20th Century

Urban legends and modern folklore emerging between 1900 and 1999, influenced by mass media, suburbanization, global conflict, and rapid technological change.


Introduction


The 20th century gave fear new tools.

For the first time, stories could spread faster than the people who experienced them. Newspapers, radio, television, and film carried rumors across entire countries in days.

This created a new kind of legend.

These stories no longer belonged to a single village or region. They belonged to everyone.

Urban legends took recognizable shape during this period. They moved into highways, apartment buildings, schools, and suburbs. They reflected modern concerns: strangers, crime, technology, institutional authority, and the erosion of trust in systems meant to provide safety.

Many of the most persistent legends still told today were born here.

Not because they were the first.

But because they were the first to travel without limits.

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