In a post on CrimeReads, Jen Williams examines the links between urban legends and true crime, two types of stories that often go viral, passed on from person to person, with or without embellishment along the way.
Many urban legends arise from true crime stories. We’ve all heard the urban legend of the babysitter who receives threatening phone calls that she later learns are coming from inside the house. That story “is widely thought to have sprung up after the horrific murder of thirteen-year-old Janett Christman from Missouri, who was managed to call the police during the attack that killed her, only for them to listen helplessly as she screamed for her life,” Williams says. In turn, that story is recognizable as the basis for the opening scene of the first Scream movie, as well as the previous When a Stranger Calls.
Sometimes, the threads get even more tangled. The urban legend of the Slender Man began as an internet challenge to create paranormal images. When the images of Slender Man caught users’ imaginations, a legend was born, and that legend became a true crime when two girls attacked a friend in “tribute” to the imaginary monster. “It’s arguable that people as disturbed and mentally ill as the two girls involved would have followed any mythical figure down that particular dark path, but it is an example of how much impact a creepy little story can have,” Williams says. “And it’s blurring the lines again between fiction, true crime, and horror.”
