Urban Legend of Humans Licking Essay -- Urban Legends

Humans Can Lick Too I collected the story on Saturday, October 9th in my dorm. It was late at night, which added to the effect of the story. The storyteller is a student at the University. He is 17 years old, is from Rockville, Maryland, and is Methodist. He is half Sri Lankan and a quarter Irish and Palestinian. His father is a diplomat and works for the state department, and his mother is a homemaker. The story, as told by the student, is as follows: There once was a girl who lived with her parents in a nice little town. Her parents went out for the night, leaving the girl home alone. She did have her dog with her though, which was a big dog that made her feel safe. She was fairly young, around 13 years old, so her parents told her to make sure all the doors and windows were locked so no one could get in. She did as she was told, but for some reason a window in the basement was stuck, and she could not close it. Because of this the girl simply decided to do the next best thing and locked the basement door so in case someone got in, they could not get to her. After a few hours the girl went to bed, sleeping with the dog next to her bed to make her feel comfortable. However, the girl woke up during the night to a dripping sound. She figured she had left the water on or that there was a leak in a pipe, but she was too tired to go see what the problem was. Being home alone made her a little nervous though, so she put her hand next to the bed to let the dog lick it. She went back to sleep only to wake up again in an hour to the same dripping. She became annoyed but still went back to sleep, letting the dog lick her hand once again. She woke up again in the morning just as her parents were getting h... .... If the story was told in a monotone or was obtained in transcript, it would not be nearly as effective. Due to the fact that the teller of the story was a 17-year-old male, it can be inferred that all of society has an underlying fear of people who can cause them harm. I do not believe that this story actually occurred, but the performance made it seem somewhat believable. However, because of the lack of details, such as where the incident occurred, names of the characters, and when it took place, the story seemed fictional. Regardless of whether this story has factual basis or not, as I listened, I was very disturbed and I cringed at the end. In my opinion, the performance was extremely effective because hearing someone talk about something that seems as if it could actually happen is more affecting than someone telling a story that involves the supernatural.