Preview

How Urban Legends Work

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
382 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Urban Legends Work
How Urban Legends Work

In this essay the author Tom Harris tells us how urban legends effects us on how we live, the stories that are told can either give us a lesson to be learned or it gives us a warning, some stories can be horrific as in the story about the traveling sales man who met a women in Las Vegas and had a few too many drinks and had be drugged and had his kidney removed by a body organ harvesting gang and woke up in a bathroom tube covered in ice and a note to call for help before he dies. And that horrific story when the public caught on to it, got wide spread attention from the media and the local news warning travelers about it.

And another urban legend the author spoke about a mentally ill patient with a hook for a hand escaping from a mental institution and was stalking a young couple sitting in a car in a remote area of town and the young women having the sense that something wasn't going right and hearing a noise outside the car and wanting to leave the area urging her boyfriend to drive away right before the hooked hand man could get to them and him leaving his bloody hand on the door handle. This legend goes back decades since the nineteen fifties and has been passed down through the generations about this urban legend. Some urban legends has been so popular that they capture our curiosity about them, mostly the person who is telling the urban legend is someone a person can trust, the details they give are so real and are so believable they can be tricked into believing them.

Urban legends has been around society for years even decades some stories has gone on for generations. And now a days urban legends has grown from being passed on by word of mouth to a new form of technology, the internet which the author mentions in his essay as a newly evolved way to pass around urban legends through people's email and Internet blogs. Human nature will always continue to pass on urban legends, like a real life form, they will

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    La Llorona

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    La Llorona is a legend that began around the 1550s. It has been told to children by older ones for hundreds of years. Her real name is Maria. There are some who believe it to be true, but whether they believe or nor not it still remains in memories of many people. There are different stories about the La Llorona; here is someone that believes it’s true. La Llororna as told by Stephanie Cassias is said to be a southwestern folktale. The legend is said to be about as young Native American women named Maria. One day a man came riding into town she lived and ended up marrying the women. Cassias say, “She had two children or maybe three”. Maria’s husband one day left her and got all crazy. She was so angry she got her children and put them in a bag, took them to the river and drowned them to let all anger out. But after a few moments later she realized what she did and cried that she wanted her children. Then people from the city came and saw her dead. They buried at the same spot where she died and drowned her children. Then when she died they still here her yells say where my children are. So in my opinion I think that the Llorona is real.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Apocryphal (Of a story or statement) of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true”…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In April of 1992 a young man named Chris McCandless, from a prosperous and loving family, hitchhiked across the country to Alaska. He gave $25,000 of his savings to charity, left his car and nearly all of his possessions. He burned all the cash he had in his wallet, and created a new life. Four months later, his body was found in an abandoned bus. Jon Krakauer constructed a journalistic account of McCandless 's story. Bordering on obsession, Krakauer looks for the clues to the mystery that is Chris McCandless. What he finds is the intense pull of the wilderness on our imagination, the appeal of high-risk activities to young men. When McCandless 's mistakes turn out to be fatal he is dismissed for his naiveté. He was said by some to have a death wish, but wanting to die and wanting to see what one is capable of are too very different things. I began to ask myself if Chris really wasn 't as crazy as some people thought. Then I realized it was quite possible that the reason people thought he was crazy was because he had died trying to fulfill his dream. If he had walked away from his adventure like Krakauer, people would have praised him rather than ridicule. So I asked the question, "How does Krakauer 's life parallel Chris McCandlesses?"…

    • 1367 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you ever heard of the urban legend “Bloody Mary”, where you stand in the bathroom with the lights off and the room completely dark and chant “Bloody Mary” 13 times in the mirror a woman will appear and kill you. In the article of “How Urban Legends Work” by Tom Harris, Mr. Harris gives us various examples of different urban legends. Exactly what is an Urban Legend? Urban legends are popular stories that are alleged to be true and are passed from person to person by word of mouth or written communication. In the article “How Does Urban Legends work” by Tom Harris, he states that an urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth that reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I think that there are different types of rumors. Rumors could be life changing or just a trap. I also think rumors are very important. Rumors could prepare people for upcoming events in their life. I also agree with Difonzo when he said that rumors are very prevalent. I feel like rumors spread extremely fast. All you have to do is share it with one big mouth person and the whole world knows. I strongly agree with Difonzo’s claims dealing with…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Updike Rumor Analysis

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Page

    Updike did an incredible job of creating a rumor that was able to spread. The rumor met the criteria Knapp stated for us. Knapp classified rumors and also discussed what makes a great rumor. It is easy to see why Updike’s rumor about Frank was able to spread among their community fast but also why they felt that “all” of New York City knew his secret. Rumor that is deceitful spreads a lot easier then a harmless rumor. We learn from Updike that a rumor can cause confusion with oneself but also it can tear relationships apart. In Frank’s case, the self-confusion he is left with is much worse.…

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Location can be an appeal to most people. It contributes to shaping the way one thinks, performs, and even speaks. When Wes moved to The Bronx, New York from Manhattan, he suddenly comes across the realization that: “Everything about The Bronx was different from downtown Manhattan, more intense and potent; even the name of the street we walked down- Gun Hill Road- suggested blood sport” (48). His comparison of the street name with a “blood sport” symbolizes the acts of violence that occur at his current location. Violence is what he sees. Therefore, violence is what he gets accustomed to. This changes him as a person. It changes his views, his acts, and his beliefs. Another important aspect to location to view upon is living a lifestyle full of fear: fearing a location. The author uses violence and fear to describe the atmosphere created by people in The Bronx. “Justin knew the rules: Never look people in the eye. Don’t smile, it makes you look weak. If someone yells for you, particularly after dark, just keep walking. Always keep your money in your front pocket, never in your back pocket. Know where the drug dealers and smokers are at all times. Know where the cops are at all times. And if night fell too soon… Justin knew to run all the way home.”…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Intrigued by the stories, Hamilton shares stories about myths people used to, and probably still believe in.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Are ludicrous legends, or do they give us insights to the nature of our world?Some people think ludicrous legends are old fiction tellings, but they give us insight to the nature of the world. Myths are fiction, but they have lessons for us to learn. Not all myths have well being lessons, but we should pay attention to what they are trying to tell us in the story. Consequently the story “The Wooden People,” give me good examples for my answering.…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kidney Heist Myths

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One of the most unbelievable urban legends that I remember was The Kidney Heist. One of my favorite things to do is searching creepy stories or news and share with my mother. I remember When I read this article about the kidney heist, I was shocked. A traveling businessman was in a bar and was bought drinks by a stranger. He woke up in a tub covered in ice, and couldn't remember what happen the night before. Then he recognized that his kidney was being removed, the strangers steal his kidney to sell on the black market for transplants.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    If fear, quizzical characters, and death all have something in common, it is that they are all present in each of the following short stories: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart”, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “The Ghost in the Mill”, and Samuel Clemens’ “Cannibalism in the Cars”. Each story has a unique and thrilling plot, with diverse characters, from the maniacs in “The Tell Tale Heart” and “Cannibalism in the Cars” to the simple storyteller in “The Ghost in the Mill”. Tones differ quite a bit in each; however narration is almost the same as each short story is being narrated by someone recalling the past.…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Tell-Tale Heart

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Our versions of reality are disrupted in “The Tell-Tale Heart” as we might identify with it in many ways we do not acknowledge. Something flickers our inquisitiveness and compels us to follow the narrator through the disturbing labyrinth of his mind. The reader is also able to further question the narrator’s actions in a psychological aspect and possibly see the collapse of the human mind and how paranoia and insanity work in close cooperation.…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Foundations of Mythology

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Playing in the woods as a young boy with my two older sisters they would employ the boogey man scare, I would run home scared out of my wits, cry to mommy to save me and she would tell me “It’s just a myth, there is no such thing as the Boogey man” so I learned that a myth was what we called the story liars told. I live in this world of 2011, knowledge and facts are a way of life and I find myself encountering myths of a different nature, Applebee’s giving away free food, Apple giving away free products just copy and re-post. Seems if a story is documented in the least a scientists may be more likely to entertain and research the ideas unexplained in the story. However I think the best way to approach a myth is with an open but not naive’ mind.…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Legend on the Net

    • 1972 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In conclusion, we can say that urban legends have found their place in nearly all kinds of media. This may…

    • 1972 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Myth Vs Greek Mythology

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to Barthes (2015), a myth is identified as a classification of stories in narrative form that seek to explain the foundation of values and beliefs adopted by different cultures. Myths often present such stories in an imaginative format as they are based on the supernatural aspect as an attempt to explain natural phenomena and humanity. Therefore, a statement like ‘it’s a myth’ may imply that the subject in question is founded on unjustifiable basis and often adopting an imaginary angle to the story, as an attempt to explain the phenomenon in question.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics