Urban Legends: Fact or FictionWhat is an urban legend? Well an urban legend is a strange story that is passed from one person to another and usually has not basis of truth to it. But all the things in an urban legend can happen but is unlikely to ever have happened. They are usually told around campfires late at night and in college dorms and of course on computers. Everyone has heard an urban legend at one time or another and is passed from generation to generation. One of the oldest best-known urban legends is that of the “Man with the Hook Arm”. This story takes place in many areas of the country but always has the same format. A young couple is warned about parking in secluded areas because of a man that is terrorizing couples with his hook arm. In the story the girl hears a sound and the boyfriend drives away and later finds a hook hanging from the door handle of the car. Or in some stories the boyfriend gets out to investigates and is killed by the hookman. Of course there is no truth to any of this as there are no newspaper reports or police department reports to confirm this story. There are many stories that are circulated through out college campuses about murders that prowl about looking for their next victim. One such is of that of two college roommates that have a signal about over night guests. They tie a scarf on the door to signal to the other one to sleep on the couch that night. One night one roommate comes home and is so tired that even though the scarf is on the door she goes in and climbs right into her bed. She does hear a lot of rustling and moaning coming from the other bed but she crashed sound asleep. In the morning she finds the room full of blood and her roommate murdered and a note on her lamp that read “ aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?”. Once again there are no police reports to confirm that this actually took place. Still another much repeated story is of the kidney removal story. That too varies from area to area and from person to person. Sometimes it’s a traveling salesman that is looking for some comfort from a prostitute and wakes up in a tub full of ice and blood with a note telling him to call 911 to save his life. Later at the hospital he is told that his kidney has been cut from his body while he slept. The National Kidney foundation has set up a special hot line to report anyone stealing a kidney in this manner to date no one has called that number. Urban legends can involve all sorts of people, places, things and events but the original source is almost impossible to track down. As the stories are passed down from generation to generation or person to person things are added and changed to suit the teller’s interest. Many urban legends have more than one version and most disappear as fast as they get started but some do stay around for generations. |
