Urban Legends (on the Internet)
By Cheryl Alexander, Tampa PC Users Group
Rumors flying. Gossip galore. Knowing something that very few others know, even if it isn't true. Human nature has loved these things since the dawn of time and will continue to do so. However, with the Internet and email putting the world at our fingertips, individuals can do it faster and reach more people at the same time than ever before.
Many of these are stories that were passed on by word of mouth. They never happened to someone known to the individual and usually involved a Friend Of A Friend (FOAF). For the really gross stories, camp and slumber parties were the travel method. With the arrival of fax machines, the stories could circulate even faster. The advent of email brought ease of personal communication and, yes, the very same stories! They've been the basis of at least two movies ("Dead Man on Campus" and "Urban Legend"), a line of commercials for K-Mart, and several different TV series episodes.
These, my friend, are known as Urban Legends. Some of them are even true! However, the vast majority are made up or an old story placed in a modern setting. Many of them serve as cautionary tales in these "dangerous" times. We've all heard them or received them as a fax or many-times forwarded email. I remember hearing all the spooky ones at a slumber party and didn't sleep well for a long time!
What kind of stories are Urban Legends (UL)? The Choking Doberman, Alligators in Sewers, Maniac in the Back Seat, Diver Found in Tree are just a very tiny fraction of the stories that are out there. How do you know if you've been told or passed a UL? Quite often, there are few verifiable details, such as names, places, and dates. But that isn't always a guarantee. There actually are several sites that deal with Urban Legends. The one that I read the most is The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legends Reference Pages. Here is a list of some stories that I have been passed and found on the web site Urban Legends Reference Pages (http://snopes.simplenet.com/ or http://www.snopes.com):
It is a nicely organized site. They also have a message board where rumors and facts are tossed around with abandon. Before posting anything that you've heard on the board, search the site. It's probably there, and you will prevent unnecessary threads. However, if you just use this site (or a similar one that has researched the stories) to check the email with a subject line that is just too scary or too good to be true, then you can avoid passing on a story that is totally without basis in fact.
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