Disappearing Hitchhiker (American Urban Legends and Their Significance)

Author: (USA) Bruder, William
Translator: Li Yang, Wang Juechun
United States / USA
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: This is a work about contemporary American folk tales—many of which have been heard by people and are often taken as real stories. The author combines discoveries about famous, funny, weird, thrilling American urban legends and attempts to reveal the various patterns and potential meanings of these contemporary folk narratives. As the author points out, people spend time telling and listening to legends not only because of their strange and interesting plots, but also because they genuinely convey the context in which the creators and spreaders are situated, as well as the resulting social psychology, which in turn influences our psychological, knowledge, and behavioral norms systems.
The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. This book is a seminal work on contemporary urban legends, one of the most successful academic bestsellers in the United States, offering a humorous mirror to the American society and the hearts of urban dwellers. Horror, ghostly, funny, embarrassing "Boyfriend's Death": A couple's car breaks down, and the boyfriend leaves the girlfriend inside while he goes for help. The boyfriend never returns. The next day, the police who come to rescue him warn, "Don't look back, miss!" The girlfriend, who looks back, is instantly shocked as her hair turns white because she sees the Vanishing Hitchhiker: A girl asks a driver to take her home. Seeing how cold she is, the driver gives her his coat. When they pass by Evergreen Cemetery, the girl asks them to stop for a moment, but she never returns her coat—it hangs on a tombstone, and the person in the photograph on the tombstone is the girl.
"Embarrassing Nakedness": A boss is upset because his wife and children seem to have forgotten his birthday, so he readily agrees to have lunch at his secretary's apartment, who has always had a crush on him. When the secretary comes back with a cake—followed by the boss's wife and children—they discover: The boss is completely naked, wearing only socks.
"The Fart in the Dark": Jenny goes on her first date with a boy, and her stomach is bloated from eating spicy food at lunch. While the boy opens her car door and moves to the other side, she lets out a fart that sounds like thunder. She rolls down the window to fan the smell away, thinking everything is fine, only to find that there are two people in the back seat.