Intro:
Campfire legends are the sorts of stories you would expect to tell to your friends when it's dark out in hopes of scaring them and making them afraid to be in the dark. They are the creepy tales that keep you up all night fearing there are monsters under your bed and in your closet, the stories that make your hair stand on end and make you jump at every sound you hear. The rhetoric of campfire legends is their tone which is often chilling and eerie, and the motif of eminent doom. They instill fear, even if it's "childish" and "stupid," because there's often a small bit of truth behind each legend, and that fear comes from the knowledge that it might have actually happened. So, the legends get passed down to serve as reminders to sleep with one eye open.
Humans Can Lick Too:
"In what is probably one of the more disturbing urban legends out there a girl is given a dog by her parents to keep her company while they are away. One night she was awakened by a dripping sound. She got up and went to turn off the tap properly after which she came back to bed while letting her hand hang over the edge as the dog licked her fingers. The dripping sound didn’t stop though so this scenario played out several more times with the girl returning to bed and falling asleep with the dog licking her fingers yet again. The final time, however, she decides to try locating where exactly the drip is coming from. She looks around only to find the sound emerging from within her cupboard. She opens it up to find her dog with its neck cut and a note saying “humans can lick too”." (45)
The basis of this story is that the girl thinks her dog is licking her fingers when it's really a killer under her bed pretending to be her dog (46). This story, as well as "Aren't You Glad You Did't Turn on the Lights," both have a female protagonist completely unaware there is a murderer killing someone close by, and she doesn't even realize how close the call was until she reads the murderer's note "Humans can lick too" (46). The story plays on the fear within everyone that a killer could be lurking in your room and you don't even realize they're there (46). Tales like this one flow from our fear that we could be the victims, and our fear that we are "vulnerable in an unsafe world" (46). The purpose of this tale is meant to raise the hairs on the backs of our necks and remind us to lock our doors at night so murderers don't wind up in our bedrooms.
Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Lights?:
"Widely circulated on college campuses this legend tells the story of two girls about to have a big test the next day. One of the girls gets invited to a party the night before and when she returns to her dorm room she doesn’t want to wake her friend so she goes straight to bed. When she wakes up in the morning she rolls over to find her friend had been brutally murdered during the night and written on the wall in blood is the phrase, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the lights?”" (45)
There are many variations to this tale, but each of them involves the roommate going back to her room, whether it was to get books or to find a sweater, going to a party or coming back from the library, and she just doesn't turn on the lights before going to bed (46). The story consistently has a female protagonist, similar to "Humans Can Lick Too," who is totally oblivious the the fact that a killing is occurring right in front of her and doesn't realize it until after the fact when reading the comment from the killer written on her wall (46). This story is similar to a cautionary tale, talking about those hidden fears we all have when we aren't living at home anymore (46). However, it falls under the Campfire category because the major purpose of this legend is to frighten the audience instead of give warnings. It is another legend built on the repeated tellings of the story, generation after generation, touching on the fear of being random victims of violence, of coming home to find a killer in your house, and providing incentive to turn on all your lights each time you hear a bump in the night (46). This is one of those legends that gets told more frequently as the world around is increasingly perceived as unsafe, because we are constantly afraid of "being vulnerable in an unsafe world" (46). Just as "Humans Can Lick Too" was intended to raise the hairs on the backs of our necks, this legend is meant to make you look over your shoulder for serial killers lurking in the shadows when you're home alone at night.
Backseat Killer:
"This is one of those popular urban legends that just never seems to die. It tells the story of a woman who is driving down a dark road at night only to have a strange car pull up behind her and start flashing its lights. As she takes off on her exit and approaches her home the stranger continues to follow her. She pulls up in her driveway ready to make a mad dash to her front door only to hear the stranger behind her get out of his car and yell to her to lock her door and call 911. Only after the police arrive does she learn that the stranger was actually trying to protect her. In her backseat was a man holding a butcher knife ready to stab her to death. The stranger had noticed his shadowy form and started flashing his lights to get her attention after which the figure slouched back down in the seat." (47)
This tale is told one of two ways: the way mentioned in the quote above where a stranger sees the shadow of the man in the backseat and follows her home to warn her, or the version where the woman goes to a gas station and the attendant asks her to come inside because he sees the man in the backseat with an ax (47;48). Thanks to the good samaritan, the woman in either version of the story is saved because he warned her about the ax-wielding murderer in time by delaying her from getting back into her car (or by using his headlights to get her attention) (48;47). This is another frightening tale because when you are out driving alone at night, stories like these creep into your mind and give you the chills, reminding you of what type of world we live in. There are three important morals of this story, in addition to scaring the audience. One, you should "ALWAYS lock your car doors," even if you plan on returning quickly; one second or one minute won't make a difference for someone to sneak into your car to hide away or to steal something (48). Two, always "check underneath your car" as well as checking the back of your car before getting back into your car (48). Three, "always be aware of your surroundings," whether it's people nearby or if you're in a sketchy part of town, especially when it's dark out (48).
Conclusion:
In general, campfire legends are meant to be shared with friends when it's dark out, huddled around the eerie dancing light given off by a campfire. The purpose is to scare each other, almost like a competition to see who has the scariest story and can make someone pee their pants out of pure terror. These are just a small handful of the plethora of campfire legends one would share when amongst friends, each with the explicit purpose of freaking out the audience and making them nervously glance over their shoulder each time they heard a noise.
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