My Urban Legends Essay

An urban legend is a story that it told throughout the years with different variations depending on the teller. Different variations can be caused by tellers changed the plot of the legend to a local setting, the teller may say the legend wrong because they forgot the story, or the teller may change something like the model of a car. With so many variations, it’s very hard to tell if any of it is true and where the story originated. Urban legends exist around the world. The ways urban legends are told reflect people’s fears. Urban legends can have things to do with contamination (fast food restaurants), crime (“The Hook”), racism (“The Choking Doberman”), pets (“The Microwaved Pet”). Humiliation (“The Brian Drain”), and leaving children with a babysitter (“Baby Roast”).

Many urban legends have to do with contamination. Urban legends about contamination may be started because of people’s guilt for eating packaged or fast food instead of eating meals from home. There are urban legends about objects being in food (severed fingers), bad health inspections (heads of cats and dogs), pets being cooked and eaten (Chinese restaurants), and semen in food (restaurants). KFC has had urban legends like someone getting a cooked rat and using mutant chicken. McDonalds has had urban legends about burgers being made out of worms, kangaroo meat, horse meat, saw dust, spider eggs, and cardboard. Chinese restaurants have the most food related urban legends such as heads of cats and dogs being found in the kitchen, people’s pets getting cooked because of a misunderstanding, and people’s pets being stolen for food.

Many urban legends have to do with crime. A well known urban legend about crime is “The Hook”.

Two teenagers park on a country road. The boy turns the light off and turns nice music on so that he can get the girl in the mood. News comes on the radio that says that a sex maniac is on the loose and the maniac has a hook for an arm. The couple was frightened so they drove away and when they got to their destination, they saw that there was a hook on the door’s handle!

The message of this urban legend is that teens shouldn’t have sex.

Another popular urban legend about crime is “The Choking Doberman”.

A woman returns home from work and sees that her Doberman is having trouble breathing. She put the dog in the car and drove him to a vet. The vet said that he couldn’t see why the dog wasn’t breathing difficulties and he said that he would do work on the dog, but it wouldn’t be something that she wants to see so he told her to go home. When the woman got home, she heard her phone ring. The vet found three fingers in the dog’s throat! Police arrive at the house and find an intruder hiding in the closet with three fingers missing.

This urban legend has obvious racism because the fingers are usually described as black or Mexican.

There are urban legends about dangerous objects being in places where kids can get to them. Two of these urban legends are poison in candy and sharp objects in fast food restaurant play places.

There are urban legends that have to do with babysitters. One of these urban legends is called “The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs”.

A babysitter puts the kids that she is watching to bed upstairs. The phone rings and when she answers it, she hears a man’s voice saying that he is coming to get her. After it rings for a second time, the babysitter calls the police and they say that they will try to trace the call. When the phone rings for third time, the man says that he’s coming for her and it’s only a matter of time. The fourth time it rings, it is a policeman that tells her to get out of the house because the call is coming from upstairs! When the police go upstairs, they see the kids dead and a bloody axe on the bedroom floor next to an open window.

Another urban legend about a babysitter is “Baby Roast”.

The parents leave for a few hours and they hire a babysitter to watch their baby son. When they come home, the babysitter says that she has a surprise for them. The babysitter goes into the kitchen and takes out a plate with the baby boy cooked like a turkey. The babysitter was high on LSD.

There are also urban legends about sex such as an urban legend that has couple being mauled by a bear in the middle of them having sex and an urban legend called “AIDS Mary” which has a woman that gives AIDS to various men on purpose. The man receives a note that says “Welcome to the world of AIDS”.

Urban legends are interesting, don’t you think? My favorite ones are the crime ones. I think that it’s amazing how urban legends spread throughout the world with many different variations depending on the country.