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Urban Legends
A fascinating, creepy, frightening, disgusting, and hilarious collection of some of the world's most popular and enduring tall tales.
With themes that run the gamut from funny to sick, risqué to informative, and frightening to disgusting, Urban Legends features fantastic yarns that are remarkable for their uncanny ability to travel the world by word of mouth. We've all heard the one about the alligators that roam New York City's sewers, or how "Mikey" of Life Cereal fame died from eating Pop Rocks mixed with Coke. And what about the flustered parents who left their baby on the car roof, or the scuba diver who was found in the middle of a forest after a fire? These classic tall tales are featured here in all of their creepy glory along with hundreds of others, and they're guaranteed to amuse, enlighten, and intrigue, but be they may stick in your mind forever.
With themes that run the gamut from funny to sick, risqué to informative, and frightening to disgusting, Urban Legends features fantastic yarns that are remarkable for their uncanny ability to travel the world by word of mouth. We've all heard the one about the alligators that roam New York City's sewers, or how "Mikey" of Life Cereal fame died from eating Pop Rocks mixed with Coke. And what about the flustered parents who left their baby on the car roof, or the scuba diver who was found in the middle of a forest after a fire? These classic tall tales are featured here in all of their creepy glory along with hundreds of others, and they're guaranteed to amuse, enlighten, and intrigue, but be they may stick in your mind forever.
687 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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328 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
December 16, 2008
i am such a sucker for urban legends....these are nice and quick, and pretty well known. i mean, i recognized most of them, which was both good and bad....
February 17, 2017
I've never read a book with a collection of urban legends before, or any books on this subject in general.
It was fun, funny, interesting and some times disturbing. Some stories I knew (or variations of them) most I didn't, probably because its heavily based on USA urban legends, so that was a bonus.
I'd recommend this book if you'd like to take some time off, or short breaks, from heavy reading and kill some time. The stories are short enough so that you can pick it up and put it down at any time, even on short work breaks.
It was fun, funny, interesting and some times disturbing. Some stories I knew (or variations of them) most I didn't, probably because its heavily based on USA urban legends, so that was a bonus.
I'd recommend this book if you'd like to take some time off, or short breaks, from heavy reading and kill some time. The stories are short enough so that you can pick it up and put it down at any time, even on short work breaks.
July 8, 2007
This book is really three of Thomas' books smooshed together. I was pretty disappointed when I got it because I had two of them already and was planning on using this as airport reading.
It's still a great read though. Fun, entertaining. It also isn't quick to debunk a story, this book gives you an idea where the story may have come from. Personally when I buy Urban Legend books I'm not looking for the author to tell me how stupid and wrong the story is. So this one is a really good read.
It's still a great read though. Fun, entertaining. It also isn't quick to debunk a story, this book gives you an idea where the story may have come from. Personally when I buy Urban Legend books I'm not looking for the author to tell me how stupid and wrong the story is. So this one is a really good read.
April 2, 2011
I've got to admit, I really like this book. It's an easy read that always gives me a laugh everytime I pick it up, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a giggle at some funny tales, and to anyone who is interested in urban legends, which really should be everyone. :)
February 20, 2008
Really enjoyed reading this. It was interesting to read about the various stories that I've heard that are actually urban legends. It was also slightly scary how many of them I had believed!!!
March 17, 2008
This book is very interesting. some of the legends how ever, have very strange subject matter.
October 5, 2009
This is one of the best collections of Urban Legends available in print. Comprehensive, funny and even scary, this book will have you sharing these creepy stories with your friends.
March 12, 2010
just amazing i love ever story some very relistic others seem impossable but in the end all seem very relistic
November 6, 2010
While urban legends are always fun, I was turned off by some of the repetitive urban legends. There were also a few typos that got by the editors.
December 23, 2022
This book (almost 700 pages) is probably the biggest book of urban legends. You will definitely recognize a lot of the stories.
Overall, I enjoyed reading (most of) this book. But there were also lots of stories that I truly hated! I felt so much frustration while reading them. Because there's is a lot (!!!) of animal cruelty in this book and quite a lot of racism too, and a tiny bit of homophobia.
I absolutely hate stories like that, no matter if it's fiction or not.
I love animals, so I was kind of looking forward to the chapter with animal legends, thought it would be fun. Well... It took me forever to finish that chapter. I really wanted to read every single urban legend in this book, all 666 of them. But I hated this chapter.
Just a warning for anyone who likes animals: in this chapter there's only animal cruelty and animal death, mostly animals killed by humans.
If you read the chapter about the great outdoors, there are all these stories about animals being hit by cars, and it ends with extremely short legends (one sentence) and it has one about beheading a certain animal for fun, just to see how long it takes until it dies. Are you kidding me?! I hate this.
Then the chapter about pets? Not animal cruelty free..
And there are more animals being hurt and killed in other chapters.
Racism in multiple stories as well! Apparently, according to these stories, all people with darker skin look the same, all people with darker skin are expected to be criminals or poor people, and if some lady has a blind date and it turns out her date has darker skin, apparently that's a huge disappointment, that's the clue of that story. Horrible!
Also, why wouldn't you mention white skin? We have to assume all stories are about white people unless we are told otherwise?
Anyway...
This book also needs LOTS of editing!!!!!!!
I like a good urban legend, there were some fun legends, mostly the spooky ones and some others.
But I also hated (!) a lot of the legends.
So... It's hard to rate a book like that.
I'll give it 3 stars.
I can imagine it took a lot of time to find 666 urban legends 😯 and it took me long enough to read all of them 😂
Overall, I enjoyed reading (most of) this book. But there were also lots of stories that I truly hated! I felt so much frustration while reading them. Because there's is a lot (!!!) of animal cruelty in this book and quite a lot of racism too, and a tiny bit of homophobia.
I absolutely hate stories like that, no matter if it's fiction or not.
I love animals, so I was kind of looking forward to the chapter with animal legends, thought it would be fun. Well... It took me forever to finish that chapter. I really wanted to read every single urban legend in this book, all 666 of them. But I hated this chapter.
Just a warning for anyone who likes animals: in this chapter there's only animal cruelty and animal death, mostly animals killed by humans.
If you read the chapter about the great outdoors, there are all these stories about animals being hit by cars, and it ends with extremely short legends (one sentence) and it has one about beheading a certain animal for fun, just to see how long it takes until it dies. Are you kidding me?! I hate this.
Then the chapter about pets? Not animal cruelty free..
And there are more animals being hurt and killed in other chapters.
Racism in multiple stories as well! Apparently, according to these stories, all people with darker skin look the same, all people with darker skin are expected to be criminals or poor people, and if some lady has a blind date and it turns out her date has darker skin, apparently that's a huge disappointment, that's the clue of that story. Horrible!
Also, why wouldn't you mention white skin? We have to assume all stories are about white people unless we are told otherwise?
Anyway...
This book also needs LOTS of editing!!!!!!!
I like a good urban legend, there were some fun legends, mostly the spooky ones and some others.
But I also hated (!) a lot of the legends.
So... It's hard to rate a book like that.
I'll give it 3 stars.
I can imagine it took a lot of time to find 666 urban legends 😯 and it took me long enough to read all of them 😂
October 27, 2020
meh.
Mildly entertaining, but in all fairness, a compilation of stories such as these can only really ever be 3 stars at best, and churning through 666 of these can get a bit tedious.
Decent book to keep on the back of the can for reading in small doses, but nothing worth spending actual money on.
Mildly entertaining, but in all fairness, a compilation of stories such as these can only really ever be 3 stars at best, and churning through 666 of these can get a bit tedious.
Decent book to keep on the back of the can for reading in small doses, but nothing worth spending actual money on.
October 19, 2019
I’ve been picking up and putting down this book for months until I finished it all just when I needed something fun and no brainer to read. I have never seen such a huge compilation of urban legends and it was an easy, fun read.
August 22, 2023
Aunque más de una historia tiende a repetirse hacia el final del volumen (probablemente por recopilar tres entregas), el conjunto resulta entretenido como distracción y, por momentos, sorprendente por la universalidad que alcanzaron ciertas anécdotas.
January 4, 2018
Fun and sometimes startling stories to share with your friends and family.
March 5, 2018
An easy read when you just want to unwind.
June 28, 2018
Urban legends
Everyone in some point in their life has heard of an urban legend. Some of them can make you wonder. Hmm.
Everyone in some point in their life has heard of an urban legend. Some of them can make you wonder. Hmm.
December 28, 2011
Highly entertaining! Dave picked this up at Value Village yesterday and I barely put it down. Funny, I thought some of these urban legends were true when I'd read them before. They weren't all unbelievable. Like the diver found in the treetops of a burned forest who died from drowning. I always thought it was quite plausible!
December 5, 2016
People who know me already know how much I enjoy a good urban legend. The vanishing hitchhiker, the cat in the dryer, the Mexican pet, the blind date... I've heard them all, and this book has them; 666 of them! And they're all absolutely true! I know, because it happened to a friend of a friend of a friend...
November 2, 2012
Beware: If you use this in the classroom to discuss and explore Urban Legends, hand pick your stories. There are a lot of sexual urban legends in this book. I'm sure some superintendent would flip out if you let the kids just skim through the whole book!
June 9, 2013
An alright read. Nice and short legends so one can read as little or as much as one likes. It is amazing the number of these I have heard from people telling me it happened to them, a friend, or a friend of a friend.
December 13, 2024
Really enjoying this book. Its something I'd expect from a book about urban legends. Well written stories, acknowledgement to varying versions of the legends. The book is packed too. Legends that are outrageous, frightening, morbid, creepy, interesting and hilarious.
August 13, 2017
Really funny, interesting and an amusing read.
April 8, 2013
Urban legends some you know & others you don't ...
July 8, 2015
The description pretty well covers things.
August 9, 2015
A great collection of urban legends, really enjoyable to read!
December 31, 2015
Awesome collection of urban legends. There's just so many here. Easy recommendation.
April 29, 2016
School challenge: removed from collection per school policy at superintendent's direction "books did not meet curricular expectations"
August 3, 2016
If you love urban legends this book is for you! Such an easy and fun read!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews