Urban Legend

“There’s always the “based on a true story” story about the lady who was driving home from work on a dark and lonely road and a truck she had seen at a rest stop came driving quickly up behind her and she saw in her mirror that he was brighting her as he drove up.  She didn’t want to stop because she was in the middle of nowhere, so she kept driving faster, but the truck would drive up behind her and she’d see him in the rearview mirror brighting her again.  So she kept driving and when she got to another rest stop where there were lights she drove in there and jumped out of her car and started running inside.  The truck followed her into the stop and when she turned around to look from the doorway, the driver was just sitting in his truck but just then some guy jumped out of her own back seat and ran into the woods.  It turns out the trucker saw the guy climb into her back seat from the last rest stop just before she left and every time he started getting up from the back with his knife, the trucker would bright the lady so that she’d look in the rearview mirror, at which time the guy in the backseat would duck down again and wait until she got farther away from the truck again.”

I had never heard this urban legend before, but my brother told me that he and his friends used to talk about it all the time.  Apparently the legend is well known where Chris grew up, in Mountain Lakes, NJ.  This story greatly resembles a lot of other urban legends about people driving alone, serial killers, and danger during the evening.  I’ve heard a lot of stories like these growing up, and this one was probably just another version of these typical urban legends.

A lot of rumors tend to go around about serial killers and murders, especially when stories show up on the news all the time.  This story was probably inspired around a time when a lot of crimes had occurred and people were on the lookout for murderers.  People had also probably been inspired by past urban legends involving murder and created their own.  Additionally, a lot of trucks and cars pass through areas in New Jersey that are very desolate and have few rest stops and truck stops.  When people do choose to stop, there aren’t usually many others around- especially at night.  Finally, a lot of negative stories tend to go around about truckers, which probably influenced the creators’ choice to include a seemingly scary truck driver situation in the first part of the legend.

This urban legend was probably really popular because of its suspenseful effect.  It takes place in a scary setting on a desolate road with the factors mentioned above.  By repeating the action the truck driver takes by continuously brighting the woman in front of him, the listener gets gripped by the story and scared by what doom awaits the woman in her car.  When the story finally climaxes as the woman jumps out of her car, the listener is surprised to hear that someone had jumped out of the back seat instead of the truck driver doing something to somehow attack her- quite an unexpected result.  When at the end of the story the truck driver is described as the savior and the brightening of the headlights is explained, the listener is again surprised.  This combination of factors leads to an effective and successful urban legend that has been unsurprisingly been told and retold for a long time.

Urban legends like these are very common, especially in suburbs such as Mountain Lakes, because the settings are very similar to that in the story.  Stories tend to be much more interesting and people are more inclined to retell them when their culture has something in common with the story, or it seems like it could very well have taken place in their area.  These stories are also very entertaining to tell children, especially around traditional activities such as camping and having bonfires.  This is a good example of a particular urban legend that is representative of the many that are exchanged in the New Jersey area.

Urban Legend- The Claw

A girl and her boyfriend are up on a hill at the edge of town. They turned on the radio and found some music. The announcer read a bulletin. He said that a man with a hook in place of a hand had escaped from the state prison. The girl wanted to go home because the prison was not far from where they were. So the boy started the engine. But before they left they heard a scratching noise. They drove off. When the girl got home the boy walked around the car to open her door. Handing off the door handle was a hook.

Mandy was told this story when she was fifteen by her mother and has also heard the story since from some of her childhood friends. When she began to go out more, her mother lectured her a lot about being careful and Mandy always replied she would and then would leave. One night, Mandy ended up coming home later than she had told her mom and her mom discovered she had been out with a boy at a party in the Mullholland hills. The next day Mandy remembered her mother telling her this story.

Mandy believes the story was meant to scare her and deter her from wanting to be alone with a boy or be alone at any time at night. While at the time she heard this, she didn’t understand the moral of the story and believed her mom was overreacting, she now knows it was meant to teach her a lesson about safety. Mandy also pointed out that this story was told to her older sister as well when she was around Mandy’s age and apparently her mom was told the same story by her mother.

I believe many mothers or parents would use this story in general in order to deter their child from being alone at night with someone they might not know so well. I believe that this story would probably be more relevant and useful if told to a female just because there tends to be more of a concern when a girl is on her own with a guy rather than when a guy is alone with a girl. It is likely that this urban legend has been passed on also by kids who have heard the story, however, when they tell their friends about it, it’s more to scare them then to deter them from something.

Urban Legend

A young girl is left home alone with only her dog to protect her. When night approaches, she locks all the doors and tries to lock all the windows, but one in the basement won’t close.

She decides to leave it open, but locks the basement door and goes to bed. Her dog takes its customary place under her bed.

In the deep of night she awakens to a dripping sound coming from the bathroom. The girl is too scared to go check so she reaches her hand under the bed. She feels a reassuring lick from her dog and falls back to sleep. She reawakens to the dripping sound, reaches her hand down to the dog where she feels the reassuring lick and falls back to sleep. Once more, she awakens to the dripping sound. She reaches her hand down and feels the lick of her dog.

Now curious about the dripping sound, she gets up and slowly walks towards the bathroom, the dripping sound getting louder as she approaches. She reaches the bathroom and turns on the light. A horrific sight greets her; hanging from the shower nozzle is her dog with its throat slit open and its blood dripping into the bathtub.

Something on the bathroom mirror catches her eye; she turns around. Written on the bathroom mirror in her dog’s blood are the words “HUMANS CAN LICK TOO”.

Claire was told this story by her older sister when she was around eleven years old. They were away at camp together over the summer and each person in their cabin had to tell a scary story and this is the story her sister told. Having heard this story, Claire was frightened for months to be left alone in her house. She acknowledges know that there may have been an ulterior motive behind her sister telling this story. She believes now that the story was told to her in order to deter her from wanting to be left alone in the house. Claire admits that her parents had always been wary of leaving her alone, especially since Claire was so young, however, they slowly were beginning to feel like maybe they should give her some freedom. However, after Claire heard this story, she no longer wanted to be left alone.

Claire believes that this story also has a second meaning. She takes it as an almost “coming of age” story. She says that these scary stories are always almost told by people older in age and they only start at a certain age, which Claire believes is when kids start to seem like they are maturing and can now handle more intense stories. While she has heard many urban legends, she says this one stuck with her the most because it was the first scary tale she had ever heard.

After having talked with Claire, I disagree that her mother was trying to deter her daughter from wanting to be alone in the house. I do believe it is possible it was meant to just be a mild wake up call to Claire that there are dangers out there in the world, and no matter what you do to make yourself feel more comfortable, there is always danger surrounding us and so it is necessary to be alert. I do agree thought that these urban legends could be considered a rite of passage as if you are one of the kids who do not become afraid after hearing this story; you are definitely looked upon as a strong person.