Urban Legend Essay

469 Words2 Pages
How Urban Legends Work. The Author Tom Harris talks about one specific Urban Legend that has been passed down possibly thousands of times over the course of 10 years and how the story possibly has varied over that time. He talks of how one man meets a woman at a bar, hits it off well with her then wakes up in a tub full of ice with a note to call 911 if he wants to live. Only to realize one of his kidneys have been removed. This has been told numerous times with people adding their own input, but there has been no evidence that this ever occurred. Author states that this is a quintessential urban legend that has been passed on as the truth. What is an Urban Legend? An Urban Legend can play into the fears of people psyche and interests. Urban legends are often false, but not always. Most often they cannot be traced back to its source. Urban Legends sometime have a deep meaning to them and sometimes they are just amusing stories. Friend of a Friend Some Urban Legends are so believable to some and want to pass it on and often add their own interpretation. A lot of times a friend will hear it from another friend who then tells her friend about the story. The friend hearing the story trusts her friend so why wouldn’t she take it for face value. Almost everyone can be duped into believing an Urban Legend because few people distrust everything and everybody. Psychologically, we need to trust people, just for our own sense of comfort. If you trust somebody you will believe almost anything they tell you. Urban Legends are believable to some due to the fact that a friend they trust tells them in a way that they believe it to be true. What Do Legends Mean? On the internet and all over the world, people are interested in the role of urban legends in modern society. Folk-lorists argue that the legends embody basic human fears that provide a cautionary
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