Guest, I will say it again.

These were rumours I heard as a child.

BECAUSE there were rumours of course I have no evidence to support them.

What I am trying to discover by asking the question is have they any substance.   

You, merely dismissing the proposition, neither dispels or confirms the rumours, although I am sure there are those who would suggest it tends towards a substantiation of the same.

I gather that is not a premise you would wish to expound.