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Urban Legends, Folklore and Myths
Urban legends thrive on people's deepest fears -- that our safe world can crack at any moment and a madman will change our lives forever. That alone is enough to give anyone some second thoughts about our everyday routine.
 
Legends and folklore tales range from the maniacal serial killer to the completely unexplained. Everyone loves scary ghost stories aroundthe campfire or in the Fall, when the days get shorter, the nights get longer -- and imaginations run wild.
 
Chances are you'll find many versions of these stories as they get passed on from person to person. Children have a tendency to twist the plots and make them fit their particular circumstances. The Halloween season seems to bring out the best of local urban legends, both old and new.
 
Manyof these spooky stories are old classics from years past. They may not be the version you've heard, but that's what makes it fun. With the help of our readers, we've got many variations, some relating to ghosts, the supernatural, and hoaxes. These legends are not suitable for young children or the faint of heart. If you've got nerves of steel, proceed with caution...
 
Get comfortable, dim thelights and read through some classic as well as modern urban legends, myths and folklore. Did it really happen, or was it just a figment of someone's imagination?
 
 
 
 In 1994, the Las Vegas police reported a disturbing series of crimes along the Vegas strip. The first victim in this wave was an Ohio man in town for a sales convention. At the bar in his hotel, the man happened to strike up aconversation with an attractive young woman. According to the man, the two hit it off, sharing several drinks over the course of a couple hours. At some point, the man blacked out, and when he came to, he found himself lying in a hotel bathtub, covered in ice. There was a phone resting on the floor beside the tub, with an attached note that said, "Call 911 or you will die." He called an ambulance andwas rushed to the hospital, where the doctors informed him that he had undergone massive surgery. One of his kidneys had been removed, apparently by a gang selling human organs on the black market. Following this occurrence, many similar crimes were reported, leading Las Vegas police to issue warnings to travelers visiting the city.
Legend or Misinformation?Folklorists have come up with a numberof definitions for urban legend. To many, a legend must be a story, with characters and some sort of plot. Others lump widely dispersed misinformation into the urban-legend category. For example, the erroneous belief that you will automatically pass all of your college courses in a semester if your roommate kills himself is generally considered to be an urban legend. While these "facts" don'talways have the narrative elements of traditional legend, they are passed from person to person and frequently have the elements of caution, horror or humor found in legends. Particular urban legends may be spread either as fact or as a story. For example, someone could tell you that there are giant alligators in New York's sewers, or he could tell you a riveting story about a group of kids whostumbled upon such an animal. |
There's a good chance that you've heard this story, or some variation of it. News of the Vegas "organ harvesters" has been passed on by thousands and thousands of people over the course of 10 years. It has been relayed by word of mouth, e-mail and even printed fliers. But there is absolutely no evidence that any such thing ever occurred, in Las Vegas or anywhere else.This fictional story is a quintessential urban legend, an incredible tale passed from one person to another as truth.
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In this article, we'll look at urban legends to see what they are, where they come from and why they spread so quickly. We'll also explore some ideas regarding the social significance of...