Here is another Urban Legend that I would like to share. I put it in my own words...hope you like it.
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This story begins at an elementary school in one of the most populated cities in Southeast Asia. The school buzzed with activity all the time and it was the usual grind for the school kids day after day, all through the week. There was one thing these kids heard over and over again from their teachers: homework, homework and more homework; it just sucked the life out of them. Most teachers were very severe on the kids, one such teacher was in-charge of 2nd grade - the one whom we shall call Evans; he was in his late thirties and was unmarried. If there was anything that ever meant anyhting to Evans then it HAD to be the school. Evans was one guy who always went by the rules and had a procedural approach towards life; he was also ruthless and unforgiving. A typical monday morning scene that one would expect to witness, if one were to pass by 2nd grade was: weeping kids kneeling down on the floor, facing the classroom wall after being caned - a punishement commonly given by Evans to kids who did not complete their homework.

Most kids did their homework but there were always going to be some who didn't; one of them was Laura. Laura never did her homework, she didn't like to, and even Evans was tired of punishing her. She silently took her punishment and was so used to it that she no longer cried. She always put on a gloomy face and hated the mere thought of going to school. Laura wasn't interested in anything else either; she never mixed much with other kids in her class nor did she like to play with anybody else. In short: Laura was a very dull and disinterested girl, not like other kids of her age. One glance at that morose look on her face would put almost anybody off for the day. But all this changed one fine day - a day when Laura DID her homework. Evans was checking the homework of all the kids and when he came up to Laura, he took the cane out expecting the usual but he was surprised to see that instead of stretching her hand forward she handed out her homework to him and even had a smile on her face. Evans took the book from her in utter disbelief; somehow he believed she could never do it; he opened the book to see if everything was in order. Suddenly a strange look transpired on his face - a look that said that something in the book had scared the living daylights out of him. He stammered and asked her: "Did...did YOU do the homework?". To which Laura didn't reply; she gust gave him a blank expression. From then on, Laura did her homework regularly. That something in Laura's notebook began to torment Evans, was obvious. He was SO scared that he didn't check her homework any more; it bothered him all the time; even other teachers started asking Evans what the matter was.

Evans could no longer bear it; whatever it was. He called for Laura's mother Dorothy. She came the very next day expecting that her kid had done some mischief or was not faring well in her tests. He asked her if she or anybody else helped Laura do her homework, to which she said no. Evans said that Laura never did her homework earlier but now she does it, to which Dorothy replied: "Is THAT the problem?". Evans told her that Laura drew a cross on every page of her homework notebook; to which Dorothy replied: "Why, what's wrong with it? most kids do such things, now what exactly IS the problem?". Evans didn't know what to say, he apologized for wasting her time. Dorthy thought Evans was a little disturbed mentally and left.

Now Evans was even more disturbed, he went to Laura's home late at night that day, jumped over the walls, went near Laura's bedroom and started peeping inside. Suddenly, Dorothy spotted him in her backyard and was startled. She asked him how he got in and what the hell he was doing at her house at that time of night, to which he relpied: "I only wanted to watch Laura do her homework"; as if that justified his lunacy. Dorothy thought Evans was mad, she said she'd call the police which made Evans run. He began asking himself: am I going mad? am I going mad? Slowly...a small figure emerged from a dark corner of the street; it came under the street light to show itself; it was a school boy; still in his uniform. He sat down on a flag stone and said with a mischevious look on his face, "You are not mad, Evans, but you soon WILL be!".

Evans was later found writing all kind of illegible equations, symbols, words and other meaningless stuff with chalk on roads, walls and practically every where until he was no longer heard of.

Clark's Story:

Evans had a childhood friend, called Clark. Clark was very smart; he was better than Evans in almost everything. Everybody liked Clark better than Evans (something Evans could never stand). One day when Clark was flying a kite on his roof, Evans pushed him off; Clark fell three floors down to his death. Everbody thought clark slipped while flying the kite.

That dark little figure that came out from the street corner and spoke with Evans WAS Clark who always drew a cross on every page of his homework.

Soooo, in Southeast Asia, we have Evans, Laura, Dorothy, and Clark.

Yep, those are archetypical Asian names all right.

Sadly, another attempt at a 'horror' story that really makes little sense. Except maybe to the 10 year olds sitting around a campfire in their backyard.........

I think he was just posting it for fun...He also said he reworded the story to his own words.

The pioneering British social psychologist, Sir Frederic Bartlett (1932) asked readers of the story, 'The War of the Ghosts', to try to rewrite it, recalling it as accurately as possible. They read it through twice and recalled it after delays varying from 15 minutes after study to several years later.

To most readers, this North American folk tale is fairly bizarre, and it is not surprising that in attempting to recall it, readers omit details, change things, and import new material.

Personal interests and experiences play a part in retelling stories from memory. But what is most interesting is that Bartlett's readers (typically unconsciously) made the story more orderly and coherent within their own cultural framework. His subjects were mostly well-educated English people at the time of the First World War, but subsequent experiments have shown similar tendencies amongst other groups.

all i know is i am not sleepin with the lights off tonite

*shivers*

Manitou, please read the PM in your mailbox very carefully. Comments left by a moderator are not to be altered in anyway and removing the remarks is a suspendable offense.

-Dot

I thought it was a good story. Do the names have to be perfect?

Well if you're looking at it from a writer's point of view... if you're going to have characters from a certain ethnical areas... it's always good to have corresponding names. It makes the feel of the tale all the more believable.

That is an interesting story. It reminds me of the Pink Floyd video for "Another Brick in the Wall". Laura ate her meat, but Evans didn't get any pudding.

Yeah, I know those are NOT Asian names, If you notice my post carefully I mentioned that we'll CALL him Evans. I only used these names because most of you guys would be familiar with them rather than Asian names.

note-to-self: do not push someone off a roof....

i doubt that this story is true, but it would be damn creepy if it was

That is VERY true. People recall the same incident differently at different times, they tend to unconciously fill the fading gaps in their memory with their own imagination. This is EXACTLY what happens with Urban Legends, which are a type of folklore in the form of supposedly true stories which spread primarily by word of mouth but there is BOUND to be an element of truth in them somewhere.

Intriguing! I like those types of stories, that grab your interest and holds it 'til the very end.

Bone Collector - take no notice of quotes like these. Obviously a person who has never travelled out of the states.

I live in Asia and there are thousands of families with similar names.
We are known as expatriates. And I found your adaptation of the Urban legend interesting. Cheers!

And I suppose those are typical Asian names? Maybe if it was Chang, Wong, Ming-Dao, and Wing I would believe you. XD

same...

Obviously you didn't read all the posts in this thread.

THATS RACIST

Nope it's stereotyping, there's a slight difference

I knew that

the story isnt very scary either

We have here an interesting phenomenon and one I've seen before. Everyone (well, not EVERYONE, but a lot of people) are so struck by the obviously non-Asian names ascribed to Asian characters that it completely distracts them from the story.

I had a friend in college who used to tell a joke about a beautiful blonde woman on a bus. Because my friend's roommate (another friend) was Chinese, Cynthia tried to include her by making it a beautiful blonde Chinese woman. Every single person I ever heard her tell that joke to waited until she got through the punch line, gave her a bewildered look and said, "blonde Chinese woman?"

(I don't have a point here, I'm simply commenting.)

I think it's a good story. As Elfstone said, you're all getting distracted by the names, a small detail, and not looking at the big picture. And just lighten up, it's a story for entertainment, not to be picked at. Good job Bone Collector

Thank You.

For those who find the names to be out of place, please be informed that there are INNUMERABLE people in Asia with such names; they are known as expatriates as somebody else mentioned earlier in this thread. I don't quite understand why the naming part is made to be such an issue when I have clearly mentioned in the story that we'll CALL them by these names.

It's fake thats all i can say

I was hoping the ending was going to be something more original than that...

Bone_Collector thanks for posting another story , l like it

if "evans" as we call him , pushed "clark" of the roof and everyone thoguht he slipped, how do we know evans pushed clark? if we are supposed to think he slipped... agian its only an urban elgend .. where ANYTHING is possible good story tho... i think what evan saw was his future...