Folklore Folklorists define urban legends as rumors or stories that are spread informally and widely accepted as truth. This spreading informally is typically orally but can take place in many other different ways. Often, such lore dwells on freakish disasters or ghoulish behavior. Folklorists are those people who have gathered, classified, and studied a vast body of materials appertaining to folk tradition. Urban legends may also be spoken of as urban folklore or folk legends. "Folk legends belong to the larger genre of folklore" (Nicolini, 81). Many of the categories included within folklore include beliefs, customs, superstitions, proverbs, riddle