Urban Legends

What is an Urban Legend An urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used to mean something akin to an "apocryphal story."

Like all folklore, urban legends are not necessarily false, but they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time.

Despite its name, a typical urban legend does not necessarily originate in an urban setting. The term is simply used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore in preindustrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the term "contemporary legend".

Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by e-mail. People frequently allege that such tales happened to a "friend of a friend"-so often, in fact, that "friend of a friend," ("FOAF") has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story.

Some urban legends have passed through the years with only minor changes to suit regional variations. One example is the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. More recent legends tend to reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people ambushed, anesthetized, and waking up minus one kidney, which was surgically removed for transplantation (a story which folklorists refer to as "The Kidney Heist".)
(from Wiki)

Great urban legend sites

- The Alt Urban Legend

- Christian urban Legends

- Mythbusters tv Show

- urban legend directory

The history of The Amityville Horror, as with The Exorcist, begins with a best-selling novel. A book titled The Amityville Horror: A True Story, written by Jay Anson, was published in 1977 and quickly became a hit. Anson was not a resident of the infamous possessed house, but a professional writer hired to pen a book based on "true events" that happened there several years earlier.%u2026

The story behind the story began on November 13, 1974, when six members of an Amityville, New York, family were killed. The parents, Ronald and Louise DeFeo, were shot in bed while they slept, along with two sons and two daughters. The sole remaining family member, Ronald Jr. ("Butch"), was arrested for the crime and later sentenced to prison. With the family dead (and Butch in no position to inherit the place), the house went up for sale. The horrific nature of the massacre unnerved the otherwise quiet Long Island neighborhood, though no supernatural activity was associated with the house at 112 Ocean Avenue.

The following year, a new family, the Lutzes, moved into the house. George and Kathy Lutz, along with their three children, said that shortly after moving in, the six-bedroom abode became a Hell house. It seemed that perhaps the demons that drove Butch to slaughter his family were not in his head but in the house. An unseen force ripped doors from hinges and slammed cabinets closed. Noxious green slime oozed from the ceilings. A biblical-scale swarm of insects attacked the family. A demonic face with glowing red eyes peered into their house at night, leaving cloven-hoofed footprints in the morning snow. A priest called upon to bless the house was driven back with painful blisters on his hands and famously told by a demonic voice to "Get Out!" And so on.

The truth behind The Amityville Horror, was finally revealed when Butch DeFeo's lawyer, William Weber, admitted that he, along with the Lutzes, "created this horror story over many bottles of wine." The house was never really haunted; the horrific experiences they had claimed were simply made up. Jay Anson further embellished the tale for his book, and by the time the film's screenwriters had adapted it, any grains of truth that might have been there were long gone. While the Lutzes profited handsomely from their story, Weber had planned to use the haunting to gain a new trial for his client. George Lutz reportedly still claims that the events are mostly true, but has offered no evidence to back up his claim.

Their account was likely influenced by another fictionalized story-that of The Exorcist. In fact, it is not much of a stretch to suggest that The Exorcist strongly influenced the Amityville story; recall that The Exorcist came out in December 1973. Demonic possession and hauntings were very much in the public's mind when the Lutzes spun their stories of demonic activity a year or two later. The revelation that the story was based on a hoax has led to embarrassment, especially by the handful of "paranormal experts" who "verified" the fictional tale. The Lutzes must have had a good laugh at the expense of the mystery-mongering ghost hunters and self-proclaimed psychics who reported their terrifying visions and verified the house's (non-existent) demonic residents.

To this day, the fact that The Amityville Horror, story was an admitted hoax is still not widely known; as they say, the truth never stands in the way of a good story. Though the story was made up by the Lutzes and further sensationalized by Anson, there were real victims of the Amityville Horror (the film, not the demons). In addition to the murdered DeFeo family, the subsequent occupants of the Amityville home have suffered a continual stream of harassment by curiosity seekers, horror fans, and gawkers who want to photograph and tour their infamous house. Then there are the people who, fooled by the films' and book's tagline, think that they are seeing a film based on true events.

article found with these credits
taken from Joe Nickell's fine investigative piece "Amityville: The Horror of It All," in the January/February 2003 issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, as well as his book Entities. See also Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan's book The Amityville Horror Conspiracy; "The Amityville Horror Hoax" in the May, 1978, Fate magazine by Rick Moran and Peter Jordan; and "The Amityville Horror Revisited" in the January 2005 issue of Fortean Times magazine.

Movie is Based On a true Story??? This is Ed Gein. How much of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and other Movies is based on the real life murderer Ed Gein?
Hmm "inspired by a true story," both Tobe Hooper's original 1974 film and the 2003 Marcus Nispel remake are only lightly based on the real-life murderer Ed Gein, who is suspected to have taken several victims between 1954 and 1957. And yup Ed Gein did do some things similar to Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre and like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

Who exactly was Ed Gein? well here is what I found out George Gein died of heart failure in 1940, after which the Gein brothers began working at odd jobs to help their mother and the farm. Both brothers were considered reliable and honest by people in town. While both worked as handymen, Ed Gein also frequently babysat for neighbors. He enjoyed babysitting, seeming to relate more easily to children than adults. Henry Gein began to reject his mother's view of the world and worried about brother Ed's attachment to her. He spoke ill of her around his mortified brother

On May 16, 1944, a brush fire burned close to the farm, and the Gein brothers went out to extinguish it. The brothers were reportedly separated, and as night fell, Ed Gein supposedly lost sight of his brother. When the fire was extinguished, he reported to the police that his brother was missing. When a search party was organized, Gein led them directly to his missing brother, who lay dead on the ground. The police had questions about the circumstances under which the body was discovered. The ground on which Henry Gein lay was untouched by fire, and he had bruises on his head. Despite this, the police dismissed the possibility of foul play. Later, the county coroner listed asphyxiation as the cause of death. Many began to suspect that Ed killed his brother however no charges were filed.

Arrest
Police suspected Gein's involvement in the disappearance of a hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, in Plainfield on November 16, 1957. Upon entering a shed on his property, they made the first discovery of the night: Worden's corpse. She had been decapitated, her headless body hung upside down by means of ropes at her wrists and a crossbar at her ankles. The torso was empty, the ribcage split and the body "dressed out" like that of a deer. These mutilations had been performed postmortem; she had been shot at close-range with a .22-caliber rifle.

Searching the house, authorities found:

Human skulls mounted upon the corner posts of his bed
Human skullcaps used as soup bowls
An array of shrivelled heads
Skin fashioned into a lampshade and used to upholster chair seats
Skin from the face of Mary Hogan, a local tavern owner, found in a paper bag
Socks made from human flesh
A sheath made from human skin
A human heart (it is disputed where the heart was found; deputy reports claimed that the heart was in a saucepan on the stove, while crime scene photographers claimed it was in a paper bag on the floor in front of the stove)
At least four noses
A box containing nine vulvae, some of which were salted and one of which was tied with a ribbon
Some neighborhood children, whom Gein occasionally babysat, had seen or heard of the shrivelled heads, which Gein offhandedly described as relics from the South Seas sent by a cousin who had served in World War II. Upon investigation, these turned out to be human facial skins, carefully peeled from cadavers and used by Gein as masks.

Gein eventually admitted under questioning that he dug up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women he thought resembled his mother[citation needed] and took the bodies home, where he tanned their skin to make his possessions. Gein's practice of putting on the tanned skins of women was described as an "insane transvestite ritual".Gein denied having sex with the bodies he exhumed, explaining, "They smelled too bad." During interrogation, Gein also admitted to the shooting death of Mary Hogan, who had been missing since 1954.

Shortly after his mother's death, Gein had decided he wanted a sex change. He created a "woman suit" so he could pretend to be a female, Plainfield police officer Art Schley allegedly physically assaulted Gein during questioning, by banging Gein's head and face into a brick wall, reportedly causing Gein's initial confession to be ruled inadmissible.[9] Schley died of a heart attack in December 1968, at age 43, only a month after testifying at Gein's trial. Many who knew him said he was so traumatized by the horror of Gein's crimes and the fear of having to testify (notably about assaulting Gein) that it led to his early death. One of his friends said "He was a victim of Ed Gein as surely as if he had butchered him."

The Trial
Ed Gein was found mentally incompetent and thus unfit to stand trial at the time of his arrest, and was sent to the Central State Hospital (now the Dodge Correctional Institution) in Waupun, Wisconsin. Later, Central State Hospital was converted into a prison, and Gein was transferred to Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1968, Gein's doctors determined he was sane enough to stand trial. The trial started on Wednesday, November 14, 1968, lasting just one week. He was found guilty of first degree murder by judge Robert H. Gollmar, but because he was found to be legally insane, he spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.

The Aftermath

Ed Gein's gravemarker as it appeared in 1999On March 20, 1958, while Gein was in detention, his house burned to the ground. Arson was suspected. When Gein learned of the incident, he simply shrugged and said "Just as well."

In 1958, Gein's car, which he'd used to haul the bodies of his victims, was sold at a public auction for the then-considerable sum of $760 to carnival sideshow operator Bunny Gibbons.Gibbons later charged carnival-goers 25¢ admission to see it.

Death
On July 26, 1984, Gein died of respiratory and heart failure due to cancer in Goodland Hall at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. His gravesite in the Plainfield cemetery was frequently vandalized over the years; souvenir seekers chipped off pieces of his gravestone before the bulk of it was stolen in 2000. The gravestone was recovered in June 2001 near Seattle and is displayed at present in a museum in Waushara County, Wisconsin

After his brother's death, Gein lived alone with his mother. Augusta Gein died on December 29, 1945, from a series of strokes, at which time Gein "lost his only friend and one true love. And he was absolutely alone in the world."

Gein remained on the farm, supporting himself with earnings from odd jobs. He boarded up rooms mostly used by his mother, such as the upstairs, downstairs parlor, and living room, leaving them untouched. He lived in a small room next to the kitchen. Gein became interested in reading death-cult magazines and adventure stories, and between 1947 and 1954 made as many as 40 night time visits to three local graveyards in order to exhume a number of recently buried bodies

Yes The story of Ed Gein has had a lasting impact on popular culture & movies Like Both Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Texas chain saw massacre and as evidenced by its many appearances in movies, music and literature. Gein's story was adapted into a number of movies including Chuck Parello's In the Light of the Moon, later to be retitled Ed Gein for the U.S. market as well as Deranged, and Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield. Gein influenced the nature of boo (Wiki).

In ending, the reason I wrote about Ed Gein is because over the years I have heard many people say "this movie" is based on a true story, whether that movie is Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Silence of the Lambs, or Psycho, when in reality many horror movies over the years have taken one little bit from Ed's ACTUAL story. And so that is why this is an urban legend.

Three men and a baby

many have heard the story or have seen the ghostly boy in the window
some say this myth is busted it is said a cut out prop for an ad was out of camera view and never used and its reflection the lighting and so on made it look like a child storys where the child committed suicide in the rented space the movie was using others where his mother saw him in the clothes she buried him in and she went mad well anyway some say the card board cut out totally explains everything but still others believe it was a ghost personally I do not fully think this is cut out because it does look a bit different in the scene but it could be you be the judge you can read more at Hollywood news

The movie Poltergeist

strange deaths of the cast members
several have gone on to more acting those who did die are

Dana Freeling, Carol Anne Freeling, Reverend Kane, and Taylor the medicine man - Dominique Dunne, Heather O'Rourke, Julian Beck or Will Sampson.

The four actress/actors , all from the Poltergeist series cast, are all deceased.

Dominique Dunne's life ended after an episode of domestic violence in 1982

Julian Beck died of stomach cancer in 1985

Will Sampson died of post-operative kidney failure in 1987

Heather O'Rourke died suddenly of septic shock and the resulting rapid-buildup of bacterial toxins related an acute bowel obstruction in 1988

you can read more Here

Wizard of OZ

Yes Buddy Ebsen also known to many for his popular role as Jed Clampett on the The Beverly Hillbillies and a wonderful dancer having Broadway and staring roles showing off this great gift of his , Yes he was originally cast as tin woodsman he couldn't do the the role because of the make up he was very allergic to the metallic dust in it and was hospitalized. so he was unable to do the role.

Professor's Marvel's movie costume Coat really belonged to L. Frank Baum!!
they had gone to a second hand store to get a jacket kind of warn for the scene they choose one and when Frank Morgan turned out the pocket, and found the name L. Frank Baum. In those days, you would often find the owners name written on the label of a tailored suit, Mary Mayer's confirmed as did others, both the Tailor and Baum's widow identified the jacket, and the jacket was presented to Mrs. Baum as a gift.

Is there a Munchkin Suicide or Hanging Munchkin?
NO NO NO NO not true
one is just it wasn't true lol plain and simple most actually figured it was a shadow of a camera but now you can find all over the web the truth and what is it well thanks to the clarity of restoration and DVD releases, it's much more clear to see that it's a bird stretching it's wings. Several online sources indicate the MGM had rented some huge flying birds to act as set dressing for the forest.

Was the wicked witch accidental burned
yes if you Go to the scene where the Wicked Witch is just leaving Munchkin land. As she starts to disappear in the smoke, she gets burnt. The crew set off the flames too early! it was a very bad burn.

Who can forget the scary story of Bloody Mary, An evil spirit who will scratch your eyes out when summoned? Most heard the legend when as children, listening to spooky ghost stories around the campfire. Tale is still told at slumber parties, camp outs, and bonfire parties.

The legend claims that the evil woman can be summoned by chanting "Bloody Mary" into a mirror anywhere The summoning chant varies, usually it's twelve or thirteen times, in a darkened room. (Thirteen seems to be the most popular number of chants, appropriately so.) The bathroom is the most popular setting to test out the legend, but other dark rooms seem applicable. some say as you chant you should spin as well get louder each time you say her name and keep looking at the mirror with each spin around to it.

Other names sometimes used: Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Black Agnes, Black Aggie

this legend has not been proven fake in fact many say have done it and results have terrified them. this legend has not been proven to be fake.

This legend is probably familiar to most as the Vanishing hitchhiker -It is a dark stormy night. A person driving sees a lady on the side of the road and decides to give her a lift. Usually the
hitchhiker is a young woman in some sort of trouble... her prom date
dumped her, or her car broke down. The driver gets to her house only
to discover that his passenger has disappeared without a trace from
the back seat of his car. He knocks on the door to the house,
maybe to make sure the girl is ok, and the door is answered by the girl's
parent. Eventually it comes out that the girl died some years ago,
and every year on the anniversary of her death (or her birthday), the
girl hitches a ride back home with a stranger.
There are *many* variations of this legend. , sometimes the driver finds something the
girl left behind in his car, and goes back to return it, thus lear-
ning the truth about the girl. some find a scarf or other items left behind some say a photo of the girl has been left in there homes many difrent things this legend and has not been proven fake.

Calls from Beyond An elderly woman receives a phone call on a dark, stormy night. She hears a moaning on the other end and a voice that sounds like her recently diseased husband. The calls torment her all night. The next day, she asks her driver to take her past the cemetery where her husband was laid to rest. They discover that during the storm, a phone line had fallen down and was laying on her dead husbands grave! Were the phone

calls she had received the night before made from beyond the grave by her dead husband? there are many versions of this legend.

Another version of this Tale has the woman dying from shock in her bed after answering the phone call. Then, when she is being taken to the cemetery it is discovered that the phone line is laying on her husbands grave.

another legend not proven false is one very hard to prove Ither way
here is another story as well more urban legends at Snopes dead call

coke could be the end of man I tell ya if all its myths where true!!
the most popular from My child hood was the pop rocks coke myth
that it was the combo that killed the popular Life commercial kid Mikey
well so you all know Mikey is alive and well and is the advertising account manager of a radio station in NY his real name is John Gilchrist.

Other myths no a tooth left in a glass over night will not dissolve
no an aspirin and a coke will not get you high
coke was never the color green oh an there are so many more lol couldnt list them all.

but wait here is a true one at one time originally coke had an ingredient that came from the coca leave and kola nuts which yes the coca plant is what cocaine comes from it was in trace elements but there has been none in coke since 1929

Soda cancer Despite what many may have heard, drinking soda does not increase the risk of developing esophageal cancer. In fact it might protect against it, a new study finds. read more here

David Emery's Urban Legends Blog

Return of the Montauk Monster
Tuesday May 12, 2009
Not to be confused with the Great Montauk Monster Incident of 2008 (aka the discovery of a bloated raccoon carcass on a Long Island beach last July), this year's "Montauk Monster" find already has its own website and YouTube presence. The festering remains were stumbled upon last week in Southold, New York and are currently preserved in an ice chest.

It's too soon to say what kind of dead animal it really is, but trust me: it's neither an "alien" from outer space nor a carrier of H1N1 influenza (swine flu) as some excitable minds have speculated.

Read more on the Monster here
http://www.montauk-monster.com/

Animal Myths and legends

Cats suck the breath from Babies
There are many reasons why people might believe this. A cat is jealous of the newborn or the milk breath attracts the cat. Anyone knows that most household cats don't actually like milk and would prefer water. As for the jealousy, any actual events on record show only accidental deaths. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) should also be taken into consideration, however very sad. It is a known fact that SIDS is extremely hard on the parents and makes it hard for them to accept the facts. Some turn to possible causes and thus the urban legend may be a way for them to cope.

Handling by a human will cause a baby bird to be rejected by its mother.

birds have a limited sense of smell and cannot detect human scent.

Tourists who send their dog to a Chinese restaurant's kitchen to be fed, end up being served their own pooch.

This legend is mostly fueled by mistrust of foreigners and their foreign ways. Westerners see these critters as mainly companions.

Alligators in the sewers,,, Believe it or not there is a grain of truth behind this legend, namely the documented capture of an eight-foot alligator at the bottom of an East Harlem manhole in 1935 (though no one at the time assumed it actually lived down there). It was theorized at the time that the creature must have tumbled off a steamer visiting the northeast "from the mysterious Everglades, or thereabouts," and swam up the Harlem River. It met an unfortunate end at the hands of the teenage boys who found it.Here is a document of the event

http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=urbanlegends&cdn=newsissues&tm=64&gps=485_374_1109_799&f=2
0&su=p504.1.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=1&st=32&zu=http%
3A//lists.gatorhole.com/pipermail/croclist/2002-November/000102.htm


June 2001 - A small alligator (actually a caiman, as it turned out) was spotted and eventually captured in Central Park

November 2006 - A two-foot-long caiman is captured outside an apartment building in Brooklyn. Police say it "snapped and hissed" at them. Apartment building Gator

Big foot and yeti Legend You Decide hundreds of links On google if you do then enjoy you as well will soon be on the search for the truth about Big Foot :)

most of above from reading and watching health reports
and a mix of stories facts found on line

This story I just fell in love with and I searched and searched every part of this story out and found yes it is true and not made up the reason there is so much documented is the women who did the movie born free the story of elsa wich also was true was interested in Christians story and documented it the people who helped her with elsa also helped to free christian the old man you see in film is one of those people who watch over these free lions when he sees them he keeps track somtimes he never sees them again in christains case he had seen him a few times he had stayed pretty close to the same spot through the years with his new pride a wonderful very true story.

Computer hoaxes are not funny it is important to know the truth

Hoax Encyclopedia
Also see: Virus Encyclopedia
by Mary Landesman



Virus hoaxes, scams, and chain letters abound in email. Before forwarding that dire sounding warning or too good to be true promise, check the validity of it here. Chances are, it's a hoax. Virus hoaxes and myths waste time and money - and can make the sender look foolish. Don't fall victim to a virus hoax. Check the list of hoaxes
Here on this page

truth or fiction
E-mail reality Check

Story about old computer virus hoaxes and how people still fall for
Still Hoaxed

and last for now I will search out me but here is a great page
Cindi's List