Urban Legend In The Double Theft From The Criminal Mind

In trying to determine is a story is an urban legend or not, there are several different topics examined within the contents of the story. One of these is regarding how long the story has been around, for stories that are modern are what we consider urban legends and not folktales. A tale that has been around for a significant period of time, but what we would still consider ‘modern’ is “The Double Theft” from The Criminal Mind chapter. In this story, the beginning sentence is, ‘This “true” story was told to me back in 1970 in Silver Spring, Maryland” (Harold, 308). In this, it actually lists the year that the author originally heard the rumor, giving it the credit of being recent enough to count as an urban legend.

Another story that fits

As mentioned previously, the story known as “The Double Theft” also fits this standard, for in the second sentence the exact words, “This woman, a friend of my friend who told the story… “(Harold, 308). Not only does having the original source someone distantly related help for interpreting and exaggeration of the story, but it also keeps the teller from being held responsible. The story “Indecent Exposure” from the Criminal Minds chapter has another very close example of the F.O.AF phenomenon. In this story, the teller claims that “My roommate heard it from a friend of his who lives in Boston”(Harold, 314). While not exactly stated that the roommate is a ‘friend’ it is clear that the original source is layered behind several veils of

These include things such as dislike of strangers, animals, drugs, and being humiliated. Regarding the subject of animals, there is an entire chapter in the text called Pet Problems that delves into this topic and some of the other fears. The story known as “The Bump in the Rug” shows the fear of being caught and animals, respectively. For in this story, a man who is installing carpeting discovers a bump under a section of the material. Thinking that it is his misplaced package of cigarettes, he simply hammers it until it is flat. However, unfortunately, the owner of the house had a parakeet which lodged itself under the carpeting (Harold, 358). A tale that focuses on the fear of drugs, in “The Stuffed Baby” from the Bringing Up Baby chapter of the text. This grotesque tale centers around a young couple who have a dead baby which they have hollowed out and filled with marijuana (Harold, 225). The fears of this one are the influence of drugs and how they could hypothetically cause people to act in an abhorrent