The Horrifying Reality Behind 20 Popular Urban Legends

17. There’s a Woman in Your Cupboard

Surveillance footage of 58-year-old Tatsuko Horikawa climbing down from the cupboard she called home for over a year. (YouTube)
Surveillance footage of 58-year-old Tatsuko Horikawa climbing down from the cupboard she called home for over a year. (YouTube)

Legend: There are various legends along the theme of “You Are Not Alone” in which a house-dweller notices items missing or rearranged but doesn’t realize that someone else has been inhabiting their abode the whole time.

Reality: In 2008, suspicious because he noticed that items in his apartment had been moved around and food was often missing from his refrigerator, a Japanese man set up a surveillance camera. Footage revealed a 58-year-old homeless woman descending from a cupboard in which she’d lived on a tiny futon for over a year. (source)

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18. Man Calls Hooker & It’s His Daughter

Legend: There are various urban legends involving a man seeking services from a sex worker, only to realize it’s his wife or a relative.

Reality: In 2008, a Zimbabwean man named Titus Ncube ordered a prostitute to his motel room, only to find that the woman who showed up was his 20-year-old daughter. (source)

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