Urban Legend
What is an urban legend or myth?
According to Google: ur·ban leg·end
/ˈərbən ˈlejənd/
noun
- a humorous or horrific story or piece of information circulated as though true, especially one purporting to involve someone vaguely related or known to the teller.
According to literaryterms.net:
I. What is an Urban Legend?
An urban legend is a fictional story rooted in modern popular culture. Some urban legends may be completely plausible, while others may have supernatural elements that make them less believable or clearly not true. Either way, their truthfulness is always questionable, but perhaps also difficult to disprove.
Regardless of their truthfulness, some urban legends are silly and lighthearted, while others may actually be quite scary or disturbing.
II. Examples of Urban Legends
Urban legends actually have a huge presence in today’s world, whether you recognize them or not! Some are elaborate stories with real details, while others simply revolve around superstitions or rumors. Here are some common urban legends that you’ve likely heard (all of which are false!):
- The Great Wall of China is visible from space
- You can dissolve a tooth in a glass of Coca-Cola
- The Daddy Long Legs is the world’s most poisonous spider, but its fangs are too small to penetrate human skin
- If you swallow your chewing gum, it will take 7 years to digest
What makes a great urban legend? Discuss.
Directions: You will create and write your own urban legend. You must come up with an original legend- be creative! You CANNOT use or take from an existing legend. Your urban legend may be scary OR funny (or a little of both!) Keep it PG-13 or under. No graphic details.
- Setting is established: __/10 (highlighted green)
-Written in third person: __/5
-Researched & related to real-life events/places: __/20 (highlighted blue)
-Past and present are related in the story: __/10 (past events and present events are highlighted yellow)
-Multiple victims/characters: __/10 (highlighted pink)
-Mood is established: __/10 (mood words highlighted gray)
-12 pt Calibri font ONLY, 1-3 pages typed (1 full page is the MINIMUM): __/20
-Plot has rising action, a climax, and falling action: __/10
-Edited and free from grammatical errors: __/5
Total: ___/100
*Must be read out loud and presented with a visual/picture (NOT gory.) If a student does NOT present this to the class, it will result in 20% off the final grade.
Brainstorm:
Supernatural? Realistic? Funny? Horror? Campfire
What inspires me? Legends of old? Modern movies? UFOs? Unsolved mysteries?
Research- Small town? City? Name?
Real-life events/incidents that happened there (news stories?)
Characters- past and present day
Incidents- what happened?