Customer Reviews

Alligators in the Sewer and 222 Other Urban Legends: Absolutely True Stories that Happened to a Friend...of a Friend...of a Friend

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll admit that I and my e-mail correspondants have been duped by some of the urban legends contained in this book. However, the book's title is misleading. Most of these stories are campfire stories and jokes that no reasonably intelligent person believes happend to "a friend of a friend."

Those looking for an easy quick read of a mildly entertaing book should order it. Unless you fall into that category, I fear you will, like I did, regret paying for a book such as this when there are so many urban legend websites available with a double-click as the only payment needed.

I think this book is Great. It reads quick and easy. Thats important to me because me and my friends can read the stories to each other in the hallway while we are going to class. I have got so many people reading this book now just because the majority of the stories are real funny. Everyone really likes "The Turkey Neck". This a book that under normal cercemstances would have taken me a month to read BUT, I read it in about a week. I would recomend this book to anyone. Its Great!

I finished this book today and most of the time, i couldn't put it down. Unlike the bigger, bulkier books with lots of history behind them, this one gets right to the point. I do like the ones with the history, and even though this book provides some information like different variations or when the story started, sometimes I wanted more.

There are a ton of legends in here though--and its very easy to read--its like hearing a good joke and you can't wait for the punchline. Even though some of them scared me--the poodle in the microwave (i can never read that one without cringing) and Bloody Mary (I still can't look into a mirror around midnight--cause then i will think of this story---you dont even have to do it at midnight, but for some reason, i always connect it to that!!)

Plus, there are fun ones, like the college ones I enjoyed since i just graduated--i also loved hearing how elvis is alive and paul is dead.

Quick and easy read... a "no nonsense" urban legends book! :)

So much has been made of so-called urban legends in the recent past . . . in movies, newsmagazines, as fodder for talk shows. But it wasn't until I picked up this jewel of a book that I felt I could converse like a pro about them! First-rate writing, crackerjack research . . . bravo!

I thought this book wasted no paper with an analysis of each legend.If you want fascinating stories ,you have over 200 in this book.Other books ressemble humanaties text ,which have you skipping through dozens of boring pages to get to the stories themselves.Alligators in the sewer, really had what I wanted -lots of urban legends,in one book.

A guide to urban legends should be required reading for the Internet. It is freshing to have many of these stories gathered up into one place. Did any one really wake up with one Kidney? Do baby alligators that live in the sewer really come out to attack people? All of these stories do seem somewhat plausible for a moment. Read this book for peace of mind, and then enlighten your friends with the truth. This book is perfect to read when you are waiting for a train, or at the doctors office. No heavy reading here, but rather something nice, light, and entertaining.

This is an entertaining book (and probably another good bathroom book), though I was occasionally nonplussed at what was considered an urban legend. It of course contains the familiar stories: alligators in New York sewers, people waking up in their hotel rooms sans kidneys, the poodle in the microwave, etc. Other stories included are actually true: the guy who attaches balloons to his lawn chair (there are news articles online about this), the person who trains pigeons to congregate in response to a referee's whistle. (The latter I heard from an MIT student whom I have no reason to distrust.)

Still others partake more of the horror-story-around-a-campfire than the usual urban legend, i.e., there seems to be no real reason to believe the story.

But it's entertaining (and easy) reading nonetheless--a lot of fun.

For obvious reasons I needed laugh this week. Alligators in the Sewer turned out to be just what I needed. Everyone of these urban legends is a classic and I remembered several of these stories from my childhood. Bloody Mary, the Hairy Hitchhiker, the Killer in the Backseat and of course the grandaddy of all the legends, the Girl Who Keeps Trying to Get Home are all here.
I loved it.

I must say, I got a wonderful sense of deja vu reading the entries we compiled for our urban legends web site in someone else's book. This one is a collection of re-told urban legends with no insight or value added. Stick with Brunvand's works.

I am 12 years old and I really liked this book. It is totally great for camp and though I did not take it this year I am going to toake it next summer. It has some really scary stories in it, like the man who gets buried with a telelphone. Meg Charlton