Urban Legends

[FlyingDutchman]

My friend told me this story about a guy his friend worked with.
The guy was in LA on business. He met a girl in the hotel’s bar, and after a couple of drinks, the pair went upstairs. After that, the guy remembers nothing. He woke up in the bathtub in his hotel room, naked, covered to his waist in ice with an IV in his arm. In bold letters on the mirror, someone wrote: DON’T MOVE! You have just had surgery. One of your kidneys has been removed. We have called 911 for you. The guy passed out, and when he woke up he was in the ICU, and missing a kidney. The detectives told him that a ring of organ thieves is targeting business men. Good story, huh? But it’s not true. It’s an urban legend.

Here’s another urban legend: the Government is giving away land. Everyone knows someone who heard it from someone that there is free land out West, down South, up North, and even in the Canadian wilderness. Sorry folks, it’s just not true. There is no such thing as free government land, from any government on the planet. Such stories are just urban legends. Everyone knows someone who heard it from someone whose cousin worked with a guy whose brother’s friend got free land in Texas (or wherever). The problem is, no one seems to know the exact person who claimed the free government land. That’s how urban legends work: they seem legitimate because the person telling the story seems to personally involved. But if you pay attention, it becomes apparent that they are just repeating the story.

Every now and then, we get a letter from someone looking for information on free or nearly free land. The latest came from someone claiming there is free land in Canada. Of course, it didn’t contain any contact information for the Canadian officials in charge of passing out the free land, not even the name of anyone who got a parcel of free land, just a few lines insisting that there is free land. So, at the risk of being abundantly redundant: there is no such thing as free land. The Homestead Act of 1862 that allowed settlers to claim 40 acres to farm, was abolished in 1976. Canada had a similar law that was enacted in 1872 and subsequently abolished in 1918. While the governments of the U.S. and Canada do sell land parcels on occasion, they sell them at market value. While buying land from the government can be inexpensive, it certainly isn’t free.

If you’re still looking for free land, don’t despair. I know a guy whose brother works with my cousin’s first step-sister who is friends with a gal at NASA who told her that she could by land for next to nothing on Mars and the Moon. Just a few dollars for thousands of acres!

[AreUBigNSoft]

Can you put me in touch with him? Great post.

[angelsfun]

Urban legends are fantastic-even more amazing that people fall for them. I always live by - if it sounds to good/awesome/strange to be true it probably is... It always pays to investigate something as opposed to taking it for fact, based on the word of a cousin of a friend's friend...

[AreUBigNSoft]

Originally Posted by angelsfun

Urban legends are fantastic-even more amazing that people fall for them. I always live by - if it sounds to good/awesome/strange to be true it probably is... It always pays to investigate something as opposed to taking it for fact, based on the word of a cousin of a friend's friend...

AMEN SISTER! Sure something may sound neat, but is it real? Do a little bit of leg work and you'll be able to come to your own decision.

[FlyingDutchman]

There are so many urban legends and there are as many or more people that are very gullible to this.
Angelsfun hit the nail right on the head, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. But there are still so many idiots out there that "want" to believe and go for it. They deserve it too.

[Triton]

While many urban legends are like the lost tales of El Dorado, many others are quite the opposite.
The airport toilet spider, the many political smears, the religio-wacko high jacking of NASA images ("Scientists call this the eye of God" <-- umm, no they don't, neither does NASA or any international astronomical organization.)

I got one just the other day about an pending court case to try and 'take God off of money' and what that would mean if it were to happen.
It is complete BS of course, this issue has been firmly put to rest many times over the years but of course this urban legend never dies and finds new idiots to inflame, they insist it is real and oh the outrage! the offense!

Pretty much anything you get unsolicited is trash.

[Rita]

I have a book written by Richard Roeper at home which is ALL about Urban Legends. Its such a great book. I will add my favorites when I get home.

[jasrub]

While it doesn't have ALL of them, www.snopes.com has quite a few of the most common and recent ones.

[TWiST]

I always liked the one about the Russians and Americans almost destroying the planet in the 60s by both attempting projects to drill through the earth's crust. They got scarily close until some boffin pointed out that doing so would unleash volcanic activity capable of ripping the planet to shreds. Or so I heard.
XxX

[gdogghenrikson]

Originally Posted by jasrub

While it doesn't have ALL of them, www.snopes.com has quite a few of the most common and recent ones.

i was going to put that site down but you beat me to it

[nedk]

urban legends are like the government ... an outright lie perpetrated by sacks of human shit

death to humans

[master bates]

Bloody mary was big with us in grade school. We had even told it to a lady that used to watch us at lunch time. She said in my 40 years of living I have never heard such a thing. She was scared for real lol

[FlyingDutchman]

Originally Posted by nedk

death to humans

That includes you too, or you are not "human".

[AreUBigNSoft]

Originally Posted by master bates

Bloody mary was big with us in grade school. We had even told it to a lady that used to watch us at lunch time. She said in my 40 years of living I have never heard such a thing. She was scared for real lol

That was a bad one for me when I was a kid in school too. LOL Scared ths SHIT out of me back in the day!

[Human_Torch]

When I was in space camp, a counselor told us a legend that apparently had been around the academy for a while... about a guy who was stranded on in the moon in a lunar lander. He cannibalized his crew mate, had burned his face messing with an oxygen tank, lost his mind, and had driven blades into a frost-bitten hand like Freddy Kruger when the rescue guys found him.

You should have seen the looks on the faces of some of my camp-mates! LOL

[blubberboobs]

I was in a drama class when I was about 11 or 12 and one of the girls in the class told THIS story (the one about the burglar pretending to be the womans dog) claiming that it happened to her best friend, every single person in the class, including our drama teacher, lapped it up and believed it without question.

I waited until she had finished her story, quietly put my hand up, and said "erm, that didn't really happen did it!" I then got into trouble for disbelieving this poor girls harrowing tale, and was sent out of the class

Thats when I realized that most of my teachers weren't as cleaver as they claimed to be

[sicninja]

i love urban legends. thanx for the post FD!

[FlyingDutchman]

Originally Posted by sicninja

i love urban legends. thanx for the post FD!

You are most welcome sicninja. I was hoping I get more people to tell some urban legends, and my wish came true. Keep them coming.
Thank you ALL.

[Wingman]

Originally Posted by Triton

Pretty much anything you get unsolicited is trash.

Yeah, you keep thinking that. When I get that check from Nigeria, I'm so gonna lord it over you!!

[Triton]

Originally Posted by Wingman

Yeah, you keep thinking that. When I get that check from Nigeria, I'm so gonna lord it over you!!

Hahahahaha!
Talk about the global epicenter for scams...