Urban legend

Chapter IV. Urban Legends: The Evolution of Folklore Urban legends are stories that have the designation of being ?too strange to be true? but are based in reality. Despite these fables being a touch on the strange side most people that hear them understand them as being true. Through generations these tales seem to happen to our friends, family members, or even distant relatives. Unlike fairy tales which are meant to be cautionary yet fictional, urban legends represent some form of truth. Think of the creation of urban legends like the children?s game telephone, this is a method referred to serial reproduction. The story is told from one person to the next, however because it is being told verbally there is tone and bias that moves from person…

Urban Legend One night a man was walking down the street, a dark street that would not end, it seemed to go on forever, there is an end but it takes months, on months, on months. Will he make it, I don't know but something tells me he won’t, and then something appears something horrifying it looks like a bear eagleshark. The rumors around this thing are crazy, it can breath on land and underwater it can fly run and swim at the speed of light nothing can outrun it not even I. It can kill…

Every culture has some sort of urban legends that frightens you and make you wonder if it 's real or just another legend. Like in Japan they have one urban legend about a creature called Kuchisake-Onna or the slit-mouthed woman. A vengeful spirit who preys on children, cutting the heads or slicing their mouth like hers if the answer is wrong. Another urban legend originating in the United States is the Mothman. Bring disaster wherever he goes like a bad omen. But for my own Hispanic culture,…

Classic urban legends are stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. Urban legends are told all around the world and people tend to believe them. Urban legends can be told for entrainment, to give unexplained events and objects an explanation, and they can be told to give people warnings. Urban legends usually come with a purpose such as to give people a lesson, offer a moral lesson, and to provide reassurance. Urban legends are very popular because the stories that are…

Urban legends are very complex and interesting aspects of culture. They often inspire holidays, movies, poetry, stories and more. But urban legends go far beyond how they seem on the surface. Their origins and the messages they send must be decoded to understand the true context of any urban legend. Illustrating the messages, urban legends may be benign, or malicious. In the context of this paper, an urban legend is a story or anecdote that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true…

Just in the United States this urban legend has been traced back to the 1850s and even further back to the British Empire. Nearly every city has some variation of this legend and often it starts to spread because of a racist joke. This is an urban legend for the polish of the narrative, how the contents are relatable to many, and many believe it is true. Chinese restaurateurs have to face the stigma of the idea that they serve of rats, cats, and dogs. In certain Asian cultures, namely Chinese,…

stepped through the door of my home, I wanted to pop pimples like a smack freak newly in rehab wants another hit. I charged into bathroom, pulled off my shirt, and decided to go straight to my back. Turning around to see in the mirror, I saw a couple of freakishly large ones between my shoulderblades. Turning back around to face the mirror, I felt with my right hand for the first bump. Finding it, I placed my fingers on either side and pressed down. It took a lot more pressure than usual, but it…

We have all heard the stories of the Chpacabra over the last few decades and many of you will dismiss this creature as an urban legend or a hoax. These stories, like all stories of legend, start somewhere. The legend of the Chupacabra comes from Latin cultures, mainly Puerto Rico, where it was first sited back in 1955 by locals. The locals were experiencing strange live stock mutilations mostly goats found with all their blood drained. In the 1970’s people all over South America started…

people claim they do not believe in urban legends, however, some urban legends have the power to make people stop and question themselves. What if these legends that are passed down from generation to generation by the word of mouth or electronically have truth to them? A few years ago, when I started to babysit, my older siblings told me about one of the most notorious urban legends, the Babysitter and the Man Upstairs. This legend is about a teenager who is babysitting, when a mystery man…

Urban Legend Was Walt Disney’s body really frozen? Is there really a black market for kidneys? The answer to both is no, these questions or rumors are called urban legends which majority of them are not true. Urban legends is a modern folklore and in 1981 Jan Harold Brunvand published several books pertaining to legends (Brunvand n.d.). In this paper I will be explaining what urban legend is and prove why these two questions are false. Urban legends are a tradition of storytelling and starts…