Item 2
Source:
This item was collected from a TikTok video posted by user @lettylovesyou on January 19, 2021.
Text:
Title: “The Boy on the Mountain Road”
Transcription:
“A married couple were driving down a mountain road, one night. Suddenly, they saw a young boy step out in front of their car. The husband slammed the brakes and the car skidded to a halt. When he looked up, the child had disappeared.
Looking outside, the couple realized that the car was perched on the edge of a cliff. If the husband hadn’t slammed on the brakes at that exact moment, they would have driven right over the edge of the cliff and fallen to their deaths on the rocks below.
For a few seconds, they sat in shocked silence. Then, the wife said ‘The little boy saved us. He must have been a good spirit sent to warn us…’
There were a few more seconds of silence and then the couple heard a child’s voice behind them angrily hiss, ‘You were supposed to die!’”
Texture:
This item is told in very much the same way as Item 1, as both are collected from the same user. This video also contains scary music similar to what is played in Item 1. What makes the texture of this item different from Item 1 is that the user @lettylovesyou does provide her own commentary outside of what appears onscreen. After mentioning the child’s disappearance from the road, she mentions that this type of encounter is her “biggest fear.” At the end of the video, after revealing the story’s twist ending, she says “bitch what?” before stopping the video. This expression is very common among Gen-Z, and the explanation of it seems fairly self-explanatory: it is often used to convey shock over a particular piece of information. This video is roughly the same length as the video collected in Item 1.
Purpose:
This item, being collected from the same user and same platform, shares a similar purpose with Item 1. Most of what was stated under that item is relevant here, but to prevent too much repetition, I will focus on what is different about this item. This item also plays into the idea that this event theoretically could happen to anyone. While it is not as hard-hitting as the legend prevented in Item 1, this item is also very effective at instilling fear into its viewers. This legend discusses cars and driving as being crucial to how the story plays out. Because of this, it makes a lot of sense for this legend to appear on an app such as TikTok. Much of TikTok’s users are under 30 years old, and of that group, many of them are teenagers. Telling a legend about a murderous ghost who targets people while they are driving on an app full of people who are fairly new to driving, then, is extremely effective.
Sharing this legend on an app full of individuals belonging to Gen-Z is much more impactful than writing it somewhere like Facebook, or even YouTube. While this legend would still unnerve experienced drivers, this is particularly frightening to new drivers, who often already have fears over driving at night. This type of legend appearing in this context allows for the biggest possible reaction, as it is relevant to fears that many young adults already have. The legend appearing in this context also allows for the user to provide her real, humorous reactions. Had this appeared on a different platform, the user telling the legend likely would not have used the slang term that is mostly common to Gen-Z. Further, other platforms encourage editing, and make it easy to do so, the most obvious example being YouTube. TikTok allows for short, humorous, unedited content. In fact, this type of content is expected. This puts the user in a sort of dialogue with the viewers, as she is unedited and seemingly talking with them rather than at them.
Relevance to Folklore and Folklore Studies:
Again, this item is very similar to Item 1, and most of the item’s relevance to folklore is the same as Item 1’s relevance. This item also establishes itself as a legend, as it is occurring in recent history (see: the fact that they have cars) and is told in a way that can be applied to anyone in nearly any place. Differently from Item 1, however, this item is of particular interest to folklorists due to the almost conversational aspect that is present. Item 1 does not contain much of the teller’s personality and no commentary apart from the text itself. Item 2 differs in that way, as it addresses the audience. This conversational aspect shows the item’s roots in traditional oral narratives, where one is not reading from a text and often will add their own form of input. Again, this is helpful to folklorists as we trace how oral narratives are transforming and developing and serves as further evidence that the practice is not disappearing.