Since Munich numerous stories have been circulating in France and other countries, the gist of which is that a motorist, usually an individual under mobilization, is told that 'the war would be over—Hitler dead—as true as the corpse of a man would be found in his car before arrival at the destination'. In this way the story of 'the corpse in the car' became a collective myth. It expresses an intensely wished for event, the realization of which is guaranteed by a death which has been foretold together with the event: 'Hitler, the enemy will perish, like the passenger in the car'.

War and its sufferings and dangers restimulate an old belief that in order to receive benefits, a sacrifice must be made. The return in the myth of a human victim to be offered as a propitiation of destiny, Bonaparte attributes