Modern Mythos

Welcome to Modern Mythos! This is a site dedicated to the study and compiling of various myths and legends in the modern setting.

What is a Myth?

The most important thing to note is that a myth is NOT fiction. Myths can be many things, from stories used to explain phenomena (natural or otherwise), to tales of the supernatural, to a form of entertainment. A big part of myths is that they're cultural, and a lot of them influence OUR culture. The concept of mythology, like many things, has evolved over time. Traditionally, myths are used largely to explain our origins, what it means to be "human," or how natural phenomena is explained. Over time, however, mythology made a gradual shift to general folklore, or tales told by a society to instill morals or pass time. Today, myths appear more as urban legends, which is a lot of what this site will focus on. For the sake of this site, it's important to lay out some ground rules for the myths I plan on covering. These rules are mostly for keeping myself on track during my research.

These Modern Myths Will:

• Contain Cultural Elements
• Contain Supernatural Elements
• Seek to Answer/Ask Questions About Natural or Social Phenomena
• Be Set Somewhere Between the Natural and the Supernatural World

These Modern Myths Will NOT:

• Be Conspiracy Theories (No Political/Government Stuff, Deep State, etc)
• Be Religious - I know a lot of ancient mythology is religious or theological in nature. But for the sake of this site, I don't want to make comments or assertions about other people's religions or personal beliefs. In addition to that, a lot of myths found in modern religions date back thousands of years anyways, so it's beyond the scope of this project. My goal here is to simply document stories and fables that were created and propogated within the last 200 years or so.

What's this site for?

This is a site I've put together in order to research and report on modern-day myths. A common view of myths is that they're all hundreds of years old and have to involve tales of the gods. But I want to disprove that idea and show that myths are seen all around us. We see a lot of these myths in pop culture and modern media without even realizing that they're myths! Myths are cultural, so in order to find myths in a modern setting, we have to find the cultures they appear in. For this site, I've thought to divide the scope of my investigations into cultures and categories. I want to explore cryptids, online mythos, and contemporary mythology in some specific regions. Before going into this, however, I have to recognize that lots of modern day myths are more akin to campfire horror stories, as opposed to tales of godliness or valor. Many of the myths covered on this site will fall into a horror category, though I'm going to do what I can to find some non-horror mythos.

Next Projects:

• Loeb (Online, 2024)
• Flatwoods Monster (West Virginia, 1952)
• Teke Teke (Japan, c.2000)