David Clarke
Urban Legends
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'I
am drawn to myth because it allows the impossible to happen. It
challenges our perceptions and plays with assumptions of the real and
the supposed.'
Artist Caitlin Howell, quoted in the Fairytales and Urban Myths
exhibition held at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, 2006
My
next writing project is a book examining modern legends specifically
those which originate from the British Isles which has the working
title: Based on a True Story?: Urban Legends Exposed.
The
idea has grown out of a long fascination with modern folklore and
the complex relationship between rumour legends and the media that
were highlighted by my earlier book, The
Angel of Mons More recently I ve begun teaching a new
undergraduate module, Media Myths and Urban Legends, which is part of
the new BA in Journalism Studies currently offered to media and
communications students at Sheffield Hallam University.
In
May 2006 I presented a paper on legends surrounding miraculous
photos (specifically the image known as Christ in the Snow ) at the
annual conference of the International Society for Contemporary
Legend Research (ISCLR),
held at the Royal Library at Copenhagen, Denmark.
"Christ
in the Clouds: The miraculous photograph of Christ that has been
circulating since at least 1920 and whose origin is still shrouded in mystery."
The Phantom
Hitch-hiker is one of the most commonly heard urban legends; heard in
the UK and has been the subject of a stream of media stories and TV
programmes. The PHH which haunts Blue Bell Hill, Kent, is probably
the best known example. But my own favourite is the phantom which
haunts the Stocksbridge Bypass, near Sheffield, which famously opened
on Friday 13th 1988. You can read a detailed article I wrote on the
Stocksbridge ghost here
that was originally published in my book, Supernatural Peak District
in 1999.
The Curse of
the Crying Boy painting is an urban legend which holds a particular
fascination for me. The legend began in Rotherham, South Yorkshire,
in a news story published by an edition of the Sheffield Star
newspaper, where I once worked as a journalist. It was ironic that
the Star recently carried this story by my colleague Martin Dawes, on
my quest to find surviving copies of the cursed painting, see:
Sheffield
Star, 21 February 2007.
Keep watching
for more updates on the Crying Boy and other haunted paintings. If
you have any further information about this urban legend please
contact me by email. (EMAIL)
Urban
Legend Links:
Sean Tudor's
essential Road Ghosts website (lists UK and foreign examples):
http://www.roadghosts.com/
Fortean Times magazine:
http://www.forteantimes.com/
Snopes.com
(Rumor has it) Urban Legends reference pages:
http://www.snopes.com/
The
International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR)
publishes
Contemporary Legend and Foaftale News:
http://www.panam.edu/faculty/mglazer/isclr/isclr.htm
Index
Copyright (c) David Clarke 2007.