Bristol Urban Legends

Bristol Urban Legends gathers stories that have circulated through the city’s families, streets and waterways, where gossip, humour and uncertainty often blur together. Wilf Merttens and Lis Groenveld give particular attention to tales that resist easy classification as either fact or fiction.

Among the subjects are the rumoured human-skin door at the Hatchet pub, reports of a crocodile in Bristol’s waterways and the Bedminster bird known as ‘Coronation Chicken’. The book also considers the origins of the slidy rock near Clifton and the Hummadruz, a persistent hum reported from the city and discussed since the 18th century. Together, these accounts show how local stories grow, change and acquire a life of their own.