Favorite Urban Legends

[SFG75]

Do you have any favorite urban myths? I get flooded with a ton of them as people forward me anything and everything. I'm shocked at times what some people actually believe.

Here's one that I've seen countless times.

Dear everyone: Please pass this along to anyone you know, this needs to get out in the open. Recently Marines over in Iraq supporting this country in OIF wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffee and try to score some free coffee grounds. Starbucks wrote back telling the Marines thanks for their support in their business, but that they don't support the War and anyone in it and that they won't send them the Coffee. So as not to offend them we should not support in buying any Starbucks products.

As a War vet and writing to you patriots I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this War might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street to street and house to house for what they and I believe is right. If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and I'll never know. Thanks very much for your support to me, and I know you'll all be there again here soon when I deploy once more.

Semper Fidelis,
Sgt Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT RTO

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp


Send this one to a parent.

(important) McDonalds Playground

Some of you might not be parents, but you may have nieces, nephews, grandchildren or friends with children this will pertain to you too. As I read the following, my heart sank. I urge each and every one of you to pass this on to as many people as you can. I cannot stress how important this is! This is very disturbing news. In addition to the following true story, I will also add that my own sons were playing in the ball pit at Discovery Zone one day. One son lost his watch, and was very upset. We dug and dug in those balls, trying to find the watch. Instead, we found vomit, food, faeces, and other stuff I do not want to discuss. I went to the manager and raised heck. Came to find out, the ball pit is only cleaned out once a month. I have doubts that it is even done that often. My kids will never play in another ball pit. Now read this

Hi, My name is Lauren Archer, my son Kevin and I lived in Sugarland, TX. On October 2nd, 1994 I took my only son to McDonald's for his 3rd birthday.

After he finished lunch, I allowed him to play in the ball pit. When he started whining later on, I asked him what was wrong, he pointed to the back of his pull-up and simply said "Mommy, it hurts." But I couldn't find anything wrong with him at that time. I bathed him when we got home, and it was at that point when I found a welt on his left buttock. Upon investigating, it seemed as if there was something like a splinter under the welt. I made an appointment to have it taken out the next day, but soon he started vomiting and shaking, then his eyes rolled back into his head.

From there, we went to the emergency room. He died later that night. It turned out that the welt on his buttock was the tip of a hypodermic needle that had broken off inside. The autopsy revealed that Kevin had died from heroine overdose. The next week, the police removed the balls from the ball pit and lo and behold. There was rotten food, several hypodermic needles: some full; some used; knives, half-eaten candy, diapers, feces, and the stench of urine. If a child is not safe in a child's play area then where? You can find the article on Kevin Archer in the October 10, 1994 issue of the Houston Chronicle. Please forward this to all loving mothers!

Gotta love the internet.

 

[mama-sama]

WOW. That last one is disturbing. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Glad I didn't know about it in 1994 when it was actually in the paper since I had a couple of little ones then who where probably playing in a ball pit at some point.

 

[beer good]

Most people are hopefully aware that the [url="http://www.shorty.com/bonsaikitten/index.html]bonsai kitten[/url] page is a joke. Cat lovers may think it's a crude, tasteless, unfunny joke, but it should be obvious to anyone with an IQ above that of a housecat that it is a joke.

The original site was put up in 2000 and has since gone down. Yet this mail is STILL making the rounds:

FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES ANIMALS

A site that we were able to shut last year has returned. We have to try to shut it down again! A Japanese man in New York breeds and sells kittens that are called BONSAI CATS.

That would sound cute, if it weren't kittens that were put in to little bottles after being given a muscle relaxant and then locked up for the rest of their lives!! The cats are fed through a straw and have a small tube for their faeces. The skeleton of the cat will take on the form of the bottle as the kitten grows. The The cats never get the opportunity to move.

They are used as original and exclusive souvenirs. These are the latest trends in New York, China, Indonesia and New Zealand .

If you think you can handle it, view http://www.bonsaikitten.com and have a look at the methods being used to put these little kittens into bottles. This petition needs 500 names, so please put your one name on it!!! Copy the text into a new email and put your name on the bottom, then send it to everyone you know. If you notice that there are 500 names on the list, please send it to: anacheca@hotmail.com

What makes it a special favourite of mine is that my (now former) boss got the above e-mail and forwarded it to me before coming into my office almost in tears at how the poor kittens were treated. I told him the site was a joke. He wouldn't believe me. I told him the images didn't prove anything. He refused to believe that images can be manipulated. (We both worked at a magazine featuring LOTS of slightly manipulated images.) I asked him if he had heard anything about this being "the latest trends in New York, China, Indonesia and New Zealand" from any other source than this mail. He hummed and said he thought he might have read something in the paper the other day. I ranted and googled and finally managed to almost convince him that he'd fallen for a 6-year-old hoax... when one of my (now ex) colleagues walked in on the conversation and in full earnest started explaining that "No no, it's all true. I spoke to a Chinese guy and he confirmed it." [It's true that the moon is made of cheese. I spoke to a French guy and he confirmed it.] "See, what they do is

Spoiler

they insert the bottle into the cat's mothers uterus, and the cat is then born into

..."

At that point, I went home for the day and did weep bitterly.

 

[lenny nero]

Recently the tv show Nip/Tuck weaved not one but two classic urban legends into it's storyline, the stolen kidney one and the dog and peanut butter one.

 

[SFG75]

beer-I work with a lady who just LOVES cats. I believe that she values them more than some humans. I can't wait to let the cat out of the bottle on this one.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

Most people are hopefully aware that the [url="http://www.shorty.com/bonsaikitten/index.html]bonsai kitten[/url] page is a joke. Cat lovers may think it's a crude, tasteless, unfunny joke, but it should be obvious to anyone with an IQ above that of a housecat that it is a joke.

The original site was put up in 2000 and has since gone down. Yet this mail is STILL making the rounds:


What makes it a special favourite of mine is that my (now former) boss got the above e-mail and forwarded it to me before coming into my office almost in tears at how the poor kittens were treated. I told him the site was a joke. He wouldn't believe me. I told him the images didn't prove anything. He refused to believe that images can be manipulated. (We both worked at a magazine featuring LOTS of slightly manipulated images.) I asked him if he had heard anything about this being "the latest trends in New York, China, Indonesia and New Zealand" from any other source than this mail. He hummed and said he thought he might have read something in the paper the other day. I ranted and googled and finally managed to almost convince him that he'd fallen for a 6-year-old hoax... when one of my (now ex) colleagues walked in on the conversation and in full earnest started explaining that "No no, it's all true. I spoke to a Chinese guy and he confirmed it." [It's true that the moon is made of cheese. I spoke to a French guy and he confirmed it.] "See, what they do is

Spoiler

they insert the bottle into the cat's mothers uterus, and the cat is then born into

..."

At that point, I went home for the day and did weep bitterly.

LOL! Yup, those wee kittens sure are a hit over here