I always like to add a little piece of truth to my fiction.
This weekend I was writing a scene where I needed to research the Cornish fishing village my novel was set in. This led me to discovering many myths, including that of a smuggler who was shot in the neck and whose ghost is now reported to walk the narrow and cobbled streets of Polperro.
For a chapter in my book, this information was brilliant, but it got me to thinking. Urban legends; just how much fact is in the fiction?
When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to venture out near Epping Forest – High Beach to be exact. Some of you may know the place. There was a road called Hangman Hill; supposedly named because a man hung himself from the large oak tree at the top of it. The myth was if you stopped your car at the bottom of the hill, kept your hand brake off and waited, eventually your car would roll up the hill. How? Because the ghost of the hanged man pulled you up by his noose.
Did it work? Heck, yes. There were a lot of freaked out seventeen year olds that night, I can tell you! Unfortunately, and years later, you realise the hill is not going up, but actually going down and is nothing more than an optical illusion.
Urban legends have intrigued us for years. Many believe they stem from fairytales told by the Brothers Grimm. Others will swear to their story being true. But whichever way you look at it, you have to agree that people love an urban legend.
Over the years, urban legends have made their way onto television with shows like ‘Supernatural’ writing many episodes around a different myth. In 2003, the Discovery Channel devoted an entire programme called ‘MythBusters’ to test out the truth of urban legends. It’s still aired today, some nine years later. And, what about the 1998 Hollywood horror movie based entirely on Urban Legends, aptly named ‘Urban Legend’? That film earned itself a sequel.
My mum once repeated a story, told to her by a neighbour, that a ‘friend’ had her ear drum eaten by an ear wig. I still don’t know if that one is true or false.
But, my all time favourite has to be the young woman driving home along a deserted road at night, when she sees the road is blocked by fallen tree branches. She stops the car, gets out and moves them. As she is getting back into the driving seat, a car appears behind her, frantically flashing its headlights. Naturally, the young woman is unnerved and drives off. The car follows her, his high beam now on full. The young woman makes it home, pulls into her driveway and hurries inside her house. She runs to the window to see the car, high beam still on, parked behind her. The woman telephones the police and when they arrive, she watches while the officers question the driver. Then the police open the back door to her car. She is shocked when they pull a man from the back seat, carrying an axe. Supposedly, he had climbed into her car while she was busy moving the tree from the road. The approaching car had seen and tried to warn her.
I must admit, even though I don’t really believe there is any truth to this story, there was a time when one night I was driving on a deserted road in Scotland. In the middle of nowhere, I came to the red light of a portable traffic light. I stopped, well aware I was surrounded by nothing but forest. I began thinking of the axe man myth while I waited for what seemed an age. I scared myself so much I almost reached the point where I was going to jump the lights. Thankfully, they changed to green and I high tailed it out of there.
The urban legend is happening in a different kind of way at the moment. Two days ago, I received an email from a friend advising me of what I should do if someone forces me to withdraw money from a cash machine. And, I ashamedly admit I was intrigued enough to waste ten minutes and delve further into it. Okay, so the situation is this. You are at a cash machine. Someone orders you at knife point to withdraw some money. If you enter your pin number backwards, you notify the police as to what is happening. Sort of like an SOS. You will still be given your money, but in the comfort (if there is any while someone has a knife to your throat), that the police are on their way.
The truth is actually this, and it is so obvious I feel a wally for not realising in the first place. What if your pin number is 1221? 5885? 0330? Or one of the billion other combinations where the number is mirrored? How would the machine know you were typing it in backwards? DOH! I feel very stupid. So no, that one is false.
Just like when alcohol intoxicated people suck on 2p coins in the hope it will fool the police breathalyser. I asked a police officer friend if it was true. In return he smiled the ‘Oh Donna, you do make me laugh’ smile. Needless to say, that one is also false.
So, urban legends. Are they fact or are they fiction? Is there any truth to them? Let’s break it down.
The fiction:
- The story seems to change over time.
- It is extremely rare that an urban legend can be traced back to a reliable source.
- It always happened to a friend of a friend.
- The lack of specific information such as a date or location.
The fact:
- There’s no smoke without fire.
Well, that is 4-1. The odds seem to be that the urban legend is in fact fiction. However, we all like to believe there is some truth in them. And if nothing else, they’re good for scaring your younger siblings.
Now it’s your turn. Tell me what your favourite urban legend is, and convince us it is indeed FACT.
I enjoyed this post so much. What a trip down memory lane! My sister and I were endlessly regaled with stories of the many and varied suicides which supposedly explained every ghostly happening in every house in the backwoods of Missouri. With all of those suicides you would think that there was some kind of epidemic that would require a special investigation by the CDC.
Our favorite was one our grandfather would tell about the “water cat”. It was a brand of mountain lion that was almost extinct. It roamed the woods and did not fear any other animal as it had no natural predator and, more importantly, wasn’t afraid of water, hence the name. It was especially fond of small prey such as calves, goats, dogs and kids. This always made us squeal and run into the house to hide. He could even mimic the sound one supposedly made which would actually curl your hair and make your skin crawl. The water cat was responsible for a large number of missing children in the area so we were to always be on the lookout for the dreaded water cat!
That man could tell a story.
Thanks for this post. So much fun!
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Hi Gary.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. We never had a ‘water cat’ near us, although there was an house in the next street from me. The old lady died, well supposedly murdered, and the house stayed empty for ages. My friends any I got in there one day to investigate. I swear to this day, we saw blood on the floor boards lol.
Thanks for your story. I totally loved it!
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Donna. Sorry for my cryptic attempt to comment. Our family experienced a similar illusion while driving in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. We weren’t far from Silverton near Wolf Creek Pass. I suspect the illusion was actuated by a compete snow cover with deep drifts. Only visible vegetation was tall spruce and Fir trees.
My dad asked us all if it appeared we were climbing or descending the mountain. My mother, younger brother and sister all felt were were moving down hill. Fact was, my dad had to press the accelerator to move up hill. Our slow progress was not from braking it was caused by the climb.
If you have a moment, I have a question about the Cornish peninsula. Old west writers use a common illustration of Gold and Silver mines using Cornish labor back in the late mid-late 1800s. Seems a large segment of the population were miners in Cornwall. Maybe just a useless piece of information but who knows, maybe something you can use. I haven’t verified the stories. I’m just a history buff who likes to write on the same topic.
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Hi Rich. I’m ashamed to say I don’t know much about the Cornish Mines. I have been to a few. One I toured, although I cannot remember the name of it. it was very interesting, though.
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Please delete this post. I just noticed I had left the notification boxes unchecked. Those features should take effect. Hope you enjoy my real comments. Thanks.
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I’m so glad you’re a writer. PIN numbers … four digits … a billion other combinations … Good god girl, what is the world comming to? Anyone knows there’s only a MILLION combinations 🙂
Cheers
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😀 You know me….Days of our Lives…..everything has to be bigger and better!
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I love Urban Legends…I may believe they are indeed fiction, but they still haunt me. Bloody Mary, Pop Rocks and Soda, someone underneath the carriage of the car ready to slice one’s achilles…I could go on and on.
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I read a book when I was a kid that was nothing but urban legends. I feel like it was called “Kentucky Fried Rat” based on the story of the couple that received a friend rat in their bucket of chicken, and didn’t realize they were eating it since they were in a dark car. 🙂
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Was the friend rat their pet?
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I heard the story about the guy in the back seat years ago, but he got in the car when the woman stopped at a liquor store. Same story, though.
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And, a version of this story was used in the opening of the Urban Legend movie, where agirl stops for gas. The gas attendant sees the man in the back seat and uses an expired credit card excuse to get the girl out of the car…..
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Hi Donna. I didn’t grow up in an urban area so the only urban legends I know are the ones regularly passed around on the internet. But I’ve heard lots of talk of ghost lights and the meaning of the movement of birds. I suppose urban legends are the new “old wives’ tales.” thanks for a great blog.
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I never thought of Urban Legends only developing in Urban areas. I’m trying to think of any based in city locations now.
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In our area (Dallas, TX) we have our own Lady of the Lake (White Rock Lake). I have heard several variations on this since we moved to the area, but the general story goes like this:
A young couple driving home on a stormy evening not long after sunset sees a young woman standing by the side of the road, shivering and soaking wet. She is waving frantically as they spot her in the headlights and the couple stop to offer her assistance. She tells them that she has been in a car accident, that her car has gone off the road and into the lake. She asks them to take her home, and of course they oblige, even offering her a blanket from their emergency kit to wrap up in. She then appears to fall asleep in the back seat of the car. When the couple arrive at the address specified, they turn to awaken their passenger only to discover that she is gone, leaving only a wet blanket behind in the seat. An elderly couple emerges from the house to tell them that the young woman did indeed live at the address at one time – she was their daughter who had drowned when her car was swept off into the lake in a storm some 30 years earlier. The couple leaves, and resumes their route home, only to discover that the road is now blocked off by emergency crews because it has indeed flooded.
I actually saw a lovely article in the Dallas Observer of all places that went into detail about this story, and I admit it intrigues me quite a bit. There are several variations – in some she is the victim of an abusive or drunken husband/boyfriend who drives her into the lake, but most of the time she is swept into the lake by a flash flood. She is dressed in clothing anywhere from the 40s to the 60s, usually in some kind of white dress The commonalities in the stories are:
1- She is sighted consistently after dark in storms or when conditions for flash flooding, or high lake levels exist that could be particularly dangerous.
2- all of the people who report seeing her are usually directed away from some obstacle in the road that would be difficult to see, or a dangerous flash flood.
3-most interesting to me, Nearly all of the so called sightings occur in the very specific area where the road dips (There is a railing there, but it is at the bottom of a steep hill that is a natural run off point and with a flash flood it is more than easy to imagine a car going over.)
According to the Observer, the sightings are so common that the Dallas Police department has a specific code used for Lady of White Rock Lake calls. The article went on to list over a dozen accidents involving young women at that specific point beginning with the mid 40s when the lake was first built up until the early 60’s. (hmm, now I think I am going to have to go research this and create a story from it!)
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That is a cool story. The lady in white is a common tale. I think it was even used in Supernatural’s pilot episode. Definitely worth a novel version – and you know I’ll read it 🙂
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