Jan Brunvand's second collection of contemporary folklore contains dozens of legends not covered in his first book, "The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings."  The sequel ventures beyond "classic" stories like "Alligators in the Sewers" to explore some of the more gossipy tales inspired by pop culture and a few lesser-known traditional ones.

Among those "relatively ignored" by folklorists but favored by Brunvand in this book are:

• "The Death of Little Mikey" — From the late '70s, the story of how the child actor who played Little Mikey in Life Cereal commercials died when his stomach exploded after eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda pop at the same time.
• "Superglue Revenge" — In this legend often told of a famous showbiz couple, the wife or girlfriend of a philandering male superglues the offending part of his anatomy to his abdomen.
• "The Procter & Gamble Trademark" — A false rumor alleging covert Satanic sympathies that has dogged the famous manufacturer of household products for over 20 years persists to this very day.
• "The Hairy-Armed Hitchhiker" — A modern folktale reminiscent of "Little Red Riding Hood," only in this case it's a murderous madman armed with a hatchet who dresses up as Grandma and threatens innocent travelers.

As always, Professor Brunvand's fascination with these apocryphal tales, their origins and significance makes for delightful commentary on material that's entertaining in itself. Folklore is never a dull subject, if "The Choking Doberman" is any indication. Brunvand dutifully debunks falsehoods but all the while makes it palpably clear that there's much more to learn from examining urban legends than whether or not they deserve to be believed.

"The truth never stands in the way of a good story," he likes to observe. The fact that a quarter-century of debunking has not made a dent in the popularity of some of these legends proves the point: the story's the thing.

— David Emery