Book 46

The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Brunvand covers Urban Legends from a folklorist's point of view. Apparently he teaches at the University of Utah, so some of the variants of the stories are local to Utah and, surprisingly, a large chunk of them come from Kansas. In fact, one of the Hookman variants was actually from McPherson. Apparently there's a Hookman's road just outside town. I didn't remember the road in question but my Dad did. I suppose a lot of those stories wandered through Kansas on their way to other places. I'd certainly heard most of them. It's a fascinating look at the ways stories travel, what they might mean and how they change over time. If you like stories, especially urban folklore, this a great book that delves into some of the history of those stories and lets you see some of the forms they take.