Urban Legend



An Urban legend is a story belonging to contemporary folklore; It is a type of legend or popular belief, sometimes related to a type of superstition, which, despite containing supernatural or implausible elements, is presented as real events that happened today. Some are based on real events, but these are exaggerated, distorted or mixed with fictitious data. They circulate through word of mouth, email or media such as press, radio, television or the Internet. They tend to have a "moral" as their background.

Definition
The same urban legend can have an infinity of versions, generally located in the environment of those who narrate and receive them. Due to their adaptation to industrial society and the modern world, they are called "urban", which opposes them to those legends that, having been the object of belief in the past, have lost their validity and are identified with past eras. Often, the narrator affirms that the protagonists of the urban legend were acquaintances or relatives of some close person. For this reason, in English they are also known as FOAFT (friend of a friend tales: stories of a friend of a friend).

When an urban legend reaches a certain relevant political, social or economic impact then it is considered a conspiracy theory.

Origin
For a fictional story to become an urban legend, it must be spontaneously disseminated as true and the information must reach some popular recognition. The most important feature of urban legends is their international character. The story of the charred diver who is accidentally picked up by a fire fighting plane and dropped on the fire, causing his death, is told with minimal variations in its structure in different places in North America, Europe and Australia, to name just a few. sites where this legend circulates.

Urban legend can be inspired by any source, but it often includes a mysterious, incomprehensible element. It is seldom possible to locate the precise origin of an urban legend. When the researcher faces one of them, he finds several stories spread over different areas, built from the same scheme, but adorned with very varied details depending on their location.

Urban legends have a more complex structure (approach, middle and end) than gossip, rumors and hoaxes. They are not intended, like these, to discredit a specific person, but rather address a "problem" that affects many people. Generally, they tell stories that alert us to possible dangers that can threaten us in our daily lives. So the plot is woven according to the outcome, in which the message or moral is often concentrated, as it happens in fables or fairy tales.

The urban legend is on the edge of credibility. All include false facts but some take elements of reality or are based on some real fact. For this reason, the urban legend is usually told as if it were a true event or, at least, a credible one. This requires that the characters be mere anonymous archetypes, "a man", "a woman", "a couple" or "an acquaintance of a friend", which the narrator of the urban legend does not know personally, although always located in scenes concrete (a certain city, street, country) that contribute to make it credible. The protagonist is often a "friend of a friend," relatively close to the listener, but not so close that it is feasible to consult him on the facts. Over time, the elements of the narrative transform to make it more attractive and impactful.

Since the end of the 20th century, the Internet has contributed significantly to the spread of urban legends, especially through e-mail.

The adaptations of the same in the network, in addition to the aforementioned, are characterized by: adding phrases with catastrophic alerts, citing trusted sources media, State forces, etc. and requesting that the information be disseminated to prevent more people from being affected.

Examples

 * Ghosts
 * Haunted Houses
 * Cryptids
 * Paranormal Phenomena
 * Phantom Vehicles
 * Haunted Roads
 * Cursed Dolls
 * Supernatural Beings and Entities
 * Boogeymen
 * Aliens
 * Yokai