Author: Eduardo Alarcon
"The Hook"
The Story:
“The
Hook Man” is a consequential urban legend for teenagers not to have sex.
According to Mr. Emery, the legend says two teenagers were on “Lovers’ Lane”
listening to the radio preparing to have sex. All of a sudden, a news reporter interrupts
the media saying that a maniac escaped out of the “state insane asylum,” and warns
everyone to be on the lookout (Emery). After hearing this, the girl is afraid,
hallucinates, and requests to go home. The boy, however, attempts to act
masculine, and suggests that their situation is absolutely under his control. The
boy locks the doors anyway so that the girl may feel safe. The girl then resists
while the boy urges to continue. In his persistence, he foolishly “jerked the
car into gear and spun its wheels” (Emery). After being frightened, the boy
drives the girl to her home to drop her off. Once they safely arrive at the
girl’s house, the girl gets out of the car and screams. When the boy runs to
her side to see why she screamed, he notices that her scream was because there
was a bloody hook on the car door (Emery).
According to Ms. Brunvand on page 200, “The Hook Man” originated in South Africa. The place known as “Lovers’ Lane” in the legend, originally took place at Naval Hill, Bloemfontein, South Africa (Brunvand 200). As a moral lesson, generations seem to have slowly developed the story to the United States in the 1950s to prevent a labor increase. Of course, the same message gets across to the audience. It’s just the interpretation of the legend that changed (Perry). In this manner, the message is less intimidating because people in the 21st century expect legends to be scary stories rather than a “believed legend” (Brunvand 95).
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| The Scary Reality! |
The Scary Reality:
There are several cases where men had been
convicted for murdering young couples. For example, Richard Hirschfeld , Charles Howard Schmid, Jr. , John A. Ber, and Kenneth Barnes are all relative cases. The closest to the legend, however, is Edward Wayne Edwards. In 2009, Edward Wayne Edward was convicted after admitting to a "double homicide" (Falcon). Edwards’s story relates to the legend because he
murdered two young couples. One in which Edwards had a sexual intercourse with.
The Confessions!
The Good News:
There are no reports of
anyone who went by the serial killer name “The Hook Man”. Also, the closest criminal
to this legend, Edwards, did not murder any of his victims as the legend
portrays “The Hook Man” went about murdering. Edwards actually knew his
victims, and killed his victims by gun, not a hook. The legend is nothing more
than that, a legend. Even in Mr. Berthold’s review on Matt Clark’s Hook Man Speaks, page 349, does he
reveal that Mr. Clark attempts to make the legend to “an imaginative
embodiment…and a contemplation of Hook Man’s ‘place’ in American ‘culture and
history.”
My point is, there is
no reason to be afraid of this urban legend. The closest man to this legend,
Edwards, died in 2011. Unless you are one of those people who believe that
Edwards’ damned soul will come back from the dead to leave a bloody hook on
someone’s car door, you have nothing to worry about. Yes, there are serial
killers out there, and you should be cautious of these serial killers.
Especially when murderers are capable to camouflage themselves into society
such as the ALICE AND GERALD UDENhttp://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/justice/wyoming-cold-case-arrests/
case. Otherwise, if you cannot scare your grand-kids, son, daughter, niece, or
nephew with this legend, safe sex should be strongly advised.
Works
Cited
Berthold,
Michael. Fictionalizing the Folkloric:
Matt Clark's Hook Man Speaks. The Journal of American Culture, 31: 349–360.
Print.
Brunvand,
Jan. “The Hook”. Harold Encyclopedia of
Urban Legends. Ed. Linda Deigh. California: ABC-CLIO, 2001. 199-201. 199-201.
Print.
Brunvand, Jan. Too Good to Be True:
The Colossal Book of Urban Legends. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. 94-95.
Print.
Emery,
David. "The Hook." About.com:Urban
Legends. About.com, n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/horrors/a/the_hook.htm>.
Geauga Maple
Leaf, username. “EXCLUSIVE (PART 1): Edward Wayne Edwards on Dannie
Boy Edwards murder.” YouTube.
YouTube.com. 22 April 2013. Video. 17 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCA9DEIRdZI>.
Geauga Maple Leaf,
username. “EXCLUSIVE (PART 2): Edward Wayne Edwards on Dannie Boy Edwards
murder.” YouTube.
YouTube.com. 22 April 2013. Video. 17 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhiLdHzqDks>.
Geauga Maple Leaf,
username. “EXCLUSIVE (PART 3): Edward Wayne Edwards on Dannie Boy Edwards
murder.” YouTube.
YouTube.com. 22 April 2013. Video. 17 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoBM_PHmlaQ>.
Map.
n.d. “BLOEMFONTEIN Search by Map, Free State.” www.sa-venues.com. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.sa-venues.com/include/images/maps/fs-bloemfontein.gif>.
Perry, L. “Hook Man” (Urban Legend). World
History & Culture. n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://sites.lib.byu.edu/worldhistory/folklore-william-a-wilson-folklore-archives/popular-search-topics/hook-man-urban-legend/>.
Real
Life Mysteries, username. “Urban Legends: The Hook.” YouTube. YouTube.com. 8
Feb. 2011. Video. 18 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuKMVFl_uSk>.
Links For Further
Research:
This site provides more
information on the Edward Wayne Edwards case from NBC news.
This site also provides
more information on the Edward Wayne Edwards case from CNN news.
This source provides
information on the hook man retold by Schlosser.
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