What makes something an urban Legend?- Discussion

There is probably as many urban legends as there is people but, have you ever stopped and wonder what makes something an urban legend? Why do some cross the globe(white lady, vanishing hitchhiker etc) and some just stay local?

I believe it is a combination of shock, eye witness and meaning (moral of the story), that starts them.

Yeah it's a very strange thing the Urban Legend.
Sometimes we can research the origins, but most times there's nothing much to go on.

A good example is the Ghost Children Urban legends.
Being pushed over train tracks or up a hill to safety by the spirit children that died in a horrible school bus accident. There's a story like that in almost every State & or Provence.

I like the Ghostly Hitchhikers, we have one here in Halifax.

They usually spread as an explanation for something finds unsettling. Many older headstones have death's heads or morbid epitaphs on them and when they're for children in isolated areas, it disturbs us...so as humans have always done, they create a story or explanation for it based on what they perceive as a likely explanation. The urban/rural myth spreads and gets modified at times to fit a different location or period in time. That is the very nature of folklore.

The very specific local legends usually rely one a particular feature; a very specific landmark or structure that is unique in some way. A specific statue for example or a natural stone formation. The location becomes so important to the legend that it can't simply be transplanted to any location; it really limits where it can spread to.