Have you ever stood in a dark bathroom, closing your eyes, and whispering the name Bloody Mary three times before blinking your eyes open and experiencing that thrill of hoping to see her ghostly silhouette in the mirror while, at the same time, relieved when there’s nothing there after you turn on the bathroom lights?
Ever played light as a feather, stiff as a board with a gaggle of chanting preteens in a basement rec room at a sleepover or a tent during summer camp, long after all the chaperones and parents have gone to sleep and told you that this is, seriously, the last call for lights out?

Or maybe these particular urban legends don’t mean anything to you. Maybe you’ve left offerings for the fey so deep in the woods you had a moment where your heart beat a little faster as you spun around thinking, for just a moment, that you were lost—or some force beyond the known universe was trying to keep you deep in the forest’s heart.

Maybe you’ve heard the cry of La Llorona late at night? The footsteps of the Windigo? The whispers of ghosts in Kuldhara? 

It doesn’t matter where you live or where you grew up. There’s at least one story that, at some point in your life, filled you with fear and excitement and a need to seek out the forbidden. 

Just like the girls of the Samhattan high school basketball team.

And in any other world, this story would have stayed a story. The sleepover would have stayed a team building exercise.

Instead, within weeks there would be no more girls basketball team at Samhattan high school. One by one, Daphne would come for them all.

Today's episode is the story of Daphne Vann, Samhattan serial killer and urban legend.

Reader, I Murdered Him is a real podcast about fake crimes. Each episode features a fictional crime from a fabulous book, but it's not spoiler free, so listen at your own risk.

Today's episode is based on the book Daphne by Josh Malerman.

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