The family wrapped her up in a tarp or rug and tied her to the roof of their car. Before there were cell phones, a grandmother was said to have passed away somewhere inconvenient. Would you buy a new BMW convertible for $500, for example, if this was the case? The Stolen Grandmother is told less often nowadays, but was once a well documented Urban Legend. The Death Car is the story about an expensive car being sold unreasonably cheap because someone has died in it. Dorsen said in Our Living Traditions that, “Urban Legends deal with the ghostly hitchhiker, the stolen grandmother, and the death car.” Published in 1968, this is likely the first modern definition of Urban Legend. Urban Legends would more aptly be called contemporary legends. “ Urban Legend” was also used in a 1925 New York Times article, but in an unrelated context. It was used in a 1931 Vanity Fair article along with “Folklore of the Metropolis” to describe odd, fictitious stories. Urban Legend, as a term, is believed to have emerged out of America. The definition can be confusing, as an Urban Legend does not need to take place in a city and can have a rural setting. The stories will often be similar to one another, but will have contrasting details such as where, when, and to who the events happened to. ![]() ![]() This is often determined because the same events are said to have happened in several different geographical areas to more than one person. The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Jan Harold Brunvand defines an Urban Legend as a “realistic story concerning recent events (or alleged events) with an ironic or supernatural twist.” The teller of the story believes the legend is true, and that the events actually happened to someone just out of reach–to a friend of a friend, for example, or to somebody’s relative.Īn Urban Legend is not believed to be true by academics or investigators.
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