Urban Legend Essay

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an urban legend is “an often lurid story or anecdote that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true.” Urban legends tend to have minimal evidence of where the story originally began making them seem more mysterious and eerie. With this being said a legends background can be assumed to be linked with a multitude of instances. This, of course, what makes it an urban legend. If a urban legend does not contain a some sort of mystery then it would be boring and bland. That is why these types of tales sometimes seem too far fetched or over exaggerated. One story that qualifies as an urban legend is “The Hook,”and this tale is the reason why some couples are afraid of letting their guard down in the middle of nowhere. “The Hook” is an urban legend
248). In other words the story was most likely made to scare coming of age adolescents, so that they can refrain from performing any kind of sexual act while they are out and about. This story was able to circulate in large populated region because of where the Chessman case took place. In Wilson’s article he discusses how the Chessman case originated in the Los Angeles area. This city can be described as a very densely populated area so it was able to spread amongst the city quick. Also, this being a media focused city, perhaps it can be assumed that with news coverage in this area that other parts of the country could have discovered this tale too. The reason this message was most likely being spread was because of the fact of who it pertained to. Parent’s would most likely tell their child to be careful and to beware of the the man with a hook. It also most likely gave the parents reassurance that their child would not tempted to get too involved with their significant other. If it were not for