death knell and dying dream. Things allegedly become more fantastical than they were on the first disc as they deal with weird creatures and time travel/time traveling sorceresses. There’s even a creepy faceless Squall in the final cinematic. To this point, I don’t believe any member of the Final Fantasy VIII team has publicly discarded the theory, and it remains an urban legend that is debated today, over a decade after its release.
~ Evan Schwab
6. Herobrine
The most widespread Minecraft legend started with a forum post. The poster described encountering a figure that looked exactly like the main character Steve, but with glowing white eyes. The figure built perfect sand pyramids, dug 2×2 tunnels in rock, and left fields of tree trunks with no leaves. The forum post was quickly deleted and then re-uploaded and promptly deleted yet again. Though still unconfirmed, many players have reported seeing Herobrine looming in the fog on their maps in Single Player Mode, leaving his characteristic trees, pyramids, and tunnels behind. It has even been reported that Herobrine destroys games and crashes Minecraft sessions. Again, these are unconfirmed claims. With the Minecraft patch that released the 11th music CD (full of eerie sounds rather than music) came even more speculation and debate about Herobrine’s existence and possible origins. This is one of the newest and most highly debated videogame urban legends at present.
~ Sierra Grafton