transport: Vanishing hitchhiker

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The vanishing hitchhiker (or variations such as the ghostly hitchhiker, disappearing hitchhiker, or phantom hitchhiker) is an urban legend in which people travelling by vehicle meet with or are accompanied by a hitchhiker, who subsequently vanishes without explanation, often from a moving vehicle. Public knowledge of the story expanded greatly with the 1981 publication of Jan Harold Brunvand's nonfiction book The Vanishing Hitchhiker. In his book, Brunvand suggests that the story of The Vanishing Hitchhiker can be traced as far back as the 1870s." Similar stories have been reported for centuries across the world in places like England, Ethiopia, Korea, France, South Africa, Tsarist Russia a…

Evidence: 47 • authority: 72

Jan Harold Brunvand (born March 23, 1933) is an American retired folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah. Brunvand is best known for popularizing the concept of the urban legend, a form of modern folklore or story telling. Urban legends are "too good to be true" stories that travel by word of mouth, by print, or by the internet and are attributed to an FOAF: friend of a friend. "Urban legends," Brunvand says, "have a persistent hold on the imagination because they have an element of suspense or humor, they are plausible and they have a moral." Though criticized for the "popular" rather than "academic" orientation of his boo…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

Hitchhiking (also known as hitch-hiking, hitching, thumbing, and autostop) is a means of transportation that relies on soliciting rides from individuals, usually strangers. Recognized hand gestures, signage, and casual prearrangement, as in a solicitation at a rest stop, are used. Most hitchhikes are free. Occasionally on a longer ride the driver may request their guest chip in towards gas, or coffee and such at a break; more often than asking they will volunteer to pay for such things themselves, recognizing that a person hitchhiking probably is low on funds, and willing to do a good turn. Casual contribution by the hitcher towards expenses does not void a ride as a hitchhike, but arrangin…

Evidence: 36 • authority: 80

The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings

Evidence: 36 • authority: 80

The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings

Evidence: 36 • authority: 80

The vanishing hitchhiker: Using urban legends to teach critical evaluation

Evidence: 36 • authority: 72

This is a list of urban legends. An urban legend or urban myth is a modern genre of folklore. It often consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre, superstitions, ghosts, demons, cryptids, extraterrestrials, creepypasta, and other fear generating narrative elements. Urban legends are often rooted in local history and popular culture.