Module 4 will engage legends, stories people share about exceptional events in the real world. How believable are these stories, to the people who tell them? - That is the debate. And we must therefore also engage Lynne McNeill's fourth category of folklore, things we believe.

The first lecture dives into examples of some legends that circulated recently in the United States and Scandinavia (sometimes also called "urban legends").

Folklore consists of four elements: things we say; things we do; things we make; and things we believe. The module delves into the first element, things we say, in particular stories we tell, both legends and folktales; as well as the last element, things we believe.

Reading

Estimated time to read: ~40 minutes

McNeill, Lynne (2013). "Things We Say," in Folklore Rules, pages 37-44.

UW Library : Permalink to Folklore Rules

Kvideland & Sehmsdorf (1991) “PART X: Urban Folklore Today” in Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, pages 375-394.

UW Library : Permalink to Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend

Jan Brunvand (2012), Encyclopedia of Urban Legends
(Reference Tool: skim this book! see his definitions of legend, pages 173-177)

UW Library : Permalink to electronic resources

Rationale: This lecture introduces methods we'll use throughout this module: Observe Americans and Scandinavians telling "urban legends," and find variants. Consider how these stories become believable, and how storytellers add or subtract "believability".

Lecture

In this lecture keep the following ideas in mind:

What is the "texture" of a legend when it is told in oral tradition?
Why is it useful to find legend variants, and how does Brunvand's Encyclopedia of Urban Legends help?

Optional Expansion

See more American legends told by teenagers, in the ethnographic film by folklorist Sharon Sherman, Tales of the Supernatural (1970, 26 min). In her voice-over analysis, Sherman seems to assume that legend tellers are either believers or not believers. Do you agree that belief is a "yes/no" question?

Online Short Film : Tales of the Supernatural

Legends resonate with current events and fears. In past centuries, legend-telling gained exceptional force during global disasters like the Plague epidemics; a few Scandinavian examples are compiled on pages 344-352 of Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend (assigned reading for lecture 23).

Did comparable legends emerge during the recent Covid-19 pandemic?

Have some thoughts or questions? Why not join the conversation... Legends & Beliefs forum