Urban Legends




An urban legend: appears mysteriously and spreads in many forms and contains elements of 
humor or horror (the horror often "punishes" someone), makes good storytelling, 
and does NOT have to be false, although most are. 


Many of us may have heard the stories about WaltDisney being frozen (he was actually 
cremated and buried), people who were killed by a man with a hook for a hand while 
parking (also not true), and movies with strange happenings in them.  These stories, our
modern day fairy tales, are known as urban legends. Most of these stories are told to 
make a point or give a warning. Some are just told as stories. 
      Think back to some of the stories you might have been told as a child, true or 
untrue. Why do you think you were told these stories? Were these stories told to protect 
you from some type of danger or were they told just to scare you?

1.  Do you think you were told any story that is an urban legend and not well known? 
Think about your story, why it was told to you, and the effect it had on you.  Try to 
write your legend as if you were telling the story to the class. Next class, we will
share our stories.

2. Make up your own urban legend about Pittsburgh! Perhaps there are people living in 
the tunnels, haunted steel mills, or something strange that has happened in the computer 
center. We will also try to share these stories in our next class.