Internet Folklore: The case of the heart-shaped honeycomb

In today’s Big Story podcast, you may have seen the picture during one of its many trips around the internet over the past seven years. It’s a honeycomb shaped like a heart, allegedly made by the bees themselves, freeform, when their keeper forgot to put the frame in their hive.

It’s a lovely story, and that’s why it sticks around. Is it true? Not entirely. Does that matter? Maybe. But the case of the heart-shaped honeycomb provides a look inside a rapidly developing field called Internet Folklore, and can teach us a lot about the stories we tell and why some of them endure.

GUEST: Steve Bryne, Folklorist

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