How Urban Legends Work
A Summary of “How Urban Legends Work” Have you ever heard of the urban legend “Bloody Mary”, where you stand in the bathroom with the lights off and the room completely dark and chant “Bloody Mary” 13 times in the mirror a woman will appear and kill you. In the article of “How Urban Legends Work” by Tom Harris, Mr. Harris gives us various examples of different urban legends. Exactly what is an Urban Legend? Urban legends are popular stories that are alleged to be true and are passed from person to person by word of mouth or written communication.
In the article “How Does Urban Legends work” by Tom Harris, he states that an urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth that reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to person. Are urban legends true or false? Tom Harris stated in his article that most urban legends are not real. In the article Tom Harris gives us examples of different urban legends that have no moral relation to them but they are told and written for amusement.
Urban legends are believed by a lot of people only because they don’t take the time to look into things themselves. What makes them so real? Tom Harris stated in his article that some details in an urban legend can really make them seem real and make you believe them. Urban legends have been around for decades but within the last 10 years they have taken the internet by storm. I receive forwards daily from different people that have my email address and some of them always say to forward them on.
I never forward because either it’s an urban legend or a chain letter. If I not sure about it I always go back and do the research on it myself. Urban legends come in different forms it’s simply up to you to decide whether they are real or fake. Telling urban legends are just like playing the game telephone, the more you pass it on the story is going to get twisted up somewhere. A few things will be added and some will be taken away from the story. It’s up to you to dissect the story and research it for yourself.
