DOCSLIB.ORG

Download the Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends And

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download the Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends And THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER: AMERICAN URBAN LEGENDS AND THEIR MEANINGS DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK Jan Harold Brunvand | 224 pages | 17 Dec 2003 | WW Norton & Co | 9780393951691 | English | New York, United States Vanishing hitchhiker It The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban legends and their Meanings Jan Harold Brunvand This was an enjoyable and informative book, I have always been interested in the phenomena of urban Legends the mechanism of how they occur and spread and the reason for them. Rating details. Glossary of Terms in Urban The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings Study. The culmination of twenty years of collection and research, this book is a must-have for urban legend lovers. He may be driving his own car, an wheeler, or a taxi, but none of this is key to the telling of the legend. Brunvand has arranged these stories and their backgrounds into chapters dealing with various subject matters, the first of which is "The The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings Automobile Legends", a subclass of which is the titular story which has, believe it or not, been around since the turn of the twentieth century, with the place where it supposedly happened and the method of transportation involved changing and updating itself as technology marched steadily forward from horseback to carriage to automobile. Brunvand is the author of several well-known books on the topic of urban legends, starting with The Vanishing Hitchhiker in A literary retelling of various urban legends up until when this was published. Add to Basket. That's because there were limited Bigfoot stories, and much more about the real lives of indigenous individuals who grew up believing in Sasquatch. I wqs hoping there would be more explanation of symbolism and morales, but this is mostly retellings, regional variants, and history. New Hardcover Quantity Available: 1. Nevertheless I enjoyed a lot of the analysis about why certain character types tend to pop up in these stories like necking teenagers and what it says about our values and fears. My question was, what, especially in this economy, does one do with a degree in folklore? To a modern audience, a lot of these are. Before his work, folk tales were associated with ancient times or rural cultures; Brunvand's breakthrough was to take concepts developed in the academic study of traditional folktales and apply them to stori Jan Harold Brunvand born is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah in the United States, best known for spreading the concept of the urban legend, or modern folklore. Feb 11, SundayAtDusk rated it liked it Shelves: psychologynonfiction-general. They can be based on something which really happened, or something which The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings have happened, but regardless, their spread and retelling takes on a life and purpose of its own. One of my favorite subjects is folklore, of which, urban legends are subset of. You can typically find links there, and if one …more Compilations of the best stories from reddit. In general the answer appears to be that they address societal anxiety or concerns. A tale about a famous hotel, a red velvet cake, and an outrageous price tag seems hopelessly antiquated now. Convert currency. Finally there are the stories which hinge on the idea of karma, reciprocity, and balancing the scales of justice such as "The Dead Cat in the Package" where a pack snatcher steals the wrong box; "The Red Velvet Cake" where a woman receives both the recipe she requested and an enormous bill accompanying it and decides to submit the recipe to the local paper or pass it out to everyone she meets to get back at the deceitful restaurant, hotel, or chef which sent it originally; and "The Runaway Grandmother" where car thieves wind up stealing not just the family car but the corpse of a recently-deceased relative inside or atop it as well. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings Inventory think I'm still looking for another book on this topic. Collecting and Studying Urban Legends. But I feel it had too The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings simple recounting of urban legends, and not enough analysis of what they tell about social insecurities Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Four stars for a good chunk of entertainment and great academics, three stars if you only want stories. New Quantity Available: 1. This was a bit disappointing. On the food contaminants one Brunvand's work is required reading for anyone with an interest in horror, and even if you consider yourself familiar with urban legends, I guarantee there's stuff in here you haven't heard before. Modern cases often involve conflicting accounts that may well be the result of exaggerationillusion or hoaxing. Buy New Learn more about this copy. More information about this seller Contact this seller. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings Condition: New. The Journal of American Folklore. I was born inso I recognize some of the stories from when I was in school. He knows how to keep you interested and he knows how to explain thing to a casual reader like me. Showing I think Brunvand is a good teacher. Norton Company first published The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings Instead the The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings is mostly about tracing the distribution patterns of urban legends that were popular from about There is a similar story which is about The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings travellers sitting next to each other on a train normally a man and a woman. Skeptic Joe Nickellwho investigated two alleged cases, concluded that there is no reliable evidence for vanishing hitchhikers. I saw it. He manages to dig up old west variants of the titular ghostly traveler. The Vanishing Hitchhiker was Professor Brunvand's first popular book on urban legends, and it remains a classic. Book Description Norton, From killers in the back seat to babies in the oven, acts of depravity to acts of desperation, once you recognize an urban legend for what it is, you'll see bits and pieces of them cropping up everywhere, and not just teen slasher flicks. The authors felt that this was a case of Version 'B' glimpsed in transition to Version 'D'. Thank God that we have people who study and preserve folklore, philsophy, english, semantics etc. Readers also enjoyed. No trivia or quizzes yet. Which is why there isn't so much focus on that side of things. Adventures in Paranormal Investigation. Retrieved 30 December You know Mar 19, Joe Wright rated it did not like it. They then have a conversation about ghosts, and the second person asks the first if they believe in ghosts or have ever seen one, to which the first person says that they have never seen or believed in ghosts at all. I think she believed they were the truth, too Read more I guess I'll never know the answer to that. This book is so exactly what I want out of a study of urban legends that I kind of think I read it at some point in the past and have since been comparing all other urban legend books to it. The rest of the book attempts to analyze these rumors, false stories and just plain amusements to explain parts of our society, which is not only dull it is sometimes silly each chapter has at least 2 pages of footnotes. Ernest The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. I specifically made sure that I didn't read this book immediately before going to bed because I was afraid of the dreams my subconscious would bring up. Professor Brunvand is one of the best-known and most prolific experts on the topic of American urban legends. Views Read Edit View history. Well, she eventually dared to get up and turn off the taps, but the taps weren't dripping, it was the blood from The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings severed head of her little dog. But somehow we must have heard t My bookcrossing review: I really enjoyed this book. By far this is the most important chapter of the book, as this is then the material the reader will use on the majority of the rest of the book. She didn't say anything after that but just turned to watch out the window. Other Editions 7. Back Cover. Has anyone published a similar book for 21st century creepypasta? Refresh and try again. Its age, published early in the 80s, shows in social commentary that is part of it. Shelves: read-in-college. Enlarge cover. Jan Harold Brunvand. The legends in this book are good though the analysis is a bit lacking. This version, related by a teenager in Toronto back inis archetypal of the tale. Table of Contents for: The vanishing hitchhiker : American urba Urban legends. Completely going on a side route, but if anyone is curious to the medieval vampire belief, how it could come to be and why it is cobblers, I can't recommend enough this book: Paul Barber - Vampires, Burial The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings Death. It The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban legends and their Meanings Jan Harold Brunvand This was an enjoyable and informative book, I have always been interested in the phenomena of urban Legends the mechanism of how they occur and spread and the reason for them.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Urban Legends
    Jestice/English 1 Urban Legends 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. As with all folklore and mythology, the designation suggests nothing about the story's veracity, but merely that it is in circulation, exhibits variation over time, and carries some significance that motivates the community in preserving and propagating it. Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily originate in an urban area. Rather, the term is used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore in pre-industrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the term contemporary legend. Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by e-mail. People frequently allege that such tales happened to a "friend of a friend"; so often, in fact, that "friend of a friend has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story. Some urban legends have passed through the years with only minor changes to suit regional variations. One example is the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. More recent legends tend to reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people ambushed, anesthetized, and waking up minus one kidney, which was surgically removed for transplantation--"The Kidney Heist." The term “urban legend,” as used by folklorists, has appeared in print since at least 1968. Jan Harold Brunvand, professor of English at the University of Utah, introduced the term to the general public in a series of popular books published beginning in 1981.
    [Show full text]
  • Afsnet.Org 2014 American Folklore Society Officers
    American Folklore Society Keeping Folklorists Connected Folklore at the Crossroads 2014 Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts 2014 Annual Meeting Committee Executive Board Brent Björkman (Kentucky Folklife Program, Western The annual meeting would be impossible without these Kentucky University) volunteers: they put together sessions, arrange lectures, Maria Carmen Gambliel (Idaho Commission on the special events, and tours, and carefully weigh all proposals Arts, retired) to build a strong program. Maggie Holtzberg (Massachusetts Cultural Council) Margaret Kruesi (American Folklife Center) Local Planning Committee Coordinator David Todd Lawrence (University of St. Thomas) Laura Marcus Green (independent) Solimar Otero (Louisiana State University) Pravina Shukla (Indiana University) Local Planning Committee Diane Tye (Memorial University of Newfoundland) Marsha Bol (Museum of International Folk Art) Carolyn E. Ware (Louisiana State University) Antonio Chavarria (Museum of Indian Arts and Culture) Juwen Zhang (Willamette University) Nicolasa Chavez (Museum of International Folk Art) Felicia Katz-Harris (Museum of International Folk Art) Melanie LaBorwit (New Mexico Department of American Folklore Society Staff Cultural Affairs) Kathleen Manley (University of Northern Colorado, emerita) Executive Director Claude Stephenson (New Mexico State Folklorist, emeritus) Timothy Lloyd Suzanne Seriff (Museum of International Folk Art) [email protected] Steve Green (Western Folklife Center) 614/292-3375 Review Committee Coordinators Associate Director David A. Allred (Snow College) Lorraine Walsh Cashman Aunya P. R. Byrd (Lone Star College System) [email protected] Nancy C. McEntire (Indiana State University) 614/292-2199 Elaine Thatcher (Heritage Arts Services) Administrative and Editorial Associate Review Committee Readers Rob Vanscoyoc Carolyn Sue Allemand (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor) [email protected] Nelda R.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Legend
    Urban legend “Urban tale” redirects here. For the rock band, see Urban 1 Origins and structure Tales. For other uses, see Urban legend (disambiguation). An urban legend, popular legend, urban myth, ur- The term “urban legend,” as used by folklorists, has ap- peared in print since at least 1968.[3] Jan Harold Brun- vand, professor of English at the University of Utah, in- troduced the term to the general public in a series of popular books published beginning in 1981. Brunvand used his collection of legends, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings (1981) to make two points: first, that legends and folklore do not occur exclusively in so-called primitive or traditional so- cieties, and second, that one could learn much about ur- ban and modern culture by studying such tales. 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 hu- [4] The "Bunny Man Bridge”, a legend tripping destination. mor. Often they serve as cautionary tales. Some urban legends are morality tales that depict someone, usually a child, acting in a disagreeable manner, only to wind up in trouble, hurt, or dead.[4] ban tale, or contemporary legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of fictional stories, often with macabre elements deeply rooted in local popular culture. These legends can be used for entertainment purposes, as well 2 Propagation and belief as for semi-serious explanations for random events such as disappearances and strange objects. As Jan Brunvand points out[5] antecedent legends includ- Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily ing some of the motifs, themes and symbolism of these originate in an urban area.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Legends: How They Start and Why They Persist Heather Whipps Date: 27 August 2006 Time: 11:23 AM ET Inshare
    Article: Urban Legends: How They Start and Why They Persist Heather Whipps Date: 27 August 2006 Time: 11:23 AM ET inShare My mother has this friend whose daughter got sick from rat pee on her soda can. Sound familiar? You've might have heard the same story. Except that it was someone's boyfriend's brother—or friend's cousin, or doctor's travel agent—who became ill. Either our food inspection system has gone downhill fast, or the story is an urban legend. Urban legends are an important part of popular culture, experts say, offering insight into our fears and the state of society. They're also good fun. "Life is so much more interesting with monsters in it," says Mikel J. Koven, a folklorist at the University of Wales. "It's the same with these legends. They're just good stories." The making of a legend Like the variations in the stories themselves, folklorists all have their own definitions of what makes an urban legend. Academics have always disagreed on whether urban legends are, by definition, too fantastic to be true or at least partly based on fact, said Koven, who tends to believe the latter. Urban legends aren't easily verifiable, by nature. Usually passed on by word of mouth or—more commonly today—in e-mail form, they often invoke the famous "it happened to friend of a friend" (or FOAF) clause that makes finding the original source of the story virtually impossible. Discovering the truth behind urban legends, however, isn't as important as the lessons they impart, experts say.
    [Show full text]
  • Both Sides of Our Mouths: Contemporary Legends As a Means of Dissent in a Time of Global Modernism
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Communication Communication 2013 Both Sides of Our Mouths: Contemporary Legends as a Means of Dissent in a Time of Global Modernism Gerald D. Abbott Jr. University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Abbott, Gerald D. Jr., "Both Sides of Our Mouths: Contemporary Legends as a Means of Dissent in a Time of Global Modernism" (2013). Theses and Dissertations--Communication. 11. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/comm_etds/11 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Communication by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained and attached hereto needed written permission statements(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine). I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless a preapproved embargo applies.
    [Show full text]
  • Folklore Around the World: an Annotated Bibliography of Folk Literature
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 371 391 CS 214 395 AUTHOR Eastman, Kristen Paletti, Ed.; Omura, Grace Inokuchi, Ed. TITLE Folklore around the World: An Annotated Bibliography of Folk Literature. INSTITUTION Hawaii Univ., Manoa. School of Library and Information Studies. PUB DATE 94 NOTE 222p.; For earlier related bibliographies, see ED 354 532, ED 309 779, and ED 286 531. PUB TYPE Reference Materials Bibliographies (131) Collected Works - General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS American Indian Culture; Annotated Bibliographies; Cultural Enrichment; Elementary Secondary Education; *Folk Culture; Foreign Countries; Global Approach; Oral Tradition IDENTIFIERS *Folktales; Japanese Culture; Jewish Culture; Multicultural Materials; Native Americans; Pacific Islands Literature; *Traditional Oral Literature ABSTRACT Fourth in a series, the annotated bibliographies in this collection were compiled by students in the Traditional Literature and Oral Narration class at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. These bibliographies are designed to make information about specific topics in traditional literature easily accessible to teachers and librarians. Each of the 11 annotated bibliographies in the collection contains an introduction to the particular topic and an annotated bibliography of both scholarly works .:nd tales retold for young people. Annotated bibliographies in the collection are: (1) "Christmas Gift Givers" (Kristen Paletti Eastman); (2) "Iktomi, the Sioux Trickster" (Grace Omura); (3) "The Roles of Coyote in Selected Native American Cultures" (Catherine Thomas); (4) "Hi'iaka the Hero" (Noenoe Moan); (5) "Kahalaopuna, the Rainbow Maiden of Manoa Valley" (Lei Tan);(6) "Urban Legends of Hawaii" (Sandy Pak);(7) "Elijah the Prophet in Jewish Folk Literature" (Karen Zinn Heau);(8) "The Kappa" (Judi R.
    [Show full text]
  • REVIEW ESSAYS the Mexican Pet: More "New" Urban Legends and Some Old Favorites. by Jan Harold Brunvand. New York: W. W
    REVIEW ESSAYS The Mexican Pet: More "New" Urban Legends and Some Old Favorites. By Jan Harold Brunvand. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. Pp. 221, Index, illustrations. $13.95 cloth. Reviewed by Thomas Walker. "The scholar may hesitate," wrote the hagiog- rapher Hippolyte Delehaye in his study of the saint's legend, "but the legend knows nothing of hesitation." The same may be said of what has come to be called the modern urban legend. In- deed, here we meet with the same dispatch, accelerated, however, by the modern mass media. The urban legend is rife in modern American life, and Brunvand has cultivated a flair for tracking it down, wherever its path, whatever its disguise. In his new book in the series that began with The Vanishing Hitchhiker (1981) and continued with The Choking Doberman (1984), he again picks up the scent of legend and uncovers, as the subtitle advertizes, "new" urban legends and some old favorites. The metaphor of the hunt or of the sleuth implied in the phrase "scent of legend rather than truth" (used in The Choking Doberman) is informative, especially as Brunvand treads ter- ritory familiar to the popular journalist, for we still lack a definition for the genre. One distinguishing feature, and one that Brunvand repeatedly emphasizes, thereby setting himself apart from the objectives of the journalist, is that the legend need not be true or verifiable, despite what is often claimed of it or believed; rather, it need only be "plausible" (Brunvand's judgement, accounting for a range of belief, or disbelief, in a legend's veracity), and the con- clusion to The Mexican Pet asserts such: "Rule 1: The truth never stands in the way of a good story" (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Slicing Through Spooky, but Fake, Urban Legends LET's GET REAL SCARY STORIES ARE COMMON TRICKS
    Slicing through spooky, but fake, urban legends LET'S GET REAL SCARY STORIES A... Page 1 of 4 Print this Page Return to story Slicing through spooky, but fake, urban legends LET'S GET REAL SCARY STORIES ARE COMMON TRICKS October 26, 2007 12:36 am BY EDIE GROSS BY EDIE GROSS OK, so the craziest thing happened to a guy my hairdresser's husband works with. He was in South America on business and decided to unwind in the hotel bar after a long day of meetings. He remembers sipping a mojito at the bar while chatting with some locals--and then waking up the next morning in his hotel bathtub covered in ice. For decades, urban legends have paired Halloween treats and razor blades, needles, He called the authorities, who rushed him to a local hospital. And poison. They prey on common there, he found out one of his kidneys had been removed! 'stranger danger' fears. Can you believe that? Well, sort of. That tiny bit of believability--after all, surgeons remove kidneys all the time, albeit usually with the donor's permission--is what makes the tale an enduring urban legend. And a scary one at that. "The things that make urban legends last, it's the emotional impact and the plausibility," said David Emery, who writes about urban myths for About.com. "If it's just believable enough, people buy into it, and if people buy into it, they're likely to tell it." The kidney-theft myth has been circulating on the Internet for at least 10 years, but has probably been around longer than that.
    [Show full text]
  • Jan Harold Brunvand Papers, 1966
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt087009gc No online items Finding Aid for the Jan Harold Brunvand Papers, 1966 Processed by Brooke Whiting; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé © 2003 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid for the Jan Harold 472 1 Brunvand Papers, 1966 Finding Aid for the Jan Harold Brunvand Papers, 1966 Collection number: 472 UCLA Library Special Collections UCLA Library Special Collections staff Los Angeles, CA Processed by: Brooke Whiting, July 1970 Encoded by: Caroline Cubé Online finding aid edited by: Josh Fiala, October 2003 © 2003 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Jan Harold Brunvand Papers, Date (inclusive): 1966 Collection number: 472 Creator: Brunvand, Jan Harold Extent: 1 box (0.5 linear ft.) Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections. Los Angeles, California 90095-1575 Abstract: Jan Harold Brunvand (1933- ) was a professor of English and folklore. He taught at the University of Idaho, Moscow (1961-65), Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (1965-66), and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. The collection consists of typescript and galleys of “A guide to folklore in America,” the working title for The study of American folklore (1968) edited by Brunvand and related correspondence. Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Language: English. Restrictions on Use and Reproduction Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections.
    [Show full text]
  • Haunting the Bathroom
    Hugvísindasvi! Haunting the Bathroom Vengeful Ghosts in Japanese Contemporary Legegnds Ritger! til BA-prófs í Austur-Asíufræ!um Elísabet Kristjana Grétarsdóttir Maí 2012 Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvi! Austur-Asíufræ!i Haunting the Bathrooms Vengeful Ghosts in Japanese Contemporary Legends Ritger! til BA-prófs í Austur-Asíufræ!um Elísabet Kristjana Grétarsdóttir Kt.: 240985-4119 Lei!beinandi: Gunnella "orgeirsdóttir Maí 2012 Abstract The main focus of this essay is on 4 contemporary legends which all have the same subject; Vengeful ghosts in Japanese contemporary legends. The author’s interest in this particular subject was awoken while studying in Fukuoka Japan, where these legends seemed to be a popular interest amongst the public, or at least they thought it to be a good idea to share these legends with a foreigner. In this essay a general introduction is given to the term contemporary legends is explained with the help of Dr. Jan Harold Brunand who is a known folklorist and has written a number of books on the subject. Then the vengeful Japanese ghosts are introduced into the essay, their appearance and behavior, followed by the four legends chosen, Toire no Hanako-san, Aka Manto, Teke-Teke or Kashima Reiko and Kuchisake- Onna. Samples of western stories are also mentioned as to show that there are similar stories from other places of the world. As well as written research an online survey was conducted and shared with native Japanese where they were asked if they knew and believed in the four legends cited in this essay. Stories and believes of co-students and others in Japan were also taken into consideration.
    [Show full text]
  • The Vanishing Hitchhiker. American Urban Legends and Their Leanings
    The final essay in the collection, "The Preservation of History and Culture Among the Inui~tof Labrador Through Their Own and Contact Languages,l1 by F.W. Peacock, a Mor- avian missionary, is based upon the premise that "single words reveal and contain history within themselvesl' (p.92). While the article is interesting from a linguistic viewpoint, it really does not belong in a volume concerned with folk- lore and oral history. The papers presented in Folklore and Oral History are highly uneven in quality; several articles barely men- tion folklore, and one does not pertain to either field. The collection is valuable due to its inclusion of the Harris and Cosbey articles, and because it underscores the fact that while there is much room for cooperation between folklore and oral history, the basic treatises still remain to be written. The Vanishing Hitchhiker. American Urban Legends and their leanings. By Jan Harold Brunvand. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1981. Pp. xiv-208, glossary, appendix, index. $14.95 cloth. Reviewed by Peter Voorheis. When we encounter works whose every sentence and para- graph conveys its message after only one reading, we may suspect that the author is speaking not to us but to the rabble outside the ivory tower. The style and format of The Vanishing Hitchhiker does suggest that Jan Brunvand wishes his readership to extend beyond folklorists-- to scholars in other disciplines as well as to the society at large. All of the most widely known modern legends- the Hook, the Boyfriend's Death, etc., are represented, though for reasons of space he cannot render them the ex- haustive treatment we have become accustomed to for single- legend studies in Indiana Folklore and elsewhere.
    [Show full text]
  • Quais São Os Efeitos Psicológicos Das Lendas Urbanas No Imaginário Social?
    LENDAS URBANAS: QUAIS SÃO OS EFEITOS PSICOLÓGICOS DAS LENDAS URBANAS NO IMAGINÁRIO SOCIAL? Ágata Gabriela Gomes Silveira Giovana Porto Bellon Luiza Schmidt Mariana Passari Wolff "A vida é muito mais interessante com monstros nela – é o mesmo caso com essas lendas. Elas são só boas histórias”. (Mikel J. Koven) RESUMO: Uma lenda urbana é uma forma de folclore moderno. São histórias tidas como verdadeiras pela cultura popular. Emergem espontaneamente, espalhando-se de modo viral pelas vias oral ou escrita. Muitas vezes são compostas em determinado lugar e levadas a outros onde podem continuar se desenvolvendo e se modificando. Raramente as lendas urbanas são rastreáveis quanto ao seu local de origem. Pergunta-se então: por que elas se espalham com tanta facilidade? A mesma lenda pode ser interpretada de maneira diferente, dependendo do indivíduo. Um grupo de estudantes da Universidade de Durham, concluiu que nosso cérebro adaptou-se para lembrar e transmitir certas informações, relacionadas a sobrevivência e interação social, por isso essas histórias dizem respeito a fatos estranhos, humilhantes, bem-humorados, aterrorizantes, ou eventos sobrenaturais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: lendas, psicológico, folclore, contos. ABSTRACT: An urban legend is a form of modern folklore. They are stories alleged as true that emerge spontaneously spreading by viral mode (oral or written), many times composed in a certain place and taken to others where it can continue to develop and modify, so they are rarely traceable to a single source. The same legend can be interpreted in different ways, depending on the individual; we then question: why do they spread so easily? A group of students, from the University of Durham, concluded that our brain has adapted to remember and transmit certain information, related to survival and social interaction, which is why these stories talk about strange, humiliating, well-tempered, terrifying facts, or supernatural events.
    [Show full text]