ABSTRACT
I hope this study has begun to examine the shape that folklore can take in a new medium. The specific social life of crime legends in this setting points to broader cultural strains. In the current study, ambiguity and a sense of social breakdown characterize the talk around the text itself. The former, ambiguity, is a consistent finding throughout the history of rumor studies; the latter, social breakdown, is consistent with the small and more recent literature about informal talk about crime.
