List of 5 American Fakelore Hero's

Fakelore differs from folklore in that fakelore is consciously manufactured yarning whereas folklore has a more organic genesis. Here is today's List of 5.

Paul Bunyan is the anthropomorphized concept of 19^th century American continental expansion. He was depicted as a gigantic Lumberjack living and working in the America Northeast. He was aided in the deforestation of the Pacific Northwest by his colossal blue ox Babe.

John Henry is the embodiment of an allegory, namely man versus machine. It also has connotations of a general 19^th century angst of modernization. It is perhaps also a tribute to the abolition of slavery because John Henry is ascribed to African decent. The fakelore of John Henry recounts his physical prowess during a railroad spike hammering competition with a steam engine machine. Ultimately, the machine wins out the competition.

Febold Feboldson is a conceptual hybrid of Old World water divination and Native American elemental magic. Febold Feboldson is erroneously label a Swede (Febold is not a Swedish name) and is said to have been a cloud-buster or rainmaker. Febold Feboldson's fakelore is indigenous to the corn belt and tornado alley, most notably Nebraska. Therefore, it's not surprising that the peoples manufactured a benevolent weather liaison.

Joe Magarac is a incarnation of the necessity to safeguard steel workers while discouraging them to unionize. Joe Magarac and his fakelore is relegated to the Pittsburg steel industry area. His last name is derived from the Slavic word for donkey; which was due in part to the fact that Pittsburg had a large Slavic immigrant population. Joe Magarac was born out of a an iron ore vein in the side of a mountain. He was said to be made of solid steel and was a simple man who lead rather spartan life. Joe Magarac became the patron saint of steel workers who would call on him for his altruistic protection amid the hazardous steel mill working conditions.

Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong is the nostalgic personification of a whaling culture in decline. Alfred Bulltop Stormalong is retold as fakelore in the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts. The Captain is said to have been an enormous man who sailed on a ship so large that he had special hinged masts so as not to scrape the moon. The Kraken, of Norse Mythology, was a constant rival of the Captain until the fateful day that the Captain stirred up a massive eddy which swallowed the Kraken whole. Once thought to be a sailors tall-tale, the giant squid (Architeuthis dux) did occasionally surface as it was battling its arch enemy the Sperm Whale. The the mythologizing of the giant squid into the Kraken is analogous to the confusion between the unicorn and the narwal and mermaids and manatees.