Urban Legends About Crime, part I
Like many readers of crime, true or fictional, I enjoy a good story. Urban legends straddle the line between truth and fiction; though they are always said to be true when told, their sources cannot be verified.
In case you don't know exactly what one is, an urban legend is a story that spreads rapidly, changes details in re-telling, is about something that happens to someone besides the teller (a friend-of-a-friend, or FOAF) and contains elements of truth-in fact, they are usually quite plausible.
Here's an example:
A woman is shopping at Sam's Club when she realizes her 4-year-old daughter has vanished. The anxious mother waits while store managers lock all of the store's exits and employees begin searching for the girl. She is soon found in the men's restroom, alone and unharmed-except her head is shaved and she is wearing a boy's outfit.
Before you protest that this is a true story, I'm going to tell you now that it isn't. That's the nature of an urban legend. This particular story is at least 20 years old and has featured a variety of department stores, as well as theme parks, malls, toy stores, and other public locations. (Read Jan Harold Brunvand's book, The Mexican Pet, for the details and other versions of this particular story.)
We have all been suckers at one time or another and believed an urban legend. It's nothing to be ashamed of. They're slippery little critters. And they're everywhere. My e-mailbox is constantly filling with "pass this along" notes that I recognize or suspect of being false tales. I've tried to teach my friends and family how to check them out before passing them along. Some are glad to; others are resistant (and quite gullible, I might add).
In any case, I'm honoring the urban legend in this and next week's columns. I'll share some good stories, show you how to identify an urban legend, and give you some resources so you can check new stories you hear.
The following stories are urban legends collected from a variety of sources. None of them are true. Visit the links at the end of part II for more on these and other stories.
My mother-in-law received a letter from Citibank that stated Osama bin Laden is a principal owner of the company. My husband called Citibank to check the validity of the letter. They confirmed that Osama bin Laden is a principal owner-not a stockholder, but a principal owner. Then they said they couldn't discuss anything else.
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