Gail De Vos's Blog

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A few photos from the launch on the afternoon of November 24, 2024. More photos to come.

One of the most frequent questions I field queries my interest in contemporary legends and my publishing history on that wide subject. And so, it began, as so many stories do…

A long, long time ago…

I was working on my Master’s Degree in Library and Information Studies and decided to research storytelling to teens as it was a special interest of mine at that time. Not long after I graduated, I purchased a book from the educational publisher Libraries Unlimited. Along with the book I received a catalogue of publications. The front piece had a notice that they were looking for ideas for future publications so…I sent in a query about my research. I had a phone call within a week and a contract not long after that for the first edition of Storytelling for Young Adults: Techniques and Treasury, published in 1991. The book was reviewed favourably and took me travelling from the Northwest Territories south to Florida to speak to librarians, storytellers, and educators. One of the topics I explored in the book was urban legends and their connections to teen audiences. It was also the one topic that most people in my audience, regardless of age, wanted to hear more about.

The focus of my third book, the second for Libraries Unlimited, was a natural progression from this one and occupied me (and my family) for five years from the time I signed a contract to hold the finished product in my hands. Tales, Rumors, and Gossip: Exploring Contemporary Folk Literature in Grades 7-12 was published in 1996. Once again, the reviews were positive and ultimately gave me the courage to attend my first conference meeting of the International Society of Contemporary Legend (ISCLR) held in Copenhagen in 2006.

The second edition of Storytelling for Young Adults: A Guide for Tales for Teens was published in 2003. While a small portion of the text is like that of the first edition, all the annotated entries and stories are new to this edition but still had a considerable focus on contemporary legends.

My writing focus shifted somewhat for the next few publications, but contemporary legends were always at the forefront of my storytelling interests and so, in 2012, I published my research on the changes in contemporary legends with the onset of the popularity of computer technology and social networking. I wanted to see what, if any, changes occurred to these tales. What Happens Next? Contemporary Urban Legends and Popular Culture explores the intersection among the oral tradition and the Internet.

Although I stopped writing books after this publication, I continued to write essays for various books on a wide range of topics. The chapter “The Writing Connection: Young Adults, Folk Tales, and Urban Legends,” married my interests about folklore and popular culture in the book Engaging Teens with Story: How to Inspire and Educate Youth with Storytelling edited by Janice M. Del Negro and Melanie A. Kimball, published in 2017. I am especially proud of my chapter on “The Wendigo as Monster: Indigenous Belief, Cultural Appropriation, and Popular Horror” in the award winning North American Monsters: A Contemporary Legend Casebook, edited by David J. Puglia in 2022. My research presentation on Contemporary Legends about Furries for the 2023 ISCLR conference in Sheffield, England can be obtained online (de Vos, Gail. 2024. “Furries in Canadian Schools and Beyond”. Contemporary Legend 2 (June):1-5. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/cl/article/view/38421.) I presented on contemporary legends and wildfires at the conference in Logan, Utah last summer and although some of the legends found their way into the new book, the research is not complete and will probably not be as long as wildfires consume our forests and our environment.

Which brings us to the new book. It has been a somewhat circular journey in some respects since this book, like the first one, was the result of a happy coincidence and good timing. Thanks to Neil Philip, Audreys Books, and Watkins Publishing for starting me on the journey.

The audio book, read by Kelly Burke, will also be available on November 12, 2024 from Audible. For further information about ordering please visit: https://www.audible.ca/pd/The-Watkins-Book-of-Urban-Legends-Audiobook/B0DJDHTGVR?eac_link=gHORFqn6yZBr&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=B0DJDHTGVR&qid=562tyAWvRl&eac_id=143-8573796-0935804_562tyAWvRl&sr=1-1

I am excited to report that I will be having two book launches for The Watkins Book of Urban Legends, one on each side of the Atlantic Ocean. The first one will be in person at my local independent bookstore, Audreys Books, in Edmonton, Alberta on Sunday November 24 at 2 p.m. The second one is online at the Watkins Bookstore in London, UK on Thursday November 28, with the time varying according to where you are located. Register for this zoom event here:

https://www.watkinsbooks.com/event-details/the-watkins-book-of-urban-legends-gail-de-vos

“I wish first to thank Neil Philip, a hero of mine who became a friend and mentor because of Facebook. It is through his encouragement that Watkins Publishing and I created this book that you are reading. Also, thanks to Simon Spanton for moving me through the stimulating journey of publishing with Watkins.” (from the Acknowledgements)

I also wish to acknowledge my local bookstore, Audreys Books, who played a part in this story as well. I special ordered Neil’s The Watkins Book of English Folktales from Audreys and was informed that it would take some time for it to arrive here in Alberta. I was willing to wait and wait I did but when it finally arrived, I dropped Neil a note to tell him that I was thrilled with his book. He immediately replied with a surprise suggestion. He said that Watkins was considering a follow up to his book but one that focused on urban legends, placing them in the context of the broader sweep of the folktale, demonstrating that the instinct to interpret the world through story that may or may not have happened is alive and “a vital part of how we navigate our individual and shared experiences.” Neil wrote that it sounded right up my street and, if I was interested, he could put be in touch with the editor.

I was torn as I had promised myself, I would not undertake another book but after quickly talking with my friends and family, I replied in the affirmative (still the same day).  Neil sent my name and email to the editor, Simon Spanton who Neil praised and confirmed that Watkins was a fantastic firm to work with. Two days later I had a proposal for a contact and the planning, writing, and editing was underway. I realized, while composing this blog entry, that this all took place exactly 11 months ago!

This book, my third concentrating on contemporary legends, had a different focus for me as a writer. I explored my relationship with and to the legends as much as I concisely explored the legends themselves.

https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2024/09...



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 …

The Watkins Book of Urban Legends provides fascinating insight into contemporary legends and is the only book to examine the effect social media has had on the spread of folklore and modern mythologies.
Neil Philip, author of The Watkins Book of English Folklore has nothing but praise: “Over the past half century the study of urban or contemporary legends – those spooky, unsettling stories that so often happened to “a friend of a friend” – has become a thriving area of folklore research. Gail de Vos is one of its leading scholars, equally at home with oral transmission or the internet. She writes with a light, entertaining, and personal touch, but always from a deep well of knowledge and insight.”
Pre-order it in time for Christmas at any good book retailer 📚✨
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Greetings from Canada. My new book, an exploration of my relationship with contemporary legends along with the legends themselves, will be published on November 12, 2024. Watch this space for updates, tidbits, excerpts, interviews, reviews etc.