Killer in the Backseat

Martina Miller

The urban legend, Killer in the Backseat, originated in the year of 1967 as a caution to check our surroundings and our backseats. The prezi given by Abigayle Schuls and article by David Emery, states that the urban legend might have been provoked in New York  in 1964 when an escaped murderer hid in the backseat of some ones car, but not just some one. The car belonged to a police, the police that shot the man. There is some difference in this story than in the legend stories. According to the urban legends told it is usually a female driving the car, the scene is usaully at a gas station. There was one about a girl headed home from having a few drinks with her friends told in the article by Emery. The most common one is the story of a female at the gas station, the girl pulls up to the gas pump and pays at the pump, as she finishes and gets ready to leave the attendant comes over the speaker and asks her to come inside. The attendant demands something is wrong with the transaction. The girl is confused but comes inside angry from the threats made by the attendant. He explains to her it was an emergency and that while she was pumping gas a man crawled into her backseat. She looked out the window to see her door opened while the man crawled back out.
Unlike other Urban Legends this one has no record of actual murders, though the title is "Killer in the Backseat" no killings take place in the story.  Other Urban Legends include violence and murders, this one is only used to caution women to check their surroundings and to always lock the doors.
The creation of this warning of the Urban Legend was believed to be gang related. Barbara Baker states that gang members were told to come back with either the women or the woman's car. They would jump in their backseats, or hide under their cars, or just attack them in mid day jumping in their cars. The gang members often raped these women.
Works cited:
"Urban Legends- Check the Backseat." Urban Legends-Always Check the Backseat. Urban
 Legends- Another Variation of Killer in the Backseat. Web. 7 October 2015. http://www.urbanlegends-myths.com/checkthebackseat/checkthebackseat.html.

"The Killer in the Backseat." Urban Legends. Web. 7 October
 2015. http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/horrors/a/killer_backseat.htm.

Other references: https://prezi.com/vbkygvffdryq/the-killer-in-the-backseat/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.
This Prezi presentation describes the Urban legend, its origins, and an analysis chart.
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/backseat.asp.
This article has information about the most common story of this Urban Legend, the girl at the gas station. It also touches base on the gang relation.