This article explores how Joe Berlinger’s Netflix true crime docuseries Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021) has appropriated the apparatus of the modern urban legend. The article demonstrates how Berlinger merges the aesthetics of true crime documentary, websleuthing, and urban legend to reconfigure the unusual circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Canadian student Elisa Lam into a form of participatory infotainment. The article contends that Berlinger’s recreation of the events and aftermath of Elisa Lam’s disappearance and death uses the processes of urban legend creation to first attract and entertain the audience, only to later challenge the audiences’ susceptibility to such legends. The article proposes that this mode of consumption functions as a form of ‘honey trap’ which, while passive, allows the viewer to become embedded in the narrative, inviting them to create and critique the processes of contemporary legend construction.

The Teenage Psychic is HBO Asia’s first Chinese-language original series. It received favourable reviews and commercial success in 23 Asian countries and is regarded as a watershed moment in folklore representation. It has not only allowed international collaborations in Taiwan’s drama production industry but also introduced Taiwanese folklore to a large cross-cultural audience via streaming services. How did The Teenage Psychic create an image that appeals to people of various nationalities and cultures? How did the characteristics of Taiwanese folklore resonate across all of these countries while meeting commercial and ratings expectations? This paper will present The Teenage Psychic‘s archetypes and plot structure as well as analysing the creation of a cultural platform that represents folklore, including folk belief, superstition, and contemporary legends. Taoist temples and high school campus are the two main settings in this drama. The plot is discussion-rousing and filled with opposing ideas such as life and death, social versus political conflicts, and superstition versus rationality. As streaming services such as Netflix and HBO become more open to Asian-oriented projects, this paper aims to demonstrate the value and role of domestic film productions in the promotion of Taiwanese culture and folklore across different countries, as well as to discuss the significance and influence of such localized folkloresque on the construction of Taiwanese cultural autonomy.

Abstract

Although locations named Lover’s Leap dating back hundreds of years are to be found around the world, academic research investigating the origins and development of such sites; the myths, legends and hauntings associated with them; and the material culture they produce is relatively limited, especially for sites within the United Kingdom. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of one such site, Lover’s Leap in Ashwood Dale just south of Buxton, Derbyshire, exploring the complex interplay of folklore, superstition, legend, and landscape, alongside notions of the picturesque and sublime associated with this site. This mix of folklore, landscape and the sublime is shown to have been instrumental in the creation of a Peak District beauty spot which played a previously overlooked role in the establishment of Buxton as a tourist destination in the 18th century. For over 150 years, Lover’s Leap and the legend attached to this picturesque limestone gorge at whose entrance the precipice stands were praised by travel writers, described in florid terms by poets, and sketched, painted and photographed by artists, revealing the important role played by folklore in providing a slice of the sublime just a short walk from the centre of this Peak District town. Please note that ‘Lover’s Leap’ and ‘Lovers Leap’ are used interchangeably throughout the source material, so Lover’s Leap will be used for consistency here.

The YouTube documentary series Hellier (2019) tracks the evidence of supernatural creatures in Kentucky’s extensive cave system. Four paranormal researchers begin their investigation of “goblin” sightings in the small town of Hellier in Eastern Kentucky. They connect their findings with two well-known legend cycles of the 20^th century: the Hopkinsville Goblins and the Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. This series exemplifies how disparate legend cycles may be combined into a coherent narrative about the paranormal in the southeastern United States. The longstanding folk tradition of mysterious caves inhabited by fairy folk are entwined with yet another oral tradition: legends of Satanic cults. These narratives have been fostered by institutional, “literate” culture of the media as well as by stereotypes about Appalachian Kentucky. This article explores the intersection of these distinct sources in the development of the legends presented in this documentary series.

Michigan has a rich tradition of contemporary legends involving hybridised, humanoid figures that occupy the space between the human and the nonhuman. These legends—ranging from Bigfoot-type creatures to narratives centered on individuals with perceived physical difference—emerged primarily during the mid-twentieth century and continue to circulate today. This article examines several prominent Michigan legends, including the Dog Lady of Monroe County, the Monroe Monster, the Michigan Dog Man, and the Whiteford Waterheads/Melon Heads, situating them within broader frameworks of othering and cultural anxieties surrounding bodily difference and social deviance. Drawing on folklore scholarship and contemporary legend theory, the article argues that these figures function as sites where fears of abnormality, social transgression, and marginalization are projected onto both imagined creatures and real individuals. By contextualizing these legends within their historical, cultural, and ethical dimensions, the article illustrates how monstrosity operates as a means of expressing fear of those who are perceived as different.

The Crying Boy is a label used to describe a genre of inexpensive, mass-produced portrait print that were popular during the 1970s with working class families in the UK. In 1985-86 a tabloid newspaper, The Sun, published a series of hyperbolic stories reporting a ‘curse’ that was allegedly attached to this example of folk art. The source of the rumour were fire fighters who reported the frequent occurrence of undamaged examples of the prints at domestic property fires in one South Yorkshire mining community. The intervention of journalists introduced the idea of the ‘curse’ and added a supernatural/inexplicable element to the story. This article revises content from a summary account of the ‘crying boy’ narratives published in 2008 (Clarke 2008; Clarke 2011). This analysis updates the developing legend with new material including interviews with the journalists and the results of a content analysis of news coverage. It examines the specific role played by journalists in the evolution of the nascent contemporary legend from print to social media.

In Pendle, the witch as historical figure is displayed in a variety of ways, becoming ubiquitous to the extent of acting as cipher for a sense of located-ness in the region. In the article, examples of tourist sites and ephemera are analysed alongside site-based research exploring mapped walks, sculptures and performance. By analysing depictions of the history embedded within the landscape, and the ways audiences engage with them, this research will examine the political and gendered implications of using this type of contested, traumatic history as a key component in establishing a local heritage and tourism identity. I argue that the retelling of the events as physically closely located yet historically distant lends them the patina of folk mythology, a process further compounded by the visual and material representations used to illustrate these versions of the story to visitors and locals alike.

Witches are made present in Pendle and have become arguably an unofficial motif for the region where the caricature emblem of the witch is used to signpost walking routes and identify bus operators, and are sold as fridge magnets and novelty stuffed toys. This is contrasted to documentation of sculpture and temporary artworks marking the fourth centenary of the executions. This paper investigates how this historic trauma has been transformed into a multi-layered contemporary legend for local residents, tourists, and arts audiences, whilst also analysing the effect of repackaging this history somewhere between local folk mythology and commercial interest. By combining theories from Heritage Studies, Dark Tourism and Contemporary Legend, I have sought to offer up a means for exploring the material culture relating to the Pendle Witches and how these souvenirs, ephemera and artworks in the landscape connect to ways this legend is communicated today.