The Hook

Another popular urban legend originated in the mid 1950's (Wells 1999). Known simply as "The Hook", this story has stayed on the collective conscience of young lovers for decades. The story goes like this, two young lovers travel to an isolated spot to partake in some "˜necking'. They hear a news broadcast on the radio about a killer with a hook for a hand, who just escaped from an insane asylum. The girl keeps hearing noises outside the car, becomes afraid and wants to leave. Her boyfriend tries to convince her to stay, and when that fails, he gets angry, pulls away quickly and drives home at top speed. Once they arrive at the girls' home, the couple discover a bloody hook dangling from the car door. They narrowly escaped being murdered because of the boyfriends reckless driving. This legend has spawned off several different versions as well, including the boyfriend getting out of the car to inspect the noises. When he doesn't return, his girlfriend finds him hanging from a tree. In a similiar version, the boyfriend leaves the car to inspect the noises. When he doesn't return, the girlfiends decides to leave. She doesn't realize her boyfriend is hanging with his toes barely touching the hood of the car. She drives away and inadvertently hangs him. What makes this story so scary to would be teenage lovers, is that it could have possibly been based on true events. Although there is no record of it actually occurring, the lack of supernatural actions, makes this story believable. So while, it may have merely been a concoction to scare away teenagers from "lovers lane", the legend has endured. "The Hook" one the best known and longest running urban legends in the last fifty years

Interpretations

Folklorists have interpreted the long history of this legend in many ways. Alan Dundes's Freudian interpretation explains the hook as a phallic symbol and its amputation as a symbolic castration.^{[Full citation needed]} Others take a more literal approach by interpreting the story as a warning against parking, a dramatic example of the reason for parental concern for their children, an expression of fear of the handicapped, or a depiction of the danger possible from a rampaging antisocial person.

Swedish folklorist Bengt af Klintberg describes the story as an example of "a conflict between representatives of normal people who follow the rules of society and those who are not normal, who deviate and threaten the normal group."

American Folklorist Bill Ellis interpreted the maniac in the The Hook as a moral custodian who interrupts the sexual experimentation of the young couple. He sees the hookman's handicap as "his own lack of sexuality" and "the threat of the hookman is not the normal sex drive of teenagers, but the abnormal drive of some adults to keep them apart."

The Truth:

This Urban Legend was actually traced to it’s original source – a young man by name of TJ Spence. Mr. Spence was quoted as saying the following, “So I was all, like, touching her boobies, and she was like, ‘TJ, you’re so fine. I want you so bad.’ And I’m like, ‘yo, everyone want’s TJ.’ And we started going at it… And then… I couldn’t get an erection so I just told everyone there was some scratching noises and a guy with a hook, cuz I couldn’t get no wood.