Urban legends have been the highlight of the unknown. A way for people to make sense of things they do not know. Urban legends usually do have some true story basis but over time these stories get fabricated. Over time we are introduced to these stories and really wonder what part of these stories are real and is fabrication. So I have decided to expand and really look into the origins of a few urban legends that are lesser known. We will explore the legends of the vanishing hitchhiker, Walt Disney, and the ghostly gravity hill. The Vanishing Hitchhiker
The vanishing hitchhiker is a century’s old tale of a young woman who asks for a ride home and seems to look like run way. Pleading drivers for a ride home she gets into the car and proceeds to tell them how to get to her home. When arriving at the home the young lady gets out of the car to proceed to the house. Before driving off the driver notices that she left her scarf in the car. Hurrying to present her back with her scarf they see that she is gone. Thinking she must have been in a hurry to get back home she would already be inside the home.
When the driver goes to the home to give back the scarf they are horrified to find that young lady that had just given a ride has been dead for the past five years. Baffled by the experience and clearly having a scarf she had worn in hand creates a sense of what-really-happened. The vanishing hitchhiker stories as we now tell them date to the turn of the century. As time rolled on, the wagons and horses of older times transformed into cars. The appeal of the vanishing hitchhiker stories lies in the nature of the encounter.
Having believed to have seen this women and also having the tangiable items such as the scarf creates a feeling of the supernatural, and living beyond the grave. Walt Disney Walt Disney is most famously known for his million dollar company that he founded. A company that imagines the impossible and bring such that to life. Walt Disney created things never seen by anyone before. Being a pioneer in the film and the theme park industry. In Disney’s world of make believe people could so easily hatch up an urban legend. It is said that when Walt died of cardiac arrest.
His body was soon whisked away by scientist to laboratory where his body was cryogenically frozen. Cryogenics is the study of things when they are frozen. Where this famous imaginer would be frozen until modern science could reanimate him. The origins of this legend are unknown. The privacy Disney maintained concerning his personal life was prolonged even after his death because of the lack of details available about his funeral and burial arrangements. A reason why this rumor was started was because of Walt’s reputation of being a technological innovator. Thus has helped fuel this legend. * GRAVITY HILL
Early one October morning in 1970 in San Antonio Texas there was a bus filled with 20 children that had stalled on a train track while going uphill. The mere 27 seconds that they were on the track, the bus had gotten slammed into by a two ton train. People say that if you put your car in neutral that your car will start to roll uphill supposedly being pushed by the ghosts of the children making sure that your vehicles will make it safely across the tracks. They say that if you put a powder on your bumper once you have made it across the train tracks you will be able to see little hand prints on your bumper.
This stories origin is traced back to a bus crash that actually happen in Salt Lake City Utah. Where 26 children on a bus had actually stalled on the train tracks. The reasons why the san Antonio spot was picked for the scene of this urban legend is because of the optical illusion gravity hill raod gives off. Many people think that they are being pushed uphill by these children when in fact that you tare traveling down hill and it just seems to be going up hill. As for the handprints those are your own handprints they are seeing. The oily marks from when you have shut your trunk and such.
