Local Legends

This page contains speculative content. Some information is based on theories & reconstructions from the Rotborough Truth Foundation, and do not have citations.

There are a number of urban legends and supernatural occurrences that took place in Rotborough throughout the years. Many of which have yet to be confirmed or definitively debunked. Some of the most prominent being the disappearance of Frank Feldman's cows, the birth of Boy and the infectious luck of Luke LaChance. Many of these events are compiled by eyewitness testimony and secondhand sources. These are events that not generally related to the disappearances of named individuals such as Chet Sacksman, or Luke LaChance.

Timeline of Events

Event	Timeline	Description
Impact of the Leonids	November 1833	In early winter of 1833, there was a low angle impact meteorite which hit what would later become Rotborough. The impact was speculated by surrounding towns and cities as the reason behind the many strange and bizarre phenomenon surrounding the town itself, but there has never been any conclusive evidence to support this assertion.
The Slaughter of Rotborough	April 1845	Oscar Duley, father of 3 for no discernible reason slaughtered his entire family and went missing in the spring of 1845. Police and forensic reports did not find a motive as those who knew Duley stated he was a loving and devoted father. Rumor spread of this sudden and unexplained murder and began to speculate either he or his wife had a secret life but no evidence has ever been found to support this. What also puzzled police is the day before the murders, locals in town recalled a strange mildew like smell coming off of Oscar. The smell made those around Oscar violently ill.
The "Sound"	June 1910	The "Sound" refers to a mysterious auditory event that reportedly took place in Rotborough during the summer of 1910. Beginning in early June, residents claimed to hear a strange resonating sound that was said to induce varying degrees of psychological distress and madness. Curiously, those who could not perceive the sound reportedly experienced a different but equally intense form of mental disturbance, attributed to their inability to hear what others could. The phenomenon sparked widespread debate and confusion throughout the community. The sound abruptly ceased on the afternoon of June 21, 1910, and no definitive explanation was ever identified.
Piddlepaddle	May 1919	"Piddlepaddle" was a cryptid later confirmed to just be local Rotborough resident Hubert Pickerton, a veteran of the first World War. The legend originated from an eyewitness account of teenagers in the area late at night during the summer of 1919 walking on just the palms of his hands. The "creature" according to the teenagers had no legs, and grunted and pounded the ground with a "piddle-paddling" noise. Later when asked why he had been walking or rather crawling around like this Hubert stated: "Because none of those little jerks stopped to ask if I was okay! They seen me there crawlin' about'n ran scared like I was some sort of ghost in the night. Damn punks!"
The birth of BOY	May 1942	Boy the Cow was a local legend originating in the town of Rotborough in the summer of 1942. According to accounts, farmhand Arnold Coopersmith discovered the unusual calf while assisting with a birth on Frank Feldman's farm. The calf, born without front legs, shocked Coopersmith further when it reportedly stood upright on its hind legs as he prepared to slaughter it. Stunned by the sight, Coopersmith alerted Feldman, and news of the peculiar animal quickly spread. Dubbed "Boy," the calf became a regional curiosity and eventually a beloved mascot of Rotborough, attracting visitors from surrounding areas eager to witness the two-legged cow. Merchandise, clothes and even a theme park were made in honor of Boy. Strangest of all, Boy appeared to be unaffected by aging, his appearance altered very little after the age of 7 months.
The Miracle on Feldman's Farm	August 1942	The Miracle on Feldman's Farm refers to a mysterious event that took place in early autumn of 1942 in Rotborough. During an unseasonably intense heat wave, all the grass on Frank Feldman's farm reportedly withered and died, leaving his pastures barren and inedible for his cattle. In a state of panic, Feldman began replanting grass, during which he developed what physicians diagnosed as hay fever. Despite the complete loss of their primary food source, none of Feldman’s cows succumbed to starvation over the following weeks. The unexplained survival of the livestock led locals to dub the incident a miracle, and it has since become part of Rotborough folklore. Feldman used this "miracle" as an advertising vehicle for his products, claiming to be the only man who produced "unkillable cows", and asserted that consuming his meat and dairy products made the buyer "unkillable".
Mass Hysteria in Grigori Theater	December 1956	Rotborough has mostly been behind the rest of the United States and even the rest of Missouri, as far as technology and progress is concerned. This being the case when the first and only movie theater opened in 1956, the residents initially believed that the pictures on screen were real, or the work of magic. This lead the the event known as "Mass Hysteria in Grigori Theater", where stock footage of cows was being played to test the projectors, when an unnamed Rotborough resident saw the screen and managed to convince half the town that there were magical giant cows in the theater.
The Great Vanishing	November 1967	The Great Vanishing refers to a mysterious and unsettling agricultural event that occurred in early winter of 1967 on Frank Feldman's farm and eventually throughout the town of Rotborough. Feldman’s herd—widely regarded as “unkillable” due to their unusual resilience, began exhibiting signs of genetic uniformity, with each successive calf appearing as an increasingly exact copy of the last. Upon investigation, local agricultural experts discovered a disturbing anomaly: the cows' central nervous systems had been overtaken by a complex mycelial network that closely mimicked mammalian neural architecture. Dr. Grindalynn Matthias, D.V.M., an epidemiologist from the University of Missouri, initially led the scientific inquiry into the phenomenon but abruptly withdrew from the project citing undisclosed “complications” related to the evidence. Her departure marked the quiet end of official research efforts. In the ensuing weeks, all bovine livestock across Rotborough perished, cementing the event’s place in local lore and drawing continued speculation among fringe researchers and rural historians.
"Lucky" Luke LaChance	February 1981	While most historical records focus on Luke LaChance’s remarkable recovery from polio can be found here. After regaining his mobility under circumstances some described as miraculous, LaChance became the focus of a growing, cult-like reverence within the town of Rotborough. Locals and out-of-towners alike flocked to his home, treating him as a spiritual figure and offering prayers in his presence. The gatherings grew so intense and frequent that both Luke and his mother petitioned Mayor Jones for intervention, requesting help in dispersing the increasingly zealous crowds.
Stampede 1991	June 1991	In the summer of 1997, there was an unexplained bout of madness overtook the competitors of the annual summer charity run "Summer Stampede". Runners seemed to have 0 regard for people or things that stood in front of them. The injuries were numerous, and 6 people died from a variety of causes from personal injury, or being outright trampled.
The Disappearances in the Sewers/The Wretch of Rotborough	August 2004	During the first few runs of the RSRP ad campaign, two teenage boys went missing in the sewers of Rotborough. 16 year old Owen Lane, and 17 year old Zachary "Crab" Thomas, were last seen entering the sewer tunnels on the night of August 15th 2004, they never reemerged, and later search parties also mysteriously vanished. This lead to an urban legend called "The Wretch of Rotborough". Locals would swarm the sewer entry tunnel at night in the hopes of capturing a glimpse of this mysterious figure but few were ever successful and most images that emerged were doctored.