essay about legends

Essay on Myths And Legends

Students are often asked to write an essay on Myths And Legends in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Myths And Legends

Understanding myths and legends.

Myths and legends are stories from long ago. They are full of adventure and often teach lessons. Myths usually explain how something in nature or human behavior began. Legends are tales about heroes and their brave deeds. Both are passed down through generations and are important in every culture.

Differences Between Myths and Legends

Myths are often about gods and magic, and they explain mysteries of life. Legends are usually about people who might have lived. They tell about their courage and strength. While myths are more about belief, legends can be partly true.

Why Myths and Legends Matter

These stories are more than just tales. They give us morals and show us how to act. They connect us to our past and to people everywhere. Myths and legends help us understand different cultures and their values. They are a bridge to the world’s history.

250 Words Essay on Myths And Legends

What are myths and legends.

Myths and legends are stories that have been told for a very long time. They are like a bridge that connects us to the past. Myths are often about gods, goddesses, and supernatural beings. They try to explain how the world was made and why things happen. Legends are a bit different. They are usually about heroes and famous people. Both myths and legends teach us lessons and share the values of the culture they come from.

The Purpose of Myths and Legends

These stories are not just for fun. They have a special job to do. Myths and legends teach us right from wrong and show us how to behave. They give us examples of bravery and tell us what happens when people make bad choices. Often, they are used to explain things that people in the past did not understand, like thunder or why the seasons change.

It’s important to know that myths and legends are not the same as fairy tales or fables. Myths are mostly about gods and are sacred to the people who believe in them. Legends are often based on real events or people but are exaggerated over time. Unlike fairy tales, legends can sometimes be true.

Why We Still Love These Stories

Even today, we love these old stories. They are exciting and full of adventure. They help us dream and imagine. Plus, they bring people together because they are stories everyone can share. Myths and legends are like treasures from long ago that still sparkle and shine for us to enjoy.

500 Words Essay on Myths And Legends

Long ago, before science could explain the mysteries of the world, people used stories to make sense of things. These stories are what we call myths and legends. Myths are tales that were told to explain natural events, like thunder and lightning, or the changing of the seasons. Legends are a bit different; they are stories that are told about people and their actions or great events, and sometimes they are based on real historical figures, but they are often exaggerated.

You might wonder why we should care about these old stories today. Myths and legends are important because they were the way our ancestors shared their values and beliefs. They helped to teach younger generations about the culture and traditions of their people. Even in today’s world, these stories can teach us a lot about how people in the past saw the world and can help us understand different cultures better.

The Heroes and Creatures

One exciting part of myths and legends is the heroes and magical creatures. Heroes like Hercules from Greek mythology or King Arthur from British legends were admired for their strength and bravery. Then there are the creatures like dragons, unicorns, and the Loch Ness Monster, which add a touch of magic and mystery to these stories. These characters often face challenges or go on quests that test their courage and wisdom.

Lessons from Myths and Legends

Myths and legends are not just for entertainment; they also teach lessons. Many of these stories have morals or messages that are still relevant today. For example, the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, teaches us about the dangers of overconfidence. By reading these tales, children can learn about the consequences of good and bad behavior.

Myths and Legends Around the World

Every culture has its own set of myths and legends. From the Norse tales of Odin and Thor to the Native American stories of the trickster coyote, these stories vary widely. By sharing myths and legends from around the world, we can learn to appreciate the diversity of human storytelling and the shared themes that connect us all.

Keeping Myths and Legends Alive

Even though myths and legends are old, they are still very much alive today. They can be found in books, movies, and even video games. Many modern stories are inspired by these ancient tales, and by keeping them alive, we ensure that the wisdom and creativity of our ancestors continue to inspire us.

In conclusion, myths and legends are a window into the past and a bridge to other cultures. They are a collection of stories that have been passed down for generations, teaching us about bravery, caution, and the human spirit. These tales may have been told long ago, but their power to captivate and educate us remains undiminished. So next time you hear a story about a hero from long ago or a creature from a far-off land, remember that you are part of a long tradition of storytelling that has been going on for thousands of years.

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• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use a Legend

I. What is a Legend?

A legend (/ˈlejənd/) is a story about human events or actions that has not been proved nor documented in real history. Legends are retold as if they are real events and were believed to be historical accounts. They usually tell stories about things that could be possible, so both the storyteller and the audience may believe they are true. Its meaning stems from the Medieval Latin term legenda , meaning “things to be read.” and from the Latin legendus .

The details in legends are altered and adapted over time so that they stay interesting for audiences—for instance, the legend of the Philosopher’s Stone (a magical stone that can make a person immortal and turn metals into gold) can be found in literature in the Middle Ages to the modern day Harry Potter series. Legends don’t claim to be exact retellings of events, so they are neither wholly believed nor wholly doubted by the audience or the author.

Sometimes, it’s hard to say whether a legend is fiction or nonfiction—the truth behind it can be unclear. For example, the legends of the Lochness Monster and Bigfoot are based on real sightings, but their existence remains unproved today. Conversely, an urban legend is a fictional story in popular culture that is known to be false, for example; a rumor passed on year after year to each new group of freshmen about an old janitor who used to murder students at the local high school.

Though this article focuses on the literary definition, it is important to note that nowadays, we also use the term “legend” when we want to emphasize something’s fame or importance. We often describe things as “legendary”— for example, we would say that Babe Ruth is a legend of baseball and Elvis is a rock and roll legend, “legendary” in popular culture.

II. Example of a Legend

Read the short story below:

Alongside the river in Old Usquepaugh, Rhode Island is an old grist mill that was built the 1700s. It is settled beside a misty waterfall, its wheel spinning in the water all day and night to churn out corn. Across from the mill, workers built small cottages into the sides of the hill with stones and stone and packed the walls with horse hair for warmth. On one night in October, during the full moon, one of the workers noticed that the mill’s wheel stopped spinning, so he pulled on his coat and walked to the mill. He thought he saw a branch wedged in the top of the wheel, so climbed a ladder to the roof. As he reached to grab the branch, he lost his footing, falling into the rocky falls below. His body was never found. They say that every October, on the night of the full moon, the wheel stops turning as it did that night long ago…and coming from the mist of the falls, you can hear the sound of a man moaning.

The ghost story above could be a legend for several key reasons. First, it is based on a real place and corn mill in Rhode Island, where the mill worker’s cottages still stand today. Second, the plotline is believable and possible. Third, the details are ambiguous…does the wheel really stop every October? It’s possible. Can you hear a man moaning? Unlikely…but could it be real? As you can see, parts of the story are real, but other parts are, perhaps, fiction.

III. Importance of Legends

As stories, mankind has and always will love legends—they are an intriguing form of storytelling because we want to believe that they are true. They are an essential part of oral and written folklore; they are found in folktales from all cultures (see Related Terms). It is part of our nature to share interesting and significant tales with friends and future generations so that they can be recorded and remembered. As much as people like to tell stories, they like to exaggerate even more, which is why legends are so timeless—their facts have been embellished and changed so many times that the truth becomes a mystery that still might need to be solved, and that makes them particularly intriguing. So long as we continue to pass down interesting stories, legends will continue to exist and flourish.

IV. Examples of Legend in Literature

Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur is the most famous and influential collection of tales in literature detailing the legend of King Arthur. In fact, all of the stories you’ve ever heard about King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Lancelot, the wizard Merlin, the Knights of the Round Table, and the city of Camelot are likely from Le Morte d’Arthur . The passage below is from the Third Book of Le Morte d’Arthur , in the chapter titled “How the knights of the Round Table were ordained, and their sieges blessed by the bishop of Canterbury”:

When king Arthur heard of the coming of Guenever and the hundred knights with the Table Round, then king Arthur made great joy for their coming, and that rich present, and said openly, This fair lady is passing welcome unto me, for I have loved her long, and therefore there is nothing so lief to me. And these knights with the Round Table please me more than right great riches. And in all haste the king let ordain for the marriage and the coronation in the most honourablest wise that could be devised.

The above selection recounts the day when Guinevere supposedly came to Camelot and Arthur’s plans for their wedding. Furthermore, Malory describes the arrival of the “Table Round” and the knights that were carrying it. But, whether or not any of this actually happened remains debatable. While it is generally believed that King Arthur was a real historical figure, the particulars of his life and rule are uncertain, unreliable, and unclear—thus, all of the stories about King Arthur are legends.

The legend of the vampire Count Dracula has been inspiring vampire stories and culture for two centuries. Bram Stoker unveiled this character in the iconic 1897 horror novel Dracula . Stoker did not create the legend that vampires exist, but he created our idea of vampires—the character Dracula represents our modern perception of vampires in every way. Visualize a “classic” vampire—you probably see an ancient man with pale white skin, sharp fangs dripping red, a cape shaped like a bat’s wings, and a sinister desire for human blood. Furthermore, you imagine that he can only come out at night, and sleeps in a coffin during the day, and is cold to the touch, like a corpse. Read the following passage from Dracula—

I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck.

Here, the narrator finds the Count in his coffin at night, having clearly just fed on human blood. Stoker’s description above paints the perfect picture of today’s classic vampire. From horror flicks, to teen vampire novels, to scary Halloween costumes, to Count Chocula breakfast cereal, Stoker’s Count Dracula has infiltrated not only literature, but all parts of popular culture. He successfully turned the age-old legend of evil beings that drink human blood into iconic image. Interestingly, Count Dracula was supposedly inspired by a 16 th century Romanian general of the same name, which tempts audiences to wonder…could vampires be real?

V. Examples of Legend in Pop Culture

Legends are often based on creatures that could be real, but haven’t been proven to exist according to science. These legends often date back centuries and have been retold generation after generation up until today, where they remain mysteries. Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, and the Abominable Snowman are three prime examples of legends that some people are still searching for. On the Discovery Channel show River Monsters , biologist and TV presence Jeremy Wade explores reported sightings of giant river creatures. In the series special “Legend of Loch Ness,” Wade tries to uncover the mystery of the legend of the Loch Ness monster, as he introduces in the following clip:

In his introduction, Wade explains why this legend is so hard for him to believe—yet he is still setting out on a mission to discover the monster in Loch Ness, truly believing it could exist. There are an abundance of documentaries and episodes on television tackling legends just like this. Nowadays, with the ability to capture things on videos, you’d think it would be easier to prove and disprove these creatures’ existence—but in fact, it makes people question more and search even harder.

Some authors and artists create fictional legends based on personal ideas, as did the creators of The Legend of Zelda , a fantasy video game series that has been a gaming favorite since the first release 1986. The back-story was dreamt up by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and was then developed by Nintendo. The game designers turned Miyamoto’s childhood memories into their own fantasy world; complete with the legend of the elf warrior Link and his many quests . Link is the protagonist and the games’ playable character, and in each version of the game he is tasked with saving the princess Zelda. Game play is set in the kingdom of Hyrule, which has its own complex history. So, the legend of Zelda isn’t a legend from man’s history—it’s a legend from Hyrule’s history. In the clips below, a fan outlines the detailed history of Hyrule, its major figures, and the legend of Zelda.

History of Hyrule Part I:

History of Hyrule Part II:

The Legend of Zelda has also been made into several animated TV series, comic books, and other forms of media. Since the 1980s, a new video or computer game has been released every few years, each with fresh storylines and quests for Link to complete.

VI. Related Terms

Folktales are classic stories that have been passed down throughout a culture’s oral and written tradition; together they make up a culture’s folklore . They usually involve some elements of fantasy and explore popular questions of morality and right and wrong, oftentimes with a lesson to be learned at the end. A legend is a particular type of story found in oral and written folklore.

A myth is a classic or legendary story that usually focuses on a particular hero or event, and explains mysteries of nature, existence, or the universe with no true basis in fact. Sometimes, myths use legends as part of the story. The primary difference between the two forms is that overall, myths are now known and believed to be false, while many legends can still be based on some level of truth. Furthermore, legends are generally about human affairs, while myths almost always involve the gods and goddesses—for instance, the story of Hercules is a myth, while the story of King Arthur is a legend.

VII. Conclusion

Today this day, legends have a significant role in not only literature, but popular culture as well. They are timeless stories that can be adapted for any audience in any style, making them an invaluable form of storytelling.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
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• Essay on History

Free Essay About Legends

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: History , Social Issues , Legend , Crime , Corruption , Theory , City , Body

Published: 02/19/2020

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Legends and myths have always been a favorite pastime of history. It tells a story even if the story holds truths or lies or myths. Stories are what capitates from the beginning of the time and will always remain cherished. This paper will reflect on the legend that has mystified countless people throughout time, What Happen to Jimmy Hoffa? This is a legend that people need to know for it part of our history of America. It made footprints that affected the history of union teams, mafia and other elements. People need to remember this man for even over thirty years; he is still debated in countless discussions. Remembering our history, helps makes our foundation stronger for the future. Without the knowledge of history, we would not have the importance reminders of the hope, success, trials, wars, etc that help build America. Jimmy Hoffa was union teams’ leader. A leader with extreme communication skills that caused people to noticed him. As folks know, one day he vanished. There has been no evidence on what neither happen with his disappearance nor was his body ever found. There have been countless theories on where and what happen to Jimmy Hoffa. The FBI stills today even searches for Hoffa. Hoffa was last seen in the year of 1975. There has been countless money toward trying to find him and solved the mystery. A few years ago in Michigan, the FBI did an extensive search in a driveway trying to find Hoffa body. There have been stories that Hoffa has been buried in Florida, certain stadiums, Chicago, New York, Detroit Michigan, New Jersey, and other places. The stadium theories are because of the famous mob that claims that Hoffa body is underneath a particular stadium. These are some of the top places where people considered his body can be found. Again, no evidence has given any proof to any of these theories. The cities of Chicago, New York and Detroit were considered the most for they have a long history of corruption in the police department. These sites have faced a couple federal investigations because of the corruption. While the cities of Chicago and New York have their history of corruption, they both had a large development in their cities and downtown areas. Since this is the case, countless people feel that Hoffa body would have turn up during one of that restoration. Detroit reputation of corruption is a matter of sadness. Again, this corruption is one theory because it seems that countless people think that Hoffa body is in one of those cities. These cities that most individuals feel that he Hoffa was rumored to have unlawful connections including the mob. Again, these cities have a long history of corruption. The city of Detroit MI might be one of the worst. This city,today,is facing a decline in all aspects of the city. Sadly, it has been known through America that this city has not had any recent growth besides Compuware in many years. There are countless abandoned buildings in Detroit, MI. Those people who believed this with the buildings feel that one of these buildings has Hoffa body underneath. In Detroit downtown, in the famous Renaissance buildings, there is legend that Mr. Hoffa body is under the foundation when that building was created. That gives the reason for some individual of their “proof” of what happen to Hoffa. Another “proof” about Detroit is Mr. Hoffa had many meetings and had lived for a period of time near Detroit. There were meetings held in certain cities of MI that were supposed to be meetings with of clients of a dangerous nature. This brings to another theory. Many people feel that Mr. Hoffa death was because of a mob hit. Legend has it that he upset the wrong person and that caused for his disappearance. Again, there is the corruption angle for Detroit MI in that time, and sadly still today, for having corruption through police, mayor office and Detroit Council Staff. Detroit had a former Mayer named Coleman Young that served Detroit for several years. He was known as being a crock, but he was smart, and he was a charmer. There are some legends that claim that Mr. Hoffa had the former mayor, and he had crocked cops in his pockets. Again, the legends and myths that surrounded Mr. Hoffa are ongoing and will probably not stop in the future. There have been countless movies made regarding this. They provided their version regarding the theory of the disappearance of Mr. Hoffa and his body. The movie that is probable shows the best of the character of Mr. Hoffa is the one where Jack Nicholson played Mr. Hoffa. While there have been movies been made, there has been countless documentaries regarding Mr. Hoffa as well as books. Again, each holds their own views regarding the vanish of Mr. Hoffa. Some have the same view regarding his vanish. Regardless, people want answers to where Mr. Hoffa body is and what happen to him. Again, this is a mystery that will always have different myths, rumors, legends and conspiracies. Maybe one day this mystery will be solved. Maybe one day at least part of this mystery can be solved. Regardless, the legend of what happen to Jimmy Hoffa will always remain a favorite and debated legend.

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The Importance of Historical Legends Essay

Various legends associated with historical events and personalities often do not correspond to facts but can play a significant role in a nation’s history. Deviating from real history can positively affect the readers or listeners because it increases the level of pathos. This factor is vital as many prefer to receive information that they find intriguing or inspiring. Thus, obscure historical depictions can encourage people to take an interest in their country’s past. People need to believe such legends as they have several positive effects on improving people’s understanding of history and enhancing the level of national self-identification.

From a historical standpoint, the legend of King Arthur is a myth created by Welsh clerics about heroes transcending any difficulties, but for ordinary people, believing in this story has several benefits. The main advantages of believing in historical legends relate to the opportunity to understand history better and improve morale in difficult times. For instance, from the various versions of the legend, one can learn about the invasion of the Heathen Saxons or about Camelot Castle, which represents a chivalric utopia (Aron 60). In addition, this legend pays tribute to several generations of kings and knights, increasing people’s pride in their past. In this aspect, even defeats mentioned in legends can have a positive effect on people, motivating them to struggle for a return to their golden age (Aron 60). This statement is supported by the fact that King Arthur is a more renowned person than many rulers whose existence is not in doubt (Higham 32). Overall, legends not supported by facts are an essential part of culture since they can contain general information about historical periods and inspire people.

Many people perceive historical legends as complete fabrications since some aspects described are notoriously illogical and unrealistic. At the same time, descriptions of impossible actions or events make them more appealing to the ordinary reader or listener. Such stories are a significant source of enrichment of national self-identification as they motivate people to take an interest in past events. For instance, the legend of King Arthur is undoubtedly a source from which people have been finding inspirational insights for centuries. Thus, it is vital to believe historical legends if one understands their meaning correctly and can distinguish credible information from outright fiction.

Works Cited

Aron, Paul. Unsolved Mysteries of History: An Eye-Opening Investigation into the Most Baffling Events of All Time . Wiley, 2001.

Higham, Nicholas J. King Arthur: The Making of the Legend . Yale University Press, 2018.

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What Is a Legend in Literature?

In Literary Texts, One Use Is as a Narrative Used to Explain an Event

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A legend is a  narrative — often handed down from the past — that is used to explain an event, transmit a lesson, or simply entertain an audience.

Though customarily told as "true" stories, legends often contain supernatural, bizarre, or highly improbable elements. Types of legends include folk legends and urban legends. Some of the world's most famous legends survive as literary texts, such as Homer's " Odyssey " and Chrétien de Troyes' tales of King Arthur.

Folktales and Legends

• "Although folktales and legends are both important genres of orally told narrative, in many ways they are decidedly different. As folklorists use the term, folktales are fictional stories; that is, they are regarded as fictions by those who tell and listen to them...
• "Legends, on the other hand, are true narratives; that is, they are regarded by their tellers and listeners as recounting events that actually took place, although to say so is an oversimplification....Legends are historical accounts (such as the account of Daniel Boone's encounters with Indians); or they are sorts of news accounts (as with 'contemporary' or 'urban' legends in which, for example, it is asserted that a madman with a hook arm recently attacked parked teenagers somewhere nearby); or they are attempts to discuss human interactions with other worlds, whether in the present day or in the past...
• "However, in the social contexts in which legends are told, attitudes toward the veracity of any given narrative may differ; some people may accept its truth, others may deny it, still others may keep an open mind but not commit themselves." (Frank de Caro, Introduction to "An Anthology of American Folktales and Legends". Routledge, 2015)

How Have Legends Appeared in Literary Texts?

One of the world's most famous legends is the story of Icarus, the son of a craftsman in ancient Greece. Icarus and his father attempted to escape from an island by making wings out of feathers and wax. Against his father's warning, Icarus flew too close to the sun. His wings melted, and he plunged into the sea. This story was immortalized in Breughel's painting "Landscape With the Fall of Icarus" , which W. H. Auden wrote about in his poem "Musee des Beaux Arts."

"In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on." (From "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W. H. Auden, 1938)

As stories handed down from the past, legends are often revised by each subsequent generation. The first stories of King Arthur , for example, were recorded in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain)", which was written in the 12th century. More elaborate versions of these stories later appeared in the long poems of Chrétien de Troyes. By several hundred years later, the legend was so popular that it became the subject of parody in Mark Twain's humorous 1889 novel "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".

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11 American Legends, Anecdotes, and Personal Narratives

Department of English, Binghamton University (SUNY)

• Published: 07 June 2018
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Legends, anecdotes, and personal narratives express important dimensions of human experience and values. At times of difficulty, uncertainty, and threat, these narratives help people express worries and seek answers to disturbing questions. Related to rituals, games, and pranks, legends frequently appear on the Internet. The concept of ostension—enactment of legends—sheds light on legends’ relationship to ritual, especially in the context of the legend quest. Legends about gender, empowerment of women, suspicion of corporations’ nefarious activities, and natural and political disaster reflect society’s contemporary concerns. Folklorists benefit from further study of diverse ethnic groups’ legends and personal experience stories in American culture. With new forms of ostension emerging through use of the Internet and other technology, it is important to monitor and analyze expressive behavior online.

Legends express our deepest fears and give us opportunities to enact those fears. Like legends, anecdotes and personal narratives are powerful expressions of human experience, but they tend to be less controversial. Scholars who have studied one or more of these three genres have found overlap among them, especially between legends and personal experience stories. Because there are no absolute boundaries dividing these narrative genres, perceptions of the genres flow together.

This chapter will begin with consideration of foundational legend, anecdote, and personal narrative scholarship. The rest of the chapter will be devoted to compelling issues in contemporary scholarship. As the German folklorist Lutz Röhrich points out, legend scholarship since the 1980s has increasingly emphasized awareness of “the cultural language of fear” (1988, 8). The United States is just one of many nations in which this cultural language emerges, but Americans’ increasing worry about danger in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries has resulted in emphasis on fear in legend studies. Issues to which scholars have given attention include enactment of frightening issues through ostension, exploration of disturbing gender roles, empowerment of abused women, distrust of corporations, and response to natural, technological, and political disaster. The arrival of digital technology has provided new ways to share stories, including an increasing emphasis on visual presentation.

Early Scholarship

The earliest scholarly definition of the legend comes from Jacob Grimm , whose Teutonic Mythology includes this famous passage: “The fairy-tale flies, the legend walks, knocks at your door; the one can draw freely out of the fullness of poetry, the other has almost the authority of history” (1883, xv). This contrast between poetic flights of fancy and historical wisdom has had a strong influence on later legend scholars. Significantly, Grimm does not suggest that the legend is truly historical; instead, he contends that it has “almost” the kind of authority that history conveys. Although he did not go further in explaining how this near-authority works, he paved the way for later scholars to do so.

Another kind of authority comes from personal experience. An early scholar who established categories related to experience was Carl Wilhelm von Sydow , a pioneering Swedish folklorist who established a number of theoretical concepts, including the “oikotype” concerning migratory folklore in local contexts. Von Sydow’s Kategorien der Prosa-Volksdichtung [Categories of Prose-Folk Poetry] (1948) introduces the terms memorat and fabulat , known in English as memorate and fabulate . According to von Sydow, memorates, stories based on personal experience, can gradually become fabulates, stories with less personal content. For example, a young man’s account of his visit to a haunted church may become a ghost story that identifies the church but presents the young visitor as a generic character. The categories of memorate and fabulate have generated questions about the role of personal experience in legend telling. Does a foundation in personal experience keep a narrative from being a legend? Although von Sydow worried about that distinction, it has become less relevant for contemporary legend scholars, who recognize that many legend tellers draw heavily upon personal experience.

American legend scholarship began with Richard M. Dorson , founder of Indiana University’s Folklore Institute, who argued that legendary folk heroes such as Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan reflected the young country’s optimism and pride but did not always represent authentic folk tradition (1959, 3). Part of Dorson’s historical approach is his assessment of Charles M. Skinner’s late nineteenth-century books of romanticized legends related to the American landscape ( Dorson 1979 ; Skinner 1896 )). A different kind of legend study began after Linda Dégh joined the Folklore Institute’s faculty in 1964. In 1968 she founded the academic journal Indiana Folklore , which devoted much of its content to legendary haunted bridges, cemeteries, houses, college residence halls, and other places. Dégh and her husband, Andrew Vázsonyi, argued that legends come up when believers, skeptics, and others with less clearly defined viewpoints converse (1973).

As legend scholarship progressed in the 1980s, the terms “urban legend” and “contemporary legend” became common. “Urban legend” became familiar to many Americans through Jan Harold Brunvand’s The Vanishing Hitchhiker (1981) and other popular books. As “urban legend” became a well-known term, people tended to associate legends with cities. Since 1988, when the Society for Contemporary Legend Research was founded, folklorists who belong to that organization have maintained that contemporary legends come from both rural and urban locations. Linda Dégh, however, objected to both “urban legend” and “contemporary legend,” preferring to use the terms “legend” and “belief legend.” Folklorists should not worry too much about these qualifiers. “Legend” is a clear and appropriate term that works well for folkloristic analysis.

Dégh devoted much of her scholarship to legends but also gives some attention to anecdotes. According to Dégh , the anecdote “characterizes a person, a memorable event, or a place through a representative personal episode” (1972, 70). Related to national and local history, anecdotes help people understand important personages and events. Anecdotes can take oral or literary form; some have both oral and literary versions. Because the term “anecdote” is derived from the Latin anecdota , “unpublished items,” anecdotes have a clear connection to oral storytelling. In the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification of folk narratives ( Uther 2004 ), anecdotes and jokes fit tale types 1200 to 1999 ( Multilingual Folk Tale Database 2017 ). The Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification uses the terms “joke” and “anecdote” interchangeably. That is not a problem, because there are no firm boundaries between these kinds of stories.

Some of the best-known anecdotes recount important episodes in the lives of famous political leaders. It is common for such anecdotes to provide a moral lesson for children. Mason Locke (“Parson”) Weems tells of young George Washington chopping down a cherry tree with his little hatchet and then admitting his misdeed to his father, because he cannot tell a lie (1918; originally published in 1809). Because this anecdote was included in the McGuffey Eclectic Reader series ( Lindberg 1976 ), it taught many American children about the importance of honesty. The cherry tree story’s wide oral and literary circulation has contributed to the popularity of cherry pie and other cherry desserts to celebrations of Washington’s birthday on February 22. Although it is very unlikely that the cherry tree story is true ( Wroth 1911 ), its dubious origin has not stopped it from having an impact on children.

Another well-known anecdote of uncertain veracity concerns Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States. Both a subject and a source of folklore, Lincoln has a special place in the study of American folklore and history ( Steers and Holzer 2007 ). A self-made man and the victim of a horrifying assassination by an actor near the end of the Civil War, Lincoln has inspired many narratives. According to a number of children’s books, such as the popular Honest Abe ( Albus 1954 ), young Abraham Lincoln valued honesty so highly that he walked a mile or several miles to return a penny to a woman who had received incorrect change at his store. Some versions of the story mention that Lincoln had lost his mother as a child and lived in poverty in a log cabin in the woods. The fact that Lincoln’s head has been on pennies since 1909 has increased this anecdote’s appeal.

Other anecdotes serve as adaptive devices to help people respond to tragedies in local communities or the entire country. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC, people told stories about individuals who had survived the attacks because of small changes in their routine for that day ( Park 2011 ). Being late to work, having to stay home because of a child’s illness, and taking a break to smoke a cigarette were among the reasons why people escaped alive. The message of these anecdotes is that small twists of fate can have unexpectedly fortunate consequences.

Personal narratives gained better recognition as a folklore genre when Sandra D. Stahl published Literary Folkloristics and the Personal Narrative (1989) . Stahl’s analysis of the personal narrative as an oral literary genre includes introduction of methodology for personal narratives. Her approach establishes the personal narrative as an oral literary genre and places it within the context of literary folkloristics. In agreement with poststructuralist criticism, Stahl argues, “The listener enriches the text by listening and interprets the text by discovering tradition in the interpretive context” (1989, 11). Explaining that the “personal” is a “magic ingredient,” Stahl suggests, “what a personal narrative means is outside the narrative itself and inside the intangible memories and feelings engendered by the relationship between the teller and listener and the teller’s personal world” (1989, x).

A folkloristic personal narrative study written in the form of a memoir is Frank de Caro’s Stories of Our Lives: Memory, History, Narrative (2013). De Caro argues, “our life memory is informed by and greatly influenced by the oral stories others have told us about their lives or the past or the nature of culture and the world. Such stories may coexist with more generalized memories and documentary sources, like letters and diaries that help us to remember or reformulate our pasts. But certainly the stories we tell and listen to play an integral role in constructing our temporal selves” (2013, ix). In this way, de Caro helps folklorists understand how personal narratives enrich a sense of a present self and future possibilities. His own stories of ancestors’ immigration, settlement in the American West, and establishment of families provide evocative examples of the process of construction of the self.

Ostension: Bringing Legends to Life

A key concept of legend analysis is ostension: the process of enactment that brings legends to life. The main context for ostension is the legend trip or quest, which follows a three-part structure ( Bronner 2012b ; Ellis 1982–1983 ; Ellis 1991 ; Hall 1973 ; McNeill and Tucker 2018 ; Tucker 2007 ). This structure begins with narration of a legend or legends, focuses on hoped-for confrontation with the supernatural, and ends with discussion of what happened or did not happen. Within this tripartite structure, specific rituals take place. Since the early days of scholarship on ostension, it has become increasingly clear that legend and ritual have a close connection to each other.

Defined by Dégh and Vázsonyi as “presentation as contrasted to representation,” ostension includes pseudo-ostension (a hoax or prank), proto-ostension (pretense), and quasi-ostension (misunderstanding) (1983, 6, 18–20). The term “pseudo-ostension” seems to suggest that pranks are less genuine than other ostensive acts, but they enact legends as much as other forms of ostension do. For example, pranksters may enact a variant of the “Vanishing Hitchhiker” legend cycle. In legends that belong to this cycle, a ghost standing by the side of a road asks for a ride and then disappears. Pranksters have enacted a local version of this legend cycle known as “The White Lady” by illuminating a long white dress at a dangerous highway curve on a highway where this ghost is said to appear. Illuminating the dress not only startles drivers, making an accident likely, but also raises the possibility that the White Lady’s ghost still haunts the curve ( Tucker 2011 , 93–103).

The “Vanishing Hitchhiker” legend cycle also has a relationship to rituals for summoning ghosts in mirrors. A well-known ritual that has been popular among preadolescent and adolescent girls and boys since the 1970s is “Bloody Mary,” also known as “Mary Whales,” “Mary Worth,” and “Mary Wolf.” Folklorist Janet L. Langlois (1978) connects the children’s game of summoning “Mary” in a mirror with rituals; she also compares legends about this mysterious woman with myths. Associated with a mirror-gazing ritual, Mary also appears in a legend about a victim of an accident or violence who stands out in the rain, desperately trying to find a ride home. Langlois notes that the victim in the legend is passive, but the figure that appears in the mirror is active. Alan Dundes finds this legend/ritual complex to be an expression of preadolescent anxiety in anticipation of menses (2002, 76–94). Linda Dégh observes that Mary is a “victim, witch, mother, avenger, child abuser, and protector” who “exists because someone believes in her” (2001, 244).

Daring and testing, which constitute a form of initiation for the young, are the main motivations for “Bloody Mary” rituals ( Tucker 2005 , 187). In American culture, where there is no central public ritual for passage from childhood to adulthood, young people must find their own ways to prove their courage as they come of age. The “Bloody Mary” ritual, with all of its associated legends, gives preadolescents and adolescents a chance to demonstrate their bravery while enjoying a moment of excitement among their peers.

Some rituals that happen during legend quests involve sensory disorientation. Once participants enter a haunted place, they may have trouble getting from one spot to another. Such is the case in the popular movie The Blair Witch Project (1999), in which college students lose track of where they were going and wander around in a circle. Something similar happens in this account of a legend quest to a rural New York family graveyard by a twenty-one-year-old female student:

The whole cemetery is this family, it’s the Beaver family. The parents had like nine kids, and every child they had they killed, they killed all their kids. All their kids are buried there, and they’re buried with their kids. We were standing by one of the graves, and Dan says, “See, between that tree and that grave is one of the youngest Beaver kids. The mother’s supposed to pace.” And I’m like, “Where?” and I walked through where she paces, and I got all cold, because she must—her spirit must have passed through me. And when I turned around, all of a sudden, Dan, who had been on the other side of the cemetery, was standing right next to me. And it was so weird—we saw a ghost. We saw her pass by right in front of us. And I was so scared, and then we go to the other end, but I thought Dan was following me, and I turned around. I said, “What?” And something touched my shoulder; somebody put their hand on my shoulder, I swear to God, and I thought it was him, the person I was with, but he was over there (gestures with arm). He was at the opposite end of the cemetery where I left him, like he’d never walked with me, and the whole time I heard footsteps right next to me and I thought that it was him, but it wasn’t him, it was something else, and then we walked down the cemetery stairs and there were only nine steps. Like four steps just disappeared. ( Tucker 2007 , 199–200)

Both a personal narrative and a La Llorona (Spanish: “Crying Woman”) legend, this story shows how frightening and confusing it can be to enter supernatural terrain. Focusing on losing track of time, sequence, and sensory cues suggests that a person who comes here may lose normal orientation and never get home. Sequences of this kind can be found in the British ballad “Tam Lin” and Washington Irving’s story of Rip Van Winkle, in which a Dutch American man wanders into the Catskill Mountains around the time of the American Revolution and falls into a long sleep after drinking an alcoholic beverage offered by ghosts of Henry Hudson’s crew.

In the narrative about the student who visits the burial ground of the Beaver family, there is a strong emphasis on ritual. Besides the familiar legend quest ritual of traveling to a haunted spot and trying to have a supernatural experience, a more specific ritual involves walking where the murderous mother is “supposed to pace.” This movement combines re-enactment of a crime with transgression: stepping into the realm of the dead, where living people are forbidden to go. Performing a ritual to re-enact infanticide within ritual time and space eloquently demonstrates the linkage of ritual with legend and personal narrative. It would be helpful for scholars to give more attention to rituals in relation to legends. In particular, La Llorona legends offer potential for examination in greater depth.

Although high school and college students’ legend quests have been analyzed in depth, more study of adults’ legend quests is needed. Some adults go on legend trips with friends and/or family members of their own ethnic group, while others go in mixed groups. Folklorist Carl Lindahl (2005) eloquently describes a visit to the San Antonio “ghost tracks” by Hispanic family members and friends. At this railroad crossing, said to have been the site of a school bus accident with fatalities, ghosts of little children may push a car forward when its gears are in neutral. This “gravity hill” phenomenon has become famous in numerous areas across the United States. Hispanic adults and children go together to the railroad tracks in San Antonio, hoping to find evidence of the child ghosts’ presence. There is much potential for further study of adults’ legend quests, especially in relation to ethnic heritage.

In small groups of friends and acquaintances and in larger groups organized by ghost-hunting organizations, adults enjoy exploring places that have a reputation for being haunted ( McNeill 2006 ). The availability of inexpensive ghost hunting equipment, easy to buy on the Internet, has increased the prevalence of adults’ legend trips. It is easy for anyone over the age of eighteen who has an interest in ghost hunting to sign up for an expedition online. Abandoned asylums, prisons, and other large, moldering institutions have become especially popular sites for adults to visit—and, to the extent that it is possible to enter, for adolescents, too.

Why do abandoned asylums and other institutions inspire young and older adults’ legend quests? Mass incarceration of patients and prisoners still troubles Americans; in particular, long institutionalization of patients with mental disabilities is a difficult subject for people to discuss. Legends and personal experience help people articulate this disturbing subject ( Tucker 2008 ). Personal narratives from upstate New York’s Willard Psychiatric Center, which closed in 1995, have become known through study of the letters, diaries, and other artifacts found in former patients’ suitcases ( Penney and Stastny 2008 ). Patients’ stories about harsh medical treatment and long periods of isolation make it clear that there are good reasons for abandoned hospital buildings to become legend quest destinations.

Spiritualist colonies are among the most intriguing places visited by adult legend questers. In these lively colonies, which tend to be most active during the summer, people expect to have encounters with spirits of the dead. This expectation stimulates legend telling, which confirms belief in the dead communicating with the living. Camp Chesterfield in Indiana, Lily Dale in New York, and other colonies around the United States have inspired visits by adults, many of whom come in small groups of family members and friends ( Nickell 2002 ; Tucker 2015 ). This pattern of legend questing contrasts with teenagers’ visits to haunted places, which help young people prove their courage and come of age.

At Lily Dale, for example, it is common for visitors to share narratives about their own experiences and to tell legends about famous psychic mediums of the past, as well as the mediums’ opponent, Harry Houdini. Besides having a rich history of psychic phenomena that began with Kate and Margaret Fox’s mysterious rapping sounds in Hydesville, New York, in 1848, Lily Dale has a proud tradition of feminism in relation to the American suffragette movement. Susan B. Anthony addressed a large audience of suffragettes at Lily Dale in 1891, and other women also gave important speeches there. Visiting this well-known Spiritualist colony, legend questers can seek supernatural experiences while learning American history ( Tucker 2015 ). Although the quest for supernatural experiences is their main motivation, the discovery of little-known facts about the past is also deemed rewarding.

Ostension on the Internet

An aspect of ostension that deserves attention is its mutability in the presence of new technology. Folklorists have analyzed aspects of digital technology since the early twenty-first century ( Blank 2009 ; Blank 2012 ; Bronner 2009 ). For thirty years, folklorists did not propose new forms of ostension. Motivation for proposal of a new form came from Slender Man, a mysterious horror figure created on the Internet’s “Something Awful” forum in 2009. Slender Man became notorious in the spring of 2014, when two twelve-year-old girls stabbed a friend, claiming that Slender Man had made them do so; a public court case followed. Details about Slender Man’s horrendous history appeared in creepypasta, horror stories shared online. Stories about Slender Man have a strong visual component, with realistic-looking photographs that contribute an impression of verisimilitude. Folklorist Jeffrey A. Tolbert suggests that communal creation of a frightening figure constitutes “reverse ostension” (2013). Tolbert explains that instead of beginning with a legend text and acting it out ostensively, “Slender Man’s creators are effectively reversing this process by weaving together diverse strands of ‘experience’ (in the form of personal encounters with the creature, documentary and photographic evidence, and other material) into a more or less coherent body of narratives” (2013, 3). Reverse ostension is clearly happening online. As that process continues, folklorists will be watching.

The second form of ostension related to technology has arisen from research on ghost hunting with smartphones ( Tucker 2017 ). The term “hypermodern ostension” applies to ostension that is strongly influenced by modern technology. The users of technology in this case are college students who have decided to hunt ghosts in a residence hall using two smartphones: one for using a ghost-hunting app (application) and another for recording the hunt and making a video that can be uploaded to the video-sharing website YouTube. Such use of electronic devices has become common, especially since ghost-hunting apps tend to be free or cost little. Anyone who can upload a video to YouTube has the potential to become famous, although the plethora of videos online makes such a result unlikely.

Teenagers and young adults have relished uploading prank videos to YouTube since the site was created in 2005. Some of these prank videos have a strong connection to legends, including the legends about Slender Man that have developed online. Slender Man pranks are prime examples of ilinx play, defined by the French cultural critic Roger Caillois as play that causes dizziness or disorientation (1961, 23). It is very common for teenagers who enjoy Slender Man legends to dress up as that frightening figure to scare their younger brothers or sisters. A typical prank involves hiding in a dark room and then popping out suddenly, wearing a costume that identifies the prankster as Slender Man: a dark suit and a white covering for the face. For the prank to be shared online, the prankster needs to get help from a friend or relative who will make a video recording. Some Slender Man prank videos get many viewings and appreciative comments, while others garner little attention. Through the process of peer response online, teenagers learn how to play pranks that delight others in their age group ( Tucker 2018 ).

Gender Roles

Since the early days of American legend scholarship, folklorists have scrutinized gender roles in narrative transmission. Linda Dégh’s article about the “House of Blue Lights” in Indianapolis (1969) observes that visiting an eccentric old man’s mysterious house “make[s] girls draw closer to the protective male, preparing the atmosphere for love-making.” Visits to the house become “a maturation test, a part of an initiation ritual” (1969, 23–28). Young men enact the role of a strong protector, while young women take the role of a vulnerable person who needs help. These roles reflect gender expectations of the first half of the twentieth century. Jan Harold Brunvand considers this gender-role contrast in analyzing the legend of the “Boy Friend’s Death,” in which the girl seems “especially helpless and passive, cowering under the blanket in the car until she is rescued by men” (1981, 5–12). In this legend, as in many others of the same period, characters enact familiar gender roles. It is important to note, however, that the girl defies men’s orders and looks back at the car—a glimmer of hope for greater gender equality.

In “Bloody Mary” legends told by preadolescent or adolescent girls—and sometimes by boys of the same age range—a stronger female figure is evident. The woman who appears in the mirror after being summoned by a courageous child or adolescent is fierce, angry, and dangerous. She does not hesitate to hurt the young person who has rashly asked her to appear. Threatening to hurt her summoner, Bloody Mary exerts a numinous power that makes her a memorable female character. Although she is frightening and disturbing, she is active, swift, and sure of what she wants.

Expectations for men and women are expressed through various kinds of characterization. According to folklorist Jeannie Banks Thomas , ghost legends “present the masculine and the feminine in culturally familiar ways” that reveal patterns of conflict and stress (2007, 83, 89). A male character that she calls the “Extreme Guy” indicates American culture’s association of masculinity with aggression and violence. In contrast to him, the “Deviant Femme” is an eccentric woman who does weird, disturbing things. In her own way, the Deviant Femme exhibits behavior that is as exaggerated and disturbing as the Extreme Guy’s. Thomas argues, “in predictable ways we project the everyday—especially those parts of it that are dramatic—onto the numinous” (2007, 101–102). Because ghost legends can be dramatic, exciting, mysterious, and moving, their patterns of characterization have a significant impact upon readers and listeners.

Besides ghost legends, local legends offer glimpses of intriguing characters. Jack Fasig, a local legend hero of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was both admired and feared, as folklorist Simon J. Bronner explains (2012a, 7). In legends about Fasig, strength is clearly associated with masculinity. A shift from identification of Fasig’s exploits toward a generic character seems to suggest that the legend has gone beyond local significance ( Bronner 2012a , 16). Bronner notes that strength, as portrayed in legends, is not just a masculine characteristic. Belle Gunness, a female mass murderer in Indiana, was known for her strength and suspected of being a man ( Langlois 185 ). According to Langlois, Belle Gunness “duplicated the transitional roles of women in the American work force under the urban influence at the turn of the century” (1985, 59). Emphasis on strength in both Bronner’s and Langlois’s analysis suggests that this theme deserves closer examination in other parts of the United States.

Although there are strong gender stereotypes in American legends, not all legends are based upon such polarities. Some legend tellers speak of figures that seem masculine or feminine but do not clearly belong to either gender; others refer to a “presence” that has no gender at all. An example of a possibly masculine figure appears in this brief story, told by a middle-aged mother of an adolescent psychic medium who describes an encounter with the supernatural in Lily Dale:

I saw a full body shadow walk towards me on Buffalo St. I don’t think it was walking towards me to show himself to me, I think he was just there and I saw him. I don’t know why I think he is a “he” either, but it was big and dark and did not scare me. Almost just a “oh look, a full-bodied figure over there” was my reaction. ( Tucker 2015 , 184)

Even though the “full body shadow” seems large, dark, and scary—the obverse of the positive phrase “tall, dark, and handsome”—the female narrator expresses no fear. As she tells her story, she is not sure whether to call the figure “he” or “it.” Unafraid, she emphasizes her own strength and self-reliance.

Definitions of gender are changing rapidly in American society. Some people identify themselves as gender-fluid, gender-neutral, or transgender, while others affiliate themselves with different categories. Legends told by gay narrators became part of folkloristic inquiry through the work of Joseph P. Goodwin (1989) , who traces linkages between gender and sexuality expressed in folk narratives. Scholars of folk narrative should keep an eye on gender patterns as legends continue to evolve in changing times.

Empowerment of Women

Narration of legends and personal experience stories can empower the storyteller, as well as others who hear or read the story. Stories about women who have suffered abuse and fatal or life-threatening assault by men can support a sense of empowerment. Legends of this kind tend to take the form of ghost stories, while personal narratives focus on troubling incidents that narrators have experienced.

In ghost stories told by women, the ghost of a murdered woman haunts young women who need to learn how to protect themselves. On college campuses, stories about murdered women reveal women’s determination not to be silenced. In “wailing women” stories, ghosts of murdered women scream, cry, and wail until authorities discover what happened. At the University of Maine at Orono, for example, a female student in a residence hall who was attacked by a male intruder, murdered, and buried nearby screams loudly on the anniversary of her death until police uncover her body ( Tucker 2007 , 136–139). A similar legend from the State University of New York at Stony Brook explains that a female student who was murdered in a dining hall screams during the night and lets students see her reflection in windows ( Tucker 2007 , 151–152). Such stories encourage young women to talk about assault by men and to stay safe in their own relationships.

While legends about murdered women teach lessons about avoiding dangerous people and places, personal narratives about domestic violence offer women a chance to gain power through narration of stories. Folklorist Elaine J. Lawless argues that storytelling helps the narrator attempt to transform and represent herself (2001, 106). Storytelling in this context is both restorative and creative. Lawless suggests that relationship violence narratives gradually become contemporary legends (2002, 27). Although each woman’s personal narrative is unique, legends develop through recognition of patterns. The woman in the story is always named, but the man, referred to as “he,” is a monster disguised as a husband, boyfriend, or other friendly male person. In the monster’s house, there is “no privacy, no friends, no money, and no car or gas with which to escape” (2002, 37–41). Telling their stories, abused women gain a sense of power and free themselves from the horrendous isolation that has dominated their lives.

Scholars in other fields have also written about empowerment through storytelling among battered women. Communication scholar Lori Montalbano-Phelps’s Taking Narrative Risks: The Empowerment of Abuse Survivors (2004) explores women’s risk taking in telling their stories. Even a brief narrative can represent substantial risk, she argues; once the narrator has told her story, a sense of empowerment can arise. In a somewhat different vein, sociologist Nancy S. Berns (2009) argues that folklore of victim empowerment reflects popular culture in its emphasis on happy endings. Why, Berns asks, does it seem necessary for the victim to become a heroine and rescue herself? Because personal narratives are influenced by stories from popular culture that end happily, there may be an unrealistic emphasis on self-rescue (2009, 105–124).

Corporation and Consumer Legends

Besides presenting sensational news, American legends shock listeners with accounts of corporations and consumerism that have gone terribly wrong. It is quintessentially American to question big business. Ever since America stopped being a colony and became a self-governing democracy, protest against large, powerful groups has been part of the nation’s tradition. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906) , which offered a searing critique of the meatpacking industry, expressed Americans’ wish to uncover corrupt and unsanitary practices by big business. As companies have grown larger and advertising has gotten glitzier, legends have continued to suggest that size and glitz do not mean all is well.

Not all accounts of corporate horror are full-fledged legends. Some can be classified as rumors, defined by Ralph I. Rosnow and Gary Alan Fine as “information, neither substantiated nor refuted” (1976, 4). According to the sociologist Tamotsu Shibutani , transmission of rumors helps groups solve problems (1966, 227). Rumors can expand to become legends, and legends can be shared briefly as rumors: flexible forms that fit conversation well.

A classic corporate contamination legend is “The Kentucky Fried Rat,” analyzed by Jan Harold Brunvand in The Vanishing Hitchhiker (1981) . Variants of this legend explain that when a customer bites into a strange-shaped piece of chicken, he or she discovers that the chicken has fangs and claws. It is actually a rat! Horrified, the customer has a heart attack or suffers another kind of harm, and in many variants, the customer sues the Kentucky Fried Chicken corporation for a fabulous sum of money (1981, 81–84). The implication, of course, is that KFC is too careless to keep rats out of its food products. Another kind of implied carelessness noted by Gary Alan Fine (1980) is that of a mother who chooses to feed her family with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken instead of cooking them a wholesome meal at home; the discovery of a rat punishes her. Later legends from the early twenty-first century have suggested that Kentucky Fried Chicken uses the acronym “KFC” because it produces genetically engineered chicken parts that have lost their identity as actual chickens. The evolution of this legend has demonstrated people’s worries about genetic engineering as that process has become feasible.

Another significant legend complex expresses fear that the well-known corporation Proctor and Gamble is actually manipulated by a Satanic cult. Jan Harold Brunvand describes the company’s trademark, which aroused public suspicion in the 1980s: an old man’s face in a crescent moon and thirteen stars within a circle (1984, 170). Legend tellers identified the moon man and the thirteen stars as Satanic symbols and speculated that Proctor and Gamble contributed a percentage of its annual earnings to a Satanic cult (1984, 170). Among the most significant details are a “devil-like horn” and the “mark of the beast”—the number 666 (1984, 171). By early 1982, legends and rumors on this subject had become so intense that Proctor and Gamble had to launch a series of rebuttals. This legend complex was just one of many expressions of the “Satanic panic” of the 1980s ( Victor 1993 ). Although almost three centuries had passed since the Salem witch trials of 1692, it was clear that some Americans still worried about Satanic influence.

In the digital age, concern about the safety of handheld cellular phones has arisen. An article by Barbara Mikkelson on the Urban Legends Reference Pages, better known as “snopes.com,” identifies legends that tell of a driver suffering severe burns and damage to his vehicle when talking on his cell phone while getting fuel at a gas station. According to this legend, gasoline vapors interact with cell phones to cause fiery explosions. Variants of the legend began circulating on the Internet in 1999; after researching the subject, Mikkelson decided that the alleged incidents were “false” (2014). Fear of exploding cell phones intensified in the fall of 2016, when the batteries of some Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones exploded while their owners were recharging their devices. Amid mounting evidence of cell phone explosions, airlines prohibited customers from carrying the phone in checked or handheld luggage. Rumors about new iPhone models have suggested the possibility of police tracking people’s activities through face recognition software. In rumor and legend complexes such as these, there is a reflection of events that are possible or have actually happened. Cell phones as a central part of Americans’ lives foster legends about technological dangers.

Responses to Disaster

Events that shock and horrify people throughout the United States give rise to legends, anecdotes, and personal narratives that tend to be remembered for a long time. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, had a deeply saddening effect upon Americans and others around the world. Even though many years have passed since then, it is not unusual for someone to ask a person of an appropriate age, “Where were you when President Kennedy was shot?” Everyone who was alive and alert then has a story to tell in response to that question. Together, the personal narratives that Americans tell about where they were at the time of the assassination comprise a national narrative of mourning and remembrance.

It is also common for people to tell a story about where they were when the news of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, began to spread. Although details vary, most personal narratives express shock, horror, and disbelief. Some stories become widely known as anecdotes that characterize that tragic time. For example, the story of President George W. Bush reading a story about a goat to children in a public school when he heard the news about 9/11 has become representative of the shift from peaceful activity to the tense response of a nation responding to the news of an unexpected attack. This moment, preserved in personal narratives and anecdotes, helps others understand what happened and how American citizens reacted.

A similar shift from peaceful activity to sudden attack marks personal narratives and anecdotes about the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II on December 7, 1941. Many narratives about that day begin with a moment of peace and end in horror and confusion. In contrast to these generally straightforward narratives, legends about Pearl Harbor tend to tell of conspiracy and concealment. Franklin D. Roosevelt must have known about the bombing, some rumors and legends suggest, because otherwise it would have been impossible for the Japanese to take the Americans completely by surprise. More extreme rumors and legends suggest that Roosevelt did not just know about the bombing; he helped to plan it. Such stories still circulate on message boards on snopes.com and other websites. Since the advent of digital technology, it has been possible to create new visual support for old legends. For example, color photographs of what actually happened at Pearl Harbor are exhibited and proven false on snopes.com ( Mikkelson 2015 ).

People’s responses to the attacks on September 11 have been documented more fully than the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rumors and legends associated with 9/11 have been complex, contradictory, and disturbing. One of the best-known legends of this terrible time is the one about a survivor sliding down a pile of debris from the top of a building. Another is the “Celebrating Arabs” legend, which tells of Arabs cheering and celebrating while watching planes strike New York City and Washington, DC, on television. Janet L. Langlois traces the development of rumors that Arab employees at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Detroit cheered when they saw planes crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and concludes that scholars should retain the complexity of performance-oriented study in their analysis. Such stories comprise “documentary remains” within a confusing aggregate of rumors that Langlois calls a “labyrinth” (2005, 220). Examining emails about Arabs celebrating in Detroit, Langlois finds evidence of Arab–Israeli conflict on a local and global level (2005, 232). It is not easy for folklorists to move through the labyrinth of rumors and legends after a disaster takes place, but such complex, exacting fieldwork provides a valuable record of human interaction under extreme duress.

Not all disasters are caused by rumors. Although natural disasters cannot be blamed on anyone but Mother Nature, they give rise to plenty of legends, rumors, and personal narratives. One of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States was Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana in August 2005, followed soon afterward by Hurricane Rita. The combination of these two terrible storms left Louisiana residents in extreme distress, with severe flooding and destruction of homes. Similar to the complex and confusing situation that followed 9/11, what happened after the two hurricanes’ arrival involved disturbing circulation of rumors fed by news media. People shared rumors and legends about looters and rapes in the Convention Center, as well as people shooting at rescue helicopters ( Ancelet 2013 , 17). Although these exaggerated and false reports contributed to the stress of the hurricanes’ aftermath, there were also numerous personal narratives about residents helping each other get out of the flooded areas. These personal narratives told the most important story of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: people working together with kindness and compassion, helping each other to survive a frightening disaster.

Another kind of disaster story articulates the fear of nuclear disaster, associated with wars and nuclear energy sites in the United States. Since World War II, when the United States forced surrender of Japan by dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Americans have been afraid of a nuclear disaster; this fear was increased by the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s. When a nuclear reactor has a meltdown or a nuclear war seems possible, what stories do people tell? Yvonne J. Milspaw’s study of Middletown, Pennsylvania’s nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1979 shows that familiar story patterns tend to remain consistent during a time of panic related to nuclear energy (2007). Personal narratives from this period tend to present the narrator as a hero and “official” personnel (the government, media, and the utility company) as villains. Creating order from incipient chaos, narrators, who are local residents, challenge the outside concept that local people are panicking and doing crazy things (2007, 75–77). Over time, such personal narratives can become legends.

Fears of disaster and danger of various kinds have made people vulnerable to proliferation of rumors, legends, and apparent news reports that are actually false. Because of concern beginning in 2016 about “fake news,” scholars across academic disciplines have hastened to define and analyze how it works. Journalists Edwin Tandoc Jr., Zheng Wei Lim, and Richard Ling (2017) present a typology of fake news types, including news satire, news parody, manipulation, fabrication, advertising, and government propaganda. Their typology is based upon how factual each piece of fake news is and how deliberately the news creator attempts to deceive the reader or listener. Communication scholar Paul Levinson, author of Fake News in Real Context (2017) , also examines how fake news compares to other types of information, particularly propaganda. Since the 1950s, Americans have worried about propaganda from Communists and other political groups that seem to threaten equilibrium in the United States. Although fake news is not equivalent to propaganda, it is close enough to it to cause concern.

At times when people feel upset and threatened, they may be more vulnerable to rumors and legends. Legends, personal narratives, and anecdotes give narrators the opportunity to express their concerns and to try to resolve uncertainties. As the Internet continues to generate multitudes of stories, folklorists should keep track of the processes by which these stories circulate. Although legends and related genres may lead folklorists into a complex labyrinth, they work to find the threads that will make the narratives understandable.

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Penney, Darby , and Peter Stastny . 2008 . The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic . New York: Bellevue Literary Press.

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Essays on Legend

The Creation Tale The creation tale is one of the most well-known in human history. It truly has numerous variations from various beliefs. The translation of the Bible would be taken into account for this essay. Adam and Eve are truly the main characters in the myth. They are thought to...

Words: 1528

Folklore surrounding the hunt for the fountain of youth. The subject of numerous urban legends. No matter the country, era, or generation, it seems that people are preoccupied with maintaining their best health and frequently have the wish to live forever. But it goes without saying that everyone passes away....

The Legend of Using Ten Percent of Our Brain The legend that people only use ten percent of their brain is a beseeching concept because it suggests that if the wasted 90 percent of the mind is harnessed, a human being will become more intelligent. As a consequence, people may be...

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Musical Tradition and the Impact of Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble Introduction Musical tradition has been characterized by how maestros best represented their artistic skills in historical times through their music. Because of their vastly excellent performances, most music icons are celebrated even in the contemporary sense. Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble...

Words: 1406

Discovering the Roots of Coffee and Other Caffeine-Containing Plants Folklore is trying to understand the roots of coffee. Different nations have their versions of their discovery myths that attribute different legends to the discovery. Early humans found that when barks, leaves, or seeds of such plants were chewed, their moods improved...

Words: 1302

In a small remote town in Chicago Illinois There is an old legend that has been passed from one technology to another. The story is narrated to kids by their parents at night time to scare them during Halloween so that they do not wander far away from their homes. The Actual...

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Legend — Unraveling the Enigma of Urban Legends

Unraveling The Enigma of Urban Legends

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Published: Sep 12, 2023

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The origins of urban legends, the characteristics of urban legends, the enduring appeal of urban legends, conclusion: the endless allure of the unexplained.

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Michael Jordan is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and for good reason. His prowess on the court and his impact on the game are unparalleled, and his legacy continues to inspire generations [...]

A creature that has been drooled over in the human world, but despised in the magical world. Over the past couple of decades, werewolves have made many grand appearances in shows and movies such as Wolfman (2010), the Howling [...]

The book I read is called Legend, By Marie Lu. The book is set in a dystopian Los Angeles in a country divided into two warring parts: the Republic and the Colonies. The main characters are Daniel “Day” Altan Wing and June [...]

Arthurian Legend refers to a group of tales in numerous languages recounting the escapades of King Arthur of Britain, his kingdom, and the knights in his inner circle. The legend has been told over centuries, and remains popular [...]

In Raymond Carver's short story "A Small, Good Thing," the Baker’s helplessness is caused by his apparent class status and by an unknown financial stability, which results in a sense of isolation and loneliness. The baker [...]

There is a balance to ideals in individuality and truth, both at positive and negative extremes. The movie Dead Poets Society by Peter Weir captures the incredible role romanticism and embracement of truth on an individual's [...]

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Home / Essay Samples / Literature / Literary Genres / Legend

Legend Essay Examples

Mythology: what we should know.

In essays on mythology like this an author writes about the nature and definition of this term. So mythology refers to a collection of myths, the study and interpretation of sacred tales or fables of a culture which have been passed down for generations. It...

Personal Legend in the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Originally published in 1988, The Alchemist was written by the world renowned and best-selling author Paulo Coelho. Being an allegorical novel, the author writes a story about a young shepherd from Andalusia who is on a journey to the pyramids in Egypt. His goal is...

The Relevance of Anzac Legend in Today’s Society

While the ANZAC Legend has roots in some truths of Australian wartime experiences, it is vastly based on a romanticised version of the 1914-1918 war. It has become a substitute for defining the traits and characteristics of what it is to be truly Australian with...

Unveiling the Myth of Robin Hood: Literary Analysis

A hero stands up for the minority, the exploited, those oppressed when no one else will rise to the occasion. Many heroes share this capability, but some are different in the way they achieve this. Robin Hood is a special hero, for he is not...

The Eight Sons of the Sun and Moon

In the beginning, there was nothing. No beings, no planets, not even a speck of dirt. But one day, a tiny light peeked out from the darkness. A small star shined out from oblivion, and it grew bigger and brighter, becoming strong and powerful. The...

Joseph Campbell’s Concept of the Hero’s Journey in Dr.strange

Joseph Campbell spent years finding out the myths and legends of cultures all over the world. When Joseph Campbell was studying, he discovered that the heroes in all his stories had very similar experiences. In the world of literature, many stories are connected with Joseph...

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