Tale of the Haunted GPS Navigation System Essay -- Urban Legends

Tale of the Haunted GPS Navigation System The storyteller, who happens to be my cousin, currently works as a math teacher. He is 24 years old and lives at home with his mother and father. His mother, a talented artist, works for the United States Postal Service and his father, who is an electrician, installs security systems for homes and offices. Both of his parents are Korean and although his older brother was born in Korea, he was born in the United States. He is very athletic and enjoys skateboarding and snowboarding. When he was younger he was always the one most willing to take risks in the family. He is also a talented guitarist. He also has deep religious convictions as a devout Christian, when asked what he thinks of ghost stories in general he merely shrugged them off as stories meant for entertainment rather than anything of merit. When asked about the origins of the particular story he said that a friend mentioned it at a party several years ago. The story was told during a snowboarding trip to Vermont this past spring. There were two members in the audience (including myself) and it was told in the room of the Red Oak Inn at around 11:30 PM. My cousin, who was seated on his bed, made eye contact with each audience member as he began his story. A couple was interested in buying a navigation system so they visited several stores in search of the best deal. In most cases the prices were too expensive for them so they went on craigslist and found a great deal on a used GPS system. They received the unit in the mail and wanted to try it out right away. They installed their GPS unit [imitates placing a GPS unit in a car windshield with hands] in the car and turned it on. The wife, out of curiosity, hi... ...of the motivating factors behind their purchase was the fact that the unit was cheap. There have been many cases where items posted on sites such as craigslist or ebay that have very attractive prices turn out to have serious defects or are fake. In this case the couple bought a haunted GPS unit that had killed the previous owner. The story reveals society’s general fear of things that are second-hand or things bought through websites where users, not companies, sell their wares. The story of the haunted GPS unit served as a commentary on the consequences of over-reliance as well as blind trust in not only navigation units, but also technology in general. It also served as a warning against buying items that were at too good to be true prices from websites where the sellers are not reputable companies but users who have no desire to maintain a good reputation.