One urban fairy tale that is told in different versions across the country served as the oral story to be transcribed. This story is the one about the supposedly escaped killer with a hook roaming the countryside when a couple parks on a lover's lane one night. They hear a noise and become frightened, and they drive away quickly. In the morning, as the story usually goes, they find a hook hanging from the door handle, or the bumper, or embedded in the soft top, or somewhere about the car. There are a number of versions of this story, and anyone hearing it in two different places will also hear different details about the killer and how he ravaged the local area many years before. They will also hear different locales for this story--the local lovers' lane becomes the site of the tale. Some people tell the story in a shortened form, almost like a joke, and others have a much longer and embellished version, always with the same chill at the end.
Writing this story down has a number of effects, and the act of writing it down changes the story in subtle ways. For one thing, the story becomes "set" by the act of writing it down. That is, it is no longer in language that seems to be spontaneous and that may indeed be spontaneous as far as specifics are concerned--those telling the story do so conversationally, as if they were remembering real events. Writing the story down sets the details and eliminates that sense of creating a story right now based on real facts known to the speaker.
For instance, writing the story down sets the locale, while one of the features of the story is that it is designed to fit any locale. Every town has the sort of secluded spot that is described by the story, and usually the audience being told the story is of an age to be drawn to such a site. Hence, the story is a cautionary tale to frighten the meek from going to that site. Usually, the killer remains uncaught and presumably still a threat,...