Contemporary legends are those that emerged or were rewritten during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including what are commonly known as urban legends. With the rise of Internet transmission, we also encounter copypasta: texts copied and reproduced by users across forums and online spaces. Among these, the horror-oriented genre of creepypasta has become particularly prominent. Contemporary legends belong unmistakably to our own time: they spread and exhaust themselves at tremendous speed, are quickly forgotten and are consumed almost as commodities. Some recycle folkloric motifs found in older legends, such as the Phantom Hitchhiker; others are recent creations that express the fears and desires of the present, like the story of the unfortunate man who dies at his desk and remains unnoticed by his colleagues.

You will also find narratives written by literary authors and presented as traditional stories through the concealment or falsification of their origins. In Catalonia, a notable example can be found among many of the legends introduced by Joan Amades, who took folkloric elements from around the world and presented them as part of a Catalan oral folklore that he had, in fact, invented. Sometimes such author-created legends have little impact on living oral tradition; others, promoted by institutions or individuals with economic, political or touristic interests, have succeeded in establishing themselves within the contemporary imagination. Catalonia, like the rest of the world, offers abundant examples of the latter. We will explore them all.