In “The Runaway Grandmother” by Jan Harold Brunvand, he contends how the urban legend has evolved from the different versions across Europe and the Americas. The story’s theme involves an unexpected death of a woman (usually a grandmother) while on a family trip. Her body is transported in a car in the hope of reporting her death to the nearest authorities. However during the family’s stop, the car is stolen together with the grandmother’s corpse. This urban legend has similarities with the tale, “The Dead Cat in the Package” where a woman places a dead cat in a bag and stops by a store on her way to her intended destination. Upon arrival, she is shocked that her package contains ham instead of the dead cat. The two legends, “The Dead Cat
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The versions from Europe particularly fall into two categories—the first occur during World War II while crossing the borders of Nazi Europe and the second involve postwar stories of travelers overseas. According to Degh, an Indiana folklorist, the story must have evolved from the popular 18th and 19th century tales of mistaken theft of a corpse and ends with the shock of the discovery of the body. During the Second World War, the last part of the story had been lost and replaced it with the dangerous border crossing. In later years, the story shifted to the challenges of corpse disposal while on a trip abroad. Moreover, there is a peculiar connection of “The Runaway Grandmother” to the legend of the Renaissance “jest” a story of pickling a corpse which was stolen and eaten by an unsuspecting Florentine according to Doyle. This argument is supported by a version of the legend where the grandmother is cremated, her ashes sent by mail, and was used by relatives as condiment in their cooking. On the other hand, three subtypes had been identified in the American versions according to the location where the grandmother dies—in Mexico, the Western desert and in Michigan. According to Brunvand, what is distinct in the American versions is the disregard for the grandmother when she dies. The family is usually concerned about the crowded condition of the car,
The versions from Europe particularly fall into two categories—the first occur during World War II while crossing the borders of Nazi Europe and the second involve postwar stories of travelers overseas. According to Degh, an Indiana folklorist, the story must have evolved from the popular 18th and 19th century tales of mistaken theft of a corpse and ends with the shock of the discovery of the body. During the Second World War, the last part of the story had been lost and replaced it with the dangerous border crossing. In later years, the story shifted to the challenges of corpse disposal while on a trip abroad. Moreover, there is a peculiar connection of “The Runaway Grandmother” to the legend of the Renaissance “jest” a story of pickling a corpse which was stolen and eaten by an unsuspecting Florentine according to Doyle. This argument is supported by a version of the legend where the grandmother is cremated, her ashes sent by mail, and was used by relatives as condiment in their cooking. On the other hand, three subtypes had been identified in the American versions according to the location where the grandmother dies—in Mexico, the Western desert and in Michigan. According to Brunvand, what is distinct in the American versions is the disregard for the grandmother when she dies. The family is usually concerned about the crowded condition of the car,