The Corpse on the Train and Other Urban Legends

People share urban legends a lot, be they tiny rumours or full blown horror stories, but where do these stories come from and what do they represent? Using three examples of urban legends Scott Wood considers ways of how urban legends are formed and their meaning with stories of the helpful terrorist, the dead body on public transport and the hidden insult. There may be swearing. Urban legends are pieces of cultural ephemera that are also narrative demonstrations of society’s concerns, prejudices and rational blind spots. Urban legends are our contemporary folklore - coarsely humorous, cruel, bigoted and endlessly fascinating.

Scott is part of Darker Days Hastings, the author of London Urban Legends: The Corpse on the Tube and the co-founder of the London Fortean Society. He's all about Hastings now.