This is the book for those who miss the "Weekly World News" since we no longer get it. Curses! Broiled Again! is a collection of wacky stories that fit within the style of that defunct newspaper.
Author Jan Harold Brunvand is a folklorist who collected, classified, compared, and catalogued urban legends. She's published several books on the subject and wrote a column called "Urban Legends." The articles in her column are compiled in this book.
When I was growing up, I remember urban legends told to me that friends swore were true: "New York's sewer system is full of alligators;" "One popular fast-food restaurant served horse meat and not beef." This book is full of stories, some really funny, some really disturbing, that people had sent into the author. Some of them were originally found in newspapers.
After getting the story, Brunvand does a little research, checking for reliable sources, looking for older accounts with the same details, trying to discredit the information. All of this is recorded in this book.
Oh, and by the way, the title refers to an urban legend that a woman who was desperate to get a fake tan as quickly as possible. Because tanning salons only allow so many minutes a week under the tanning lights, she signed up at several salons to speed up her tanning. After doing this, she complained of burning sensations and discovered that her insides were cooked. Like I said, this is full of weird stuff.
Oh, and by the way, the title refers to an urban legend that a woman who was desperate to get a fake tan as quickly as possible. Because tanning salons only allow so many minutes a week under the tanning lights, she signed up at several salons to speed up her tanning. After doing this, she complained of burning sensations and discovered that her insides were cooked. Like I said, this is full of weird stuff.
c Waterloo Public Library 2007
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