An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual. Although urban legends are not necessarily false, they are often over exaggerated and distorted. Urban legends are passed through the years from friends, family, teachers, and many other people. As for me, I do not believe in most urban legends. But I do believe that where they are rooted from may be true. Meaning, I think that the exaggerated version that gets circulated throughout history is not true, but I think the original version is probably true. For example, big foot, a half ape and half human is said to have killed many people a long time ago. I do not necessarily believe that big foot is a huge hairy creature that roamed the universe killing people. But I do think it is very possible that there was some kind of animal many years ago that killed people. From that, i think the urban legend of big foot was started.
An urban legend that I used to believe was the story of the clown and the babysitter. The urban legend says that there was a girl babysitting two kids and there was a clown "statue". The babysitter called the parents to see if she could move the clown "statue" because it was scaring her and the parents told her there was no clown statue and to get out of the house with the kids immediately. In the urban legend, the clown was a psycho killer that escaped out of jail. The way this relates to me is that I believed this legend up until last year when i finally built up the courage and looked it up online. I learned online that it had been a legend circulated throughout generations for a really long time.
I agree with Julie's definition of an urban legend. I however do believe in urban legends unless disproven by science or by the fact that it cannot be recreated. I do not believe in big foot because there is no way that a large mountain monster killed many people without levaing a trace that the people attcked were killed. Many urban legends are just so unbelievable that they are obviously false and someone is just looking for attention.
No I do not believe in urban legends because they are just that, LEGENDS. It’s in the name!! Case and point, read Julie’s clown story, who in their right mind would actually believe that (no offense). That being said, I agree with Julie (except for the whole clown thing). I think urban legends are a lot like the game telephone, one person hears a story and tells it to another person a little differently, and by the time it gets around it is a completely different story.
APLLY THIS TO THE AMERICAN ORAL TRADITON OF SORY TELLING
Back in the day, before people wrote books, they would tell their stories to others; I believe that is how urban legends began.
I think urban legends should be taken with a grain of salt. The majority of them I think are just a wrong interpretation of some other event. For example big foot has been mentioned, let's just take a second to think about the probability of there being a huge hairy man running around in the forest. Now, really people does that sounds plausable to you? It doesn't to me. But if you well then good for you. One urban legend I have been debating whether it exists or not for a while, and that is the Lock Ness Monster. I think that maybe it is possible for some prehistoric water animal to be living in the lake but I also think that if there was actually a huge dinosaur type creature in the lake, we would have found it by now. I still have yet to decide if Nessy is really possible.
I think all urban legends have truth to them. They start off true and just like Nick said, it like the game telephone, it get pasted from generation to generation and people add details to the legend making it unbelievably un true and totally exaggerated. Not only can urban legends be made up into mythical creatures like big foot and the lock ness monster, but also urban legends can be made about things happening now in America. For example, the people who found "big foot" or the mysterious animal that was on the shores of Montauk. Other examples can relate to politics too. When the presidential elections were going on people made myths about Obama being a Muslim and partaking in terrorism. I believe those can be considered urban legends because there is some factual evidence behind it but it doesn't make it true. In all, I'm not really sure if I completely believe in urban legends but some can be insanely weird.
I saw some really crazy myths and urban legends on this website: http://urbanlegends.about.com/
No I do not believe in urban legends. Urban legends may have started as the truth, but over the years the truth had become exaggerated. When it comes to the American oral tradition of story telling, I believe parents told their kids some stories that they had heard when they were young. Their kids will in turn tell their children. Eventually the story will be so off that people no longer know to believe it or not and it becomes an urban legend.
"An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them."- Wikipedia. I do not believe in urban legends and then I also do believe in them. They are myths and some can be exaggerated but others could be real. There are many stories that would qualify for both sides of this argument. I can not exactly say that there is a proof of existence in urban legends. Some myths are made to scare a person even in modern time today. Like the story of waking up without a kidney during transplantation. So overall I believe that these stories or urban legends were created to scare people or what not. So I do not believe in them as I have no proof to believe in them. Since I do not have any proof of believing in urban legends is a perfect reason why I should not believe in urban legends. These are stories that were made up or have actually happened but the story turns out to be in a different variation. Like Nick brought up, the urban legend goes through a whole game, telephone. Maybe the story has actually happened, and it has gone through millions of people who know the story. But think about it. If you play telephone with ten of your friends and the story changes, just imagine how big of a difference the story would undergo with millions of people hearing it and telling it. I do not believe in urban legends.
It’s hard to say whether I believe in urban legends or not. Like every other story when told to someone else, parts of it may be changed, and overtime some stories may become so ridiculous that you can’t believe them anymore. All urban legends though, had to start as a real story, but as the story got passed down from generation to generations, altercations were made making it unbelievable. We may never know the truth and original story, but if we can see past the changes that have been made to the story, then maybe we can believe it.
Urban legends are modern folklore. They are tales that people tell about something that they want other people to believe is true. They will usually sensationalize the story because the reason they are telling it in the first place is because they want to be noticed. They may say that it didn't happen to them, but it happened to an (unnamed) friend. That way they don't have to prove much. Why? Because they can't prove it. So do I believe in them? I don't think so.
So for example, Bigfoot is the classic urban legend and that tale was recently made a joke out of when some guys made up a large rubber suit and got people to believe them and then busted wide open their prank. The Lock Ness monster would be another and that's just stupid because if a creature that big was in some sea, they'd have found it with sonar and radar and all that.
One thing about an urban legend is that it is possible enough to have happened to be considered true. That's why so many people believe them. They are plausible. Many urban legends have stories that change as the story is passed on from person to person. And generally the legend has a word of caution. So people get scared about reading something that might be true and if they don't heed the warning, something bad might happen to them or they'll be affected in some way. So people always seem to fall for threats and that makes them believable to many people.
I do not believe in urban legends. I think that they are just made up stories to scare little kids. For example, the headless horseman, that isn't realistic at all. Urban legends are just scary fantasies but fantasies none the less. Some of these kinds of stories are a little scary such as Chucky the killer doll. However, there are some comedic elements to that because it is so unrealistic. I prefer the stories that are real, those are more scary because I could actually see that happening. Also people always say that the govt. doesn't want us to find out about things like Big Foot, but that is just a lame excuse to keep the legend alive because there is no proof. I am one of those guys that needs to see it to believe it. Therefore, no I do not believe in urban legends.
I agree with Julie's definition of an urban legend. I think they are just crazy stories people pass around. I also agree with Julie in that they might have started off with something that was kind of true, but got exaggerated and more exaggerated, until it’s a completely different story. It’s like when you play the telephone game, where you start with one phrase, and the ending phrase is totally different. Now, as for whether or not I believe in urban legends I think it depends. I think often times you don’t know that the story you hear is an urban legend, in which case I might believe it. But if I knew from the beginning that it was an urban legend I probably wouldn’t believe it.
I do not believe in Urban Legends. Can you please stop asking questions that can be answered as either yes or no. Urban legends are individuals that may or may not exist with their stories exaggerated to a great extent. I remember watching a number of urban legend films like Davey Crockett and others that expressed the bravery, strength, and determination of individuals to be used as propaganda to a specific cause such as support for Texas' independence from Mexico. I do not believe in any urban legends; yet, occasionally their implemented ideologies affect me as an individual, specifically when I was merely a young Batman kid!
An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be those circulating them. An urban legend is not always fake, they are just normally over exaggerated by the person who tells the story. One example of an urban legend would be Big Foot. Big Foot is a very large mammal who happens to be half ape and half man. Many stories have said that Big Foot had killed many people a long time ago. These urban legends are mainly passed through friends,family or maybe a crazy homeless man sitting at the corner of a street intoxicated with way too much alcohol.
My opinion on the whole urban legend thing is that I believe that some urban legends are sometimes true and many of them are made up or over exaggerated. For example, I believe that the whole Big Foot deal is totally a bunch of baloney. There is no way that a large hairy half ape and half man can just be out there with no one ever seeing it before. I believe these urban legends started back in the day when there were no books and there were story tellers who would just speak of stories and myths to people. I believe this links to the American Oral Tradition of story telling.
I believe in Urban Legends, but only to a certain extent. While some are more believable than others, those others act in a similar way to the game telephone. The first person says something and tells it to the next and so on... and somewhere down the line words will be missing, changed, and sometimes even the whole story will be transformed into something completely different. So the actuality of some legends are are best left unsolved, because some people need that excitement of the unknown.
An urban legend is a story, which may have started with a grain of truth, but then has been retold to generation to generation for so long that it becomes a myth.
Do I believe in urban legends? No, I do not believe in urban legends unless, I came across Bigfoot, the lock ness monster, etc. myself, which isn’t likely to happen any time soon.
Bigfoot, sasquatch, yeti, or abominable snowman are all nicknames of this species from parts of the world. The question is… it real or not? There has been footage by Patterson of Bigfoot or Sasquatch in 1967, but it has not been proven real. Many believe its true, because of how the hair flows down its back and how there is muscle movement in the legs. Yet, many also believe it is false, because there is no evidence proving that bigfoot truly exists. Like I said before, I have to see it to believe it. Vague footage doesn’t really help me distinguish if something is real, so in that case, I do not believe in sasquatch nor do I believe in urban legends, because so far none of them have been proven true or have any factual evidence. Personally, I do enjoy watching and listening to what we call urban legends.
So I'm not really sure if I believe in Urban Legends. It's a story that has been passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes these stories get changed. I think in all Urban Legends, there are parts that are true, and others that have been changed. I think all of these stories were true at one point. Eventually these stories get changed so much they are hard to believe. Some of these stories are fun to listen to even if they aren't true.
Urban legends are myths or modern-folklore that derived from actual events that have been distorted and changed over time. So, in a sense, urban legends arent really myths. Just history streching the truth.
As for myself, I do believe in most urban legends and really intrigue me. I love cryptids, and supernatural beings. I believe in Bigfoot, Lock Ness Monsters, and ghosts. But other creatures I'm a big more skeptical on like Mothman or Jakelopes. However, the ones I do believe in do have substantial evidence that support their existence, or rather, more than most urban legends. For example, science shows there's very likely to be another evolutionary offshoot of the ape family yet to be discover, and the fact that there have been thousands of sightings, and foot molds throughout the U.S and Canada. However, I do believe some legends are merely spawned to frighten people or some wild animal that someone perceived as some fantastic creature. But those are just my theories.
In the end, I think it's up to the individual weather an urban legend is true or false.
Urban legends are soemthing that someone believes in. I think that it can be the way someone is raised to believe in something supernatural. Its a personal choice of what you choose to believe in life.Do i belive in it? Thats hard to answer because there are some that i can but others make me think how would that ever be posssible? I think that the person that brought the legend along had some kind of a purpose and point which makes me believe that maybe they are true every single one, but how can i be so sure? Its a matter of opinion and the was a person thinks not whether its true or not.
An urban legend is defined as a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used to mean something akin to an "apocryphal story." Like older folklore, urban legends sometimes have a germ of truth, but even in this case they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time. By even this statement it is obvious that I would not believe in such a thing where facts are over exaggerated.
An urban legend is not passed down by writing or law. It is rather passed down by language and communications with one another. In the beginning, these stories probably had some truth in them, but as generations were told this story, each generation made the story a little bit different until it was not even close to its original design. Urban legends usually include some of the same basic materials such as the legend is told on behalf of the original witness or participant. Another would be dire warnings that are given for those who might not pay attention to the story and it is often said as "something a friend told me," while the friend is identified by first name only or not identified at all. One of the classic faults of false urban legends is a total lack of specific information regarding the incident of names, dates, locations, when or where it was published, or similar information.
But I have a question? What is the difference between urban legends and just traditional legends. Actually, I am not even sure what a legend is. I tried to do some resarch and I found out that it is some rumor or a story that is almost impossible to happen. My question is does this “urban legend” fit under the categories of the lochness monster and bigfoot, or something totally different that I have not comprehended yet?
Urban legends are important to America oral tradition because it gives them a sense that there are werid occurences in this world. That is how Shipley ties in the message of weird and magical thought to this specific blog. The urban legends gives the listeners a hope that there are still weird things happening and gives hopes for others to keep looking for them.
I for one do not believe in urban legends. I think that there is no possible way for characters like Big Foot to exist. I believe it is just a way of passing entertainment down from generation to generation. I remember when I was in Elementary school and we would go on a field trip and there would be a story teller there. I was always so excited and interested in what they had to say. Maybe at the time when I was oh let's say 8 I might have believed the legends but definitely not now.
I do however believe that urban legends might have started off as somewhat true but the exaggerations are so distorted that I believe it is more of a form of excitement. I can understand how people may believe in legends. Some people are very supersticious and they believe that there could have been a Big Foot with evolution and all. But my dad is a scientist and he does not believe in urban legends. Therefore, the possibility of the reality of urban legends are slim.
Urban Legends can sometimes be true depending on which area of the US you are. The only place where it is possible really in the continental US for a crocodile to be in the sewers would be in Florida due to baby gatrs being raised as pets and then flushed down when they do something stupid. Over the years, many urban legends have spread and the magnitude of some have increased, and not only that, but sometimes you might find out the worst one that you can imagine is true. Then again, I might be wrong/
Some urban legends are ture , but others are false and exxagerated so that it will be found more interesting by the general audience in general because of the exxagerated goodness in the story tellers heart or if they want to scare the person they are telling it to.
I believe, much like everyone else said, that urban legends are an exaggeration of a story. I think they could be real but as they were passed through generations, they were altered and fabricated to make it seem more intense. I'm sure some urban legends are completely false, but I think there are some that are real just the truth was stretched to make the story seem more interesting.
I think it would be great to believe in urban legends, like when you see an amazing picture, or when you hear a chef accidentally cooked the dog instead of food for the dog. I think that little extra push of creativity and imagination would be good for the world. Now, in our time, nothing is believable and no one trusts another person, and I think if Big Foot was real there would be more creativity for everyone. Urban legends are comparable to a modern-day type of folklore. Though told in a format similar to that of a joke, urban legend stories are usually comprised of a slightly darker, more cautionary tone. Most urban legends reference a friend of a friend, and are assumed factual by the people who spread the stories.
“An urban legend is not necessarily untrue, but is often distorted or exaggerated. Some urban legends have been circulating for a very long time, and are constantly resurfacing and spreading much farther and faster with the advent of email. One popular urban legend regarding the explosive nature of Pop Rocks mixed with Cola for example, has been circulating for 30 years!
Born out of public fears and insecurities, like the popular urban legend regarding razors in Halloween candy, some urban legends even make it to the news. In fact, fear alone is enough to propel urban legends far because when you hear such a story, you may feel compelled to warn others. That being said, a lot of urban legends are also highly circulated simply because they are funny or interesting in some way.”
I can barely find a kid 8 years old to believe in Santa, let alone think there’s more to life then making money. It’s just sad that our society has moved from believing the Son of God came to us and performed miracles, but no one can see past money and greed. I think believing in urban legends would help us all. I believe in them.
I believe an urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that are said to be true. Urban legends are mostly exaggerated to the point where they are semi believable. They have been passed down from generation to generation, and the two most common urban legends are the Lockness Monster, and Bigfoot. The original legends that were circulated through society were that this hairy half man half ape roamed the planet killing people, and the lockness monster, a huge dinosaur that lived in this lake, ate people. I believe these two examples show how legends get exaggerated and form myths that people believe. I believe that there were similar creatures like these two that roamed the planet for thousands of years.
Also the ideas of a clown killing a babysitter are an urban legend, that Julie has stolen from me, is what I believe in! The legend was said to be true; That a girl was babysitting two kids and this clown statue in the corner of her parents room was freaking her out, so she ended up calling the parents and asking them if they had a clown statue in the corner of the room, and they said to grab the kid and get out of the house immediately. I believed this urban legend for a very long time and finally one day I outgrew it and realized it was just a myth that has been told for generations on end!
In my opinion, and urban legend is a true story that has been passed down in time from generation to generation. And in those generations, the stories start of true, but as time goes by, get stretched so far from the truth that at some point they become a myth.
So therefore, i do believe that urban legends have a very small potion of truth to them. But i do not believe that an urban legend, as a whole, is true.
In my opinion, urban legends take a truthful idea or moral and twist them to include fictional characters or events. The person who wrote the legend or told the story may have been telling it as they believed everything they said, but now, in modern times, we know these do not exist. As with any aspect of magic or magical thought, urban legends have not been proven wrong. So, it is up to the reader to decide if the urban legend is true. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, did it really make a sound at all? Nobody will ever know.
The definition of an urban legend is: "a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror." The definition itself says that they are STORIES with LITTLE or NO evidence. If there was such thing as a "true urban legend" then it wouldn't technically be an urban legend, now would it? It would just be a factual statement. So, no, I do not believe in urban legends.
I believe that once upon a time, a little Indian man told his son a story. I don’t know if that boy was hard of hearing, or just a terrible storyteller, but when he told his son, it was not the same story. After this happens with so many generations, the story get stretched and skewed so many different directions, it becomes the legend of Bigfoot. Do I believe in urban legends? Yes I do. It gives me something to think about that is beyond what I can comprehend. I cannot even begin to understand that there is a giant sea monster in Lake Loch Ness, or that there is a giant hairy man running through the jungle. However, if people just stick to what they can comprehend easily, no one would have an imagination. I think in a way this can relate back to the normality blogs, in the respect that anything that we don’t know is not normal, and therefore some people choose not to believe in them. But abnormality is how inventions are made, how technology works, and how relationships are formed. So one day, maybe ill tell my little grandson a story (maybe stretch it out a little bit), and one day, the Justice Family Legend will be all around the world.
I do not believe in urban legends, though I admit they are interesting and fun to discuss. When it comes to mythical creatures- big foot, Nessie, and "El Chupacabra", I in general do not believe. I accept that they could exist, and with today's genetic pool one could even say it is likely. However, I believe that whatever creature (if there is one) people claim to see has been highly exaggerated. It is possible/likely that the first man to see a "big foot" saw an ape or homeless/crazy man. It is likely that a single sighting of one odd animal (as a result of a genetic disorder, or of the seer being under the influence of something)could have led to all these exaggerated tales, where a normal monkey or ape suddenly becomes a giant, walking hairy beast, a strange fish becomes a mermaid/man, and a Mexican wolf simply finding a meal became a crazed, goat killing Mexican beast.
I believe that there may be some truth in certain Urban Legends, but for the most part they are false. As time goes on Urban Legends become distorted. I believe that that the stories origin is for the most part true, but as time goes on it becomes to distorted to be the slightest bit of truth.
I agree with everyone that urban legends are mostly old tales that are exaggerated and changed each time they are passed on. I think that people change around these stories to make them seem more interesting, but in reality they make them false. I'm sure that the original stories that were told a long time ago have a sense of truth to them, but the stories passed along by now have been fabricated in many ways taking the truth away.
I don't believe in urban legends. They are exaggerations past down from generation to generation usualy to tell an interesting story or prove a moral. Sort of like tall tales. I know some people spend their entire life looking for big foot or the lockness monster but in my opinion it is just a waste. Fox news I thin did a whole series on urban legends and people who belived them and they were all hicks, and I mean that in the nicest way. What does interest me to some extent are UFOs and weird space oddities, but I'm not sure if those qualify under urban legends.
An Urban Legend is like santa or big foot. Creatures that come mostly from imagination and different stories. An Urban Legend is a short tale that is told and retold as true, although it usually has little or no basis in reality or can't be confirmed one way or another. Whether we know it or not we've all heard them, usually as something that happened to a "friend of a friend". For me i truley believe that these creatures do exist. Even though i have heard all the nonsense stories about ridiculous legends such as the headless horse-man, the tooth fairy, and even the famous Santa Claus. Everything we have ever heard is not always true but, it can be based on some sort of reality or something that actually did happen. However, since back in the day they didnt really have writting utensils, different parts of these legends could have been miss said and not worded right giving it the unrealistic figure. Since i am very gulible i believe in mostly every story anyone tells me. One urban legend that i remember so well was the whole headless horse-man story. I read the books, and sae the little cartoon as well. And when i was little it would scare me so much and i would never leave anyones sight just in case. Some legends i believe were made to help people deal with reality instead of blaming killing on massacres they blamed it on some sort of creature that might or might not have been real. But, the thing with Urban Legends is that no matter the way you look at it, you will never know.
Urban legends are just what the name implies. They are legends. The legends themselves may be based on truth. However, those truths have long since been manipulated and twisted into stories of gigantic monsters and things like Bigfoot. However, some urban legends have been supported by scientific fact and theories of the top experts in the fields. The legend that anacondas can grow up to 100 feet in length and can swallow humans has been speculated by leading scientists to be theoretically possible. There is however very little, if any proof. These legends will always be a part of American culture and even if scientifically proven false will never exterminate all belief.
39 comments:
An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual. Although urban legends are not necessarily false, they are often over exaggerated and distorted. Urban legends are passed through the years from friends, family, teachers, and many other people. As for me, I do not believe in most urban legends. But I do believe that where they are rooted from may be true. Meaning, I think that the exaggerated version that gets circulated throughout history is not true, but I think the original version is probably true. For example, big foot, a half ape and half human is said to have killed many people a long time ago. I do not necessarily believe that big foot is a huge hairy creature that roamed the universe killing people. But I do think it is very possible that there was some kind of animal many years ago that killed people. From that, i think the urban legend of big foot was started.
An urban legend that I used to believe was the story of the clown and the babysitter. The urban legend says that there was a girl babysitting two kids and there was a clown "statue". The babysitter called the parents to see if she could move the clown "statue" because it was scaring her and the parents told her there was no clown statue and to get out of the house with the kids immediately. In the urban legend, the clown was a psycho killer that escaped out of jail. The way this relates to me is that I believed this legend up until last year when i finally built up the courage and looked it up online. I learned online that it had been a legend circulated throughout generations for a really long time.
I agree with Julie's definition of an urban legend. I however do believe in urban legends unless disproven by science or by the fact that it cannot be recreated. I do not believe in big foot because there is no way that a large mountain monster killed many people without levaing a trace that the people attcked were killed. Many urban legends are just so unbelievable that they are obviously false and someone is just looking for attention.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN URBAN LEGENDS?
No I do not believe in urban legends because they are just that, LEGENDS. It’s in the name!! Case and point, read Julie’s clown story, who in their right mind would actually believe that (no offense).
That being said, I agree with Julie (except for the whole clown thing). I think urban legends are a lot like the game telephone, one person hears a story and tells it to another person a little differently, and by the time it gets around it is a completely different story.
APLLY THIS TO THE AMERICAN ORAL TRADITON OF SORY TELLING
Back in the day, before people wrote books, they would tell their stories to others; I believe that is how urban legends began.
()__()
(=’.’=)
(“)___(“)
I think urban legends should be taken with a grain of salt. The majority of them I think are just a wrong interpretation of some other event. For example big foot has been mentioned, let's just take a second to think about the probability of there being a huge hairy man running around in the forest. Now, really people does that sounds plausable to you? It doesn't to me. But if you well then good for you. One urban legend I have been debating whether it exists or not for a while, and that is the Lock Ness Monster. I think that maybe it is possible for some prehistoric water animal to be living in the lake but I also think that if there was actually a huge dinosaur type creature in the lake, we would have found it by now. I still have yet to decide if Nessy is really possible.
I think all urban legends have truth to them. They start off true and just like Nick said, it like the game telephone, it get pasted from generation to generation and people add details to the legend making it unbelievably un true and totally exaggerated.
Not only can urban legends be made up into mythical creatures like big foot and the lock ness monster, but also urban legends can be made about things happening now in America. For example, the people who found "big foot" or the mysterious animal that was on the shores of Montauk. Other examples can relate to politics too. When the presidential elections were going on people made myths about Obama being a Muslim and partaking in terrorism. I believe those can be considered urban legends because there is some factual evidence behind it but it doesn't make it true.
In all, I'm not really sure if I completely believe in urban legends but some can be insanely weird.
I saw some really crazy myths and urban legends on this website:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
No I do not believe in urban legends. Urban legends may have started as the truth, but over the years the truth had become exaggerated. When it comes to the American oral tradition of story telling, I believe parents told their kids some stories that they had heard when they were young. Their kids will in turn tell their children. Eventually the story will be so off that people no longer know to believe it or not and it becomes an urban legend.
"An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them."- Wikipedia. I do not believe in urban legends and then I also do believe in them. They are myths and some can be exaggerated but others could be real. There are many stories that would qualify for both sides of this argument. I can not exactly say that there is a proof of existence in urban legends. Some myths are made to scare a person even in modern time today. Like the story of waking up without a kidney during transplantation. So overall I believe that these stories or urban legends were created to scare people or what not. So I do not believe in them as I have no proof to believe in them. Since I do not have any proof of believing in urban legends is a perfect reason why I should not believe in urban legends. These are stories that were made up or have actually happened but the story turns out to be in a different variation. Like Nick brought up, the urban legend goes through a whole game, telephone. Maybe the story has actually happened, and it has gone through millions of people who know the story. But think about it. If you play telephone with ten of your friends and the story changes, just imagine how big of a difference the story would undergo with millions of people hearing it and telling it. I do not believe in urban legends.
It’s hard to say whether I believe in urban legends or not. Like every other story when told to someone else, parts of it may be changed, and overtime some stories may become so ridiculous that you can’t believe them anymore. All urban legends though, had to start as a real story, but as the story got passed down from generation to generations, altercations were made making it unbelievable. We may never know the truth and original story, but if we can see past the changes that have been made to the story, then maybe we can believe it.
Urban legends are modern folklore. They are tales that people tell about something that they want other people to believe is true. They will usually sensationalize the story because the reason they are telling it in the first place is because they want to be noticed. They may say that it didn't happen to them, but it happened to an (unnamed) friend. That way they don't have to prove much. Why? Because they can't prove it. So do I believe in them? I don't think so.
So for example, Bigfoot is the classic urban legend and that tale was recently made a joke out of when some guys made up a large rubber suit and got people to believe them and then busted wide open their prank. The Lock Ness monster would be another and that's just stupid because if a creature that big was in some sea, they'd have found it with sonar and radar and all that.
One thing about an urban legend is that it is possible enough to have happened to be considered true. That's why so many people believe them. They are plausible. Many urban legends have stories that change as the story is passed on from person to person. And generally the legend has a word of caution. So people get scared about reading something that might be true and if they don't heed the warning, something bad might happen to them or they'll be affected in some way. So people always seem to fall for threats and that makes them believable to many people.
I do not believe in urban legends. I think that they are just made up stories to scare little kids. For example, the headless horseman, that isn't realistic at all. Urban legends are just scary fantasies but fantasies none the less. Some of these kinds of stories are a little scary such as Chucky the killer doll. However, there are some comedic elements to that because it is so unrealistic. I prefer the stories that are real, those are more scary because I could actually see that happening. Also people always say that the govt. doesn't want us to find out about things like Big Foot, but that is just a lame excuse to keep the legend alive because there is no proof. I am one of those guys that needs to see it to believe it. Therefore, no I do not believe in urban legends.
I agree with Julie's definition of an urban legend. I think they are just crazy stories people pass around. I also agree with Julie in that they might have started off with something that was kind of true, but got exaggerated and more exaggerated, until it’s a completely different story. It’s like when you play the telephone game, where you start with one phrase, and the ending phrase is totally different. Now, as for whether or not I believe in urban legends I think it depends. I think often times you don’t know that the story you hear is an urban legend, in which case I might believe it. But if I knew from the beginning that it was an urban legend I probably wouldn’t believe it.
I do not believe in Urban Legends. Can you please stop asking questions that can be answered as either yes or no. Urban legends are individuals that may or may not exist with their stories exaggerated to a great extent. I remember watching a number of urban legend films like Davey Crockett and others that expressed the bravery, strength, and determination of individuals to be used as propaganda to a specific cause such as support for Texas' independence from Mexico. I do not believe in any urban legends; yet, occasionally their implemented ideologies affect me as an individual, specifically when I was merely a young Batman kid!
An urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be those circulating them. An urban legend is not always fake, they are just normally over exaggerated by the person who tells the story. One example of an urban legend would be Big Foot. Big Foot is a very large mammal who happens to be half ape and half man. Many stories have said that Big Foot had killed many people a long time ago. These urban legends are mainly passed through friends,family or maybe a crazy homeless man sitting at the corner of a street intoxicated with way too much alcohol.
My opinion on the whole urban legend thing is that I believe that some urban legends are sometimes true and many of them are made up or over exaggerated. For example, I believe that the whole Big Foot deal is totally a bunch of baloney. There is no way that a large hairy half ape and half man can just be out there with no one ever seeing it before. I believe these urban legends started back in the day when there were no books and there were story tellers who would just speak of stories and myths to people. I believe this links to the American Oral Tradition of story telling.
I believe in Urban Legends, but only to a certain extent. While some are more believable than others, those others act in a similar way to the game telephone. The first person says something and tells it to the next and so on... and somewhere down the line words will be missing, changed, and sometimes even the whole story will be transformed into something completely different. So the actuality of some legends are are best left unsolved, because some people need that excitement of the unknown.
An urban legend is a story, which may have started with a grain of truth, but then has been retold to generation to generation for so long that it becomes a myth.
Do I believe in urban legends? No, I do not believe in urban legends unless, I came across Bigfoot, the lock ness monster, etc. myself, which isn’t likely to happen any time soon.
Bigfoot, sasquatch, yeti, or abominable snowman are all nicknames of this species from parts of the world. The question is… it real or not? There has been footage by Patterson of Bigfoot or Sasquatch in 1967, but it has not been proven real. Many believe its true, because of how the hair flows down its back and how there is muscle movement in the legs. Yet, many also believe it is false, because there is no evidence proving that bigfoot truly exists. Like I said before, I have to see it to believe it. Vague footage doesn’t really help me distinguish if something is real, so in that case, I do not believe in sasquatch nor do I believe in urban legends, because so far none of them have been proven true or have any factual evidence. Personally, I do enjoy watching and listening to what we call urban legends.
So I'm not really sure if I believe in Urban Legends. It's a story that has been passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes these stories get changed. I think in all Urban Legends, there are parts that are true, and others that have been changed. I think all of these stories were true at one point. Eventually these stories get changed so much they are hard to believe. Some of these stories are fun to listen to even if they aren't true.
Urban legends are myths or modern-folklore that derived from actual events that have been distorted and changed over time. So, in a sense, urban legends arent really myths. Just history streching the truth.
As for myself, I do believe in most urban legends and really intrigue me. I love cryptids, and supernatural beings. I believe in Bigfoot, Lock Ness Monsters, and ghosts. But other creatures I'm a big more skeptical on like Mothman or Jakelopes. However, the ones I do believe in do have substantial evidence that support their existence, or rather, more than most urban legends. For example, science shows there's very likely to be another evolutionary offshoot of the ape family yet to be discover, and the fact that there have been thousands of sightings, and foot molds throughout the U.S and Canada. However, I do believe some legends are merely spawned to frighten people or some wild animal that someone perceived as some fantastic creature. But those are just my theories.
In the end, I think it's up to the individual weather an urban legend is true or false.
Urban legends are soemthing that someone believes in. I think that it can be the way someone is raised to believe in something supernatural. Its a personal choice of what you choose to believe in life.Do i belive in it? Thats hard to answer because there are some that i can but others make me think how would that ever be posssible? I think that the person that brought the legend along had some kind of a purpose and point which makes me believe that maybe they are true every single one, but how can i be so sure? Its a matter of opinion and the was a person thinks not whether its true or not.
An urban legend is defined as a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used to mean something akin to an "apocryphal story." Like older folklore, urban legends sometimes have a germ of truth, but even in this case they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time. By even this statement it is obvious that I would not believe in such a thing where facts are over exaggerated.
An urban legend is not passed down by writing or law. It is rather passed down by language and communications with one another. In the beginning, these stories probably had some truth in them, but as generations were told this story, each generation made the story a little bit different until it was not even close to its original design. Urban legends usually include some of the same basic materials such as the legend is told on behalf of the original witness or participant. Another would be dire warnings that are given for those who might not pay attention to the story and it is often said as "something a friend told me," while the friend is identified by first name only or not identified at all. One of the classic faults of false urban legends is a total lack of specific information regarding the incident of names, dates, locations, when or where it was published, or similar information.
But I have a question? What is the difference between urban legends and just traditional legends. Actually, I am not even sure what a legend is. I tried to do some resarch and I found out that it is some rumor or a story that is almost impossible to happen. My question is does this “urban legend” fit under the categories of the lochness monster and bigfoot, or something totally different that I have not comprehended yet?
Urban legends are important to America oral tradition because it gives them a sense that there are werid occurences in this world. That is how Shipley ties in the message of weird and magical thought to this specific blog. The urban legends gives the listeners a hope that there are still weird things happening and gives hopes for others to keep looking for them.
I for one do not believe in urban legends. I think that there is no possible way for characters like Big Foot to exist. I believe it is just a way of passing entertainment down from generation to generation. I remember when I was in Elementary school and we would go on a field trip and there would be a story teller there. I was always so excited and interested in what they had to say. Maybe at the time when I was oh let's say 8 I might have believed the legends but definitely not now.
I do however believe that urban legends might have started off as somewhat true but the exaggerations are so distorted that I believe it is more of a form of excitement. I can understand how people may believe in legends. Some people are very supersticious and they believe that there could have been a Big Foot with evolution and all. But my dad is a scientist and he does not believe in urban legends. Therefore, the possibility of the reality of urban legends are slim.
Urban Legends can sometimes be true depending on which area of the US you are. The only place where it is possible really in the continental US for a crocodile to be in the sewers would be in Florida due to baby gatrs being raised as pets and then flushed down when they do something stupid. Over the years, many urban legends have spread and the magnitude of some have increased, and not only that, but sometimes you might find out the worst one that you can imagine is true. Then again, I might be wrong/
Some urban legends are ture , but others are false and exxagerated so that it will be found more interesting by the general audience in general because of the exxagerated goodness in the story tellers heart or if they want to scare the person they are telling it to.
I believe, much like everyone else said, that urban legends are an exaggeration of a story. I think they could be real but as they were passed through generations, they were altered and fabricated to make it seem more intense. I'm sure some urban legends are completely false, but I think there are some that are real just the truth was stretched to make the story seem more interesting.
I think it would be great to believe in urban legends, like when you see an amazing picture, or when you hear a chef accidentally cooked the dog instead of food for the dog. I think that little extra push of creativity and imagination would be good for the world. Now, in our time, nothing is believable and no one trusts another person, and I think if Big Foot was real there would be more creativity for everyone. Urban legends are comparable to a modern-day type of folklore. Though told in a format similar to that of a joke, urban legend stories are usually comprised of a slightly darker, more cautionary tone. Most urban legends reference a friend of a friend, and are assumed factual by the people who spread the stories.
“An urban legend is not necessarily untrue, but is often distorted or exaggerated. Some urban legends have been circulating for a very long time, and are constantly resurfacing and spreading much farther and faster with the advent of email. One popular urban legend regarding the explosive nature of Pop Rocks mixed with Cola for example, has been circulating for 30 years!
Born out of public fears and insecurities, like the popular urban legend regarding razors in Halloween candy, some urban legends even make it to the news. In fact, fear alone is enough to propel urban legends far because when you hear such a story, you may feel compelled to warn others. That being said, a lot of urban legends are also highly circulated simply because they are funny or interesting in some way.”
I can barely find a kid 8 years old to believe in Santa, let alone think there’s more to life then making money. It’s just sad that our society has moved from believing the Son of God came to us and performed miracles, but no one can see past money and greed. I think believing in urban legends would help us all. I believe in them.
I believe an urban legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that are said to be true. Urban legends are mostly exaggerated to the point where they are semi believable. They have been passed down from generation to generation, and the two most common urban legends are the Lockness Monster, and Bigfoot. The original legends that were circulated through society were that this hairy half man half ape roamed the planet killing people, and the lockness monster, a huge dinosaur that lived in this lake, ate people. I believe these two examples show how legends get exaggerated and form myths that people believe. I believe that there were similar creatures like these two that roamed the planet for thousands of years.
Also the ideas of a clown killing a babysitter are an urban legend, that Julie has stolen from me, is what I believe in! The legend was said to be true; That a girl was babysitting two kids and this clown statue in the corner of her parents room was freaking her out, so she ended up calling the parents and asking them if they had a clown statue in the corner of the room, and they said to grab the kid and get out of the house immediately. I believed this urban legend for a very long time and finally one day I outgrew it and realized it was just a myth that has been told for generations on end!
In my opinion, and urban legend is a true story that has been passed down in time from generation to generation. And in those generations, the stories start of true, but as time goes by, get stretched so far from the truth that at some point they become a myth.
So therefore, i do believe that urban legends have a very small potion of truth to them. But i do not believe that an urban legend, as a whole, is true.
In my opinion, urban legends take a truthful idea or moral and twist them to include fictional characters or events. The person who wrote the legend or told the story may have been telling it as they believed everything they said, but now, in modern times, we know these do not exist. As with any aspect of magic or magical thought, urban legends have not been proven wrong. So, it is up to the reader to decide if the urban legend is true. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, did it really make a sound at all? Nobody will ever know.
The definition of an urban legend is: "a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror." The definition itself says that they are STORIES with LITTLE or NO evidence. If there was such thing as a "true urban legend" then it wouldn't technically be an urban legend, now would it? It would just be a factual statement. So, no, I do not believe in urban legends.
I believe that once upon a time, a little Indian man told his son a story. I don’t know if that boy was hard of hearing, or just a terrible storyteller, but when he told his son, it was not the same story. After this happens with so many generations, the story get stretched and skewed so many different directions, it becomes the legend of Bigfoot.
Do I believe in urban legends? Yes I do. It gives me something to think about that is beyond what I can comprehend. I cannot even begin to understand that there is a giant sea monster in Lake Loch Ness, or that there is a giant hairy man running through the jungle. However, if people just stick to what they can comprehend easily, no one would have an imagination. I think in a way this can relate back to the normality blogs, in the respect that anything that we don’t know is not normal, and therefore some people choose not to believe in them. But abnormality is how inventions are made, how technology works, and how relationships are formed.
So one day, maybe ill tell my little grandson a story (maybe stretch it out a little bit), and one day, the Justice Family Legend will be all around the world.
I do not believe in urban legends, though I admit they are interesting and fun to discuss.
When it comes to mythical creatures- big foot, Nessie, and "El Chupacabra", I in general do not believe. I accept that they could exist, and with today's genetic pool one could even say it is likely. However, I believe that whatever creature (if there is one) people claim to see has been highly exaggerated. It is possible/likely that the first man to see a "big foot" saw an ape or homeless/crazy man. It is likely that a single sighting of one odd animal (as a result of a genetic disorder, or of the seer being under the influence of something)could have led to all these exaggerated tales, where a normal monkey or ape suddenly becomes a giant, walking hairy beast, a strange fish becomes a mermaid/man, and a Mexican wolf simply finding a meal became a crazed, goat killing Mexican beast.
I believe that there may be some truth in certain Urban Legends, but for the most part they are false. As time goes on Urban Legends become distorted. I believe that that the stories origin is for the most part true, but as time goes on it becomes to distorted to be the slightest bit of truth.
I agree with everyone that urban legends are mostly old tales that are exaggerated and changed each time they are passed on. I think that people change around these stories to make them seem more interesting, but in reality they make them false. I'm sure that the original stories that were told a long time ago have a sense of truth to them, but the stories passed along by now have been fabricated in many ways taking the truth away.
I don't believe in urban legends. They are exaggerations past down from generation to generation usualy to tell an interesting story or prove a moral. Sort of like tall tales. I know some people spend their entire life looking for big foot or the lockness monster but in my opinion it is just a waste. Fox news I thin did a whole series on urban legends and people who belived them and they were all hicks, and I mean that in the nicest way.
What does interest me to some extent are UFOs and weird space oddities, but I'm not sure if those qualify under urban legends.
An Urban Legend is like santa or big foot. Creatures that come mostly from imagination and different stories. An Urban Legend is a short tale that is told and retold as true, although it usually has little or no basis in reality or can't be confirmed one way or another. Whether we know it or not we've all heard them, usually as something that happened to a "friend of a friend". For me i truley believe that these creatures do exist. Even though i have heard all the nonsense stories about ridiculous legends such as the headless horse-man, the tooth fairy, and even the famous Santa Claus. Everything we have ever heard is not always true but, it can be based on some sort of reality or something that actually did happen. However, since back in the day they didnt really have writting utensils, different parts of these legends could have been miss said and not worded right giving it the unrealistic figure. Since i am very gulible i believe in mostly every story anyone tells me.
One urban legend that i remember so well was the whole headless horse-man story. I read the books, and sae the little cartoon as well. And when i was little it would scare me so much and i would never leave anyones sight just in case.
Some legends i believe were made to help people deal with reality instead of blaming killing on massacres they blamed it on some sort of creature that might or might not have been real. But, the thing with Urban Legends is that no matter the way you look at it, you will never know.
Urban legends are just what the name implies. They are legends. The legends themselves may be based on truth. However, those truths have long since been manipulated and twisted into stories of gigantic monsters and things like Bigfoot. However, some urban legends have been supported by scientific fact and theories of the top experts in the fields. The legend that anacondas can grow up to 100 feet in length and can swallow humans has been speculated by leading scientists to be theoretically possible. There is however very little, if any proof. These legends will always be a part of American culture and even if scientifically proven false will never exterminate all belief.
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