The image of a vicious killer with a hook for a hand, slashing away at his helpless teen-age victims, is one picture that springs to mind when talking about urban legends. Many absurd and scary legends end up in films such as "Halloween" or "Candyman" but others can be quite influential, according to Michael Preston, an English professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Preston says a good urban legend depends on how believable it is and a story聮s circulation depends on how memorable it is.
"It basically is something with shock effect," he said. "But it can聮t be a totally strange story. And this is why I stress that it聮s kind of like vernacular news. It has to be something that could really happen to the person next door. That's why contemporary legends are usually told as if they happened to a friend of a friend."
Nearly anything can serve as the basis of a legend, Preston said, including accidents, animals, governments, crime and business.
One business-based legend that has gone on for decades concerns the Camel cigarettes logo and the numerous guesses as to what image is hidden in the shoulder of the Camel. People in the 1930s believed it to be a view of Mae West. More recently, it was said to be the image of a naked man.
"It聮s one of those things that doesn聮t hurt sales of Camel cigarettes, and as long as people were talking it was promoting the product," Preston said.
However, Preston recalls a terrifying legend that had a major Colorado shopping mall scrambling to squelch the story, which was hurting business. Stories began to spread about a man hiding underneath cars in the mall's parking lot at night. The man allegedly slashed his victims聮 Achilles tendons, leaving them unable to run and vulnerable to further attacks.
Many urban legends, much like movies that depict a murderer chasing a babysitter, are aimed at women, according to Preston. The stories spread simply because many young women like to sit around and chat, passing the story on to others.
"So many people, and women in particular, have grown up in America doing babysitting, staying in strange people聮s houses late at night, being a little spooked," he said. "So it聮s easy to see how a story that聮s placed in that setting could be appealing to so many people."
The consumer category of urban legends also hits home with women. Rumor-type stories, such as the one claiming that using too much roll-on deodorant contributes to breast cancer, can be considered urban legends.
While urban legends can have a financial impact, as well as an entertainment value, Preston said people need to use their best judgment in deciding whether such stories are believable or not.
"They聮re cautionary tales," he said. "Be careful at night. Don聮t go out alone. All these very trite but true things that most people are aware of. You know, you just gotta be practical. So in many ways, they do represent a kind of cultural wisdom, a cultural admonition."