Urban Legend-Back Seat

“One night, a woman went out with her friends to a bar to get a few drinks after work. When she decided to leave, she started driving on a deserted highway by herself back to her house. After about a minute on the road, she noticed a car coming up in her rearview mirror really quickly. At first, it appeared that the unknown car was going to pass as she noticed his turn signal. Then, the driver swerved back into her lane, shining his high beams at her from a very close distance. She starting freaking out and kept looking in her rearview mirror at the car. The headlights dimmed but then quickly went back to the high beams. She struggled to keep her eyes on the road when she came up to her exit. All the way to her house, the strange car periodically flashed his high beams as he continued to follow her. When she got to her house, she sprinted inside thinking her only chance was to call the police and hide. She sees the man following her get out of his car with a gun. The man yells at her to get inside and call the police. As soon as the police arrive, the man tells the police and the frightened woman that there is a man in the backseat of her car with a knife and that he flashed his high beams at him every time he sat up to kill her so that he would crouch back down. Sure enough, there was a man with a knife in the backseat of the woman’s car.”

Steven said he learned this urban legend when he was in middle school in La Verne, California. He said that he and a couple of his buddies were camping out in his friend’s backyard when they started telling each other ghost stories and urban legends like this one. He did not know where his friend learned it from that told him but if he had to guess, he would say that his friend learned it in a way similar to their camping experience. At the time, it scared him and made him think twice about ever driving on a deserted and dark highway. He said that every time he got into a car, he would always check the backseat just to make sure there was not a man with a knife back there. Now that he drives, he still looks in the back seat before he gets in at night because of this legend.

When I asked him in what context the legend usually is performed, he said that it varies. For example, he said that it can be performed in a way very similar to how he heard it. Hearing it outside in the dark is much more effective than hearing it in a classroom full of fifty students in the daytime. Therefore, he said, more people would tell it in eerie places so that it will scare the audience. Additionally, Steven said that it could be told any night when someone is heading home. A friend could walk up and say ‘hey, are you leaving? Well, have you ever heard the story about the crazy driver flashing his high beams at a frightened girl? Make sure you check the backseat!’ That last line scares individuals and forces them to check the backseat, just to be sure there is not a man with a knife back there.

Steven said that this urban legend made a lasting effect on him. No longer does he get into a car without checking the backseat beforehand. He said it has this effect on many people because it has to deal with being killed. One of the reasons he likes this urban legend is because it represents responsibility and courage. It shows responsibility when the girl fails to check the backseat of her car before she left the bar. It is her responsibility to look before getting in just to make sure there is no one there. Also, it shows courage when both the girl kept driving all the way to her house instead of just giving up and when the man continues to follow her to force the killer to crouch back down. Steven likes how it shows both of these aspects and has since told this legend to many others.

I think this urban legend is great because it scares people and forces them to check their backseats prior to entering their cars. This helps reduce the amount of situations where this legend actually happens. I also like it because it is a great story to tell while camping with friends and family. What better way to enjoy a camping experience than to frighten everybody? Additionally, I agree with Steven that this story represents both responsibility and courage in the ways he described. It helps show the kindness of others when the driver protects the girl from the killer.

I think we can see similar urban legends all around the country. One specific example is in Urban Legend, a movie directed by Jamie Blanks in 1998. In the opening scene of the movie, a woman pulls up to a gas station to pump gas. While she is trying to pay, a man sneaks into the back of her car with a knife. The gas station attendant sees this man and tries to distract the woman from going back to the car. He fails and she is brutally murdered because she failed to check the backseat of her car.

Annotation: Urban Legend. Dir. Jamie Blanks. Perf. Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart. DVD. Canal + Droits Audiovisuels, 1998.

The Legend of Pancho Villa

“There was a man named Pancho Villa who was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leader. He didn’t agree with certain laws set by the gringos. He stole from them, he stole like important things that they were using like weapons, food, money, and he gave it to his people, (Mexicans). Pancho Villa was mostly known because he helped the people- but not only that- he got away with a lot of shit. But in the end his people gave him up, they set him up because of money that the gringos bribed them with. This motherfucker was smart, he put his horseshoes on backwards so that the gringos would follow him the wrong way. The most important part of Pancho Villa though, he had skills with guns, that made him powerful. He could kill people blindfolded. This type of shit you don’t hear in college. My uncle told me the real shit because he’s related to Pancho Villa. American history- they don’t like Pancho Villa. Who would like a Mexican to be smart?”

In the eyes of many descendants of Mexican ancestors, Pancho Villa was a hero. To them, they hear Pancho Villa’s story and feel a sense of pride of the heritage. Just as we learned in class, no actual linkage can back their connection to Pancho Villa to anyone who lived during those times. However, the story is passed down though generations to spark feelings of appreciation for Pancho Villa and resentment towards the white man. Even today there are tee shirts, murals, and other dedications to Mexican revolutionaries done by first or second generation Americans who still feel a strong sense of hostility towards the “gringos”. There are many racial conflicts that exist especially in Los Angeles today. Passing down stories of “heroes” who killed the white man allow future generations to remember what happened to “their people”.

Although I describe this in a questionable light, I can appreciate to the stories of glorified underdogs whose people are being repressed. As I have learned in one of my classes, “Religions of Latin America,” the Spanish conquest of the Indigenous peoples in the 16^th and 17^th centuries were absolutely horrible. Millions of innocent indios were beaten, forced into slavery and killed over their land to which they naturally inhabited. If the same new generations of Mexican-Americans hear about this story adjacent to the legend of Pancho Villa, it is with obvious understanding that Pancho Villa will be looked at as a hero.

There will always be numerous angles in which Pancho Villa is remembered, positive or negative. But Frank’s interpretation of the legend of Pancho Villa is funny to me. It uses modern day slang to tell a story in which others might find boring in history class. He is a first generation American with Mexican roots who definitely appreciates Pancho Villa in ways to which he can relate.

Pop Rocks and Soda- Urban Legend

“When I was a kid, there was always this urban legend that if you eat pop rocks and drink soda together, your stomach will explode and you will die. At the time, I was scared and refused to try it. Then I saw a movie called Urban Legends and it was mentioned in there. Now that I am older, even though I still haven’t tried the combination, I know that there’s no way there is any truth to this.”

Urban Legends are popular among children because they are somewhat ridiculous, but since kids do not always have a firm grasp on logical explanations, they are often not able to discount them. Likewise, they are named to signify their date in history as being from preindustrial times, meaning that children can often times identify with and relate to what is being told to within their own lives. For instance, pop rocks and soda are readily available and the urban legend’s terminus ante quem has to be relatively recent due to the fact that pop rocks have not been around for very long. This makes a child’s worst nightmare as close as the nearest supermarket.

I know that the makers of pop rocks suffered a major hit from this urban legend and the company went great lengths to try and convince people of the urban legend’s falseness. Pop Rocks actually went off the shelf for a period of time due to the failure of sales that the rumor caused. People misinterpreted this disappearance, however, as being proof that pop rocks and soda were so dangerous that one ingredient was forced out of consumers’ reach for their own safety. However, Pop Rocks have recently made their return and occasionally still enjoy their unique sensation, sans soda, though I must say I am eventually planning on finally putting an end to my suspicions once and for all.

“A woman went to Mexico on vacation and on her way home brings a cactus with her.  She waters the cactus every day and takes care of the new plant that reminds her of the time she spent while visiting Mexico.  However, after a few days she notices that the cactus starts moving on its own and appears to be breathing.  After awhile she calls a local Department of Agriculture and they tell her to shut all the doors and windows to her home and get out of the house immediately.  All of a sudden the cactus explodes, unleashing hundreds of baby tarantulas all over her house.”

Whitney told me that she first heard this story from a classmate at school in 9^th grade.  She said that at first she believed it but later heard a different version from someone else that made her skeptical to the verity of the legend.  A legend such as this could be told at any sort of situation when there is a group of people trading stories or urban legends.  This story clearly invites discussions about a person’s belief, whether they think something like this could actually happen or not, and it is set in the real world, definitely classifying it as a legend.  A person would tell this story to get more and more people talking about different stories that they heard and get other people’s opinions on whether they have heard the story and whether they believe it to be true.

I think that the legend is told to give people the notion that one should leave something where they found it, and also leave people with the impression that anything