Scary stories

The Hook Man

The Hook or Hookman is a classic . The basic premise involves a young couple parking at a . The plays while they . Suddenly, a reports that a has just escaped from a nearby . The killer has a for one of his hands. For varying reasons, they decide to leave quickly. In the end, the killer's hook is found hanging from the door handle. Different variations include a scraping sound on the car door. Some versions start the same way, but have the couple spotting the killer, warning others, and then narrowly escaping with the killer holding onto the car's roof. The couple are later killed.

In an alternate version, the couple drive through an unknown part of the late at night and stop in the middle of the , because either the male has to relieve himself, or the car breaks down and the man leaves for help. While waiting for him to return, the female turns on the radio and hears the report of an escaped . She is then disturbed many times by a thumping on the roof of the car. She eventually exits and sees the escaped patient sitting on the roof, banging the male's severed head on it. Another variation has the female seeing the male's butchered body suspended upside down from a tree with his fingers scraping the roof.

References to this legend have been found from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.