Assignment #5: URBAN LEGEND

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend is a genre of folklore comprising stories circulated as true, especially as having happened to a friend or family member, often with horrifying or humorous elements. These legends can be entertainment, but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects. They may also be moralistic confirmation of prejudices or ways to make sense of societal anxieties.

Whether it's an unsolved mystery, a popular misconception, or sometimes just a big hoax, urban legends are an inevitable part of any culture. Usually they are handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation and many times have their origin in some vaguely twisted version of a true story. 

Possibly one of the most popular urban legends told among school age children having sleep overs, according to this myth if you turn out the lights, look into a mirror, and say Bloody Mary three times (in some versions the number of times differs) then you will summon the spirit of Mary Worth, a woman who was supposedly executed for being a witch.

Circulating for years this legend tells the story of a motorist who stops on the side of the road to help someone fix his or her flat tire. The person being helped then asks the motorist for his address to send a reward. Several weeks later the motorist receives $10,000 in the mail. Over the years, this story has been attributed to several celebrities, including President Donald Trump.

This story tells the tale of how several alligators were brought up from Florida to be kept as pets in New York City. After they got too big and violent, they escaped into the sewers where they now live freely. Dating back to the 1930s and spread by sensationalist newspapers, the story is completely untrue, yet continues to be circulated to this day.

Some of the Ingredients of an Urban Legend:

Antagonist: A proper villain.

Protagonist: An ordinary, more-or-less innocent person.

1. Fear of strangers. The bad person is a foreigner, an outsider, a stranger.

This is a primal fear. The thing that waits in the darkness outside the ring of firelight. Closely related is the idea that one of the people huddled around the fire is not what they seem.

2. Importance of ritual and rule following – it has a moral.

This is generally part of the moral: follow the rules and you will be okay, break them and the monsters will get you.

3. The author is anonymous.

The event itself is said to have happened to a friend or a friend of a friend, but the author himself does not give a name or any way to trace him down.

4. It is vague.

The information can come from “an advisor”, or perhaps even a prominent person is named, but in such a way that it is difficult to pin down anything concrete.

5. Electronics do not work.

Whenever the supernatural is involved—and most urban myths include some sort of supernatural element—anything electronic dies a spectacular death.

6. The protagonist is alone.

This is classic storytelling. When the protagonist confronts the monster, they are usually alone. If the protagonist has help, the stakes would not be as high.

7. It is said to be a true story.

We know that urban legends are not true, but they are interesting precisely because a small part of us thinks, or wants to think, that it COULD be true.

8. It happened locally.

We tend to prefer the stories of our friends. What happens locally has the potential to affect us.

9. It happened recently.

Events that happened a few years ago or last decade, even sensational ones, are not as interesting to us as those that happened earlier today, or yesterday, or a few weeks ago.

10. It is horrific and sensational.

Thinking of your own life, what scares you the most?