What is urban myth?

Answer 1

It is a story that goes around the world via the internet that is not true. Of course there were urban myths before the internet, but it took much longer to go around. It had to go around by word of mouth before the internet. Many of the urban myths take on a life of their own and people repeat them as though they were absolutely true, just because they have heard them so many times. An example is that millions people believe that the Hells Angels were the only security at the Rolling Stone Concert at Altamont in 1968 and that they killed an innocent fan during the song "Sympathy for the Devil". In fact, The Rolling Stones were not the only security. There were police all around from neighboring towns that had been hired as the main security force. And the fan that died was attacking the stage with a pistol and appeared to be trying to assassinate Mick Jagger. And the song that was playing was "Under my Thumb". No one knows how and why urban legends begin. People just love to pass along good stories and sometimes a lie is better than the truth.