https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2024/09/15/the-watkins-book-of-urban-legends-by-gail-de-vos-book-review/
September 15, 2024
The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos: Book Review
Before I get to the book, indulge me in a little waffle about the subject matter … I first became aware of Urban Legends … Friend of a Friend Tales … Whale Tumour Stories … Contemporary Legends … call them what you will at a very young age. I was a monster kid into horror films and scary stories (think Mark from Salem’s Lot) so anything that stirred my morbid curiosity has stuck in my mind. The first examples I remember hearing are variations of those covered by Gail De Vos under the banners of ‘The Boyfriend’s Death’ and ‘The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs’ (the version I recall hearing of the latter distastefully and disturbingly added the extra grotesque detail of a cannibal with Down’s Syndrome!). But I had a distance from these stories as they weren’t told with any degree of association (ie. happening to a ‘friend of a friend’) just as scary … possibly true (?) stories. Locally there were several variations of the ‘Bloody Mary’ recital and invocation of malign presences stories – a couple I’ve mentioned on my Northumbria Ghostlore Society blog … Jenny Cut-throat’s Grave and The Devil’s Stone but I would have been about 13 years old the first time I heard the term ‘Urban Legend’.
At school I would have the tactic of sometimes getting out of classwork by sending the teachers off on tangential conversations. This occasion was I recall a Religious Education lesson and somehow I had ended up telling the teacher and class a story I believed to be true. It would have been about 1986 and the largest shopping mall in the area, the Metrocentre at Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, had just opened. I cannot remember who it was, a friend of my elder sister’s perhaps or a relation of one of my mother’s friends maybe – but anyway nobody I directly knew but this time it was a specific place familiar to me, so in my mind it must be true. Anyway the tale goes as follows. A woman had been shopping alone in the Metrocentre and she was surprised to discover upon returning to her vehicle in the carpark that a woman was sat in the passenger seat of her car. The woman explained that she was feeling ill and upon discovering the car door left open had taken a seat in the vehicle. She asked the driver whether she would mind taking her home, it wasn’t far and she did not feel up to waiting for a bus. The driver agreed but asked the woman if she’d mind getting out of the car to help guide her whilst she reversed the vehicle out. The passenger complied and as soon as she was out of the vehicle the driver hastily locked all the doors and drove away abandoning the other woman. When the driver got home she noticed that there was a plastic bag tucked under the passenger seat. Gazing inside she discovered men’s clothing … and an axe!!
My teacher informed me that the story was not true and that she’d heard the very same tale told about different locations in the past. She also informed me of the phrase ‘Urban Legends’.
My curiosity piqued, I went to the local library and ordered books on the subject by Rodney Dale and Jan Brunvand (how I came upon the names of the books to order I cannot recall, as this was pre-internet times). The subject greatly appealed to my interests (especially the more grisly and weird stories) and has done ever since. And so when offered the chance to read and review Gail De Vos’ The Watkins Book of Urban Legends I jumped at the chance. Upon its arrival and seeing the beautifully bleak and eerie cover illustration by Shonagh Rae I was eager to dive inside.
Notably from the introduction, De Vos chooses the more accurate designation of Contemporary Legends rather then the more poetic Urban Legends, for the tales covered are not in any way confined to urbanity of any description and furthermore the material contained expands further than the Friend of a Friend Tales that generally work as a synonym for Urban Legends.
Within the pages of this charming, interesting book we find numerous familiar or classic Friend of a Friend tales as well as many examples of supernatural tales from cryptids to hauntings and folkloric entities. The folkloric entities was of particular interest to me as they concentrated mostly on boogieman / bogey figures which is a subject that particularly inspired me to write and illustrate my books ‘Strange Lands: A Field Guide to the Celtic & British Otherworld’ and ‘Black Earth: A Field Guide to the Slavic Otherworld’ as well as illustrating similarly themed books written by Dr Bob Curran and John & Caitlin Matthews. I was really pleased to see some of my favourite bogies mentioned such as Black Annis and Jenny Greenteeth. Indeed regarding the latter water-witch or Grindylow, there are a number of them local to me – Peg Powler of the River Tees (link there to an account I wrote of a visit to one of her haunts), Nanny Longarms of the River Wear and Nanny Powler of the River Skerne. I discovered these creatures through reading folklore books rather than hearing about them as direct warning tales as a child. It was rumours of quicksand and undercurrents plus not being able to actually swim anyway that stopped me wandering into river depths as a child. So I do wonder if tales of them are still being told as warnings to children today … I’d like to think so.
But kids of today are very capable of creating new monsters for the 21st Century and I found De Vos’ sections on toilet ghosts, Creepypasta and internet challenges very interesting and a great coverage of evolution of contemporary legends. Except for a few tragic and horrific ostension cases involving the creepypasta (copy and paste replacing the oral tradition to some extent) creation the Slenderman, it seems that the greater panic surrounding such phenomenon as the Momo Challenge have been amongst adults rather than the kids.
Regarding the ghost section I had the odd shiver down the spine sensation of being either part of the Friend of a Friend Tale or involved in ostentation whereby folklore becomes fact … In the section of Haunted Tunnels I saw a familiar place mentioned, although much of the book, though international in scope, has a predominance of American locations and of De Vos’ homeground of Canada (the Canadian entries I found intriguing as many other books on the subject do centre strongly on the USA) … but the place in question was Whitby in North Yorkshire. Regarding the Screaming Tunnel there, I was aware of its eerie reputation prior to my extremely odd walk in the Whitby fog one winter’s night whereby I had a strange experience, but my hairs rose on my arms when De Vos returned to Whitby some pages later to tell the tale of a sunken bell. I did not know of this story but again to return to a post on my Ghost blog I actually had an experience pertaining to this on that same very strange night. My experiences can be read Here … So the unexpected personal association gave the book an extra frisson for me.
Another valuable entry to the book is the coverage of another associated phenomenon to Contemporary Legends, that being Conspiracy Theories. Whilst Conspiracy Theories are nothing new, the age of the internet and viral transmission of information has caused this area to spread far further and to be believed by far more people than ever before. The period of Covid19 lockdown particularly saw a rise in stories and theories. But as De Vos acutely stresses at the conclusion of the Conspiracy Theories chapter this area is not a finished story … indeed had there been a little while longer before going to print, there may have been a section relating to the legend (spread further ‘on TV’ by a former US President and current presidential candidate) that immigrants to the USA are “… eating the ‘dawgs’. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets” – (A similar story I recall hearing whenever a new foreign food fast food restaurant opened locally when I was a child).
And with that takeaway, in conclusion Contemporary Legends are clearly alive and well (although their story protagonists frequently aren’t so healthy) and will continue to evolve and provide us with numerous occasions to shake our heads, roll our eyes and say well that can’t be true … can it?
And in the meantime to bring us up to speed on what was rumoured before either in hushed playground whispers or amongst the deafening internet chatter, The Watkins Book of Urban Legends is a wonderful, entertaining and informative guide to those sad and strange circumstances that befell friends of friends …
September 15, 2024
The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos: Book Review
Before I get to the book, indulge me in a little waffle about the subject matter … I first became aware of Urban Legends … Friend of a Friend Tales … Whale Tumour Stories … Contemporary Legends … call them what you will at a very young age. I was a monster kid into horror films and scary stories (think Mark from Salem’s Lot) so anything that stirred my morbid curiosity has stuck in my mind. The first examples I remember hearing are variations of those covered by Gail De Vos under the banners of ‘The Boyfriend’s Death’ and ‘The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs’ (the version I recall hearing of the latter distastefully and disturbingly added the extra grotesque detail of a cannibal with Down’s Syndrome!). But I had a distance from these stories as they weren’t told with any degree of association (ie. happening to a ‘friend of a friend’) just as scary … possibly true (?) stories. Locally there were several variations of the ‘Bloody Mary’ recital and invocation of malign presences stories – a couple I’ve mentioned on my Northumbria Ghostlore Society blog … Jenny Cut-throat’s Grave and The Devil’s Stone but I would have been about 13 years old the first time I heard the term ‘Urban Legend’.
At school I would have the tactic of sometimes getting out of classwork by sending the teachers off on tangential conversations. This occasion was I recall a Religious Education lesson and somehow I had ended up telling the teacher and class a story I believed to be true. It would have been about 1986 and the largest shopping mall in the area, the Metrocentre at Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, had just opened. I cannot remember who it was, a friend of my elder sister’s perhaps or a relation of one of my mother’s friends maybe – but anyway nobody I directly knew but this time it was a specific place familiar to me, so in my mind it must be true. Anyway the tale goes as follows. A woman had been shopping alone in the Metrocentre and she was surprised to discover upon returning to her vehicle in the carpark that a woman was sat in the passenger seat of her car. The woman explained that she was feeling ill and upon discovering the car door left open had taken a seat in the vehicle. She asked the driver whether she would mind taking her home, it wasn’t far and she did not feel up to waiting for a bus. The driver agreed but asked the woman if she’d mind getting out of the car to help guide her whilst she reversed the vehicle out. The passenger complied and as soon as she was out of the vehicle the driver hastily locked all the doors and drove away abandoning the other woman. When the driver got home she noticed that there was a plastic bag tucked under the passenger seat. Gazing inside she discovered men’s clothing … and an axe!!
My teacher informed me that the story was not true and that she’d heard the very same tale told about different locations in the past. She also informed me of the phrase ‘Urban Legends’.
My curiosity piqued, I went to the local library and ordered books on the subject by Rodney Dale and Jan Brunvand (how I came upon the names of the books to order I cannot recall, as this was pre-internet times). The subject greatly appealed to my interests (especially the more grisly and weird stories) and has done ever since. And so when offered the chance to read and review Gail De Vos’ The Watkins Book of Urban Legends I jumped at the chance. Upon its arrival and seeing the beautifully bleak and eerie cover illustration by Shonagh Rae I was eager to dive inside.
Notably from the introduction, De Vos chooses the more accurate designation of Contemporary Legends rather then the more poetic Urban Legends, for the tales covered are not in any way confined to urbanity of any description and furthermore the material contained expands further than the Friend of a Friend Tales that generally work as a synonym for Urban Legends.
Within the pages of this charming, interesting book we find numerous familiar or classic Friend of a Friend tales as well as many examples of supernatural tales from cryptids to hauntings and folkloric entities. The folkloric entities was of particular interest to me as they concentrated mostly on boogieman / bogey figures which is a subject that particularly inspired me to write and illustrate my books ‘Strange Lands: A Field Guide to the Celtic & British Otherworld’ and ‘Black Earth: A Field Guide to the Slavic Otherworld’ as well as illustrating similarly themed books written by Dr Bob Curran and John & Caitlin Matthews. I was really pleased to see some of my favourite bogies mentioned such as Black Annis and Jenny Greenteeth. Indeed regarding the latter water-witch or Grindylow, there are a number of them local to me – Peg Powler of the River Tees (link there to an account I wrote of a visit to one of her haunts), Nanny Longarms of the River Wear and Nanny Powler of the River Skerne. I discovered these creatures through reading folklore books rather than hearing about them as direct warning tales as a child. It was rumours of quicksand and undercurrents plus not being able to actually swim anyway that stopped me wandering into river depths as a child. So I do wonder if tales of them are still being told as warnings to children today … I’d like to think so.
But kids of today are very capable of creating new monsters for the 21st Century and I found De Vos’ sections on toilet ghosts, Creepypasta and internet challenges very interesting and a great coverage of evolution of contemporary legends. Except for a few tragic and horrific ostension cases involving the creepypasta (copy and paste replacing the oral tradition to some extent) creation the Slenderman, it seems that the greater panic surrounding such phenomenon as the Momo Challenge have been amongst adults rather than the kids.
Regarding the ghost section I had the odd shiver down the spine sensation of being either part of the Friend of a Friend Tale or involved in ostentation whereby folklore becomes fact … In the section of Haunted Tunnels I saw a familiar place mentioned, although much of the book, though international in scope, has a predominance of American locations and of De Vos’ homeground of Canada (the Canadian entries I found intriguing as many other books on the subject do centre strongly on the USA) … but the place in question was Whitby in North Yorkshire. Regarding the Screaming Tunnel there, I was aware of its eerie reputation prior to my extremely odd walk in the Whitby fog one winter’s night whereby I had a strange experience, but my hairs rose on my arms when De Vos returned to Whitby some pages later to tell the tale of a sunken bell. I did not know of this story but again to return to a post on my Ghost blog I actually had an experience pertaining to this on that same very strange night. My experiences can be read Here … So the unexpected personal association gave the book an extra frisson for me.
Another valuable entry to the book is the coverage of another associated phenomenon to Contemporary Legends, that being Conspiracy Theories. Whilst Conspiracy Theories are nothing new, the age of the internet and viral transmission of information has caused this area to spread far further and to be believed by far more people than ever before. The period of Covid19 lockdown particularly saw a rise in stories and theories. But as De Vos acutely stresses at the conclusion of the Conspiracy Theories chapter this area is not a finished story … indeed had there been a little while longer before going to print, there may have been a section relating to the legend (spread further ‘on TV’ by a former US President and current presidential candidate) that immigrants to the USA are “… eating the ‘dawgs’. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets” – (A similar story I recall hearing whenever a new foreign food fast food restaurant opened locally when I was a child).
And with that takeaway, in conclusion Contemporary Legends are clearly alive and well (although their story protagonists frequently aren’t so healthy) and will continue to evolve and provide us with numerous occasions to shake our heads, roll our eyes and say well that can’t be true … can it?
And in the meantime to bring us up to speed on what was rumoured before either in hushed playground whispers or amongst the deafening internet chatter, The Watkins Book of Urban Legends is a wonderful, entertaining and informative guide to those sad and strange circumstances that befell friends of friends …
Your blog is a treasure trove of valuable insights and thought-provoking commentary. Your dedication to your craft is evident in every word you write. Keep up the fantastic work!