Kent Urban Legends: The Phantom Hitchhiker And Other Stories

by Neil Arnold

What unsettling vision startled a truck driver on Detling Hill one snowy night? What is a wallaby doing on the motorway? And is there really a leaf man that resides in Spinney Woods? Urban legends are the funny and frightening and folklore people share today. Just like the early folk tales that came before them, these tales are formed from reactions to events in the modern world, and reflect our current values. for the first time, Neil Arnold explores the power of the local Kent urban legend - murky stories whispered in classrooms and dark woods, and ripping yarns passed on around campfires and across the bar. Urban legends may be just exaggerated rumours, but they embed themselves into local folklore. The real question is, what truth lies behind them?

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2013

Reviews

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear, how dreary. Rather than a recitation of as many press cuttings as he could find why didn't the author investigate one or two from each genre and actually speak to the people involved? Okay the cuttings approach worked well for Charles Fort, but then he wrote engagingly and interestingly didn't he....

I get that these are urban legends but some of them must have been based on "real" reports by real people, and some are as recent as 2012, so why not hunt them down, get more details and some real flavour?

I guess that would be hard work... but much more interesting to read than this cut and paste job - I gave up reading after about 40 pages and skimming after another 40... such a shame.