When I came up with the idea of Urban Legends, it was easier for me to plot and write the individual stories than to come up with the name for the series. I bounced around Scratch's Nursery Rhymes, Scratch's Urban Legends, Nursery Rhymes, Urban Legends. Four different names and going back and forth between them all. By the time I started plotting out the third installment, I settled on Scratch's Urban Legends.

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We all know most urban legends as folklore. Stories passed from one to another. Circulated as true, especially as something having happened to someone that somebody knows. A "this happened to such and such, so beware of such and such" type of situation, often with horrifying elements. Cautionary tales.

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And while they are often dismissed as stories to scare, some believe there's usually a bit of underlying truth mixed within.

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Using those elements, I created the Urban Legends series: stand-alone short stories with one thread running through them all. A man in a purple suit and matching fedora hat. He's charming, fast talking, and can give you anything you want...for a price. Just sign your name on the dotted line. But when one defaults on the contract, well...a new urban legend is born!

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But how did it start?

 

A couple of years ago, someone in the Denver Horror Collective (a writing group on Facebook I belong to) posted this picture of a hooded figure in the woods within a circle. No context, no caption. I was like, I could write a story just around this picture. Two weeks later, Aunt Mabel would become the first Urban Legend. Over the next two years there would be four others, but you never forget your first.

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He's been known by many names since the dawn of time. But you'll know him as just dear ole Scratch. He wants to make you a deal...just be sure to read the fine print!

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Click here to read Scratch's Urban Legends on Kindle Vella