Urban legend

Form of modern folklore

"Urban myth" and "Urban myths" redirect here. For the theatre company, see Urban Myth Theatre Company. For other uses, see Urban Myths (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Urban legend (disambiguation).

Colchester Overpass, the site of the 1970s urban legend of the "Bunny Man", said to be a man or ghost in a rabbit costume who attacked people in the areaPart of a series on the

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* Urban legend

* v
* t
* e

Urban legends (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.[1]

These legends can be entertaining but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects or entities. Urban legends may confirm moral standards, reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties.[2]

In the past, urban legends were most often circulated orally, at gatherings and around the campfire for instance. Now, they can be spread by any media, including newspapers, mobile news apps, e-mail, and most often, social media. Some urban legends have passed through the years/decades with only minor changes, in where the time period takes place. Generic urban legends are often altered to suit regional variations, but the lesson or moral generally remains the same.

## Origin and structure

[edit]

The term "urban legend", as used by folklorists, has appeared in print since at least 1968, when it was used by Richard Dorson.[3] Jan Harold Brunvand, professor of English at the University of Utah, introduced the term to the general public in a series of popular books published beginning in 1981. Brunvand used his collection of legends, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings (1981) to make two points: first, that legends and folklore do not occur exclusively in so-called primitive or traditional societies, and second, that one could learn much about urban and modern culture by studying such tales.[citation needed]

Many urban legends are framed as complete stories with plot and characters. The compelling appeal of a typical urban legend is its elements of mystery, horror, fear, or humor. Often they serve as cautionary tales.[4] Some urban legends are morality tales that depict someone acting in a disagreeable manner, only to wind up in trouble, hurt, or dead.[5]

Urban legends will often try to invoke a feeling of disgust in the reader which tends to make these stories more memorable and potent. Elements of shock value can be found in almost every form of urban legend and are partially what makes these tales so impactful.[6] An urban legend may include elements of the supernatural or paranormal.[citation needed]

## Propagation and belief

[edit]

As Jan Brunvand points out,[7] antecedent legends including some of the motifs, themes and symbolism of the urtexts can readily be identified. Cases that may have been at least partially inspired by real events include "The Death Car" (traced by Richard Dorson to Michigan, United States);[7] "the Solid Cement Cadillac"[8] and the possible origin of "The Hook" in the 1946 series of Lovers' Lane murders in Texarkana, Texas, United States.[9][10] The urban legend that Coca-Cola developed the drink Fanta to sell in Nazi Germany without public backlash originated as the actual tale of German Max Keith, who invented the drink and ran Coca-Cola's operations in Germany during World War II.[11]

An example of a supposed ghost train, the Silver Train of Stockholm, also known as Silverpilen (the Silver Arrow).

The narrator of an urban legend may claim it happened to a friend (or to a friend of a friend), which serves to personalize, authenticate and enhance the power of the narrative[12] while distancing the teller from the tall tale. Many urban legends depict horrific crimes, contaminated foods, or other situations that would potentially affect many people. Anyone believing such stories might feel compelled to warn loved ones. On occasion, news organizations, school officials and even police departments have issued warnings concerning the latest threat.[13] According to the "Lights Out" rumor, street gang members would drive without headlights until a compassionate motorist responded with the traditional flashing of headlights, whereupon a prospective new gang member would have to murder the citizen as a requirement of initiation.[14] A fax retelling this legend received at the Nassau County, Florida, fire department was forwarded to police, and from there to all city departments. The Minister of Defence for Canada was taken in by it also; he forwarded an urgent security warning to all Ontario Members of Parliament.[14]

Urban legends typically include common elements: the tale is retold on behalf of the original witness or participant; dire warnings are often given for those who might not heed the advice or lesson contained therein (a typical element of many e-mail phishing scams); and the tale is often touted as "something a friend told me", the friend being identified by first name only or not identified at all.[15] Such legends seem to be believable and even provocative, as some readers are led in turn to pass them on, including on social media platforms that instantly reach millions worldwide.[16] Many are essentially extended jokes, told as if they were true events.[17]

Persistent urban legends do often maintain a degree of plausibility, as in the story a serial killer deliberately hiding in the back seat of a car. Another such example since the 1970s has been the recurring rumor that the Procter & Gamble Company was associated with Satan-worshippers because of details within its 19th-century "57" trademark.[18] The legend interrupted the company's business to the point that it stopped using the trademark.[19]

## Relation to mythology

[edit]

The earliest term by which these narratives were known, "urban belief tales", highlights what was then thought of as a key property: their tellers regarded the stories as true accounts, and the device of the FOAF (acronym for "Friend of a Friend" invented by English writer and folklorist Rodney Dale in 1976) was a spurious but significant effort at authentication.[20] The coinage leads in turn to the terms "FOAFlore" and "FOAFtale". While at least one classic legend, the "Death Car", has been shown to have some basis in fact,[21] folklorists have an interest in debunking those narratives only to the degree that establishing non-factuality warrants the assumption that there must be some other reason why the tales are told, re-told and believed.[22] As in the case of myth, the narratives are believed because they construct and reinforce the worldview of the group within which they are told, or "because they provide us with coherent and convincing explanations of complex events".[23]

Social scientists have started to draw on urban legends in order to help explain complex socio-psychological beliefs, such as attitudes to crime, childcare, fast food, SUVs and other "family" choices.[24] The authors make an explicit connection between urban legends and popular folklore, such as Grimm's Fairy Tales, where similar themes and motifs arise. For that reason, it is characteristic of groups within which a given narrative circulates to vehemently reject claims or demonstrations of non-factuality; an example would be the expressions of outrage by police officers who are told that adulteration of Halloween treats by strangers (the subject of periodic moral panics) occurs extremely rarely, if at all.[22][25]

## Documentation

[edit]

The Internet has made it easier both to spread and to debunk urban legends.[26][27] For instance, the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban and several other websites, most notably snopes.com, focus on discussing, tracking, and analyzing urban legends. The United States Department of Energy had a now-discontinued service called Hoaxbusters[28] that dealt with computer-distributed hoaxes and legends.[29] The most notable such hoaxes are known as creepypastas, which are typically horror stories written anonymously. Although most are regarded as obviously false, some, such as the Slender Man, have gained a following of people that do believe in them.[30]

Television shows such as Urban Legends, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, and later Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed, feature re-enactments of urban legends, detailing the accounts of the tales and (typically later in an episode) revealing any factual basis they may have. The Discovery Channel TV show MythBusters (2003–2016) tried to prove or disprove several urban legends by attempting to reproduce them using the scientific method. [31]

The 1998 film Urban Legend featured students discussing popular urban legends while at the same time falling victim to killings re-enacting them.[32] The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project purposefully positioned itself as an urban legend to gain viral hype and succeeded in fooling many that it was based on a real disappearance.[33] The lack of widespread social media and search engines helped it proliferate in the months leading up to its release.[34]

Between 1992 and 1998 The Guardian newspaper "Weekend" section published the illustrated "Urban Myths" column by Phil Healey and Rick Glanvill, with content taken from a series of four books: Urban Myths, The Return of Urban Myths, Urban Myths Unplugged,[35] and Now! That's What I Call Urban Myths. The 1994 comics anthology the Big Book of Urban Legends, written by Robert Boyd, Jan Harold Brunvand, and Robert Loren Fleming, featured 200 urban legends, displayed as comics.[citation needed]

The British writer Tony Barrell has explored urban legends in a long-running column in The Sunday Times. These include the story that Orson Welles began work on a Batman movie in the 1940s, which was to feature James Cagney as the Riddler and Marlene Dietrich as Catwoman;[36] the persistent rumour that the rock singer Courtney Love is the granddaughter of Marlon Brando;[37] and the idea that a famous 1970s poster of Farrah Fawcett contains a subliminal sexual message concealed in the actress's hair.[38]

## Genres

[edit]

### Crime

[edit]

As with traditional urban legends, many internet rumors are about crimes or crime waves – either fictional or based on real events that have been largely exaggerated.[39][40][41] Such stories can be problematic, both because they purport to be relevant modern news and because they do not follow the typical patterns of urban legends.[42]

### Medicine

[edit]

Some legends are medical folklore, such as the claim that eating watermelon seeds will result in a watermelon growing in the stomach, or that going outdoors just after showering will result in catching a cold.[43] Many Old wives' tales have grown around the identification of ailments, real and imagined, and the recommended remedies, rituals, and home-grown medical treatments to treat them.[citation needed]

### Internet

[edit]

Internet urban legends are those spread through the internet, as through Usenet or email[44] or more recently through other social media. They can also be linked to viral online content. Some take the form of chain letters and spread by e-mail, directing the reader to share them or to meet a terrible fate,[45] and following a recognizable outline of hook, threat, and finally request.[46]

### Paranormal

[edit]

Paranormal urban-legend stories usually involve someone encountering something supernatural, such as a cryptid[47]—for instance, Bigfoot or Mothman,[48] legendary creatures for which evidence is lacking but which have legions of believers.[49] Research shows that people experiencing sudden or surprising events (such as a Bigfoot sighting) may significantly overestimate the duration of the event.[50]

### Marketing

[edit]

Companies have been accused of hiding "secret messages" behind their logos or packaging,[51] as in the case of the old Procter & Gamble symbol, supposedly an occult figure that gave panache to the brand. (If the thirteen stars in the symbol were connected a certain way, it would show three sixes in a row.)[52] Similarly, a video of a Christian woman "exposing" Monster Energy for using the Hebrew letter vav ( ו ), forming the letter "M", to disguise the number 666 went viral on Facebook.[53]

## See also

[edit]

* List of urban legends
* Factoid
* Woozle effect

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ "Urban legend | Definition, Meaning, Examples, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
2. ^ "Urban Legend Definition". Snopes.com. 10 March 2011.
3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2d ed. 1989, entry for "urban legend", citing R. M. Dorson in T. P. Coffin, Our Living Traditions, xiv. 166 (1968). See also William B. Edgerton, "The Ghost in Search of Help for a Dying Man", Journal of the Folklore Institute, Vol. 5, No. 1. pp. 31, 38, 41 (1968).
4. ^ "Urban Legend Definition". Snopes.com. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
5. ^ "How Urban Legends Work". HowStuffWorks. 16 May 2001. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
6. ^ Robson, David. "What makes an urban legend?". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
7. ^ a b Mikkelson, Barbara (10 August 2006). "snopes.com: Death Car". Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
8. ^ "snopes.com: Cement in Lover's Car". Urban Legends Reference Pages. 10 August 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2007.
9. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (2 June 2008). "snopes.com: The Hook". Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
10. ^ Ramsland, Katherine. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre is based on a real case the crime library – Other Speculations – Crime Library on truTV.com". Turner Broadcasting System Inc. Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
11. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (13 September 2004). "The Reich Stuff?". Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 9 January 2007.
12. ^ Brunvand, p. 423
13. ^ Gross, Dave. "The "Blue Star" LSD Tattoo Urban Legend Page". the Lycaeum Drug Archives. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
14. ^ a b Mikkelson, Barbara (8 December 2008). "snopes.com: Flashing Headlights Gang Initiation". Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
15. ^ "Heard the one about..." BBC News. 27 October 2006. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
16. ^ Gelfand, Lynn (2014). They are watching you: The Slender Man and the Terrors of 21st Century Technologies.
17. ^ Brunvand, p. 223
18. ^ Procter and Gamble v. Amway 242 F.3d 539
19. ^ Brunvand, p. 333
20. ^ Brunvand, p. 459
21. ^ Richard Dorson. "American Folklore" University of Chicago Press, 1959, pp. 250–52.
22. ^ a b Adam Brooke Davis."Davis, Adam Brooke. "Devil's Night and Hallowe'en: The Linked Fates of Two Folk Festivals." Missouri Folklore Society Journal XXIV (2002) 69–82 Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine
23. ^ John Mosier "War Myths" Historically Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society: VI: 4, March/April 2005.
24. ^ Croft, Robin (2006). "Folklore, Families and Fear: Exploring the Influence of the Oral Tradition on Consumer Decision-making". Journal of Marketing Management. 22 (9 & 10): 1053–76. doi:10.1362/026725706778935574. S2CID 144646252.
25. ^ Best, Joel; Horiuchi, Gerald T. (June 1985). "The Razor Blade in the Apple: The Social Construction of Urban Legends". Social Problems. 32 (5): 488–97. doi:10.2307/800777. ISSN 0037-7791. JSTOR 800777.
26. ^ Donovan, p.129
27. ^ "How Urban Legends Work". HowStuffWorks. 16 May 2001. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
28. ^ "The U.S. Department of Energy has decided that it no longer wants to be associated with hoaxbusters.ciac.org so this site has been permanently shut down". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008.
29. ^ Watstein, Sarah; Jovanovic, John (2003). "Bioterrorism and Biological Warfare". Statistical Handbook on Infectious Diseases. An Oryx book. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 297. ISBN 9781573563758. Retrieved 26 January 2020. "A number of Internet sites are available regarding urban legends and hoaxes, such as [...] the Compute Incident Advisory Committee and Department of Energy's HoaxBusters site at http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org."
30. ^ "Slender Man case: girl who attacked classmate gets 25-year hospital sentence". the Guardian. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
31. ^ Zimmerman, Keith; Zimmerman, Kent (2005). Mythbusters: the explosive truth behind 30 of the most perplexing urban legends of all time (1st ed.). New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment. ISBN 978-1-4169-0929-3. OCLC 62156278.
32. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Urban Legend movie review & film summary (1998) | Roger Ebert". Retrieved 6 March 2024.
33. ^ "The Blair Witch Project". haxan.com. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
34. ^ "The legend of the viral marketing campaign". Above the Fold by Writing Inbound. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
35. ^ Healey, Phil; Glanvill, Rick (1994). Urban Myths Unplugged. Virgin. ISBN 9780863698972. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
36. ^ Tony Barrell (5 July 2009). "Did You Know: Orson Welles". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
37. ^ Tony Barrell (13 September 2009). "Did You Know: Courtney Love". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
38. ^ Tony Barrell (4 October 2009). "Did You Know: Farrah Fawcett". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
39. ^ Pamela Donovan, No Way of Knowing: Crime, Urban Legends, and the Internet (Psychology Press, 2004).
40. ^ Pamela Donovan, Crime legends in a new medium: Fact, fiction and loss of authority, Theoretical Criminology; vol. 6 no. 2; May 2002; pp. 189–215.
41. ^ Zimring, Franklin E. (15 December 2009). "Foreword". In Sprott, Jane B.; Doob, Anthony N. (eds.). Justice for Girls?: Stability and Change in the Youth Justice Systems of the United States and Canada. Adolescent Development and Legal Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (published 2009). p. viii. ISBN 9780226770062. Retrieved 1 March 2022. "Although isolated and misleading statistical sound bites make the news, the long-term stability of low rates of serious crime by females is a rule with very few exceptions. As of 2008, the girl crime wave is properly classified as an urban legend."
42. ^ Donovan, Pamela (2004). No Way of Knowing Crime, Urban Legends, and the Internet. Great Britain: Routledge. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0203507797.
43. ^ "Medical Myths and Hoaxes: Debunked? You Be The Judge". April 2017.
44. ^ Chris Frost, (2000) "Tales on the Internet: making it up as you go along", ASLIB Proceedings, Vol. 52 Iss: 1, pp. 5–10
45. ^ "Chain Linked". Snopes.com. 5 May 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
46. ^ Blank, Trevor (2007). "Examining the Transmission of Urban Legends: Making the Case for Folklore Fieldwork on the Internet".
47. ^ "Definition of CRYPTID". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
48. ^ "An Overview of Paracryptozoology". Supernatural Magazine. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
49. ^ Dagnall, Neil; Denovan, Andrew; Drinkwater, Kenneth; Parker, Andrew; Clough, Peter J. (2017). "Urban Legends and Paranormal Beliefs: The Role of Reality Testing and Schizotypy". Frontiers in Psychology. 8: 942. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00942. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 5463090. PMID 28642726.
50. ^ Radford, Benjamin; Frazier, Kendrick (January 2017). "Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (1): 60–61.
51. ^ Hieronimus, Robert (2008). The United Symbolism of America : Deciphering Hidden Meanings in America's Most Familiar Art, Architecture, and Logos. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books. p. 267\. ISBN 9781601630018.
52. ^ The Big Book of Urban Legends. New York: Paradox Press. 1994. pp. 172. ISBN 1-56389-165-4.
53. ^ LaCapria, Kim (10 November 2014). "Does the Monster Energy Drink Logo Include the Number 666?". Snopes.

### General and cited sources

[edit]

* Jan Harold Brunvand (2012). Encyclopedia of Urban Legends: Updated and Expanded Edition. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-598847208.
* Pamela Donovan (2004). No Way of Knowing: Crime, Urban Legends, and the Internet. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-50779-7.

## Further reading

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Urban legends.

Look up se non è vero, è ben trovato in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

* Enders, Jody (2002). Death by Drama and Other Medieval Urban Legends. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-20788-9.
* Bennett, Gillian; Smith, Paul (2007). Urban legends : a collection of international tall tales and terrors. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-33952-3. OCLC 76864037.
* De Caro, F. A. (2009). An anthology of American folktales and legends. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-2129-0. OCLC 212627165.

## External links

[edit]

* Snopes – Urban Legends Reference Pages
* USC folklore legends archive
* International Society for Contemporary Legend Research

* v
* t
* e

Urban legends

* List

By region|

| North America|

* 27 Club
* White lighter curse
* 2016 clown sightings
* The Baby-Roast
* The babysitter and the man upstairs
* The Backrooms
* Bermuda Triangle
* Bloody Mary
* Candle Cove
* Coghlan's coffin
* Cow tipping
* The Dark Side of the Rainbow
* John Fare
* Gasoline pill
* The Hook
* Killer in the backseat
* The Licked Hand
* Lighthouse and naval vessel
* Litter boxes in schools hoax
* Men in black
* Momo Challenge
* Snuff films
* The Spooklight
* Tayopa
* Frank Tower
* Vanishing hitchhiker

Canada|

* Angikuni's disappeared Inuit village
* Oak Island money pit
* Screaming Tunnel
* St. Louis light
* Thetis Lake Monster

United
States|

* Aurora
* Baby Train
* Ben Drowned
* Black children as alligator bait
* Black Dog of the Hanging Hills
* Black-eyed children
* Blue star tattoo
* Boy Scout Lane
* Brown Mountain lights
* Bunny Man
* Charlie No-Face
* Chase Vault
* Chimera House
* Choking Doberman
* Rodney Cox
* Rudolph Fentz
* Goatmen
* Goatman's Bridge
* Maryland's Goatman
* Pope Lick Monster
* Lake Worth Monster
* The Hands Resist Him
* Haunchyville
* JATO Rocket Car
* Kay's Cross
* Kennedy curse
* Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences
* Lost Dutchman's Mine
* Melon heads
* Mel's Hole
* Midgetville
* Night Doctors
* Phantom social workers
* Philadelphia Experiment
* Poisoned candy
* Polybius
* Sightings of Elvis Presley
* Richmond Vampire
* Ronald Opus
* Seven Gates of Hell
* Sewer alligators
* Slender Man
* 2014 stabbing
* Tourist guy

Continental and
mainland Asia|

* Colonel Tomb
* Nale Ba
* SS Ourang Medan
* Orang Minyak

India|

* Indian rope trick
* Monkey-man of Delhi

Japan|

* Curse of the Colonel
* Aka Manto ("Red Cape")
* Hanako-san of the Toilet
* Headless Rider
* Inunaki Village
* John Zegrus
* Kisaragi Station
* Kokkuri
* Kuchisake-onna ("Slit-Mouthed Woman")
* Kunekune ("Wriggling Body")
* Lavender Town
* Red Room Curse
* 'Sony timer'
* Teke Teke

Philippines|

* Biringan City
* Yamashita's gold

Continental
Europe|

* And yet it moves
* Black Volga
* Ghost of Kyiv
* Herobrine
* Konstantinos Koukidis
* Le Loyon
* Pérák
* Red mercury
* Silverpilen
* This Man

France|

* Angels of Mons
* Vanishing Hotel Room

Germany|

* German Corpse Factory
* Lampshades made from human skin
* Soap made from human corpses
* Lone gunner of Flesquières
* Nazi UFOs

Poland|

* Kraina Grzybów TV
* Nazi gold train
* Zegrze Reservoir Monster

Soviet Union/Russia|

* Legends of Catherine the Great
* Lenin was a mushroom
* Hitler's pet alligator
* Well to Hell
* White Tights

Spain|

* Castilian lisp
* Sacamantecas
* Santa Compaña

United Kingdom|

* 999 phone charging myth
* Baby Train
* Black dog
* The Crying Boy
* The Dark Side of the Rainbow
* HMS Friday
* Phantom social workers
* The Spider Bite
* Strategic steam reserve
* RMS Titanic

England|

* British big cats
* University of Cambridge legends
* Croydon Cat Killer
* Isaac Newton's dog
* Manchester Pusher
* Man Proposes, God Disposes
* Mistletoe bough
* Paul is dead
* Purple Aki
* Ratman of Southend
* Spring-heeled Jack
* Sweeney Todd

Africa|

* Elephants' graveyard
* Guegue
* Madam Koi Koi

Oceania|

* Bass Strait Triangle

Australia|

* Baby Train
* Flora and Fauna Act
* Mahogany Ship
* Poinciana Woman

South America|

* James Bartley
* Treasure of Lima

Topic articles|

* Creepypastas
* Legends and myths regarding the Titanic
* McDonald's urban legends
* Time travel claims and urban legends
* Urban legends about drugs

Theorists
and analysis|

* Jan Harold Brunvand
* Hoax Slayer
* Linda Dégh
* Gary Alan Fine
* Patricia Turner
* Snopes

TV series|

* Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
* MythBusters
* Urban Legends
* Channel Zero

In fiction|

* _9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9
* Candyman franchise
* No Through Road
* Petscop
* SCP Foundation
* Urban Legend (film series)

Related|

* List of creepypastas
* List of cryptids
* Lists of fictional species
* Lists of legendary creatures

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Conspiracy theories

List of conspiracy theories

Overview

| Core topics|

* Antiscience
* Cabals
* deep state
* éminence grise
* power behind the throne
* Civil / Criminal / Political conspiracies
* Conspiracy
* Crisis actors
* Deception
* Dystopia
* Espionage
* Global catastrophe scenarios
* Hidden message
* Pseudohistory
* Pseudoscience
* Secrecy
* Secret societies
* Urban legends and myths

|

Psychology|

* Attitude polarization
* Cognitive dissonance
* Communal reinforcement
* Confirmation bias
* Denialism
* Locus of control
* Manipulation
* Mass psychogenic illness
* moral panics
* Paranoia
* Psychological projection

Astronomy and outer space

* 2012 phenomenon
* Nibiru cataclysm
* Ancient astronauts
* Apollo Moon landings
* Flat Earth
* Hollow Earth
* Hollow Moon
* Reptilians

| UFOs|

* Alien abduction
* Area 51
* Black Knight satellite
* Cryptoterrestrial / Extraterrestrial / Interdimensional hypothesis
* Dulce Base
* Estimate of the Situation (1948)
* Lake Michigan Triangle
* MJ-12
* Men in black
* Nazi UFOs
* Die Glocke
* Project Serpo

| Hoaxes|

* Dundy County (1884)
* Maury Island (1947)
* Roswell (1947)
* Twin Falls (1947)
* Aztec, New Mexico (1949)
* Southern England (1967)
* Ilkley Moor (1987)
* Gulf Breeze (1987–88)
* Alien autopsy (1995)
* Morristown (2009)

|

Deaths and disappearances

| Assassination /
suicide theories|

* Zachary Taylor (1850)
* Louis Le Prince (1890)
* Lord Kitchener (1916)
* Tom Thomson (1917)
* Władysław Sikorski (1943)
* Benito Mussolini (1945)
* Adolf Hitler (1945)
* Subhas Chandra Bose (1945)
* Johnny Stompanato (1958)
* Marilyn Monroe (1962)
* John F. Kennedy (1963)
* Lee Harvey Oswald (1963)
* Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966)
* Harold Holt (1967)
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
* Robert F. Kennedy (1968)
* Salvador Allende (1973)
* Aldo Moro (1978)
* Renny Ottolina (1978)
* Pope John Paul I (1978)
* Airey Neave (1979)
* Olof Palme (1986)
* Zia-ul-Haq (1988)
* GEC-Marconi scientists (1980s–90s)
* Turgut Özal (1993)
* Vince Foster (1993)
* Kurt Cobain (1994)
* Yitzhak Rabin (1995)
* Diana, Princess of Wales (1997)
* Alois Estermann (1998)
* Nepalese royal family (2001)
* Yasser Arafat (2004)
* Benazir Bhutto (2007)
* Osama bin Laden (2011)
* Hugo Chávez (2013)
* Seth Rich (2016)
* Alejandro Castro (2018)
* Jeffrey Epstein (2019)
* Sushant Singh Rajput (2020)
* John McAfee (2021)

|

Accidents / disasters|

* Mary Celeste (1872)
* RMS Titanic (1912)
* Great Kantō earthquake (1923)
* Lynmouth Flood (1952)
* Dyatlov Pass (1959)
* Lost Cosmonauts (1950s–60s)
* JAT Flight 367 (1972)
* United Air Lines Flight 553 (1972)
* South African Airways Flight 295 (1987)
* Khamar-Daban (1993)
* MS Estonia (1994)
* TWA Flight 800 (1996)
* EgyptAir Flight 990 (1999)
* Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (2014)

Other cases|

* Joan of Arc (1431)
* Yemenite children (1948–54)
* Elvis Presley (1977)
* Jonestown (1978)

Body double hoax|

* Paul McCartney
* Avril Lavigne
* Vladimir Putin
* Melania Trump

Energy, environment

* Agenda 21

California drought manipulation

* Climate change denial
* false theories
* Free energy suppression
* HAARP
* Red mercury

False flag allegations

* USS Maine (1898)
* RMS Lusitania (1915)
* Reichstag fire (1933)
* Pearl Harbor (1941)
* USS Liberty (1967)
* Lufthansa Flight 615 (1972)
* Widerøe Flight 933 (1982)
* KAL Flight 007 (1983)
* Mozambican presidential jet (1986)
* Pan Am Flight 103 (1988)
* Oklahoma City bombing (1995)
* 9/11 attacks (2001)
* advance knowledge
* WTC collapse
* Madrid train bombing (2004)
* London bombings (2005)
* Smolensk air disaster (2010)
* Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (2014)
* Denial of the 7 October attacks (2023)

Gender and sexuality

* Alpha / beta males
* Anti-LGBTQ
* anti-gender movement
* Chemicals
* drag panic
* gay agenda
* gay Nazis myth
* HIV/AIDS stigma
* United States
* Homintern
* Lavender scare
* Recruitment
* Grooming
* litter box hoax
* Transvestigation
* Finger pinching
* GamerGate
* Ideology in incel communities
* Larries / Gaylors
* Satanic panic
* Soy and masculinity

Health

* 5G misinformation
* Anti-vaccination
* autism
* MMR
* Thiomersal
* in chiropractic
* misinformation
* Aspartame
* Big Pharma
* Chemtrails
* COVID-19
* Ivermectin
* lab leak
* vaccines
* turbo cancer
* in Canada / Philippines / United States
* Ebola
* Electronic harassment
* Germ theory denialism
* GMOs
* HIV/AIDS denialism
* origins theories
* oral polio AIDS hypothesis
* Lepers' plot
* Medbeds
* SARS (2003)
* Water fluoridation
* Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning

Race, religion and/or ethnicity

* Bhagwa Love Trap
* CERN ritual hoax
* COVID-19 and xenophobia
* Freemasons
* French Revolution [fr]
* Gas chambers for Poles in Warsaw (1940s)
* German POWs post-WWII
* Priory of Sion
* Product labeling
* Halal
* Kosher
* Tartarian Empire
* War against Islam
* White genocide

| Antisemitic|

* Andinia Plan
* Blood libel
* Cohen Plan
* Doctors' plot
* during the Black Death
* Epsilon Team
* George Soros
* Holocaust denial
* Trivialization
* International Jewish conspiracy
* Committee of 300
* Cultural Bolshevism / Jewish Bolshevism
* Żydokomuna
* Judeo-Masonic plot
* The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
* World War II
* Z.O.G.
* Judeopolonia
* Killing of Jesus
* Kalergi Plan
* New World Order
* Rothschilds
* Stab-in-the-back myth

|

Christian / Anti-Christian|

* Anti-Catholic
* Jesuits
* Popish Plot
* Vatican
* Bible
* Giuseppe Siri

Islamophobic|

* Counter-jihad
* Bihar human sacrifice
* Eurabia
* Great Replacement
* Love jihad
* Proposed "Islamo-leftism" inquiry
* Trojan Horse scandal

Genocide denial /
Denial of mass killings|

* Armenian
* Bangladesh
* Bosnian
* Cambodian
* The Holocaust
* Holodomor
* Nanjing
* Rwandan
* Sayfo
* Serbs during WWII

Regional

| Asia|

* India
* Cow vigilante violence
* Greater Bangladesh
* Pakistan
* Jinnahpur
* Philippines
* Tallano gold
* South Korea
* Finger-pinching conspiracy theory
* Thailand
* Finland Plot

|

Americas
(outside the United States)|

* Argentina
* Andinia Plan
* Canada
* Avro Arrow cancellation
* Leuchter report
* Peru
* Casa Matusita
* Venezuela
* Daktari Ranch affair
* Golpe Azul

Middle East / North Africa|

* In the Arab world
* 10 agorot
* Cairo fire
* Israel-related animal theories
* Iran
* Western-backed Iranian Revolution
* Israel
* Pallywood

Russia|

* Alaska payment
* Dulles' Plan
* Golden billion
* Petrograd Military Organization
* Rasputin
* Ukraine bioweapons

Turkey|

* 2016 coup attempt
* Ergenekon
* Operation Sledgehammer
* Gezi Park protests
* Sèvres syndrome
* Üst akıl

Other European|

* Euromyth
* Ireland
* German Plot
* Italy
* Itavia Flight 870
* Lithuania
* Statesmen
* Roman Republic
* First Catilinarian conspiracy
* Spain
* Mano Negra affair
* Sweden
* Lilla Saltsjöbadsavtalet
* UK
* Clockwork Orange plot
* Elm Guest House
* Harold Wilson
* Voting pencil

United States|

* Barack Obama
* citizenship
* religion
* parentage
* "Obamagate" / Spygate
* Biden–Ukraine
* Black helicopters
* CIA and JFK
* CIA assistance to bin Laden
* Clinton body count
* Cultural Marxism
* Election denial movement
* FBI secret society
* FEMA camps
* Georgia Guidestones
* Jade Helm 15
* Montauk Project
* Philadelphia Experiment
* Pizzagate
* The Plan
* Project Azorian
* QAnon
* Pastel
* incidents
* Saddam–al-Qaeda
* Sandy Hook (2012)
* Trump–Ukraine
* "Vast right-wing conspiracy"
* Vietnam War
* POW/MIA issue / Stab-in-the-back myth

| 2020 election|

* Italygate
* "Pence Card"
* Maricopa County ballot audit
* Stop the Steal

|

Other

* Dead Internet theory
* NESARA/GESARA
* New Coke
* Phantom time / New chronology
* Shadow government claims
* Bilderberg
* Illuminati
* synarchism
* Shakespearean authorship

| Pseudolaw|

* Admiralty law
* Freeman on the land movement
* Redemption movement
* Sovereign citizens
* Strawman theory
* Tax protesters

|

Satirical|

* Acre
* Bielefeld
* Birds Aren't Real
* Li's field
* Ted Cruz–Zodiac Killer meme

See also

* Argument from ignorance
* Conspiracy Encyclopedia
* Conspiracy fiction
* Conspirituality
* Dogma
* pseudoskepticism
* Falsifiability
* Fringe science
* Historical negationism
* Online youth radicalization
* Paranormal
* Prejudice
* hate speech
* Radicalization
* Science by press conference
* Superstition

Category:Conspiracy theories

* v
* t
* e

Folklore genres and types

Narrative|

* Animal tale
* Fable
* Fairy tale
* list
* Legend
* Tall tales
* Parable
* Personal narrative
* Urban legend

Oral tradition|

* Folk etymology
* False
* Joke
* Nursery rhyme
* Proverb
* Riddle
* Saying
* Word game

Folk belief|

* Birthstone
* Folk religion
* Folk saint
* Ghostlore
* Legend tripping
* Luminous gemstones
* Mythology
* Old wives' tale
* Ritual
* Silver bullet
* Weather lore

Folk arts|

* Folk art
* Folk epic
* Folk dance
* Folk instrument
* Folk music
* Folk play
* Folk wrestling
* Foodways

Society|

* Cunning folk
* Fakelore
* Folk devil
* Folk healer
* Folk hero

See also|

* Folklore studies
* Morphology (folkloristics)
* Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index
* Motif-Index of Folk-Literature
* Storytelling
* Tradition
* Knowledge
* Medicine
* Story
* Vernacular

* v
* t
* e

Horror fiction

* Speculative fiction

Media|

* Anime
* Comics
* Films
* History
* Magazines
* Podcasts
* Television programs
* Video games
* list

Types|

* Art
* Black
* Body
* Cannibal
* Christmas
* Comedy
* Zombie
* Creepypasta
* Cosmic
* Dark fantasy
* Dark Romanticism
* Faustian
* Grimdark
* Splatterpunk
* Erotic
* Guro
* Monster erotica
* Zombie pornography
* Folk
* Ghost
* Giallo
* Gothic
* American
* Southern
* Southern Ontario
* Suburban
* Tasmanian
* Urban
* Japanese
* Korean
* Lovecraftian
* Monsters
* Jiangshi
* Vampire
* Werewolf
* Occult detective
* Organ transplantation
* Penny dreadful
* Postmodern horror
* Psychological
* Survival
* Techno
* Weird fiction
* New weird
* Weird menace
* Weird West
* Zombie apocalypse

Monsters|

* Demons
* Devils
* Ghouls
* Evil clowns
* Extraterrestrials
* Fire-breathing monsters
* Chimera
* Dragons
* Gargoyles
* Kaiju
* Killer toy
* Mutants
* Ogres
* Sea monster
* Piranha
* Therianthropes
* Werecats
* Werewolves
* Undead
* Death
* Ghosts
* Mummies
* Skeletons
* Vampires
* Zombies
* Witches

Related genres|

* Black comedy
* Fantastique
* Fantasy fiction
* Mystery
* Paranormal
* Science fiction
* Shenmo
* Supernatural
* Thriller
* Tokusatsu
* Urban legend

Other|

* Grand Guignol
* Writers
* Conventions
* LGBT themes
* characters
* Macabre
* Horror host
* Horrorcore
* Vulgar auteurism

Related|

* Pulp magazine
* Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* Bram Stoker Award
* Video nasties

* Category
* Portal

* v
* t
* e

Disinformation and misinformation

Types

* Algorithmic radicalization
* Alternative facts
* Big lie
* Cherry picking
* Circular reporting
* Cognitive bias
* List of cognitive biases
* Conspiracy theory (list)
* Deception
* Denialism
* Disinformation attack
* Doublespeak
* Euphemistic misspeaking
* Factoid
* Fake news
* online
* list of websites
* Lying press
* Fallacy
* List of fallacies
* False accusation
* False dilemma
* False flag
* Fear, uncertainty, and doubt
* Firehose of falsehood
* Forgery as covert operation
* Gaslighting
* Half-truth
* Historical negationism
* Hoax
* Infodemic
* Internet manipulation
* Manipulation (psychology)
* Media culture
* Media manipulation
* Potemkin village
* Post-truth politics
* Psychological warfare
* Memetic warfare
* Military deception
* Propaganda
* black propaganda
* counterpropaganda
* State-sponsored Internet propaganda
* Quote mining
* Scientific fabrication
* Smearing
* Social bot
* Spin
* Truthiness
* Urban legend
* Whataboutism
* Yellow journalism

Books and documentaries

* Disinformation by Ion Mihai Pacepa
* Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy
* The KGB and Soviet Disinformation
* Who's Who in the CIA
* Merchants of Doubt
* After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News

Examples

* Bermuda Triangle
* Congo Free State propaganda war
* Climate change denial
* Free energy suppression
* Genocide denial
* Holocaust denial
* Illuminati
* International Jewish conspiracy
* Misinformation in the Israel–Hamas war
* Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* New World Order
* Red mercury
* Reptilians
* Rothschilds
* Strategy of tension

| Health|

* 5G
* COVID-19 misinformation
* by governments
* Ebola
* HIV/AIDS denialism
* Mental illness denial
* Misinformation related to abortion
* Vaccines
* anti-vaccination
* autism
* COVID-19
* Water fluoridation controversy

|

Operations and events by country

| Canada|

Jihadunspun.com

|

China|

* Chinese information operations
* 50 Cent Party
* cyberwarfare
* Little Pink
* Internet Water Army
* PLA Unit 61398
* Spamouflage
* COVID-19
* Global Times

Czechoslovakia|

Operation Neptune

Germany|

* Funkspiel
* Propaganda in Nazi Germany
* Myth of the clean Wehrmacht

India|

* Fake news in India
* Godi-media
* Paid news in India
* OpIndia

Israel|

Team Jorge

Korea|

Voluntary Agency Network of Korea

Kuwait|

Fintas Group

Mexico|

Peñabots

Philippines|

* COVID-19 misinformation in the Philippines (ChinaAngVirus disinformation campaign)
* Fake news in the Philippines
* Historical distortion regarding Ferdinand Marcos

Russia /
Soviet Union|

| Soviet era|

* Active Measures
* K-1000 battleship
* Operation INFEKTION
* Operation Toucan
* Seat 12
* Soviet influence on the peace movement
* U.S. Army Field Manual 30-31B
* Useful idiot

|

Post-Soviet era|

* Cyberwarfare
* on Estonia
* during the Russo-Georgian War
* Information war against Ukraine
* Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* On US elections
* 2016
* 2018
* 2020
* 2016 Brexit referendum
* Russian Institute for Strategic Studies
* Trolls from Olgino
* Web brigades

South Africa|

HIV/AIDS denialism

Turkey|

* Conspiracy theories
* Media censorship and disinformation during the Gezi Park protests
* AK Trolls

United Kingdom|

* Bell Pottinger
* Double-Cross System
* Clockwork Orange plot
* Euromyth
* Lancet MMR autism fraud
* Operation Mass Appeal
* Psychological Warfare Division
* Zinoviev letter

United States|

* 1995 CIA disinformation controversy
* Attempts to overturn the 2020 election
* Conspiracy theories
* 9/11 conspiracy theories
* CIA Kennedy assassination
* QAnon
* Sandy Hook
* COVID-19
* Fake news
* online
* Election denial movement in the United States
* The Freedom Fighter's Manual
* Habbush letter
* Information Operations Roadmap
* Litter boxes in schools
* Mohamed Atta's alleged Prague connection
* Niger uranium forgeries
* Tobacco industry playbook
* Operation Shocker
* Yellow rain

Venezuela|

Bolivarian Army of Trolls

Vietnam|

* Public opinion brigades
* Force 47

Opposition

* Fact-checking
* Fact-checking website
* Active Measures Working Group
* Counter disinformation unit
* Counter Misinformation Team
* Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act
* The Disinformation Project
* East StratCom Task Force
* FactCheck.org
* Full Fact
* Logically
* NewsGuard
* PolitiFact
* Snopes
* StopFake
* United States Information Agency
* USAFacts

Authority control databases: National |

* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Israel

|

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