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Many urban legends are framed as complete stories with plot and characters. The compelling appeal of a typical urban legend is its elements of mystery, horror, fear, or humor. Often they serve as cautionary tales. [5] Some urban legends are morality tales that depict someone acting in a disagreeable manner, only to wind up in trouble, hurt, or ...
The term ostension is also used by those who study folklore and urban legends to indicate real-life happenings that parallel the events told in pre-existing and well-established legends and lore. Semiotician Umberto Eco was the first to use the term to describe the way in which people communicate messages through miming actions, as by holding ...
An urban legend, myth, or tale is a modern genre of folklore. It often consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre, superstitions, ghosts, demons, cryptids, extraterrestrials, creepypasta, and other fear generating narrative elements. Urban legends are often rooted in local history and popular culture.
Whether it be a creepy ghost story in the form of a haunted road or vengeful spirit, or something a little harder to explain, like an extraterrestrial hotbed or a beastly Sasquatch, urban legends ...
The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings is a book intended to introduce the idea of urban legends to the general public. [ 43 ] [ 70 ] Included in the book are such chilling and humorous stories [ 71 ] as "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," [ 70 ] "The Economical Car," [ 43 ] "The Ghost Airliner," [ 43 ] The Girl with the ...
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, may include miracles. Legends ...
That meaning can, however, shift and morph; for example, the Halloween celebration of the 21st century is not the All Hallows' Eve of the Middle Ages and even gives rise to its own set of urban legends independent of the historical celebration; the cleansing rituals of Orthodox Judaism were originally good public health in a land with little ...
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true. Contents Top