Jan Harold Brunvand

to dry off her damp poodle by placing it in the microwave oven. The dog exploded, sad to say the least , and Grandma has never been quite the same since. The story is not true; it is an urban legend, circulating by word of mouth since the 1970s (Brunvand, 108). Urban legends are popular stories alleged to be true and transmitted from person to person by oral or written communication. Legends tend to arise spontaneously and are rarely traceable to a single point of origin. They spread primarily from

Urban legends are very complex and interesting aspects of culture. They often inspire holidays, movies, poetry, stories and more. But urban legends go far beyond how they seem on the surface. Decoding the origins and messages behind urban legends is the key to understanding the truth of a legend. Illustrating the messages, urban legends may be benign, or malicious. In this essay we are going to look at these messages and what purpose they serve. First, the paper investigates how people use urban