As I was growing up I remember my mom warning me about guys hiding underneath cars and cutting the back of the ankles to steal your car. She told me this so convincingly that I thought it just had to be true. I mean, why would anyone make something up like that. I have since learned that this was meant to scare me, and to help make me more aware of my surroundings. It made such an impression on me that to this day as I walk up to my car I pay attention to what is under it. I even find myself looking in the back seat as I unlock the door. I am not even aware that I do it until I get into my car and lock the doors.

Through studying Urban Legends in class, I have become very interested in them. For this field report I decided to take this Urban Legend to see if there was anyone else who heard it, and to see if it was being passed on or if was just my deviant mother. My research consisted of two interviews. I interviewed a few of my friends that go to Indiana University and asked them if they would help me with my research. They agreed to an interview. With the interviews I compared variants of a single Urban Legend. I wanted to see how each individual. s story differed, even though they were the same story. This is what makes an Urban Legend.

I asked two people about the Urban Legend, The Ankle Slasher. I asked them if they were familiar with the legend. I also asked whom they had heard it from and when. Then I asked them to tell me the story. After they told me their version of the story, I asked if they had heard another version from anyone else.

The first person I interviewed was Brian. He told me how he was familiar with the legend, though he can. t remember whom he heard it from. He also told me the version he has heard. He began by telling me how guys hide under cars in a mall, and then when the owners come out they would cut the ankles, around the Achilles. tendon. Then the guys would steal their packages and the car. He also explained to me when he heard this legend. He stated, . It was a few years back, when I got my license. (Tape 1, Side A, 000-012). Brian hasn. t heard another version of this story from anyone else.

The other person I interviewed was Casey. He told me how he had heard the story a couple of years ago from his brothers. He told me his version of the story. He said, . Somebody hides underneath people. s cars; when they come out, they slash their ankles and steal their cars. (Tape 1,Side A, 014-124). He also told me that he hasn. t heard this version or any other version lately.

The connection that I can make between these two interviews is that the legend is told to install some sort of fear. Like in my case, they both said that they heard it a few years ago, which would make them both young drivers. Brian. s encounter with the story was told to him when he got his license. Which was probably told to scare him and make him more aware of his surroundings. Casey. s older brothers told him the legend, which was meant to scare him. Trying to make him look under his car before getting into it. They both replied on how they haven. t heard this legend since they were young drivers, but yet they still remember it today. Another connection that can be made is one from Brian. s interview. He stated how the subjects that hid under the car were guys. This suggests that all cruel and unusual attacks fit the stereotype given to males. Brian also stated how there was a person, not stating whether it was a boy or girl, carrying a lot of packages. This suggests that it is probably around the holidays or a busy time of the year at the mall. The recipient is lead to believe that it is a girl because females fit the stereotype of compulsive shoppers.

Overall I think things went okay, but not what I had hoped for. I got what I needed from the interviews, but my interviewees didn. t take me very seriously. In the interviews there was a lot of snickering and fidgeting. You can tell from their tone of voice that they were having a good time and not being serious. Another thing that went wrong was that I spent the morning of my interview looking around for a tape recorder. It wasn. t because I didn. t have one. It was because I had spent the morning practicing and then all the sudden the recorder started eating my tapes. This recorder is very old and I knew it was about to quite, but I was at least hoping that it would last another day! Thankfully I found a classmate who let me borrow theirs, and I was able to make my interview on time. Other than that, everything went smoothly. The transferring of the tapes, and the making of the tape logs went well. The tape turned out clear and easy to decipher.

What I would do in future research is maybe take a little more time in looking for interviewees. Your friends are always easy to get a hold of to plan an interview, but the mood and tone is set differently. I think I would have been much happier if my interviewees would have taken me more seriously, and realized that my grade is at stake here. I would try to find people that I don. t know or at least not as well. Another thing I would do is to compare more variants than just two. This way I could find a wider variety of variants and encounters with the legend. I think I would also ask more in depth questions. Maybe this would make the interviews longer.

As a result of this research I have found that I am not the only poor soul who has had the same sense of fear. I have found that I am not the only who has been told the same story to create more awareness and safety. And maybe my mother isn. t as harsh and deviant as I once thought she was for telling me such a horrible story!

References
Jordan, Brian. 2001. Interview by Carrie Vian, 2 December, Bloomington, Indiana. Tape recording. Carrie Vian-Urban Legends-Tape 1, Side A, 000-012

Sprouse, Casey. 2001. Interview by Carrie Vian, 2 December, Bloomington, Indiana. Tape recording. Carrie Vian-Urban Legends-Tape 1, Side A, 014-024

<< back to Urban Legends