Overview

Blending folklore studies, media theory, horror criticism and cultural geography, this collection charts an unprecedented map of urbanlegend storytelling, from haunted cemeteries to pixelated backrooms. Across three themed sections, international scholars trace how tales of hookhanded killers and countless other spectres migrate through oral tradition, cinema, television, board games and video games, to continually reshape the fears and identities of the communities that share them. By foregrounding space the cemetery, the highway, the small town, the livestreamed haunted house as a dynamic agent rather than passive backdrop, the book reveals how legends build cultural memory, police social boundaries and critique neoliberal landscapes. Interdisciplinary, globally-scoped and mediaagnostic, this volume moves beyond folkloric catalogues and genre surveys to show precisely where horror lives today and why those locations matter.

Full Product Details

Author:   Irena Jurković ,  Marko Lukić ,  Tijana Parezanović
Publisher:   University of Wales Press
Imprint:   University of Wales Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9781837723256

ISBN 10:   1837723257
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   15 January 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Urban Legends and Haunted Places Grave Implications: The Richmond Vampire Legend and Cultural Revision Aíne Norris Sacrifice Zones: Uncanny Geography and Spectrality in’Butcher’s Block’ Steven Kohm and Meg D. Lonergan Geography and Supernatural Beliefs in Demian Rugna’s Horror Cinema Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and Canela Ailen Rodriguez Fontao Urban Legends Across Spaces A Cultural Geography of Paranoia in the 1990s US. Monsters of the Week, Urban Myths, and Conspiracy Theories in The X-Files Ilaria W. Biano ‘The Family Business’: Mobility and Patriarchy in the CW’s Supernatural Helen Pinsent Rolling the Dice and Navigating Legends: Mixtape Massacre and Escape from Tall Oaks Alissa Burger Urban Legends About and Within Digital Spaces The Art of No-Clipping—Backrooms and Digital Horror Narratives Marko Lukić ‘He is Dying for Followers’: The Abject Workspace and the Co-Modification of the Urban Legend in Deadstream Victoria Santamaría Ibor The Omnipresent Dread and Spatial Displacement in the Horror Video Game Killer Frequency Zlatko Bukač Bibliography Notes

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Author Information

Irena Jurkovi is Research Assistant at the English Department at University of Zadar. MarkoLuki is Professor of American Literature and Cultural Theory at University of Zadar. Tijana Parezanovi is Professor at Faculty of Foreign Languages at Univerzitet ALFA.

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