Urban Legends

Check out these urban legends circulating on the internet!

Philip Minch of Louisville, Kentucky, sent me an intriguing story from the May 1997 issue of TRAINS magazine. it's not a periodical I ever read, so it was news to me, even though dated a couple of years ago. Actually, the story turned out to be even older, as it's a variation on a legend that I titled a whole book with and also included in TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE on pages 325-326.

The story had been sent to TRAINS by Victoria Brouillette who remembered it from the early 1950s when visiting in Quebec. Noting the "mobs of kids of all ages running around town," Victoria sought an explanation for the high birth rate and was told again and again only "Ah, c'est Jacques." Thinking that this Jacques must be some stud, she asked her cousin Alfred for a fuller explanation. Here's what he said: "Non, il n'est pas stud. Jacques is a locomotive driver on the Canadian National. In '38 his train destroyed an auto with a group of—how you say—teeangers, drunken, on the grade crossing at the edge of town. Their families sued the railroad for much dollars and collected. After that, every morning at 5:30, as his train rolls through town, Jacques leans on the whistle from one end of town to the other—he's still doing it. It's too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up,:" my elderly cousin thrust up his hands, "so, what else are you going to do?"

COMMENTS FROM JAN:

The account of the accident is the only thing that sets this apart from other versions of "The Baby Train," which invariably include that line about "too late to sleep, too early to get up." The other Canadian version I've heard has the punchline "Gawdam that Jean-Pierre!" So—Voila!—here's another variation on the theme. Merci, Phil.

Just when you thought it was safe to flash your headlights at other cars running without lights on after dark, along comes this bogus warning again. It has been all over the Internet lately, and I even found this version printed in the May 1999 issue of HIGHWAYS, the official publication of the Good Sam Club:

STREET SMART: A law enforcement officer passed this warning on to us, and we want to share it with you. If you are driving after dark and see an oncoming car without its headlights turned on, do not flash your lights at it. Some law-enforcement agencies have identified this type of activity with gang-member initiation rites in their cities. The gang member under initiation drives without the headlights turned on and the first vehicle to flash its headlights becomes the "target." The prospective gang member is then required to chase the target and provoke a confrontation to complete his initiation requirements.

COMMENTS FROM JAN:

This story started going around in the summer of 1993 via fax, the Internet, and on printed warnings passed from person to person and posted on company bulletin boards. (See TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, pp. 393-395.) It was thoroughly investigated by police authorities, gang experts, journalists, and yours truly and proved baseless. You can find my take on the tale in the magazine SKEPTICAL INQUIRER for March/April 1995 which I have revised and updated as a chapter in my forthcoming book from the University of Illinois Press coming out next year titled THE TRUTH NEVER STANDS IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY

How much good does it do to debunk such stories? I have to wonder, since the resurrection of "Lights Out!" has, so far, been reported from about a dozen major cities from coast to coast. Often a report from a smaller city says that the crimes have already occurred in a larger city nearby; for example, in Santa Fe people said it happened in Albuquerque, or in Midland, Texas, they said it happened in Dallas. Among the newspapers that have looked into this story lately and denied it are the WILMINGTON [Delaware] NEWS JOURNAL, the KANSAS CITY STAR, the ST. PETERSBURG [Florida] TIMES, and the Salt Lake City DESERET NEWS. Will such reports do any good in squelching the story? Only time will tell, but somehow I doubt it.

If it isn't infected needles abandoned in payphone coin-return slots it's contamination on the phone's buttons themselves. My brother-in-law, a savvy journalist in Michigan, was the first person to forward me this story. He correctly identified it as a bogus warning, but some of the many other people who subsequently sent it to me were not so sure. Here is the warning, with language errors uncorrected:

Hello, this is to warn everyone of a new thing happening in communities as a gang initiation and such. If you care about anyone, please forward this to them immediately so they can learn of the possible harm. Even if you don't read this, at least forward it to people.

Hello, my name is Tina Strongman and I work at a police station as a phone operator for 911. Lately, we've received many phonecalls pertaining to a new sort of problem that has arisen in the inner cities, and is now working it's way to smaller towns. It seems that a new form of gang initiation is to go find as many pay phones as possible and put a mixture of LSD and Strychnine onto the buttons. This mixture is deadly to the human touch, and apparently this has killed some people on the east coast. Stryhnine is a chemical used in rat poison and is easily separated from the rest of the chemicals. When mixed with LSD, it creates a substance that is easily absorbed into the human flesh and highly fatal. Please be careful if you are using a pay phone anywhere. You may want to wipe it off, or just not use one at all.

If you have any questions you can contact me at the links listed below. Thank you. Tina Strongman.

COMMENTS FROM JAN:

I deleted Tina Strongman's e-mail address, just in case she really exists. I sent her a query of my own, but so far have had no reply, and—really—I don't expect one.

The dubious chemistry in this story, the unlikely wasting of saleable drugs, and the suspicious phrase "highly fatal" might be enough to brand this wild story as a bogus warning. But even more convincing is that the mixture of strychnine and LSD is also the supposed danger in the much older "Blue Star Acid" scare. (See TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, pp. 390-392.) Many of the warnings of this kind going around on the Internet or via other media repeat the claim that a gang initiation is involved, but gang experts have never heard of such routines. (See also "Lights Out!" in TOO GOOD, pp. 393-395.)

Here's another needle scare story that is flying around on the Internet and has even been sent out by offices of local government and law enforcement as well as by military units. The usual subject line when it is e-mailed is NOT A JOKE!!!! IMPORTANT ISSUE:

A very good friend of mine is in an EMT certification course. There is something new happening that everyone should be aware of.

Drug users are now taking their used needles and putting them into the coin return slots in public telephones. People are putting their fingers in to recover coins or just to check if anyone left change, and are getting stuck by these needles and infected with hepatitis, HIV and other diseases.This message is posted to make everyone aware of this danger.

Be aware! The change isn't worth it!

P.S. This information came straight from phone company workers, through the EMT instructor. This did NOT come from a hearsay urban legend source.

COMMENTS FROM JAN:

That disclaimer ("NOT a hearsay urban legend source") suggests that the person posting this to the Net doesn't quite trust that friend of a friend who heard it from an EMT instructor. And well he or she might doubt, since this is a classic FOAF verification for an obvious "Bogus Warning." (See TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, Chapter 20 for Bogus Warnings.)

Although people in some organizations have been guilty of circulating this unlikely tale (some claiming that vending machines are also being sabotaged), the official spokespersons for telephone companies, drug monitoring groups, and the Centers for Disease Control have debunked the story. Personally, I think it may be a story encouraged by the cell phone industry to influence people to use their products. And isn't there a trace of guilt here for peoples' habit of checking the coin-return slots for loose change?

There are urban legend skeptics on the Internet as well as true believers. Reacting to all the bogus warnings and doubtful rumors, stories, and claims flying around the Net lately, was one anonymous message with ten numbered points, each one debunking one or more common stories. It begins:

1. Big companies don't do business via chain letters. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true". Furthermore, just becasuue someone said in the message, four generations back, that "We checked it out and it's legit," does not actually make it true.

COMMENTS FROM JAN:

Lots of luck! I've been fighting these and many other such claims for years, to little avail. The Internet is a wonderful tool and a great reference aid, but people need to remember that anyone can post just about anything he or she wants to, and misinformation can be forwarded with the click of a key or a mouse. I strongly subscribe to point 9 on the aforementioned list:

9. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" signs that begin each line either. Besides, if it has gone around that many times, I've probably already seen it.

We might call this warning "Needles, California—and Elsewhere". It has come to me via e-mail countless times in the past few months. Here's a representative version:

READ THE FOLLOWING PLEASE
BE CAREFUL AT MOVIE THEATER!!

This has occurred in Hawaii and California and may be catching on. A young lady went to the movies - when she sat down she felt something poking her. She stood and found a needle with a note attached reading "Welcome to the real world, you're HIV positive."

The needle was tested and contained the HIV virus. The needle was wedged into the seat-fold. Please check where you sit - not just at the movies but all other public places - and watch where you put your hands.

This is becoming a sick world - be careful!!

COMMENTS FROM JAN:

The old needle-through-the-theater-seat motif was part of the "White Slavery" rumors and legends of the 1920s and '30s. At that time the motive of the bad guys was to sedate young women, abduct them, and force them into prostitution. (See my mention of this in CURSES! BROILED AGAIN! pp. 206-208).

Now the story has become one about an anonymous HIV victim who is vindictively spreading the plague to others. If that doesn't remind you of the legend of "AIDS Mary," then the "Welcome" note left behind should. And if these similarities to earlier urban legends don't convince you that this is a bogus warning, be aware that the Centers for Disease Control, mentioned in some versions of the story, has issued a blanket denial of this and other current needle-scare stories. (See TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, pp. 133-134 for "AIDS Mary."

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