I was reflecting recently on the type of content that had been shared during Folklore Thursday's cities and urban areas theme. It was interesting to me that there was a significant amount of folklore that was of the spooky kind. There were plenty of ghosts, hauntings and the supernatural. I pondered the reason for this, and for the eerie nature of a lot of urban legends. Now, I may be totally wrong, but I can't help wondering if it isn't the case that when a lot of people find themselves together in cities, somewhat isolated from the natural world, that the tone of tales also becomes rather unnatural. Things don't feel right when we isolate ourselves from the natural order of things.
In cities, particularly in the past, people worked indoors and lived in very close quarters. The streets were dirty and the air often dirtier. Away from nature, crammed into these conditions, tales took a more sinister tone and I wonder whether that is a symptom of the human cut of from wh…
