1. New legends for old : Urban legends as folklore ; The performance of legends ; "The boyfriend's death" ; Urban legends as cultural symbols ; Interpreting urban legends -- 2. The classic automobile legends : "The death car" ; "The philanderer's Porsche" ; Roadside ghosts: "The vanishing hitchhiker" -- 3. "The hook" and other teenage horrors : Growing up scared ; "The hook" ; "The killer in the backseat" ; "The baby-sitter and the man upstairs" ; "The roommate's death" ; "The pet (or baby) in the oven" ; "Hot dog!" ; "The hippie baby-sitter" -- 4. Dreadful contaminations : The horrendous-discovery theme ; "The spider in the hairdo" ; "The Kentucky fried rat" and other nasties ; "Alligators in the sewers" -- 5. Purloined corpses and fear of the dead : "The dead cat in the package" ; "The runaway grandmother" -- 6. Dalliance, nudity, and nightmares : "The solid cement Cadillac" ; "The nude in the RV" ; "The cut-out Pullman" ; Nudes and more nudes ; "The nude surprise party" ; Still more nudes ; "The fart in the dark" -- 7. Business ripoffs: two favorite media legends : "Red velvet cake" ; "The snake in the blanket" -- 8. Urgan legends in the making : "The economical car" ; Mint-condition vintage vehicles ; Ghost truckers and "The ghost airliner" ; "The devil in the dancehall" ; Hilarious accidents ; Kidnappings -- Appendix: Collecting and studying urban legends.
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