Michigan Legends: Folktales and Lore from the Great Lakes State

Are We Still Creating Legends Today?

137 Are We Still Creating Legends Today? Steeped in the legends presented here and in so many other works, it’s easy to assume that legends are, well, old—­ most of them very old. But if you think about it, these very stories were hardly “old” to those who, for instance, lived in the French Detroit of the early 1800s, when many of these and other legends were born. Even legends that qualified as aged to French Detroiters weren’t so to those who first perpetrated them. Humankind always has loved stories, from the time of Beowulf and before, despite all that has changed on earth.We still love stories today. Just think for a moment about such hugely popular works as The Lord of the Rings,The Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter series, and new books centered on an old apparition, the vampire. Add to this the fact that human imagination is no less active now than it was in earlier eras, and one can conclude that, yes, legends—­ stories that ring true or claim to be so—­ are still being created, in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of real places, in cyberspaces, and everywhere in between. In fact, the contemporary creation of legend is an entire sub­­ ject of study. Consider this website description of an organization called the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR): 138    Are We Still Creating Legends Today? A growing field of folklore research concerns the legends, rumors, and beliefs that circulate through modern media and the complex networks of modern communications. Contacts among international scholars have led to surprised recognition that stories or motifs thought to be distinctive to a given country or locality in fact were circulating simultaneously in many parts of the world. Likewise, narrative elements thought to be “modern” or “urban” have in fact turned up in historical materials dating back to ancient times. . . . The International Society for Contemporary Legend Research encourages study of so-­ called “modern” and “urban” legends, and also of any legend that circulates actively. Members are especially concerned with ways in which legends merge with life: real-­ life analogs to legend plots, social crusades that use legends or legend-­ like horror stories, and search for evidence behind claims of alien abductions and mystery cats. The ISCLR was formed in 1987, the outgrowth, its website says,“of conferences and seminars in contemporary legend held at the University of Sheffield through the Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language (CECTAL)” in England. These meetings led to further “Perspectives on Contemporary Legend” conferences involving scholars from America, among other nations. The title of that conference series is now the name of the ISCLR’s journal, which, over the years, has offered articles with such tantalizing titles as the following: “Tales of the Troubles” “The Choking Doberman:A New Urban Legend” “Modern Tradition and the Rolls Royce” “The Razor Blades in the Apples Syndrome” “The Fast Food Ghost:A Study in the Supernatural’s Capacity to Survive Secularization” “Hunting the Monster with Iron Teeth” “The Hoodoo of the Hanging Tree” Are We Still Creating Legends Today?    139 “The Legend of Joaquin:‘The Celebrated California Bandit ’” “Viper-­ Release Stories:A Contemporary French Legend” “The Phantom Hitchhiker: Neither Modern, Urban, nor Legend?” (For authors,dates,and more information on these articles,see www .contemporarylegend.org.) “As president of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research, I enjoy discovering new legends,” says Elizabeth Tucker,professor of English at Binghamton University in EastVestal, New York. In 2005, in fact,Tucker teamed up with Janet Langlois, associate professor of English (folklore studies) at Wayne State University , to coedit a special issue in the Journal of American Folklore about legends.One article by Langlois was“Celebrating Arabs:Tracing Legend and Rumor Labyrinths in Post-­ 9/11 Detroit.” As she reported in the article, her analysis presents “readings of the many intricate turnings or windings of people talking in everyday contexts and using e-­ mail communication in overlapping ways.” She also wrote,“We need to continue and,in fact,intensify tracing communication exchanges even when those exchanges are exploding on the Internet.” Langlois also wrote an article about Detroit rumors and legends , focusing on riots and race relations—­ such as “The Belle Isle Bridge Incident”—­ for the 1983 Journal ofAmerican Folklore. Legends, she confirms, definitely are “being created in conversations, through print,TV and movies, and through all the social...