My OperaUrban Legends
Friday, December 18, 2009 11:43:12 AM
An urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale, more properly a "'contemporary legend'" is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used to mean something akin to an "apocryphal story." Like all folklore, contemporary legends are not necessarily false, but they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time.
Despite its name, a typical urban legend does not usually originate in an urban setting. The term is simply used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore in preindustrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the term "contemporary legend".
Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by e-mail. People frequently allege that such tales happened to a "friend of a friend"—so often, in fact, that "friend of a friend," ("FOAF") has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story.
Some urban legends have passed through the years with only minor changes to suit regional variations. One example is the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. More recent legends tend to reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people ambushed, anesthetized, and waking up minus one kidney, which was surgically removed for transplantation (a story which folklorists refer to as "The Kidney Heist".)
Here below are some urban legends stories...
1.Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Light?
I heard about a girl who went back to her dorm room late one night to get her books before heading to her boyfriend's room for the night. She entered but did not turn on the light, knowing that her roommate was sleeping. She stumbled around the room in the dark for several minutes, gathering books, clothes, toothbrush, etc. before finally leaving. The next day, she came back to her room to find it surrounded by police. They asked if she lived there and she said yes. They took her into her room, and there, written in blood on the wall, were the words, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" Her roommate was being murdered while she was getting her things.
2.Hookman's Tomb
The cemetery is believed by many to be haunted. Some have claimed that photographs taken there show ectoplasmic mist and other strange phenomenon associated with psychic photography. An urban legend associated with the cemetery claims that it is haunted by a spirit known as the Hookman. There are three different versions of the Hookman legend. They are as follows:
* The cemetery caretaker (who had a hook in place of a hand) murdered a young boy when he stayed in the cemetery after dark. The boy was found impaled and dangling from a large hook attached to a tree the next day.
* A man with the last name "Hookman" was wrongfully accused of a crime and hanged from a tree at the site.
* A young couple parked by the cemetery one night. When the girl thought she heard something outside, the boyfriend got out of the car to investigate. When he didn't come back, the girlfriend got out of the car only to find her boyfriend's dead body hanging from a hook in the trees.
All three versions of the story have been circulating in the area since the 1950s. There is also a local legend about a house that once stood near the cemetery. Supposedly there was a family who lived in the house, and the young son murdered the whole family and then himself. Records at the Derby Historical Society show that a small caretaker's house once existed on the grounds of the cemetery; this may have inspired some of the legends.[1] The third version of the story is probably just another version of the classic Hookman legend that originated in Maine in the 1920s. Regardless of whether the legends are true or not, Connecticut demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren believe that the cemetery is filled with demonic evil.
3.Killer In Backseat
One night a woman went out for drinks with her girlfriends. She left the bar fairly late at night, got in her car and onto the deserted highway. She noticed a lone pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror, approaching at a pace just slightly quicker than hers. As the car pulled up behind her she glanced and saw the turn signal on — the car was going to pass — when suddenly it swerved back behind her, pulled up dangerously close to her tailgate and the brights flashed. Now she was getting nervous. The lights dimmed for a moment and then the brights came back on and the car behind her surged forward. The frightened woman struggled to keep her eyes on the road and fought the urge to look at the car behind her. Finally, her exit approached but the car continued to follow, flashing the brights periodically. Through every stoplight and turn, it followed her until she pulled into her driveway. She figured her only hope was to make a mad dash into the house and call the police. As she flew from the car, so did the driver of the car behind her — and he screamed, "Lock the door and call the police! Call 911!" When the police arrived the horrible truth was finally revealed to the woman. The man in the car had been trying to save her. As he pulled up behind her and his headlights illuminated her car, he saw the silhouette of a man with a butcher knife rising up from the back seat to stab her, so he flashed his brights and the figure crouched back down. The moral of the story: Always check the back seat!
Despite its name, a typical urban legend does not usually originate in an urban setting. The term is simply used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore in preindustrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the term "contemporary legend".
Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by e-mail. People frequently allege that such tales happened to a "friend of a friend"—so often, in fact, that "friend of a friend," ("FOAF") has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story.
Some urban legends have passed through the years with only minor changes to suit regional variations. One example is the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. More recent legends tend to reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people ambushed, anesthetized, and waking up minus one kidney, which was surgically removed for transplantation (a story which folklorists refer to as "The Kidney Heist".)
Here below are some urban legends stories...
1.Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Light?
I heard about a girl who went back to her dorm room late one night to get her books before heading to her boyfriend's room for the night. She entered but did not turn on the light, knowing that her roommate was sleeping. She stumbled around the room in the dark for several minutes, gathering books, clothes, toothbrush, etc. before finally leaving. The next day, she came back to her room to find it surrounded by police. They asked if she lived there and she said yes. They took her into her room, and there, written in blood on the wall, were the words, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" Her roommate was being murdered while she was getting her things.
2.Hookman's Tomb
The cemetery is believed by many to be haunted. Some have claimed that photographs taken there show ectoplasmic mist and other strange phenomenon associated with psychic photography. An urban legend associated with the cemetery claims that it is haunted by a spirit known as the Hookman. There are three different versions of the Hookman legend. They are as follows:
* The cemetery caretaker (who had a hook in place of a hand) murdered a young boy when he stayed in the cemetery after dark. The boy was found impaled and dangling from a large hook attached to a tree the next day.
* A man with the last name "Hookman" was wrongfully accused of a crime and hanged from a tree at the site.
* A young couple parked by the cemetery one night. When the girl thought she heard something outside, the boyfriend got out of the car to investigate. When he didn't come back, the girlfriend got out of the car only to find her boyfriend's dead body hanging from a hook in the trees.
All three versions of the story have been circulating in the area since the 1950s. There is also a local legend about a house that once stood near the cemetery. Supposedly there was a family who lived in the house, and the young son murdered the whole family and then himself. Records at the Derby Historical Society show that a small caretaker's house once existed on the grounds of the cemetery; this may have inspired some of the legends.[1] The third version of the story is probably just another version of the classic Hookman legend that originated in Maine in the 1920s. Regardless of whether the legends are true or not, Connecticut demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren believe that the cemetery is filled with demonic evil.
3.Killer In Backseat
One night a woman went out for drinks with her girlfriends. She left the bar fairly late at night, got in her car and onto the deserted highway. She noticed a lone pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror, approaching at a pace just slightly quicker than hers. As the car pulled up behind her she glanced and saw the turn signal on — the car was going to pass — when suddenly it swerved back behind her, pulled up dangerously close to her tailgate and the brights flashed. Now she was getting nervous. The lights dimmed for a moment and then the brights came back on and the car behind her surged forward. The frightened woman struggled to keep her eyes on the road and fought the urge to look at the car behind her. Finally, her exit approached but the car continued to follow, flashing the brights periodically. Through every stoplight and turn, it followed her until she pulled into her driveway. She figured her only hope was to make a mad dash into the house and call the police. As she flew from the car, so did the driver of the car behind her — and he screamed, "Lock the door and call the police! Call 911!" When the police arrived the horrible truth was finally revealed to the woman. The man in the car had been trying to save her. As he pulled up behind her and his headlights illuminated her car, he saw the silhouette of a man with a butcher knife rising up from the back seat to stab her, so he flashed his brights and the figure crouched back down. The moral of the story: Always check the back seat!
