How do urban legends get started?

[Allie-Gator]

So how do those urban legends get started? You know, the ones where the man with the hook scratches on the car when the two lovers are inside the car? Or what about the one where Walt Disney's head is in cryogenic suspension? What keeps them going? Does anyone have any theories?

 

[NothingToFear]

I personally believe that the more daft, modern ones like this are simply a case of either Chinese whispers, or people telling a story to deliberately try and scare someone. The story is effective and gets passed on.

 

[WoodNymph]

Stories told around campfires to scare youngsters, cautionary tales to teach some bit of moral wisdom, rumors repeated into truth, misinformation quoted as gospel - the stuff that makes us human!

 

[greekgoddess31]

Urban legends start the same way rumors and gossip spread. One person tells another, who then tells another and so on until it becomes a "legend".

 

[Calliope]

I think it all started like a game of telephone. Everyone whispered it around, some things were mishead, and it kept going around. The end result is the urban legend.