Exploring Urban Legends  

Urban legends are stories, jokes, and rumors that people share via

social media and conversations. Many urban legends make the news or

become the basis for movies. Jan Harold Brunvand is a folklorist who has many book collections

about these popular tales such as The Vanishing Hichhiker (1981), The Choking Doberman (1984),

and Curses! Broiled Again! (1989). The website snopes.com is a good resource for investigating

these topics because it lists whether the tale is true, partly true, or false, and the site provides

documentation for further research. However, folklorists usually study the function of the story more

than just determining the truth of the tale. Folklorists are interested in conducting interviews to

analyze what type of person tells the tale, what the context is, when it is told, where it is shared, how

the target audience usually responds, why the tale is told, and which details vary when retold. Melissa

Faulkner interviewed peers and parents about the same ghost story associated with a local tower and

found that teens from several generations told the story to frighten one another and then made visits

late at night to demonstrate bravery. Most older colleges and universities have their own stories of

tragedies and hauntings.

References

Brunvand, J. H. (1981). The vanishing hitchhiker: American urban legends and their meanings. New York: Norton.

Brunvand, J. H. (1984). The choking doberman and other "new" urban legends. New York: Norton. Brunvand, J. H. (1989). Curses, Broiled again!: The hottest urban legends going. New York: Norton.

Dr. Nancy Mack Multigenre Research Projects: Multifaceted, Multipurpose Writing Assignments

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