Urban Legends

[kashmir64]

You are never more than six feet from a rat.

Oh, I know there's a packrat under my house, so this one is true.

I know someone who truly believes you can catch cold from being in cold weather and no matter how many times I explain to him that a cold is a virus and you cannot catch a virus from the ambient temperature, he still does not believe me.
As to "urban legends", I honestly haven't paid much attention to them, as they are all designed to scare gullible people.

My mom swears this is true.

Never put your real home address on your GPS. If you do someone who steals your car can go to your house and rob it.

Ever see the movie Bad Samaritan?

 

[muffy]

But they're fun!!! Scary urban legends are the best when your sitting around a camp fire. I have so many ghost stories that "are true", although I have not told them in a while, so I would have to think about how they go before repeating them.

Repeat them, please. I love a good ghost story.

 

[Mia6]

Oh, I know there's a packrat under my house, so this one is true.



My mom swears this is true.


Ever see the movie Bad Samaritan?

What's the scoop on that film?

 

[Mia6]

This is one I believe. But not in the way you think. If you get super chilled, I think it lowers the body's immune system, and the viruses are always lurking in you, and with the lowered response, you come down with a cold. It's happened to me too many times. One time, I was ice skating on a pond, and the ice gave way. I managed to get out but had to wait 45 minutes for someone to pick me up. I got a terrible cold from that, and there was no one else to catch it from.

Perhaps you had already been exposed to a virus and being that cold was a bad combo? Falling through the ice must've been terrifying.

 

[Mia6]

I don't know if this is a real urban legend, but I saw it on Facebook and love it.
View attachment 289591

HA!!!!!!!

Lari,

I spat out my tea when I read that, sooooo funny!!!

 

[tarasgirl06]

This is one I believe. But not in the way you think. If you get super chilled, I think it lowers the body's immune system, and the viruses are always lurking in you, and with the lowered response, you come down with a cold. It's happened to me too many times. One time, I was ice skating on a pond, and the ice gave way. I managed to get out but had to wait 45 minutes for someone to pick me up. I got a terrible cold from that, and there was no one else to catch it from.

Agree 100% with you! Of course anyone with a compromised or weak immune system in any form is more susceptible to catching communicable illnesses.
*My gosh, so glad you got out okay, ultimately! That must have been very scary.*

 

[DreamerRose]

It was scary. The ice on the pond had melted in the middle and then refroze. When I went through on the new ice, I flipped and gripped the old ice and was able to pull myself up. No way am I strong enough to do that now.

 

[kashmir64]

What's the scoop on that film?

In a nutshell...it's about a valet who tries to rob a rich man, via the GPS in his car (he also has the house keys, on the car keys), and..well... watch the trailer on Youtube. I was going to put it here, but it's better not to.
It is a little bloody, but only thriller bloody and not gore bloody.

 

[aliceneko]

Not a famous one of course, but I remember there was a local legend at my secondary school that a student died after falling off the bell tower when the school was started in Victorian times, and that the particular part of the school where the tower is has since been haunted by her (there was even a "ghost watch" in the school some years back where some old students made a video about it and uploaded it on YouTube). Probably very unlikely but it always scared new students.

 

[Jem]

We have a local urban legend as well. Where I grew up, we were out in the boonies and our neighborhood consisted of two streets, (one to the east and one to the west of a LONG road) that lined a small lake. All the kids were told about the "one armed man" that lived in the woods. If you went out into the woods he would catch you and dismember you. He went crazy and had obsession with dismemberment due to the loss of his arm. I don't remember exactly what his accident was that caused the loss of his arm, I think is was a chainsaw accident or something.

 

[tarasgirl06]

It was scary. The ice on the pond had melted in the middle and then refroze. When I went through on the new ice, I flipped and gripped the old ice and was able to pull myself up. No way am I strong enough to do that now.

Well, we can be a LOT stronger than we may think we are if the occasion calls for it, DreamerRose . You've heard those stories about adrenaline kicking in when a kid gets pinned under a car or something, and the person lifts the car and pulls the kid out. IDK if those are true at all, but I do not doubt for a second that we are capable of much more than we think we are in emergencies.
As for these urban legends, personally, I find (some) real people much more scary than tales that are not factual.

 

[margecat]

How about alligators in the sewers of New York?

The doctored photo of a gigantic shard right behind a surfer in a big wave?

The evil man waiting under your car to slash your Achille's tendon and have his way with you?

The "perfume sample" that really contained a substance that would immediately knock you out?

Rat urine on the tops of soda cans?

HIV infected needles in change returns?

The 12 foot long rattlesnake and the 24 foot long alligator found after Hurricane Katrina (or Ike or Harvey)?

The teenage couple who were making out when approached by an evil stranger. In some versions they got away but found a hand in the car's door handle.

I wonder if the teenage couple one started around the time of the Zodiac murders?

 

[tarasgirl06]

I wonder if the teenage couple one started around the time of the Zodiac murders?

That makes a lot of sense, margecat . Really, these true crime stories will curl your toenails. MUCH more scary than made-up stuff.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Don't step on a crack or you'll break your mothers back.

False. With this in mind, you'll see a crack in the pavement, struggle to avoid it, fall and break your OWN back

 

[1 bruce 1]

That makes a lot of sense, margecat . Really, these true crime stories will curl your toenails. MUCH more scary than made-up stuff.

I've been watching a lot of those lately and I need to do something else for awhile. There are some heinous things committed out there, but I'm always amazed at the tiny little details the investigators pick up on and how an eye lash or something can get justice for the family and put the killer behind bars.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I've been watching a lot of those lately and I need to do something else for awhile. There are some heinous things committed out there, but I'm always amazed at the tiny little details the investigators pick up on and how an eye lash or something can get justice for the family and put the killer behind bars.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of those, and yeah, they're pretty harsh. But they teach a lot about human nature. And yeah, DNA is catching a LOT of cold case perps. Contrary to the beliefs of some, DNA does NOT fly.

 

[Elphaba09]

The scary urban legend of Cropsey turned out to be true.

You know what is not true? The claim that you swallow an average of eight spiders a night. It is a made up statistic by columnist Lisa Holst to show how easily things can be assumed to be true if it is seen in an e-mail or on the internet. Spiders really have little interest in humans, sleeping or otherwise, unless that human has bugs they can eat. They have no interest in going into your mouth where it is wet, breezy, and barren of all bugs.

 

[1 bruce 1]

The scary urban legend of Cropsey turned out to be true.

You know what is not true? The claim that you swallow an average of eight spiders a night. It is a made up statistic by columnist Lisa Holst to show how easily things can be assumed to be true if it is seen in an e-mail or on the internet. Spiders really have little interest in humans, sleeping or otherwise, unless that human has bugs they can eat. They have no interest in going into your mouth where it is wet, breezy, and barren of all bugs.

I've heard so many spiders per year, but 8 spiders a night? You're right, that seems illogical (and gross.)
Does anyone else remember in the early '90's, those chain emails you'd get with a copy to 1,000 other people?
"If you send this to 20,000 recipients in the next 10 seconds, you'll get a check in the mail for 1 million dollars!" (Don't forget the addition....THIS IS NOT A JOKE! written in all caps)
"If you love God you'll send this to 600 people. Remember, God is watching!"
"If you send this to 200,000,000 people, the CDC will send one penny to the starving goat boy."
"It's Christmas Eve! If you don't send this email to everyone in your address book, Santa will command his reindeer to take a dump on your car!"

I'm gullible, but......

 

[DreamerRose]

There is one not mentioned here, that someone told me right after my first son was killed many years ago. Thoughtful of her. In the story, a family went on vacation to Mexico, a road trip. While they were camping, the mother-in -law died. Not wanting to bury her in Mexico, they wrapped her up in a tent and loaded her on the roof of the station wagon. When the family got to the border, the Mexicans wouldn't let her through with a dead body, and the US Border agents wouldn't let her in without a death certificate.

I don't know how the story ended, but evidently, it made the rounds in several different forms. Snopes.com doesn't carry it anymore.

 

[1 bruce 1]

There is one not mentioned here, that someone told me right after my first son was killed many years ago. Thoughtful of her. In the story, a family went on vacation to Mexico, a road trip. While they were camping, the mother-in -law died. Not wanting to bury her in Mexico, they wrapped her up in a tent and loaded her on the roof of the station wagon. When the family got to the border, the Mexicans wouldn't let her through with a dead body, and the US Border agents wouldn't let her in without a death certificate.

I don't know how the story ended, but evidently, it made the rounds in several different forms. Snopes.com doesn't carry it anymore.

I'm sorry to hear about your son.
No parent should have to bury their child.