10 Most Ludicrous Video Game Urban Myths You Actually Believed

The DOOM Slayer is Link, okay?

Final Fantasy Viii Squall
Square

If you, like me, are a huge scaredy cat with a love of creepy video game theories, you may have also spent dozens of hours reading up on urban legends only to stay up all night because you scared yourself.

Not all the urban legends on this list that impressionable kids were fooled into believing are dark, but the spooky selections do have a tendency to spread across the internet.

Whether a creepy pasta you thought actually held water, a trick someone told you about Nintendo cartridges, or a full-blown government conspiracy, we’ve got you covered on the myths that had a significant amount of gamers convinced at one time or another.

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10. Lavender Town Syndrome - Pokémon Red & Blue

Escape From Lavender Town
Adrien Dittrick

I can confidently say I hate the music in Lavender Town even without the horrifying urban legend behind it but you’re here for the horrifying urban legend so here’s the lowdown.

The story of Lavender Town Syndrome is associated with the creepy as heck location from Pokemon Red and Blue, specifically within the Japanese version of the game. For some reason the music in the town had a different pitch and frequency than the Western version. Disturbingly, it was said that some children were complaining of headaches and experiencing hysteria after hearing the Lavender Tone. A further theory even said that it was causing a peak of suicides and illnesses of children in Japan.

In 2010, somebody went a step further and claimed they had special software which revealed images of the Unown embedded in the audio spelling out “Leave now”.

This is, of course, totally bogus. It’s wildly unlikely any of this happened and the reason the Lavender Town theme was changed is probably due to Nintendo preferring to not be associated with the wildly grim urban legend. Still doesn’t make the music less creepy.

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Contributor
Contributor

Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.