Most urban legends tend to offer a moral lesson, Koven agreed, that is always interpreted differently depending on the individual. The definition of an urban legend, he writes, is "a strong basic story-appeal, a foundation in actual belief, and a meaningful message or 'moral.'" "We enjoy them merely as stories, and tend to at least half-believe them as possibly accurate reports."Ī renowned folklorist, Brunvand is considered the pre-eminent scholar on urban legends and "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," named for a classic legend, the subject's seminal work. "The lack of verification in no way diminishes the appeal that urban legends have for us," writes Jan Harold Brunvand in "The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings" (W.W. ![]() 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. ![]() 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.ĭiscovering the truth behind urban legends, however, isn't as important as the lessons they impart, experts say.Urban legends aren't easily verifiable, by nature. Like the variations in the stories themselves, folklorists all have their own definitions of what makes an urban legend.
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