Contemporary Legend Special Issue: Editor's Introduction

There was this bloke that worked with my cousin' 'Did you hear about the woman that?' 'You won't believe what my hairdresser told me'In 2019, a letter published in The Guardian's Notes and Queries section asked readers: urban myths -alligators in the sewers etc -used to be very popular and some were gruesomely entertaining, so why have they disappeared?Have they been replaced by online conspiracy theories and fake news?(Jones, 2019).Ironically, the same issue of The Guardian contained an example of a persistent conspiracy theory, the suggestion that the Apollo Moon landings were faked.We are pleased to report that oral and written urban myths happily coexist alongside those being generated and shared via online spaces.All of these different forms of narrative can be considered contemporary legends, an umbrella term used by folklorists for the stories we love to hear, tell and swap in schools and in the workplace, in pubs and other social environments and increasingly online.These are narratives that are frequently picked up and passed on through the press, the internet, and social media.Unlike traditional myths and legends that take place in the distant past or in a fantastical realm, contemporary legends typically involve ordinary people in everyday environments and explore modern concerns, anxieties, and social dynamics.Contemporary legends are stories that may seem fantastical or banal, extreme or everyday, and they happen in recognisable worlds.The 'everydayness' of the stories is key; a listener does not require a different belief system to understand and believe them (Smith, personal communication, 2025).They are believed to be true, or at least to contain an element of truth, often because they are told as having happened to someone connected to us in some way, to a friend of a friend.A search on any online news archive will turn up thousands of references to such stories and legends currently in circulation and common usage, including stories of big cats or other cryptids roaming the countryside; urban myths telling of second hand cars smelling of death or hook-handed murderers; and, more recently, internet memes or horror-related creepypasta, such as Slenderman and Momo.Such stories are all around us, embedded in jokes, advertisements, news stories, popular culture, and social media.Academic study of contemporary legend explores the origins, variations and dissemination of these different but related forms of popular narrative examining, amongst other things, how they reflect societal values and concerns, the role they play in social cohesion, their impact on public behaviour, and their wider cultural significance.As such, contemporary legend study exists at the intersection of a number of disciplines including Folkloristics, Sociology, Psychology, English and Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, and Media Studies.Contemporary legend studies thus provide valuable insights into the narratives that shape modern life and human experience.