Creepy Creatures and Myths #2: The Man Under the Car

Though apparently never actually witnessed, the "slasher under the car"/ankle slicing car thief still haunts the public imagination. The idea is simple: Someone may be waiting beneath your car as you enter or exit the vehicle. Why? Probably to slice at your ankles and incapacitate you, then to steal your car, kill you, or do other unfortunate things. While most people don't fear stepping out of the car, such a tale might make someone hesitate to do so.

While this story seems to have no documented cases, it remains eerily plausible that this could happen. It's similar to many true-life stories which make us hesitant to say "I trust you" to anyone (such as serial killer Ted Bundy, who used crutches and arm casts to lure victims into helping him — a sick abuse of trusting and caring souls if ever there was one).

When I first heard of this legend, it instantly reminded me of a scene in the original Pet Sematary film where a character gets his ankle sliced (ouch!). In addition to being freaky and disgusting, it also seemed like something that could actually happen. Also, as noted in the main photo, the 1990s version of Cape Fear has the movie's antagonist riding beneath a family's vehicle to track and terrorize them. These are very unique and unsettling moments in these films, even though there is no epidemic of men (or women) waiting under cars (or furniture) to slash at people's ankles.

Why Such Stories Aren't All Bad/Is There Any Truth To This Myth?

While there's a such thing as overt paranoia, we live in a world where, unfortunately, a little paranoia is plainly justified. While slasher scares and 'urban legend's have limited value, they do remind us that we are potentially vulnerable. We can be preyed upon, especially if we're not at all careful. "The Slasher Under the Car" remains mostly a myth, but it's not like real life has never come close.

In fact, a story by the New York Daily News comes eerily close to the legend. They even add a face and a name to the story: "Jesse Johnson was arrested and cited after he allegedly hid under a car to touch a woman’s ankle," their article says. The Nebraska man apparently had a habit of hiding under women's cars to touch their feet, although he claims he looked and never touched ("I was hiding under the vehicle simply for the visual," he challenged).

Similarly, just about every neighborhood on earth has someone known for creeping around, maybe going up and touching people's feet for jollies. This guy apparently took that kind of thing further, taking a small step toward making this peculiar myth a reality. We can be thankful that he did not swipe at any ankles with a knife, but it is disturbing nonetheless.

The Potential Horror of Facing Home Invaders, or Even Carjackers

Not long after I started on this article, some local news grabbed my attention. The article states: "A man and a woman, chased off by a Houghton County homeowner defending his property with a chainsaw, face first-degree home invasion charges." This was after the man pulled a knife on the homeowner. This really made me think of how deadly situations can happen, seemingly out of nowhere.

It's also close to home, literally. I actually know the woman in the article from high school. Granted, I can't say I knew her well personally as she was some grade levels ahead of me. Still, I definitely recognized the name instantly (not so much the face, though). If you look at the guy's mugshot, you can tell he's trying waaay too hard to come across as a "gangsta." Perhaps he was trying to get a prison sentence? In any case, the chainsaw dynamic reminds me of the end to Wes Craven's film The Last House on the Left.

This news story reminded me that a home invasion can be scary. Luckily, the homeowner in question apparently had a chainsaw handy (he clearly meant business!). I read this story as I was compiling some Youtube videos of unusual encounters with carjackings (those are available below). I spent some of my childhood in the village of South Range, Michigan, where the chainsaw story takes place. Honestly, if crime can happen there, it can pretty much happen anywhere.

Interestingly, the carjacking videos tie into the chainsaw story thematically. For example, one of the videos shows neighbors thwarting a car thief. They boxed the thief inside the vehicle with their own cars, then held the doors shut to the would-be stolen vehicle so he couldn't run away. In another video, a North Kansas City woman actually tracked down the person who stole her car, then stole it back! In this case, the thief was a woman, once again demonstrating that not all criminals are men.

Final Thoughts

As demonstrated by the articles I've discussed here, real life can be rocky enough without urban legends coming to life. At the same time, there's no reason something like the "Ankle slicing car thief" couldn't actually happen, which is part of why it's freaky. In other words, it's almost pointless to call this particular legend baseless. It cam'tr be fully, 100% debunked as impossible. At best, we can reasonably say it's highly unlikely to ever happen to you.

As another possible point to this article, let's just make an affirmation to cut down on such behavior. In order to reduce possible instances of people invading homes, stealing cars, or having nutcases wait under vehicles to slice or grab us, people should try being better to each other. It won't prevent all crime, but will it make it less likely? Probably. Violence is less likely in a better, relatively respectable place.

My long-standing theory is that crime primarily exists because, let's face it, the world looks pretty rotten. If people have nothing to look forward to and other human beings seem to be of no actual worth, you're going to have more violent crime, more theft, more of many things we don't like. I think we can safely say that without "blaming the victim."

It's also simply true that other places in the world simply don't have as much crime, and there are definitely some lessons to be learned from that. What are some places doing right that others are doing wrong? I won't fill in all of these blanks for you. Still, based on some things I've written here already, you can probably draw some conclusions on your own. All that being said, if you now have to frantically leap from your vehicle whenever you get out, don't blame me. I only said this is possible, not likely!