Amboy Horror Stories - fact or fiction? (Barstow, Twentynine Palms: crime, live)

[thekingsguard]

I have a brother who was until recently stationed with the Marines at Twentynine Palms, and of all the stories he tells from his time there, stories about this small town named Amboy stuck with me. Why? Because some of the things he said sound like they were torn from a horror movie or an urban legend. Disappearances, traps by the side of the road, things of that nature. Part of the reason it stuck with me was that he seemed utterly convinced there was something very wrong with the area.

So I look it up, and much to my shock, at least according to Google, there are quite a few rumors on the web about Amboy. Stuff about cults, Satanism, cannibalism, disappearances and again, the sorts of horror stories that you wouldn't think would revolve around a town of, what is according to Wikipedia, 4 people.

So, I figure I might as well ask you folks - is there anything to all the creepy rumors about Amboy, or have a bunch of Marines just watch The Hills Have Eyes a few too many times?

[AFtrEFkt]

I've heard the odd thing or two about Amboy. There are still buildings there, standing intact. I wouldn't doubt if there had been a "The Hills Have Eyes-sort" of situation at some point. It's remote.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

It's just the open desert, which tends to freak out city people. Now, if you were talking about Barstow...

[backstreetsbackALLRIGHT]

There's a story on Reddit, which I'm guessing you've already read if you google'd Amboy, where the guy is driving along the road and comes across people who look like they need help but it's actually a trap. It's a great story, but I don't know if it's true -- probably not but you never know.

I've never been to Amboy (yet) but the open desert does kind of freak me out a little, yet I'm still fascinated by it

[MountainBiking]

None of it is true. Urban legend.

[kttam186290]

Amboy is off of I-40 and there is rumored to be serial killers, doing their "thing" (killing and such) under the guise of the long-haul truck driving profession. I read a lot of crime websites and there is speculation that supposedly, some of these serial killers have dumped bodies in abandoned mines out in remote places like Amboy, Kelso, Cima, Essex, etc. -- basically towns way out on the periphery of California!

FBI makes a connection between long-haul truckers, serial killings - latimes

The FBI suspects that serial killers working as long-haul truckers are responsible for the slayings of hundreds of prostitutes, hitchhikers and stranded motorists whose bodies have been dumped near highways over the last three decades...

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/...ler05_CV_N.htm

A passerby found the severed head on Feb. 10, wrapped in two plastic bags and stuffed inside a backpack in Barstow, Calif. Authorities still haven't identified the victim or her killer, but the circumstances point in a particular direction. The teenage girl likely had been killed days earlier, Barstow police say. Her head lay a few hundred yards from a truck stop just off Interstate 15, not far from I-40. To authorities, the proximity to the truck stop and the interstates suggests that the slaying might have been the work of a distinctive type of criminal: a serial killer operating along the nation's highways.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

I grew up out in the desert, weird s--- always happened around there, it's nothing new. People just hear about it more now because of the internet. And...the desert has always been used as a dumping ground...for trash, toxic waste, dead bodies....also, much of what is said is urban legend...but not always.

[coltoncity]

Getting stranded out there has always ran a chill down my spine but I have never heard about all this. I know that the city is more dangerous then out in the middle of no where but at least in the city someone will hear you scream. I mostly grew up out in the country and there is a Lot of weird things that happen out there. People who need to not have people seeing what they dp always go there. lol the only good thing about their strangeness is before long you knew which ones to steer clear of.

[Bakeneko]

I actually did get stranded in Amboy.

I was stationed at 29 Palms as well and heard all the rumors... Anyway, one of my first long weekends there (29 Palms), a fellow Marine offered use of his truck for like $50 bucks - he had gotten in trouble and was on base restriction. Anyway, I had a friend who lived in Las Vegas so I thought I'd visit.

Anyway, I *thought* I was leaving the base on a full tank - turned out his gauge was broken, looked on the map and thought I'd fuel up in Amboy. Made it to the gas station - which was family owned and had a sign that they were away for the weekend. Ran out of gas a couple miles from the next station. Ended up getting ride and the guy at the gas station drove me back to the truck. The guy who gave me the ride and the gas station owner seemed relatively normal and were concerned - Yes, I was a Marine but I was also 20 something and a 115lb female. This was mid 90's before cell phone coverage everywhere.

[jesse977]

My buddy was abducted by aliens and probed in Lucerne Valley.