All Guides: Mythology &amp; Folklore: Urban Myths & Legends

Urban Myths & Legends

Research in the humanities and social sciences focus on understanding how and why urban myths and legends occur and spread. For descriptions of common urban legends from recent history, explore encyclopedias and books. Search the library or explore a few of the databases below.

Search the Library

Databases

Humanities Source This link opens in a new window
An academic journal database covering the humanities. Includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction, book reviews, and reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, operas, plays, etc.
TIP: Use the subject "urban folklore" or "rumor".
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
A large collection of scholarly journals, as well as magazines, newspapers, and more.
Sage Publications Premier This link opens in a new window
Over 600 full-text SAGE journals covering business, humanities, social sciences, science, technology, and medicine.
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
Over 2000 journals, 6,000 perpetual purchase ebooks, and 50 reference works from Springer, a leading scientific, technical and medical publisher. Includes peer-reviewed articles.
TIP: Uncheck the "Include preview only content" box.
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Thousands of online videos, archival films and newsreels. Multidisciplinary.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Over 600 Encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and quotations books, as well as images, audio files and videos. Multidisciplinary.
EBSCO eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
Over 10,000 of ebooks. Multidisciplinary.

Browse all databases

Books

Encyclopedia of Urban Legends
From Credo Reference
This exhaustive and compellingly readable reference work offers alphabetical entries on every aspect of the subject, including descriptions of hundreds of individual legends and their variations, legend themes, and scholarly approaches to the genre. Includes: Type Index of Urban Legends

No Way of Knowing by Pamela Donovan
Publication Date: 2003
Examining "old media" treatment of crime legends (news reports, fictional film and television depictions) and "new media" (interactive discussions versions and discussions circulating in Internet newsgroups and via electronic mail lists), this text examines a social context vastly changed from the height of rumour research in the mid-20th century.
What People Believe When They Say That People Believe by Todd Jones
Publication Date: 2010
From EBSCO eBook Collection
In this work, cognitive scientist and philosopher Todd Jones looks at the different things that social scientists and ordinary speakers mean when they make statements ascribing beliefs or actions to groups, rather than individuals. Such statements are often denigrated as mere stereotypes or generalizations. Yet they are also used by people to strategize about what actions to take, and even for social scientific explanations.
Did You Hear about the Girl Who ... ? by Marianne H. Whatley; Elissa R. Henken
Publication Date: 2001
Available from EBSCO eBook Collection
The authors present hundreds of sexually-themed stories and jokes from college students in order to tell us what they reveal about our sexual attitudes and show us how they have changed over time. They confront myths and stereotypes about sexual behavior and use folklore as a tool to educate students about sexual health and gender relations.
I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Patricia A. Turner
Publication Date: 1993
Available from EBSCO eBook Collection
I Heard It Through the Grapevine explores how rumors that run rife in African-American communities, concerning such issues as AIDS, the Ku Klux Klan and FBI conspiracies, translate white oppression into folk warnings, and are used by the community to respond to a hostile dominant culture.