The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos: Book Review
Before I get to the book, indulge me in a little waffle about the subject matter ... I first became aware of Urban Legends ... Friend of a Friend Tales ... Whale Tumour Stories ... Contemporary Legends ... call them what you will at a very young age. I was a monster kid into horror films and scary stories (think Mark from Salem's Lot) so anything that stirred my morbid curiosity has stuck in my mind. The first examples I remember hearing are variations of those covered by Gail De Vos under the banners of 'The Boyfriend's Death' and 'The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs' (the version I recall hearing of the latter distastefully and disturbingly added the extra grotesque detail of a cannibal with Down's Syndrome!). But I had a distance from these stories as they weren't told with any degree of association (ie. happening to a 'friend of a friend') just as scary ... possibly true (?) stories. Locally there were several variations of the 'Bloo
