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Nov 17, 2022 · Learn about the scary stories that have been told and retold, passed down from one generation to the next, and how they have influenced movies, TV shows, games, and fiction. From haunted houses to serial killers, these urban legends are still alive and well in our society.
An urban legend, myth, or tale is a modern genre of folklore. It often consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre, superstitions, ghosts, demons, cryptids, extraterrestrials, creepypasta, and other fear generating narrative elements. Urban legends are often rooted in local history and popular culture .
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urban legend, in folklore, a story about an unusual or humorous event that many people believe to be true but that is not true.
Urban legends typically combine secondhand narratives, such as those heard from “a friend of a friend,” with contemporary settings and familiar everyday objects, such as shopping malls or automobiles. Similar to older traditional folk tales and legends, urban legends spread through word of mouth but are increasingly shared through print, digital, and social media. They occur in cultures worldwide, featuring common plots and themes with minor differences reflecting local knowledge and cultural mores. Although many urban legends are told for their shock value or humour, folklorists believe that urban legends reflect the anxieties and beliefs in modern society, such as fears related to technology or crime. Thus, they hold as important a place in the study and collection of folklore as older traditional tales.
The term urban legend began appearing in folklore studies in the mid-20th century, and it was used to describe the genre of modern “too good to be true” stories shared through oral accounts. The phrase was popularized in 1981 with the publication of The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, a book by American folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand. The title of the collection refers to one of the most well-known urban legends, that of a person traveling in a vehicle, usually a car, who meets a mysterious hitchhiker. The latter suddenly vanishes and is subsequently discovered to have been a ghost. The story of the vanishing hitchhiker typifies an urban legend in both its being widely shared through oral telling and its contemporary elements, such as the modern form of transport. As with other urban legends, the vanishing hitchhiker has many variants that differ based on local details. For instance, Chicago’s legend of “Resurrection Mary” is named after a ghost said to appear to drivers on a road past Resurrection Cemetery in the city’s southwest suburbs. Over time the legend may adapt or modernize further. More recent accounts of the vanishing hitchhiker often occur in subways or airports or incorporate recent events. For example, after the devastating tsunami of 2004, tuk-tuk drivers in Thailand began to share a common “wandering dead” story of picking up a fare (usually a Western tourist and his Thai girlfriend) urgently headed to the airport, only to find that the passengers had vanished upon arrival at their destination.
With the invention of the Internet, urban legends have become more frequently shared online through chain e-mails, social media posts, and video-sharing websites. Some websites, such as Snopes, were created specifically for investigating and debunking urban legends. Numerous urban legends have provided the basis for films, novels, short stories, radio and television shows, video games, and comic books, especially in the horror genre. Full-length dramatizations of an urban legend include When a Stranger Calls (1979), in which a babysitter discovers that the prank calls she has been receiving are coming from a phone line inside the house, and Alligator (1980), based on a persistent myth in New York City about abandoned pet baby alligators grown to monster size in the sewer system. The summer camp comedy Meatballs (1979) is a rare example of a film featuring an oral telling rather than a dramatization of an urban legend. In a campfire scene a counselor played by Bill Murray relates “The Hook” story about a mad slasher on the loose.
In 1985 English horror writer Clive Barker published “The Forbidden,” a short story about a graduate student who investigates urban legends in Liverpool and conjures up supernatural forces in a decrepit housing estate. In 1992 the story was transferred to Chicago in the horror classic Candyman, which explores the elements of racism and classism in many urban legends. The movie led to a series of sequels and a 2021 reboot of the original that was cowritten by Jordan Peele.
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Urban legends about media are as common as urban legends told through media, such as the many tales about ghosts unexpectedly appearing in the background of movie scenes and photographs or satanic hidden messages that can be detected in rock or pop songs when played backward. Likewise, urban legends abound about notorious incidents or mistaken identities involving celebrities despite the lack of any documented evidence that would prove they occurred. For example, the urban legend “The Death of Little Mikey” combines the themes of celebrities and food by claiming that a child actor who appeared in a famous cereal commercial died after consuming Pop Rocks candy with soda, which urban folklore maintains makes the stomach explode.
In the 21st century the popularity of various storytelling festivals and podcasts attests to the continuing interest in urban legends. Research on urban legends is likewise ongoing through academic studies and conferences such as the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research, founded in 1988, and its peer-reviewed journal, Contemporary Legend, published annually since 1991.
Learn about urban legends, stories that many people believe to be true but that are not true, and how they reflect modern society. Explore the origins, characteristics, themes, and adaptations of urban legends in folklore, literature, and media.
Urban legends (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
- Candyman. In 2021, director Nia DaCosta’s new vision of Candyman—the popular 1992 horror hit about a vengeful spirit who is summoned to reality by saying his name five times—arrived in theaters.
- The Killer Calling From Inside the House. For decades, stories have circulated about a babysitter home alone who receives harassing phone calls. When the call is finally traced by police, the babysitter is horrified to discover it’s coming from inside the house.
- The Goatman. The Goatman was a purported half-man, half-goat fond of devouring dogs and attacking people in Prince George’s County in Maryland. While the Goatman had been whispered about for years, he got an explosion of publicity in 1971 after a reporter named Karen Hosler delivered a one-two punch lending credibility to his existence.
- The Mothman. No urban legend rundown is complete without mention of the Mothman, a strange creature who purportedly terrorized West Virginia in the 1960s.
Feb 26, 2018 · Learn the truth behind common myths and stories that spread through word-of-mouth, such as Mr. Rogers' ex-killer rumors, Hoover Dam bodies, and Friday the 13th superstition. Stacker explores the origins, sources, and debunkings of 25 urban legends that fascinate and intrigue.
Snopes.com is a website that investigates and debunks rumors, myths, and misinformation on various topics, such as news, politics, entertainment, and folklore. Find out the truth behind viral stories, such as Christian Bale visiting Aurora shooting survivors, Biden falling asleep during a press conference, or Stormy Daniels denying sex with Trump.
