Text:

There is a ghost of a little girl that stands on the side of the freeway in small towns, and if you stop to talk to her, she will be able to follow you home and haunt you. 

Context:

The informant heard this myth from her peers in elementary school. It was told in her town about a freeway in the hills where, allegedly, the ghost of a little girl lived and would get in the cars of anyone who stopped to talk to her. The informant then kept the myth going by continuing to tell people after her. The myth was very scary to the informant and her sister as children. 

Analysis: 

This ghost story exemplifies the myths that spread easily around small towns where there is a large sense of community and strong relationship with home. Because the informant comes from a very small town, everyone who hears this myth knows the exact area of the freeway that it is about, and so the myth quickly becomes well known. It also acts as an example of society’s fascination with paranormal activity, because while ghost stories like this frighten their audiences, they also must excite them to some degree, because they continue to be told and remembered.