...Urban Legends Urban legend is any modern fictional story passed on from person to person told us truth. Urban legend as often false but sometimes they are inspired by an actual event but evolved into something different from person to person. Urban legends are characterized by combination of humor, horror, warning, morality or appeal to empathy. Urban legends are passed on from friend to a friend. It’s human nature to go to spread this feeling to others as people lore to till good story. In past 10 years there has been huge surge of urban legends on internet. The most common is forwarded e-mail. Here the story is not reinterpreted by each person who passes it on. Having the original story gives e-mail legends a felling of legitimacy. It will always be a human nature to tell bizarre stories and there will always be an audience waiting to believe them. No matter how much information technology we develop’ human being will be drawn in by unsubstantiated rumor. The urban legend is a part of our makeup. One urban legend was about Katie and Paul once paked at Ecliobay came access news about a rapist killer who escaped from prison. Instead of a right hand he had a hook. When Katie and Paul went home and opened door they saw a hook hanging on door handle. For decades “The Hook” story appeared as a genuine letter in “Dear Abby”, newspaper advice column and many students heard this story in grade school. Another urban legend is about “Kentucky Fried Rat”. It’s about a woman did not...
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...Urban Legends: How do they work? Urban legends are told every day of the week and for different reasons. Some of the legends tell a story while others are telling the reader about behaviors that might have serious consequences. Some are based on truth, while others are based on fiction. According to author Tom Harris, the definition of an urban legend is “A modern, fictional story, told as truth, which reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to person”. Urban legends come from different sources like the internet, passed from friend to friend or reading it in a book or newspaper. When reading or listening to an urban legend tale, one has to ask 1. Is the source objective or biased 2. Is the source reputable and 3. Is the source sufficiently detailed? The tales over the years have become more elaborate and some parts of the story maybe true but as time goes on, another part of the story gets added making the story more unbelievable. According to author, James M. Henslin states that “urban legends are stories with an ironic twist that sounds realistic but are false”. Urban legends are told to people because of a lesson that needs to be learned or behaviors that need to be corrected. The person who is telling the story might think that by sharing this story, it would help that person because it’s similar in nature; therefore the person speaking is trying to help. In conclusion, urban legends are told for a different reasons and it’s up to the people...
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...Urban Legends Urban legend is any modern fictional story passed on from person to person told us truth. Urban legend as often false but sometimes they are inspired by an actual event but evolved into something different from person to person. Urban legends are characterized by combination of humor, horror, warning, morality or appeal to empathy. Urban legends are passed on from friend to a friend. It’s human nature to go to spread this feeling to others as people lore to till good story. In past 10 years there has been huge surge of urban legends on internet. The most common is forwarded e-mail. Here the story is not reinterpreted by each person who passes it on. Having the original story gives e-mail legends a felling of legitimacy. It will always be a human nature to tell bizarre stories and there will always be an audience waiting to believe them. No matter how much information technology we develop’ human being will be drawn in by unsubstantiated rumor. The urban legend is a part of our makeup. One urban legend was about Katie and Paul once paked at Ecliobay came access news about a rapist killer who escaped from prison. Instead of a right hand he had a hook. When Katie and Paul went home and opened door they saw a hook hanging on door handle. For decades “The Hook” story appeared as a genuine letter in “Dear Abby”, newspaper advice column and many students heard this story in grade school. Another urban legend is about “Kentucky Fried Rat”. It’s about a woman did not...
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...Urban legends are usually laughed at, or looked upon as a campfire story. What people don’t know is that we can learn some very important morals from urban legends. They can differ in story, but they usually have one thing in common, they have a moral to the story. Whether it be true, or false, the morals of urban legends can benefit you in your daily life. Urban legends have been passed down from generation to generation, and over time the stories change but the morals stay the same. Some of the things you learn from your parents as a kid comes from morals that are also tied into urban legends, such as; not trusting strangers, picking up hitch hikers, and wandering off on your own. The average child growing up, doesn’t know right from wrong, and is accepting of almost anyone they come by. Therefore, they don’t understand the concept of why you shouldn’t trust strangers. As we grow older we tend to forget the little things, there is an urban legend that has a moral that helps remind us of why we shouldn’t trust strangers. The urban legend is about a woman who went in the mall to go shopping, and when she returned to her car she realized that one of her tires was flat. So she puts her shopping bags in the car and grabs the jack out of her trunk and prepared herself to change the flat. Moments after she begins to change the flat a man who is dressed in a suit and tie wielding a briefcase approaches the car, and says to the lady, "I noticed you're changing a flat tire. Would...
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...Pokemon Facts: The Legend of Kalos Every region has a story and over time that story turns into a legend and that legend can illustrate different meanings. And so, in this video I’m going to talk about the legend of the Kalos region. The Kalos region, which exemplifies beauty with its culture and environment wasn’t always this beautiful. The region suffered a lot due to war and destruction. And, even though the war is shrouded in mystery, the destruction that afterward points to one man: the king of Kalos. 3,000 years ago, the king of Kalos created a machine that would give life to his beloved Pokemon that died in the Great War. The King was successful at reviving the Pokemon, but was not able to overcome his despair. The king blamed the...
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...There are many Urban Legends and Hoaxes about pregnancy, but above all Lina Medina’s story made the biggest impression on me. She is famous in the medical community for being the youngest mother in recorded history. At the age of five years she gave birth by Caesarean section to a healthy baby boy. When Lina, who was born in Ticrapo, Peru, first became pregnant, her parents did not realize what was happening. Due to her increasing abdominal size, they thought she had a tumor. They tried many local remedies, but when nothing worked they brought her to a doctor who diagnosed that she would be giving birth to a child soon. Dr. Gerardo Lozada was not sure about his thoughts, so he took her to Lima, Peru to confirm her pregnancy. A month and a half later, on May 14, 1939, she gave birth to a healthy boy and she named him Gerardo, after her doctor. Although the story was called a hoax, based on documents, pictures, and doctor’s verification, it is easily verifiable. During her pregnancy, doctors took x-rays and biopsies which proved that she would be a mother. When Lina was seven months pregnant, doctors took a picture showing her developmental body. Peru’s best physician, Dr . Edmundo Escomel, discovered that Lina already had regular periods when she was only eight months old, and she had a hormone disorder which explained her fully developed ovaries and matured body. The father of Lina’s Gerardo was never determined. Due to her age, doctors determined that...
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...Bloody Mary Have you ever been told to go in to a dark room with mirrors and chant “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary. . .” and something bad will happen to you? Many people, including myself, have heard the legend of Bloody Mary as some people would call it the face in the mirror. The version I have been told was that if you go into a bathroom in the dark with a lit candle and say the words “Bloody Mary” 3 to 100 times, you will see her face. There are many possibilities that can happen when you upset Bloody Mary. It has been told that she will kill the person calling her, scratch his or her eyes out, drive the person mad or even bring the person into the mirror with her. If you had seen the movie Candyland or Urban Legend, perhaps, you would recognize the similarities to that of Bloody Mary [Halloween Web]. Teenage girls are usually the ones who call upon Bloody Mary, mostly summoned at sleepovers as a form of entertainment. However, you might wonder why kids might want to call this chilling woman. It may be a safe way to mess with danger. People who think they have seen Bloody Mary have said that she appeared in the mirror with a 1700s-1800s style dress holding her dead baby. Her face seemed decayed and rotten and her eyes were either white or rolled back. Bloody Mary also went by the names Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie and Svarte Madame. It has been rumored that you can also call...
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...Tanner Raymond Raymond 1 English Mrs. Cyr 7 January 2015 In Guy De Maupassant’s “The Necklace” he uses literary devices. Literary devices are used in writing to give depth and to enhance the work and play a huge role Guy’s writing. Guy uses situational irony, theme, dynamic characters, and the point of view in the story to keep you wanting to read. The fact that Mme. Loisel is a dynamic character means that she changes throughout the story. In the very beginning of “The Necklace” Mme. is middle class and not overwhelmingly wealthy. She feels unhappy, greedy, and over all just bored with her lifestyle. To illustrate this it states directly from the text, “She suffered endlessly, feeling born for every delicacy and luxury. She suffered from the poorness of her house, from it’s mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains.”(pg. 29). Following this, Mme. Loisel gets a pretty dress and necklace. She feels happy, very proud, and she feels like she is a high class citizen. Soon after Mme. Loisel spends 10 years of her life paying off loan sharks and other people. Due to this Mme. Loisel is lower class, very poor, hard working, and most likely very grateful now that her debt is gone. In the case that Mme. Loisel is a static character meaning she did not change throughout the story, rather than a dynamic one, we the reader wouldn't be able to understand how Mme...
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...Characteristics of an Urban Legend An urban legend is an apocryphal, secondhand story, told as true and just plausible enough to be believed, about some horrific, embarrassing, ironic or exasperating series of events that supposedly happened to a real person. As in the example above, it's likely to be framed as a cautionary tale. Whether factual or not, an urban legend is meant to be believed. In lieu of evidence, the teller of an urban legend is apt to rely on skillful storytelling and reference to a putatively trustworthy source — e.g., "it really happened to my hairdresser's brother's best friend" — to convince hearers (or readers) of its veracity. Not always false Albeit synonymous in common parlance with "false belief," the term "urban legend" is meant to denote a more subtle and complex social phenomenon, namely the emergence and transmission of contemporary folk narratives — narratives which are indeed usually false, but which also, on occasion, turn out to be 99.99% true. The critical factor is that it's told as true despite the absence of confirming evidence. As many versions as tellers of the tale The phrase "urban legend" entered the popular lexicon in the early 1980s with the publication of folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand's first book on the subject, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings (New York: W.W. Norton, 1981). Urban legends are a type of folklore, defined as the handed-down beliefs, stories, songs and customs of ordinary...
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...The Legend of Makahiya Long time ago, there was a couple in Barangay Masagana (Pampanga today) who wanted a daughter. Their wish was granted and the wife gave birth to a baby girl. They called her Maria. Maria was very beautiful but very shy that she wouldn't go out from their house. Weeks later, Spaniards came to their town. The Spaniards were very cruel that they get everything they wanted. They rob houses and kill everyone who gets in their way and who refuses to give what they wanted. The couple was very frightened to lose their daughter so, they hid Maria in the bushes so the Spaniards couldn't find her. After the Spaniards left their town, the couple tried to look for Maria but they couldn't find her even in the bushes where they hid her, instead they found a little plant that is very sensitive that when you touch it, it would immediately close. So they thought it was their daughter, Maria. They called " the plant "Makahiya that means "touch me not," like their daughter who was very shy The Legend of Lanao Lake In ancient Lanao, there once lived a giant called Umacaan. He was so enormous that when he spread his arms side ward, they spread as far as thirty kilometers apart. Almost anything was within easy reach, best of all, men whom he loved to eat. Men flee at the sight of him. No one dared come out to the mountains for fear of losing their lives at the hands of the man-eating giant. In no time, news about Umacaan reached as far as the kingdom of Bumbaran...
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...In “How Urban Legends Work” Tom Harris provides perfect examples of urban legends, what they are, how they’re spread, and how they’ve changed over time. Urban legends are stories created from some event and then passed from person to person, most of which are false but believed to be true. Urban legends exist everywhere and can be funny, cruel, or leave an impression on someone. Commonly passed between friends, this makes urban legends seem more real because the story is coming from someone whom you trust. As they are passed from person to person, the story is changed or made more interesting by each person. Often passed around because these stories interest people and it is within our nature to want to spread these stories. According to Harris, “You feel compelled to warn your friends and family”. Anyone can be tricked into believing urban legends because we tend to trust the information being told and not question it. As Harris states “In many cases, this trust runs so deep that a person will insist an urban legend actually occurred, even when confronted with evidence to the contrary”. Even if proved wrong people still believe in urban legends. Urban legends sometimes cause us fear because we can relate to them whether it’s a place we’ve been to or go to every day. All over the world urban legends tend to be passed around some of which are revisited from time to time. Harris mentions Legends such as the “Hook-hand killer” tale A young couple on a date drives off...
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...Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild vs. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The two best selling Legend of Zelda games in history have been Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess. Have you ever wondered which of these two games is better? Well, you’re about to find out. Now let’s talk about their similarities. The main character in each game is a guy named Link. He is the hero of the games, who travels across the land. Both games were developed by the Nintendo franchise for the WiiU. Both of these games are considered “action adventure”. These games are widely known around the world for their puzzles and riddles. Both Legend of Zelda games have similar play because they were directed by Eiji Aonuma. Even though there are many similarities,...
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...In examining Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” alongside Tim Burton’s filmic adaption of the story, titled “Sleepy Hollow,” a number of fascinating similarities and differences emerge. Though elements of the characters and settings of Burton’s film borrow heavily from Irving’s text, the overall structuring of the film is significantly different, and representations of various elements are crucially re-imagined. Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” was released on November 19, 1999, a few months before the new millennium. Set in 1799, Burton’s film modifies the 1790 date that Irving’s text is set in, showing an acute concern with living out anxieties surrounding millennial change in the ‘safe’ formats of film and of established folk legend. Irving’s tale, written in 1820, also works with antiquity, but in a different manner: it lives out colonial cultural anxieties of Irving’s present, as he seems to be concerned with constructing archetypes of folk and with placing folk culture in the new American literary landscape. Examining the two versions of the tale, then, provides a fascinating peek into the transformation of concerns and values in America from Irving’s nineteenth century landscape to Burton’s twentieth (on the verge of twenty-first) century. Burton makes several significant moves that modify the basics of Irving’s tale, frequently at the cost of the folk elements of Irving’s version. The frame narrative of Irving’s story—the tale, part of a series titled...
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...I am legend “I am Legend” is a sci-fi movie based on a brilliant military scientist, Robert Neville, whom becomes the last man on earth. He becomes the last man on earth because of a man-made untreatable virus which turns people into flesh eating zombies. He is immune to the virus and the only one who can save humanity. He spends several years trying to control the virus and also broadcasting radio signals for any other survivors. The Zombies creep around in the shadows, observing the scientist’s every move until he makes a fatal mistake. I liked this movie because the effectiveness and dialogue of it were accurate and I didn’t get lost watching all the scenes. The special effects and background coincided with what was going on throughout the movie and also appeared to be realistic. The performance of the main character, Will Smith, was phenomenal and I also felt as if I was in his shoes. Several aspects during certain scenes made the movie stand out from the thousands of movies I’ve watched. When Neville was driving around New York City with his dog Sam in a 2009 ford mustang GT500, the roar of the engine and the watchful eye of his dog following the deers symbolized modern hunting. After they got out on foot and began chasing the wild animals into the growing forest and the lions appeared out of the fields to take Neville’s priced deer gave me the idea that earth was reverting back into prehistoric times. Finally, when he sacrificed his life after he realized...
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...Robert Neville tested his survival skills when he was the last normal human in existence. I Am Legend was written by Richard Matheson and tells the story of a man’s journey through a plague, with intent not to get infected. Robert faced many challenges everyday to repel the vampires, instead of getting exposed to them. He continuously kills everyone and disposes of their body to minimize their offenses towards him. Robert’s wife and children were lost to the disease. The vampires throw rocks and taunt Robert at night. Then Robert constantly kills the vampires he comes across. This is how he ensures his safety. He is trained to do so, because he fought a war in Panama previously. Robert studies the disease closely and experiments to find the specific effects it has on people. He...
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