Time to wrap up the Babysitter & the Man Upstairs, now focusing on the symbolism within the urban legend. Who is the man upstairs, and why is he even there? We also go back to a few crimes in the 40s and 50s that certainly fanned the flames of the story, if not outright creating it.

After this, we’ll have 1 more episode in our season on urban legends.

True crime #1 starts: 7:52

True crime #1 ends: 9:15

True crime #2 starts: 20:04

True crime #2 ends: 33:17

TW: sexual assault, murder, child assault, child murder

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

We owe a good deal of Halloween as we know it to the babysitter and her terrifying night of phone calls. On today’s episode, we cover versions of the legend itself, track the history of babysitting, and follow the effects of a turbulent society — all to understand how we ended up with the Halloween classics that we watch today. All that and more, on the third Halloween of Back Away Slowly.

The Sitter (1977)

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

It’s time to track down this Hookman, this Murderer of Boyfriends. Most of our explorations will take us down to the border of Texas and Arkansas, just after World War II. But this murderer has created one hell of a legacy in the horror zeitgeist. We’ll talk about all that and more, in this episode.

TW: murder, sexual violence, child (teen) death

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

I’m not sure how popular Lover’s Lanes are these days; but even if they aren’t, these stories have immortalized the term seemingly into stone. However, these 2 legends are so close that they almost seem like alternate versions of the other. What does that mean? What exactly are we supposed to learn from a teen being hung upside down over a car? We can only find out.

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

Many shopping malls may be ghost towns now, but at one point, they were the place to be — but were they safe? And would you believe that people have been telling versions of these shopping mall legends for centuries? But without the popularity of shopping malls now, where do these stories go from here?

Well come on, then! Let’s go to the mall!

TW: child harm & death, sex trafficking

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

We wrap up the Vanishing Hitchhiker urban legend by tracking it all over the world. We do our best to understand its impacts in these countries and on those communities, as well as how the story connects us all.

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

We stop the car to pick up possibly the oldest urban legend in existence. We all know that most ghosts frequent haunted houses and deteriorating estates — but this story is what happens when a spirit interferes with your transportation. And with such an old story, it’ll take an episode to go over what iterations I could find. So tell me, have any of you picked up a ghost?

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

How many of you were warned about razor blades in candy or apples when you were a kid? While one of the more recent urban legends, it’s nonetheless managed to cling onto news reports throughout the 20th century. But how big of a threat is poisoned candy, really? I haven’t heard about reports of razor blades in apples in quite a long time; but if you look around, you can certainly find the descendants of that story.

TW: child abuse, child death

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)