Urban Legends
I'm a big fan of campfire stories. It's fun to try and make them believable, too, by throwing in random factoids like dates or locations or even a name. It lends a certain degree of credibility. My favourite campfire story goes something like this:
A little boy named Edward lived in Chicago, which is famous for its rolling blackouts. It was his 8th birthday and he wanted to have a tenting sleepover in the backyard with his friends. At first he was really excited about it, but when the news said there was a chance o an electrical storm (which usually meant blackouts) his parents reassured him that he'd be OK. Then, on the 6 0'clock news, they said that a serial killer loose in the area had struck again the night before. To make him feel better, his parents let their dog Chester sleep between the tents.
It took Edward a long time to fall asleep. Whenever noise would scare him, he'd hold his hand out the door of the tent and Chester would lick it, and he'd feel better. About two o'clock in the morning, he was awoken by the sound of some bumping around and rustling. A blackout was in progress, and in the pitch black night, poor Edward could see nothing. Not wanting to seem like he was a baby and embarrass himself in front of his friends, he reached his hand out and sure enough, Chester licked it, so he went back to sleep, this time not waking up until the morning.
When he woke up, there were sticky red-brown trails criss-crossing the yard, and his friends were nowhere to be found. He called for his Mom and Dad, but no one answered, and even Chester was mysteriously missing. He went back into the yard and noticed all the trails led to the garden shed. When he opened the door, he saw the dead bodies of his parents and friends piled on top of each other. Nailed to a board beside them was the dog's tongue with a note that read: "People can lick hands, too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Urban legends are nothing new. They've been around since the dawn of time. I'd hazard a guess that it started with the cavemen, really. UggUgg heads off to the watering hole and sees some glow, heads back to the cave and gestures and grunts to the woman he hauled in there by her hair that the swamp is on fire. Having no understanding of the phenomena, he makes up a story to explain the mystery. By the time we finally figured out what swamp gas is and how it's caused, it's been misrepresented in stories through generation after generation as everything from ghosts to UFOs. And often, what we don't understand is labeled evil and is therefore scary. Fun stuff - the stuff campfire stories are made of, really.
At least once a week I get these emails:
Boy dies from needle/snakebite in McDonald's Playland
Gift certificate for ~insert company here~ if you forward this to 9 million people to test out their email tracking system
Beware of ~insert new scam~ because it happened to ME/MY FRIEND/MY THIRD COUSIN too!
Often, people are considerate enough to add a disclaimer or personal comment in the header instead of the standard fw: fw: fw: fw: fw: fw: fw: FW: FW: FW: It reads like this: "I don't now if this is true, but it's worth a shot!" or, "I can't believe this!" So why are you sharing it with me?
OK - people - time to get smart. a) These are chain letters and b) they are urban legends. No one is donating money to a poor legless child, you aren't going to get mugged by a deranged ether-wielding perfume salesman, and why would a major corporation (Starbucks, Microsoft, Gap) "pay" the general public to test their new email tracking system? Why, oh why, are people so gullible?
Before sending off an email, posting to a blog or community board, or sharing on your networking site an offer that sounds too good to be true or a story that sounds too crazy to be true, check your facts - it probably is. www.snopes.com is an invaluable resource were you can search the legend by topic, and have your myth confirmed or debunked, and save yourself the embarrassment of looking like a complete idiot when you send the 'stolen' cookie recipe from Neiman Marcus (who has always shared their recipes for free, and only developed a cookie recipe AFTER the urban legend originally belonging to Mrs. Fields cookies in the 50s bestowed upon them the dubious honour of gouging for gourmet goodies.)
A little boy named Edward lived in Chicago, which is famous for its rolling blackouts. It was his 8th birthday and he wanted to have a tenting sleepover in the backyard with his friends. At first he was really excited about it, but when the news said there was a chance o an electrical storm (which usually meant blackouts) his parents reassured him that he'd be OK. Then, on the 6 0'clock news, they said that a serial killer loose in the area had struck again the night before. To make him feel better, his parents let their dog Chester sleep between the tents.
It took Edward a long time to fall asleep. Whenever noise would scare him, he'd hold his hand out the door of the tent and Chester would lick it, and he'd feel better. About two o'clock in the morning, he was awoken by the sound of some bumping around and rustling. A blackout was in progress, and in the pitch black night, poor Edward could see nothing. Not wanting to seem like he was a baby and embarrass himself in front of his friends, he reached his hand out and sure enough, Chester licked it, so he went back to sleep, this time not waking up until the morning.
When he woke up, there were sticky red-brown trails criss-crossing the yard, and his friends were nowhere to be found. He called for his Mom and Dad, but no one answered, and even Chester was mysteriously missing. He went back into the yard and noticed all the trails led to the garden shed. When he opened the door, he saw the dead bodies of his parents and friends piled on top of each other. Nailed to a board beside them was the dog's tongue with a note that read: "People can lick hands, too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Urban legends are nothing new. They've been around since the dawn of time. I'd hazard a guess that it started with the cavemen, really. UggUgg heads off to the watering hole and sees some glow, heads back to the cave and gestures and grunts to the woman he hauled in there by her hair that the swamp is on fire. Having no understanding of the phenomena, he makes up a story to explain the mystery. By the time we finally figured out what swamp gas is and how it's caused, it's been misrepresented in stories through generation after generation as everything from ghosts to UFOs. And often, what we don't understand is labeled evil and is therefore scary. Fun stuff - the stuff campfire stories are made of, really.
At least once a week I get these emails:
Boy dies from needle/snakebite in McDonald's Playland
Gift certificate for ~insert company here~ if you forward this to 9 million people to test out their email tracking system
Beware of ~insert new scam~ because it happened to ME/MY FRIEND/MY THIRD COUSIN too!
Often, people are considerate enough to add a disclaimer or personal comment in the header instead of the standard fw: fw: fw: fw: fw: fw: fw: FW: FW: FW: It reads like this: "I don't now if this is true, but it's worth a shot!" or, "I can't believe this!" So why are you sharing it with me?
OK - people - time to get smart. a) These are chain letters and b) they are urban legends. No one is donating money to a poor legless child, you aren't going to get mugged by a deranged ether-wielding perfume salesman, and why would a major corporation (Starbucks, Microsoft, Gap) "pay" the general public to test their new email tracking system? Why, oh why, are people so gullible?
Before sending off an email, posting to a blog or community board, or sharing on your networking site an offer that sounds too good to be true or a story that sounds too crazy to be true, check your facts - it probably is. www.snopes.com is an invaluable resource were you can search the legend by topic, and have your myth confirmed or debunked, and save yourself the embarrassment of looking like a complete idiot when you send the 'stolen' cookie recipe from Neiman Marcus (who has always shared their recipes for free, and only developed a cookie recipe AFTER the urban legend originally belonging to Mrs. Fields cookies in the 50s bestowed upon them the dubious honour of gouging for gourmet goodies.)
Comments
And for the record, those cookies were delicious ;D
And I don't understand why people get offended when you show them snopes - really, you are saving them future embarrassment, and maybe from getting blocked by people like me who honestly don't have the time or energy to give a rat's patootie. It takes mere seconds to know that yes, grapes are potentially deadly for dogs and no, there never was a woman who died from trying to get kinky with a lobster.
Every once in a while I kind of like the 'getting to know' you emails. They can be fun if i'm in the mood, as long as some idiot has't written, "Do this now and u'll have 10 years of good luck if ur smart u'll do it now cuz my aunt's sister's cousin DIED when she didn't do this so PLEEZ PLEEZ send it to 8 friends NOW and if u don't then u will have 10 years of bad luck." (I always thought there were 3 whole letters in the word 'YOU' but heck, I'm just an old fart I guess, hey?)
I just forget to read that part in email like that lol! Can't stanz that either lol!