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Batman: Urban Legends
Inevitably the Batman vigilante has over the years become the subject of many rumors, conspiracy theories, and urban legends. In 1993 Professor William Finger of Columbia University published a full-length study of this phenomenon entitled Legends of the Dark Knight: A Study in Modern Folklore. Professor Finger based his work on many years of fieldwork among New Yorkers from a wide array of backgrounds and neighborhoods. What follow are some examples of Batman-related stories that Finger collected.
Informant # 12:
Stories about Batman sightings are, like New York’s own version of UFOs or Bigfoot, you know what I mean? I been hearin’ ‘em all my life. Mostly it’s just people sayin’ they seen a guy in a dark outfit with a cape climbin’ across the rooftops or runnin’ through the streets. No, I never seen anythin’ like that myself, but I know lotsa people who have.
Sometimes it’s crazier than that, though. I’ve heard people talk about seein’ the Batman flyin’ through the air like a real giant bat. Of him standin’ seven or eight feet tall and bein’ bulletproof. About him puttin’ a hypnotic whammy or whatchamacallit on some mooks and leavin’ ‘em standin’ there in a daze, just waitin’ to get picked up by the cops. I tell you, if we had a guy like that out there chasin’ down hoods, there wouldn’t be no hoods left anywhere in the whole city!
Informant # 26:
When I was a kid I was, like, nuts about the Batman. Always reading about him in the papers and magazines, always listening for anything I could find out about him. My mother, rest her soul, she said to me once, “Batman, Batman, always with the Batman! How come you always gotta read about that lunatic?” I said to her, “Ma, he’s not a lunatic! He’s a good guy, always helps the cops.” She said to me “He’s still a lunatic. Would a sane man run around the whole city dressed like a bat?” Well, I had to admit, there wasn’t much I could say about that….
I wasn’t the only one I knew with the bug. There was this one kid at school named Stan. He was a year or two younger than me. He had it worse than I did! Always talking about the Batman, always telling the wildest stories. One day he started telling everybody that he’d seen the Batman himself. I told him I didn’t believe it. And you know what he did? He hauled off and punched me! Guess kids take stuff like that too seriously sometimes.
Informant # 38:
Oh, I was afraid of the Batman when I was a girl! My babysitter used to tell me that if I was bad the Batman would carry me up to a rooftop one night and leave me there until morning as punishment. Once, when I let another girl talk me into pinching some fruit from an outdoor stand, I could hardly sleep for the next week for worrying that the Batman was going to come get me!
Informant # 56:
The old folks in our neighborhood, the ones who’d come from the old country, they told us stories about the vampyr—the dead who walk and drink the blood of the living. They never said anything about the vampyr ever having anything to do with bats. But we younger ones had seen the movies—we made the connection. I can remember spirited debates on the playground about whether the Batman was a vampyr who was trying to use his powers for good.
Informant # 68:
When I was on the force in the ‘60s and ‘70s they used to tell stories about this secret department in the NYPD that dealt with everything Batman related. Said if you saw the Batman you’d better not talk, or you’d be in trouble with the secret department. Well, I didn’t believe it. Didn’t believe most of the stuff they told me about the Batman.
Then one night in ’69 we were called to respond to a break-in at a warehouse that was being used for storage by a film crew. I don’t remember what movie it was—they were always shooting a movie somewhere in the city. When we got there I saw this shadowy figure taking off down the street. Looked kind of like the Batman, sure enough—dark outfit, cape, these things like ears on top of his head. I started to give chase but my partner, who had more experienced, told me to break it off.
The Batman had left behind these two hoods that he’d tied up. There were also these Hollywood people here who’d been around the warehouse. Said the hoods had broken in on them and tried to steal a bunch of expensive gear. Said the Batman had come to their rescue. They were real excited, because one of them had this portable movie camera and said he’d gotten the Batman on film. Said it was going to be the footage of a lifetime. So when we radioed back to the dispatcher, we told them all that. When we got back to the precinct, somebody I’d never seen before from Headquarters showed up and had a talk with the movie people. Said he needed to see that film.
I kept waiting for the film to show up on TV or something. Never happened. There was this little item about it in the paper that mentioned the hoods and the movie warehouse, but nothing about any film. I finally asked my precinct chief about what happened to the film of the Batman. He said what was I talking about—there wasn’t any film of the Batman. I said what did he mean, there wasn’t any film? I saw the camera—talked to the movie guy myself. And the chief told me again, there wasn't any film of the Batman from that night. Told me to just drop it. So I did. After that…those stories about the secret department didn’t seem so far-fetched.
Informant # 89:
…..so anyway, years later, I went back to the old neighborhood, to Hell’s Kitchen. This was in the 1960s. And people told me they didn’t see the Batman around anymore. Now it was all sightings of this other guy in a dark suit, with little horns on his head. The guy they called Daredevil. Guess the Batman decided to let somebody else take over that particular piece of turf.
Informant # 103:
Sometimes at night I used to sneak out onto the fire escape when I was supposed to be in bed and stare across the rooftops, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Batman. One night it happened. I’m standing on the fire escape, and it’s kind of cool and there’s this little breeze blowing the clouds across the moon. A full moon—a really spooky kind of night. And I see this figure running across a rooftop on the other side of the street. It’s all in this dark outfit, with a cape on. At first I can’t believe my eyes, but I keep looking and I see it jump across from one rooftop to the next. And it keeps running, right across the street from where I’m standing. I must have seen him run a whole block before he got where I couldn’t see him anymore.
Next day, I can’t wait to get to school and tell everybody I what I saw. And nobody believes me! Especially Jake Kurtzburg, this older kid who’s always giving me a hard time. He tells me I’m all full of you-know-what! Well, I was sick and tired of putting up with his lip, so I took a swing at him. Next thing I know, I get sent home for three days for fighting! And my pop lets me have it too.
Two, three months later, I’m on the fire escape again, and I see him again. Not as clearly as the first time, but I know it’s him. And I tell myself, “Aw, Stan, forget it! You just gotta keep your mouth shut.”
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The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
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