Phantom Hitchikers: Short Stories: Urban Myths & Legends

Format: ebook - immediate PDF download for PC and any tablet.

The subject of urban myths and legends is one I have been interested in for a couple of years now. It occurred to me, one day at lunch with friends on the Isle of Dogs, that many long rambling conversations (and ours are certainly long and always rambling) will include a tall tale or two. One person will then be reminded of a story he or she once heard which is then presented as near or actual fact. The story will be introduced like this: ‘That reminds me of a story I once heard . . .’ or ‘I remember my uncle/aunt/sister/hairdresser telling me what happened to a friend of theirs . . .’ 

So urban legends are easy to spot and always have a ring of truth about them. The events they describe could happen or might have happened to any of us. Each of us could have been as unfortunate or stupid as the character(s) in the story, and that is one of the reasons we all enjoy urban legends so much: that the misfortune involved didn’t happen to us but to somebody else. And that makes us laugh. The stories come in many different forms. Some involve ghostly goings on, some are about love found or lost. 

Some centre on plain stupidity and some on unfortunate coincidences, although some do have happy endings. The connecting feature is that all are told and then retold and come back around in altered forms, and all of them are passed around by word of mouth or, especially these days, via the internet, where they spread like wildfire. These ‘legends’ (so-called ‘urban,' although they don’t need to have an urban setting) are the modern-day version of medieval folklore and all of the anecdotes in this collection can be recited the next time you are at lunch, dinner or in the pub with friends. They can make even the most unimaginative person seem interesting, I promise. They seem to be working for me, at any rate. 

I should point out here that many of the tales told in this collection are probably not true and that any names given, apart from when they are used to back up evidence in genuine accounts, are made up, by me. So, for example, if there really is a Peter Patsalides who worked at the World Trade Centre in New York prior to 11 September 2001 (see Caught with his Trousers Down), then I am not suggesting he was having an affair because that is also the name of a friend of mine, the one who told me the story in the first place. So please don’t sue and leave me penniless if your marriage collapses as a result of something I have written. I am sure many of the stories included must be untrue, despite their ring of truth, but that is part of the fun of urban legends: any one of them could be true and it is up to us to decide for ourselves what to believe and what not to. 

Some well-known urban legends are bound to be missing from this book, but they may well pop up in a second volume if this one proves to be popular. It is only meant to be a little bit of fun and perhaps to provoke some thought and conversation. Anything that does that must be a good thing and also, reading this book and reciting a few of the tales might make you more popular – you never know.