Urban Legends and The Supernatural

Darkshore · Jan 17, 2012

Hey there all. I'd really like to get my hands on some good reference material that has to do with these subjects. The problem being just how much crap (and I mean that literally) is out there floating around on the subject. Do any of you forum goers have similar interests--writing or otherwise--that you wouldn't mind sharing the titles, or places you found them?

Sydneyd · Jan 17, 2012

For urban legends I like to go to www.snopes.com I am pretty sure they have a specific urban legends tab on the site. I used to go to this one site that had all kinds of supernatural pictures and stories...I think it was called The Shawdow Lands, but I can't seem to remember right now. I'm pretty sure if you google the shawdow lands you'll be able to find it somewhere. That site was also organized neatly so that you weren't sifting through piles of crap.

Nissie · Jan 17, 2012

Every country at least has some urban legend almost everyone living there knows of. That Urban Legend movie covered a good bit of the more traditional legends, but if you're looking for something specific / something still relatively unknown, you can always go look up country-specific urban legends in wikipedia (they have a category there, and I think they're classified there per country / region?)

Darkshore · Jan 18, 2012

Thanks for the replies. I'll take a crack at those sites.

backslashbaby · Jan 18, 2012

I did an Amazon search once for this, and there were a few books that sounded really good. I ended up going with a specific folklore instead, but check out Amazon. I know that sounds huge, but it really wasn't that bad. I probably filtered by nonfiction.

frolzagain · Jan 18, 2012

I have a blog about the paranormal (link in sig) and there's some info on there. A good starting guide is The Rough Guide to the Unexplained. It has a lot of info on urban legends, myths, etc.

seun · Jan 19, 2012

Darkshore said:
The problem being just how much crap (and I mean that literally) is out there floating around on the subject.

Crap is literally floating around? That's nasty.

James D. Macdonald · Jan 19, 2012

Check your library for The Choking Doberman and other books by Jan Harold Brunvan.

benbradley · Jan 19, 2012

I really liked this book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1573920614/?tag=absowrit-20
The author wrote of going through college studying and experiencing all these things and getting the first PHD in parapsychology. Like other experimenters, she was looking for solid proof of the existence of these things. This writing by her many years later makes a good postscript to the book (though the book goes into a lot of other things not mentioned here, but go ahead and read this):
http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Chapters/Kurtz.htm

A lot of this overlaps with "new age" stuff, Tarot cards, chakras, beliefs in karma, destiny and whatnot. There's zener cards, generated specifically to measure ESP. This is a huge area, and I'm not even sure what you're asking or if I've answered it.

Buffysquirrel · Jan 19, 2012

I was going to suggest Brunvan but Jim beat me to it. He has written extensively on this subject and his books are fascinating.

Darkshore · Jan 19, 2012

Great links! Brunvan looks intriguing and now I really want to know about this women with a degree in parapsychology. Thanks guys

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Darkshore · Jan 20, 2012

Sadly my library had no copies of any of Brunvan's work, but they had quite a bit of Rosemary Ellen Guilley's. I may go ahead and order a book or two of his though, they looked very interesting.

MeretSeger · Jan 22, 2012

The late UC Berkeley Professor of Folklore, Alan Dundes. Well published, loved urban legends, and was hilarious-an urban legend himself. Good source. (eta: he was often controversial, so be warned if you come across his analysis of football)

Go Bears.

horrorshowjack · Jan 25, 2012

Colin Wilson's Mysteries is one that I'd read, but he wrote several doorstoppers full of essays.

You can also try the Sacred Texts Archive which defines the term broadly. It's got everything from Fortean books to Zoroastrianism. Gothic and Evil should cover the categories you've mentioned.

Urban Legends and The Supernatural

Darkshore

Stranger

Sydneyd

Aye, ye scurvy dog!

Nissie

not a beer

Darkshore

Stranger

backslashbaby

*

frolzagain

seun

Horror Man

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Buffysquirrel

Darkshore

Stranger

Darkshore

Stranger

MeretSeger

The Alydar of Writers

horrorshowjack

Professional Heretic

Urban Legends and The Supernatural

Stranger

Aye, ye scurvy dog!

not a beer

Stranger

~~~~*~~~~

Horror Man

Your Genial Uncle

It's a doggy dog world

Stranger

Stranger

The Alydar of Writers

Professional Heretic

*