Urban Legends By Sarah, Gus, Josh, Tyler and John

Characteristics. Urban legends are translations of mysteries over time. The unknown is applied to a series of believable situations and then morphed and distorted through spoken word. Examples of urban legends can be anything from rumors to religion to fairy tales. Although they are unable to be confirmed there is rarely enough evidence to disprove them, thus causing acceptance by some or most.

Killer Molasses In Boston in 1919, a tanker of molasses exploded, releasing 14,000 tons of it into the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150. Halloween Hanging A hayride actor was supposed to perform a mock-hanging. He was held up with a harness, but when the door was let out, the harness broke and the actor was hung in front of the hay-riders. Decapitated Motorcyclist A motorcyclist, riding behind a tractor-trailer decided to pass the slow moving truck, which was carrying sheet metal. While he was passing, a piece of sheet metal became dislodged and beheaded the rider. When the truck driver saw the headless motorcyclist in his side-mirror, he had a heart attack and died at the wheel. Some Examples

New Paltz’s Chupacabra Late one night, in the woods at the end of N. Manheim Boulevard, two kids were setting up for a night of camping, when they heard an animal in the woods. At first, thinking it was a deer, they made loud noises to scare it off, only to realize that it was getting closer. Their second thought was that it might be a dog and so they called it to come closer and potentially try to find it’s owners. As the unidentified animal came closer, the two realized that it was walking on two legs, and only about a hundred feet away, they could almost see what it was. They began yelling and talking to the being, thinking it could be a human, maybe a drifter or some one else camping in the woods. The ‘person’ did not respond, but continued coming closer. As the being came close enough to see, the two people started walking towards it, shining an IPod light at it, which for some reason could not illuminate it’s face or body. The figure remained black, and hunched over no matter how close it came to the light. Just as the two people started turning away, the being lunged at them and chased them out of the woods. The two decided that the only logical explanation for the animal/ person was that it was a Chupacabra.