The Bogyman

I have a theory. I think that oral history is alive and well in the high technology era.
AND I think that some of the stories being told are thousands of years older than many think.
Oral history is nothing more than asking your Grand Father about what he did in the war, then re-telling the story to a friend or family member.
I was at a genealogy group meeting and was listening to such stories about people’s families when I realized what was happening. And I realized that it matched my theory.
When a child cried at night a woman hushed the child with a warning that the Bogeyman would come and take them away if they weren’t quiet. This story was passed down from generation to generation until the actual identity of the Bogeyman was lost to time. Or a man warns a child to stay away from the waters edge at a lake because of snakes. Snakes are of no real danger in most areas today so why the warning? Could it be the residue of a warning of some ancient predator that once lurked in most streams? A snake like or reptilian creature that took small creatures along the bank as crocodiles do today? Maybe even the same creature that spawned the dragon stories so common in many early cultures.
I believe that these stories once had a basis in fact. All we need to do is find it.
What will future generations think of some of our stories.
A thousand years from now, after we have collapsed from over population, or Global Warming, or what ever calamity you wish, and the earth’s population consist of bands of hunter gatherers and small farmers. When they sit at night and tell stories what will they talk about.
Will they tell about the Star Men who once visited the moon? About the great kings and their fantastic weapons that could burn a city beyond the horizon? Or maybe about how the tribe of Sim lived two lives at once. One here and now and another in some strange ether world of the Online.
Or if we do survive, and advance, will they tell tales about the days when we fought over the remains of long dead animals like some strange carrion feeders.
We assume that all we know and accept will survive the ages, but will it really be as we see it?