Urban myths (and legends)

Subject: Lyr Add: SEAMUS AND THE LADY (Alan Foster)
From: Alan of Oz
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 12:17 AM

G'day,
In the "Definitions Please ??" thread Elektra pointed us to urban legends, more commonly known in Oz as urban myths. This sort of story can be a good source of inspiration for songwriters. Check out the Ronald Opus thread for an example (although strictly speaking this isn't an urban myth because it's true).

Here's another example:-

  SEAMUS AND THE LADY

by Alan Foster

      E                   A           E
One Friday in May Seamus went on his way
                                   B7
From his job at the meatworks, in haste
       E                    A             E
As he did every week he disguised his physique
                                   B7
With a bag full of meat round his waist.
        A                         E
As he crossed o'er the road lanes one and two slowed
                         B7
So Seamus ran at a fast rate
         E                            A         B7
But the lady in lane three, well she never did see
          E          B7          E
Poor old Seamus till it was too late.

Well Seamus he rolled, as it knocked him stone cold
And his meat it spilled onto the road
The lady alighted, the entrails she sighted,
Her brain went into overload.
"Oh the poor man", she cried, "he's split down the side
His insides are all spilling out.
He's getting much worse, please call for a nurse
Or he'll die there isn't a doubt".

The police they arrived just as Seamus revived
And looked all around him in fear
He thought, "I've been caught with meat I've not bought
I've just got to get out of here."
So he picked up his meat, somehow rose to his feet
And hurriedly went on his way
The lady she spied him pick up his insides
And she fainted completely away.

Key change to F

Now Seamus will say when he speaks of that day
How he craftily made his escape
But the lady has thoughts of more gruesome sorts
And nightmares of terrible shape.
So if you're glad you're alive as you go for a drive
By the meatworks down by Homebush Bay
Just keep your eyes peeled for old Seamus O'Neill
And the meat that he carries away.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: Tune Add: SEAMUS AND THE LADY
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 12:19 AM

And here's the tune:

MIDI file: SEAMUS.MID

Timebase: 480

Name: Seamus And The Lady
TimeSig: 3/4 24 8
Key: E
Tempo: 120 (500000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0960 1 59 127 0478 0 59 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 59 127 0478 0 59 127 0002 1 64 127 0958 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 59 127 0238 0 59 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 61 127 0478 0 61 127 0002 1 59 127 0958 0 59 127 0002 1 59 127 0238 0 59 127 0002 1 59 127 0238 0 59 127 0002 1 64 127 0958 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 2398 0 66 127 0002 1 68 127 0238 0 68 127 0002 1 69 127 0238 0 69 127 0002 1 71 127 0478 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0478 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0478 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0958 0 71 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 69 127 0718 0 69 127 0002 1 69 124 0238 0 69 124 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 68 127 0958 0 68 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 68 127 0958 0 68 127 0002 1 69 126 0238 0 69 126 0002 1 68 127 0238 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 64 127 2398 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 69 127 0718 0 69 127 0002 1 69 127 0238 0 69 127 0002 1 69 127 0958 0 69 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 64 127 0958 0 64 127 0002 1 59 127 0478 0 59 127 0002 1 64 127 0718 0 64 127 0002 1 64 126 0238 0 64 126 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 68 127 0718 0 68 127 0002 1 69 127 0238 0 69 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 2398 0 66 127 0002 1 68 127 0238 0 68 127 0002 1 69 127 0238 0 69 127 0002 1 71 127 0238 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0238 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0478 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0478 0 71 127 0002 1 71 127 0958 0 71 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 69 127 0238 0 69 127 0002 1 69 127 0718 0 69 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 68 127 0958 0 68 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 69 125 0718 0 69 125 0002 1 68 127 0238 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 68 127 0478 0 68 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 64 125 0947 0 64 125
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the January 15 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:Seamus And The Lady
M:3/4
Q:1/4=120
K:E
B,2|E2E2B,2|E4EB,|E2E2C2|B,4B,B,|E4EF|G2A2G2|
F6|-F4GA|B2B2B2|B4EE|A3AA2|G4EE|G4AG|F2G2F2|
E6|-E4EE|A2A3A|A4A2|G2G2F2|E4B,2|E3EF2|G3AG2|
F6|-F4GA|BBB2B2|B4EE|AA3A2|G4EE|G2A3G|F2G2F2|
E4||

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 01:21 AM

Hey, Alan - great song. In the second verse:

"Oh the poor man", she cried, "he's split down the"
Split down the ---- What???

I tried guessing, but it didn't come.
Good, though.....
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Bruce O.
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 01:38 AM

Some of the stuff still run across that was in A. Dundas and C. Prager's 'Urban Folklore from the Paperwork Empire', American Folklore Scociey Memoir Series #62, 1975.

I've stuck a few xeroxes I've gotten ahold of into my copy. Mine aren't really myths and legends though.

Let's not get into the old favorite one of the crocodiles in the sewers that pops up about every 10 years.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 01:50 AM

That @#$%^ copy&paste again!

The missing word is side.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 04:39 AM

Other examples from recent threads: "Tate's Hell" is a good story but far from historical truth; "Wolfhound" in my eyes also is rather an urban, pardon: rural, myth than a factual report despite claims to the opposite. Many of the songs we like, even if the core of the stories have a historical basis, are urban or rural myths.
Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: chet w
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 07:14 PM

Here's one of my favorites. Every time I buy an old instrument for the going rate, I will soon meet someone who will say "you know, I got one just like that at a yard sale for five dollars". It is such a common line I've started using it myself when somebody I know buys an instrument.

Chet W.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Gene
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 10:58 PM

And how about this one when you tell a friend about some LPs you've been looking high and low for!!!

Oh! I wished I'da known you were looking for them...I gave them and 30 or 40 others the Goodwill Store - a week or so ago!

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: GaryD
Date: 23 Jan 98 - 11:21 PM

Hi, Guys!...Not sure if you'd agree, but I'd have to include "Max Goolis, the Street Sweeping Man!" by the Limelighters..(to the tune of John Henry)..I'm sure some of you would remember this tune about a public servant Max Goolis who's about to be replaced by an Automated Garbage Truck..and the race begins.." Isn't that sort of an Urban myth or legend? Speaking of the Limelighters, I recorded a tape of them doing a song about surgery (more specificaly a Vasectomy)..hilarious but I ran out of tape in the middle of the song...suppose it's on DT?

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Whippoorwill
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 10:52 AM

Speaking of the Limelighters, one of their classics was "Vikki Dugan," based on a story and picture in Playboy (I think) Magazine back in the 50s about a girl who appeared at a party in a dress cut so low in the back it displayed what's known in the building trades as "carpenter's cleavage." Quite daring at the time.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 11:54 AM

"Urban legends" are the ones that people actually believe, such as the one from my teen years (late '70s) that the kid who played Mikey in the long-running Life Cereal commercial had suffocated from drinking soda pop and eating Pop Rocks candy at the same time. "Hey Mikey! He likes it!"

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 06:08 PM

Anybody recall the "spider eggs" myth that almost bankrupted a major bubble gum company in the early 70s-- Bubblicious, as I recall.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From:
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 06:22 PM

The Great Urban Myth in my border community -- Windsor, Ont.,across the river from Detroit, MI -- is that during Prohibition tunnels were dug under the river from the Canadian to the American side. Everyone has a grandfather or had a grandfather who knew somebody who carried booze across in one. I defy anyone to show me such a tunnel. Considering the trouble encountered when the early Victorian engineers attempted to tunnel under the Thames, how could a bunch of gangsters with farm labourers manage to do it, undetected, and without cave-ins and floods? How could it ever be cost-efficient? Would not such a tunnel be now a tourist attraction? Yet hardly a conversation about Prohibition can be had here without such a tunnel being mentioned and solemnly avowed, often by the same people who think that the Underground Railway which ended here was a real railway with tracks and locomotives. (Perhaps they used the same tunnel under the river?)

I suspect that some blind pig or roadhouse, or gangster's warehouse, might have had a short tunnel to the river, from which such an Urban Legend grew.

If I had a way with lyrics I'd write a song about The Great Phantom Booze Tunnel.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Earl
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 06:52 PM

The one I keep hearing is about tarantulas in a houseplant, usually a cactus, purchased by a friend of a relative or a relative of a friend. If you say it's famous urban myth people get livid.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jon W.
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 07:01 PM

Jan Harald Brunvand, a professor of folklore at the University of Utah, used to put out a column in the local newspaper here in Salt Lake City, about urban legends. He published at least one, but more likely a series of books about them. They may be available in your local libraries.

One of the ones I remember from waaay back was the one about the carpet layer smashing a lump, which he supposed was his pack of cigarettes under the carpet, flat with his hammer, only to find the pack on the seat of his truck. Then the lady of the house asks him if he's seen her canary...

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 07:01 PM

The one I heard was about a winter jacket made in India, that somebody right here in Sacramento bought at K-Mart (or so they say). Well, there were cobra eggs sewn into the jacket, and one hatched and the snake bit the kid who was wearing the jacket. When I first heard the story, I believed it - almost. I hadn't heard about urban myth yet.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Barry
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 07:18 PM

Growing up in the inner city (Boston) we had the one about the little ol lady whose cat died, not knowing what to do , she asked for advice from her friend, which she followed promtly, put the cat's carcuss in a paper bag & went down to the MTA station (at the time it was Dudley), she waited & as the bus pulled up & she got ready to board, a thief ran past her, snatching up bag & all, the little ol lady, smiled & turned to walk back home. Barry

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 07:40 PM

I remember hearing that last story about the dead cat in a paper bag, except that the theft was set in a mall or shopping center parking lot. The first time I heard the story it was told by Maggie Pierce at a folk festival (the Eisteddfodd, I think).

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Barry
Date: 26 Jan 98 - 08:20 PM

Charlie, I was probaly around 10 at the time, putting it around 1961, pre mall era & Eisteddford (but not pre Maggie), the bus played an important part, once you got on, there wern't many drivers at the time that would open the door, once they got started, before the next stop, but that's streching it some.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Roy K_
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 08:15 AM

Haven't heard the flat parakeet story for a long time, but think it was presented as a "true" story. & anyone know the origen of the novelty tune, "the Sick Note?"

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Roy K_
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 08:19 AM

oops, posted question about the Sick Note & found right afterwards a current thread all about it: The Bricklayer's Song

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 08:34 AM

Jan Harold Brunvand has published a series of books which deal with urban legends. I may not be able to recall all of them, but I do remember a few: The Vanishing Hitchhiker; The Mexican Pet; The Baby Train; Curses, Broiled again; The Choking Doberman. Each book contains scores of urban legends which most of us have heard (and which many of us have believed)-- some dating back to Colonial times.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 12:11 PM

"Urban legends" are the ones that people actually believe, such as the one from my teen years (late '70s) that the kid who played Mikey in the long-running Life Cereal commercial had suffocated from drinking soda pop and eating Pop Rocks candy at the same time. "Hey Mikey! He likes it!"

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jon W.
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 01:18 PM

How about the one where the grandma drops dead while on vacation in Mexico, and the family ties her body to the top of the car to bring her back? That one made it into the movies (National Lampoon's Vacation) did it not?

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 03:05 PM

Jon: What we call the "travelling Grandmother" legend did, indeed, make it into the movies, as did the legend of the dog tied to the back bumper of the auto. Many urban legends have been incorporated into movies, and I feel certain that many more will meet the same fate. Usually that is fatal to the legend, for in order to survive as such they must, as Jerry pointed out, be universally taken as the truth, and not something that someone saw in a movie.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jen
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 07:53 PM

Every once in a while, we get one going around, and I recognize it immediately, but when I tell people, they tend to not believe me until I go get one of Brunvand's books off the shelf and actually read it to them, word for word... the cookie recipe story is one that's gone around recently, and the snakes in the coat, which one of my coworkers still believes is true, even though I read her the story! I love urban legends, and know of one that's going around the internet right now that isn't a legend, but is really true, and that's what makes it so funny...

Jen

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 27 Jan 98 - 11:26 PM

It would be funny if one of these things actually happened--if someone really did find a tarantula in a bunch of bananas, say.

I'll bet none of Brunvand's books has any folkloric etymologies. People are amazingly willing to believe that common words come from acronyms--"news" from North East West South; "posh" from Port Out, Starboard Home (there seems to be a chance that it might be true). A high-school teacher told my class, before anyone heard of Van Halen, that "f*ck" comes from "For *nlawful Carnal Knowledge", and I just read in the Albuquerque Journal that the Spanish honorific "don" comes from a phrase meaning "of noble origin" (De Origen... uh... Nobile?). For the real etymologies, see a dictionary.

But then, I'm interested in etymology. I'll stop now.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Earl
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 01:46 AM

The term "trademark" comes from the Smith Brother's first names as you can see on any package of cough drops.

Subject: Lyr Add: HOW GRANNY DIED (Alan Foster)
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 03:22 AM

Jon,
Funny you should mention the one about the granny - that was going around here quite independantly of any movie:-

HOW GRANNY DIED

by Alan Foster (1985)

In the month of January, the weather being fair
Young Jim and Sue went camping, out in the open air.
But as they squeezed their luggage in to the old VW
Sue's Granny said, "I've never camped, do you mind if I come too?"

So they went and bought a roof rack and another sleeping bag
And made some room on the back seat, the springs began to sag.
With their sleeping bags and billy, their esky and their tent
And Granny in the back seat off to the bush they went.

Off to the New England plateau where the nights are cold and damp
They found a spot beside a creek and there they made their camp.
They chatted round the camp fire, the stars were shining bright
Until at last to bed they went, that cold and fateful night.
But it was all too much for Granny, the pace was much too fast,
And sometime in the dead of night old Granny breathed her last.

When Sue awoke next morning and cast her eyes around
She saw Granny laid out in her sleeping bag upon the ground.
Well Sue was broken hearted, her spirits really down,
She said to Jim, "We'll have to take her to the nearest town."

But Granny's limbs had stiffened, (it is a natural law),
And in the car she would not go where she had been before.
To get her in the back seat they saw they had no hope,
So up upon the roof rack they lashed her with some rope.

Because the roads were bumpy with many holes and ditches
They tied her there securely, round turn and two half-hitches.
Well they made it to the township and called upon the Law,
But the cop said, "Pull the other one, I've heard that one before."

So Jimmy tried some reason, "The least that you can do
Is come and have a look out front at our VW."
Well you wouldn't read about it, when they had a look out front
Some mongrel dog had pinched the car; the cop's remark was blunt:
"You nearly had me going, your story had some style,
Now get lost before I throw you in the cooler for a while."

But Sue was rearly frantic, she cried, "The story's true!
And if we don't find Granny I don't know what I'll do."
Her performance was convincing, so they had a look around,
And just around the corner the old Veedub they found.

Whoever swiped the battered bug had stopped to have a perv
At what was on the roof rack and must have lost his nerve.
He'd opened up the sleeping bag, saw Granny lying there
And didn't wait for intros, he just took off like a hare.

Although you won't believe this tale of Granny, Jim and Sue
And of their fateful camping trip, you should because it's true.
I heard it from a bloke whose cousin once removed or two
Knows the man who made the roof rack for the old VW.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 03:37 AM

Tune & chords to follow.

In case some of the song needs translation:-

Esky: portable cool box, usually filled with ice & beer.
New England: an area in northern New South Wales.
Pull the other one - another way of saying "you are pulling my leg".

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: Chords Add: HOW GRANNY DIED (Alan Foster)
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 08:20 AM

Here are chords & tune to "Granny"

HOW GRANNY DIED

        D           A         D       D7    G
In the month of January, the weather being fair
       D                G           A7           D
Young Jim and Sue went camping, out in the open air.
    G                       D                G    D
But as they squeezed their luggage in to the old VW
        G                 D                    A7             D
Sue's Granny said, "I've never camped, do you mind if I come too?"

Subject: Tune Add: HOW GRANNY DIED (Alan Foster)
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 08:22 AM

Melody:

MIDI file: GRANNY.MID

Timebase: 480

Name: How Granny Died
TimeSig: 4/4 24 8
Key: D
Tempo: 120 (500000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
1440 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 62 127 0478 0 62 127 0002 1 62 127 0478 0 62 127 0002 1 62 127 0718 0 62 127 0002 1 62 127 0238 0 62 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 64 127 0958 0 64 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 62 127 0718 0 62 127 0002 1 62 127 0238 0 62 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 67 127 1438 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 66 127 0718 0 66 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0958 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 64 127 0718 0 64 127 0002 1 57 127 0238 0 57 127 0002 1 61 127 0478 0 61 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 62 127 1438 0 62 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 62 127 0718 0 62 127 0002 1 62 127 0478 0 62 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 67 127 0718 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0238 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 66 127 1438 0 66 127 0002 1 66 127 0478 0 66 127 0002 1 67 127 0238 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0718 0 67 127 0002 1 67 127 0478 0 67 127 0002 1 69 127 0478 0 69 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 62 127 0718 0 62 127 0002 1 62 127 0478 0 62 127 0002 1 64 127 0238 0 64 127 0002 1 66 127 0238 0 66 127 0002 1 64 127 0718 0 64 127 0002 1 57 127 0238 0 57 127 0002 1 61 127 0478 0 61 127 0002 1 64 127 0478 0 64 127 0002 1 62 127 1438 0 62 127
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the January 15 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:How Granny Died
M:4/4
Q:1/4=120
K:D
FE|D2D2D3D|E2E4FE|D3DF2A2|G6G2|F3FF2F2|G2G4G2|
E3A,C2E2|D6F2|G2G2G2A2|FD3D2EF|G3GG2A2|F6F2|
GG3G2A2|FD3D2EF|E3A,C2E2|D6||

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jon W.
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 12:44 PM

Alan, wonderful song, thanks for sharing.

Jen, the cookie recipe one certainly is going around, I got it from my sister a couple of months ago.

Note that even though urban legends may not be strictly true in the historical sense, they do often reveal the true feelings of the perpetuators on the subject of the legend. For example, it was obvious that when my sister sent me the cookie recipe, she at least felt sympathetic to the feeling of anger at large corporations making unreasonable profits by charging unreasonable prices.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 03:20 PM

Thanks for the song! The best part is "ditches" and "half-hitches".

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 03:44 PM

Speaking of urban legends, does anyone remember when aspirin plus CocaCola was supposed to be a sure-fire way of destroying a standoffish girl's will and consciousness?

And then there was the thing about smoking bananas.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Sheye
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 05:31 PM

The aspirin/coke thing was touted as a sure-fire form of birth control. (BTW, aspirin really DOES work. The trick is for the female to hold two tablets between her knees.) The writer will not be responsible for failed attempts...

There was a recent occurence where a Canadian was travelling in the states with his elderly father. The father died and the son brought the body home. This made the news because he had failed to acquire the proper permits in the state the man died in... to transport a body.

Tim: I think this was an Eastern thing; do you remember the details?

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Barry
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 05:34 PM

The one about Coke & asprin sipped through a straw, there was a little soda joint across the street from the church/ school I attended as a kid , around seventh grade (1964 ?), we were forbidden by the nuns to enter the store because some of the kids were sipping soda through a straw (with the asprin). Some of us figured it must've been because that store didn't support one of the many many drives/contrabutions. Barry

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Elektra
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 05:47 PM

I recall the smoking-banana-peels-thing from _The Anarchist's Cookbook_, that notorious goldmine of disinformation. (Though some of it may have been valid, other bits were dangerously inaccurate. YIKES!)

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Bruce O.
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 06:07 PM

It's not easy to beat some old urban legends. I just posted one, Battle between the Ale-Wife and Sea Crab.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From:
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 07:20 PM

I do remember the newspaper article about the man bringing home his dead relative from the states, but for lack of a citation I didn't want to mention it lest I be accused of perpetrating another urban myth.:) But since two of us did indeed read it, it must be true.

I have difficulty believing that the outlandish accidents referred to at the Darwin Awards web page happened, but the one about the show-off lawyer falling through the window at a party is indeed true if you can believe the Toronto Star and the Lawyer's Weekly.

I thought Coke and Aspirin were supposed to make you high. By the time that myth came my way I had better things at hand.

Has anyone at any time actually captured a crocodile or alligator in the sewers of any city in North America? Or anywhere? (Sounds like something that could happen in Oz) I have read accounts of people finding snakes in their toilet bowls, escaped from the apartments of lunatic neighbours, and even know a man who says his brother in law killed a rat that came up the toilet -- but crocs and alligators? Are they still protected species when they are in your sewer pipe?

My dad says that when he was a kid it was asserted that eating lobsters and ice cream together would kill you. That I do believe . . .

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jen
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 10:06 PM

heh, I remember the one about the spider eggs in the bubblegum and I ate it anyway (strange child) Also remember the one about the "little boy from England who was dying and wanted to get in the Guiness Book of world records for most cards received..." that one's going around as an email urban legend now.

And the cookie one's recipe does really make good cookies...

My favorite one is about the girl who has her hair up in a beehive, doesn't wash her hair for weeks, and a cockroach gets in her hair and eats through her scalp to her brain and she dies. And the one about the girl who is about to go on a date, her hairdryer breaks and she attempts to dry her hair in the microwave...

can't tell I love these things, can you?

The Hook story was published in a recent "Ghosts in Ohio" book(don't remember the exact title) as a true story. I'm still debating whether to write the author and tell him its an urban legend.

Jen

Jen

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 10:20 PM

Sometimes these urban legends are referred to as FOAF stories: Friend Of A Friend. With that in mind:

COMPUTER VIRUS WARNING...

I just received word from a friend that there is a new computer virus going around called _____. He had the news forwarded from his friend. Therefore, you know that the story is true because it comes from a friend of a friend. Forward this warning to everybody you know. Since you were told by a friend, your friends will have received word of it from a FOAF. Then they can forward it to their friends.

So you see, internet e-mail is simply the newest means of transmission for the oldest categories of tales.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: GaryD
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 10:29 PM

I would think the numerous stories of Alligators flushed down the privy in New York as they got too big as pets..perpetuating the legend that they live off the rats (& occasional sanitation workers) would have to be included in my list of urban myths.. I know that one became a "B" (or "C") Science fiction movie..which I still loved, though somewhat far fetched!.. Gary

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Gene E
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 11:35 PM

Dick Greenhaus,

I got started droppin' aspirin in coke back in '69, only one year after I started smokin' banana. Bean doin' both ever sinse.

Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Jen
Date: 28 Jan 98 - 11:50 PM

yeah, and spider eggs do make softer bubble gum. *grin*

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Earl
Date: 29 Jan 98 - 01:04 AM

Elektra mentioned The Anarchist's Cookbook as a source of disinformation. There is a rumor that it was actually produced by the CIA with deliberately flawed bomb recipes so that would-be anarchists would blow themselves up.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jan 98 - 03:45 AM

Hey, I thought the Coca-Cola and aspirin was supposed to raise your blood pressure so high you'd flunk your draft physical. Didn't know about the aphrodysiac qualities, though. The nuns didn't tell us about THAT. The nuns were really good with their own brand of Catholic urban myth, though. We used to love those gory stories about the saints and what they did to avoid a Fate Worse Than Death.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 29 Jan 98 - 07:38 AM

G'day,
I've had a frog appear in a toilet bowl, and upstairs as well. No crocodiles though.

The town of Katherine in the Northern Territory has been flooded this week following a tropical cyclone. There was a police report of a crocodile swimming down the main street. I doubt that it would have been a man-eating saltwater croc, probably a harmless (but don't put your hand in its mouth) freshwater croc - it's too far from the coast. Having been in Katherine a few months ago in the dry season and having seen how far the water must rise to flood the town I can only say that the volume of water involved is beyond comprehension.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Bert
Date: 29 Jan 98 - 09:10 AM

Re: "travelling Grandmother"

My second wife was a nurse anesthetist working in Saudi Arabia.
On one occasion she had to escort a very sick patient back to The States.

She was given strict orders that "should the patient die on the journey, don't tell anyone until the wheels touch the runway in the US".
Fortunately, the patient survived the journey.

Subject: RE: Urban myths (and legends)
From: Elektra
Date: 29 Jan 98 - 01:00 PM

Earl -- the CIA, huh? Sounds like a *conspiracy* to me...

Jen -- that one about the little boy WAS actually true. However, he has now been in remission for five years (cancer, Make-a-Wish-Foundation was the original story frame) and in fact, if you call make-a-wish that is the first thing you hear on the recording, along with "STOP SENDING CARDS!!"