The Baby on the Car Roof: And 222 More Urban Legends

by Thomas J. Craughwell

Baby on the Car Roof brings together 222 totally new, funny, quirky, frightening, bizarre and always entertaining urban legends. Urban legends or myths are dramatic and often humorous stories that circulate under the guise of truth and usually as having happened to "a friend of a friend" even though often they are entirely made-up. Organized by genre, each tale runs one- to two-pages long. Story variations are included in each listing. The subjects...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1579121470
• ISBN13: 9781579121471
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Urban legends at the unbelievable best!

This book has an amazing 223 urban legends and every one of them is a gem. While some of the stories are recognizable urban legends, such as `the hook' `spunk ball' and `baby on the car roof', others are lesser known. All of them are fun, and most are a page or less. This is the perfect book to throw in your suitcase or backpack for having a little fun while traveling, tanning, or waiting for an appointment. It's also a great conversation starter, and the stories are great to read at parties for a laugh or cringe. If you do decided to invest very wisely and buy this book, please read "the backyard archeologist". It's one of my favorite short stories of all time.

Urban Legends are most often sourceless

A decent book, with more breadth than depth -- perfectly acceptable for the format. Designed to be a retelling of the legends, rather than a true documentation of their existence in society, the stories told get tedious after a while, like a too-long list of elephant jokes. The text is, as one reviewer already suggested, best treated as a compendium of short tidbits and humorous stories for bathroom reading and other "short form" experiences. By the way, those several reviewers herein who dismiss this book by claiming that the book fails due to a lack of origin story for most of the urban legends included have clearly not studied urban legends, nor do they understand the way they work. Urban legends are a kind of modern FOLKLORE -- and folklore, by definition, is usually orally transmitted in the original and thus has NO date of origin. See Brumveld's "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," the definitive text in the field of HOW urban legends move through culture, for more on this phenomenon -- and it gives each legend more flesh and "version comparison," and thus is far more interesting as a true book than just a compendium of stories like "Baby on the Car Roof."

a good bathroom book

these "unbelievable" tales are good fodder for the restroom (i mean that in the most affectionate way possible). some of the stories will have you scratching your head (please make sure you wipe first) and others will make you laugh. you might want to tell one of these stories at your next family reunion when someone asks what you've been up to.

Snail mail a copy to your e-mail-happy friends

I purchased this book as a gift for friends and relatives who constantly bombard me with e-mails about stories they "swear really happened" (I may have to buy several hundred). This book isn't heavy reading, but contains many twists and versions of urban legends we've all read on the web or in our e-mail inboxes. I only wish it took the time to trace the origins of these urban legends and describe variations of them as I've seen on a few web sites.

Should be required reading

You may have received some of these whacky stories in an email before. You always wonder if *if* there is any truth to these. Did anyone really wake up missing a kidney? Has anyone ever been shot for flashing their headlights during the day? What about the Nieman Cookie recipe? Well be dumbfounded no more. The book is entertaining, and well organized in the stories. This book is perfect to take on a plane, train, or anytime you do not want to get too involved in a book, yet want something to read.