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| 7 URBAN LEGEND MYTHS You Still Believe! |
Urban legends are a fun part of our culture, people like telling them or hearing them depending on whether you like to do the scaring or be scared. But the vast majority of them simply aren't true, and for reasons you might not expect.
Well in this article I'm going to take seven of the most commonly believed urban legend myths that you
likely still believe and explain the truth behind them.
There are a number of stories still shared around dinner tables, water coolers, and on social media that come from a completely fictitious place. So, today I'm gonna set those straight.
Some that are going around are more obvious than others but rest assured there are a number of people who still think that they are true, so without further ado, these are seven urban legend myths that you still believe.
The legendary town of USA, Japan
With all of the imports coming from Japan it's not surprising that this myth formed and became so well known.
The story goes that many of the items that you buy in the United States that say on them "Made in the USA" are actually manufactured in a town in Japan that was renamed USA so that they could import easier into America.
After World War II the words "Made in Japan" became synonymous with cheaply made products. Soon after, this myth was spread to imply a Japanese marketing genius had found a workaround somehow.
In reality, it's pretty ridiculous to think that the US would have such ho-hum importing laws or laws against misleading advertising or that Japan would really go as far as to rename an entire city just to fool American customers.
Little bit of common sense my friends.
The crapper invention
How perfect is it that the toilet, a device that we use every day that makes our lives easier by dealing with our, well, crap, happens to be invented by a guy named Thomas Crapper, maybe it's too good to be true?
Yeah, just a little bit, yeah, well that's cause it is.
Though Thomas Crapper was a plumber with multiple patents, none of them were for the toilet. Alexander Cummings is credited with the toilet's invention, not Crapper, whose name I can't seem to say enough.
This myth was the product of author Wallace Rayborn, who in his book "Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper, created the myth. The work was fictitious but managed to spread the rumor that Mr. Crapper was, ahem, heir to the throne.
The spider hairdo
Once upon a time a vain woman who was obsessed with her tall hairdo suffered a headache that lasted several days until ultimately brought about her death. When they let down her hair hundreds of tiny spiders leapt from the follicles, having lived in the well-kept hairdo their entire lives.
Now I bet that that's not the first time that you've heard this urban legend but, is there any truth to it?
Well of course not, this myth was spread in the 1950s to warn young ladies against being vain and had to encourage them to choose hygiene over how they looked.
It's actually somehow still used today though it's been reworded to say that a person's dreadlocks house the arachnids.
Eh, I don't like spiders, let's just move on, it's not true.
The alligators of New York City
Have you heard this one before, a family buys a baby alligator while on vacation, brings it home to New York City and after a year or two starts to realize that they're raising a dangerous animal in their home, so what do they do well they drop it down the nearest manhole into the sewers where it grows over time into a huge monster.
That might sound ridiculous but this legend is far from new and it's evolved into a claim that there's a small army of vicious alligators under the New York streets.
I'm not kidding, time to take a bite outta this myth.
According to multiple experts the idea that an alligator could not only survive the cold of New York but thrive there is of course ridiculous. Additionally the amount of toxins and garbage that the creature would be living in would punch its scaled clock before it grew to an inch.
Lemmings migrate to their own deaths
It's a well-known urban legend that these adorable little creatures follow each other everywhere, even off of a cliff, well this myth was made famous by a couple different sources. The first is a documentary produced by Disney of all studios in 1958, in the film it's seen that the film actually forced the adorable Lemmings to a cliff's edge where they were pushed over.
Viewers were shocked by the idea that these creatures would actually take their own lives but fully believed it. So much so that the film titled "White Wilderness" actually won and Academy Award for best documentary.
The second source was the game Lemmings which is one of my favorite childhood video games. Google it, it's pretty fun.
Walt Disney's body and head were cryogenically frozen
Speaking of Disney, a legendary technical innovator, inventor and beloved story teller, Walt Disney passed away on December 15th, 1966.
A rumor soon spread that the genius creator of the world's most famous mouse had himself cryogenically frozen and that his body slash head are stored under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney.
Now in all fairness it was said that he wanted to stay frozen until science brought about the ability to
reanimate him, however in truth Disney was cremated on December 17th, 1966, two days after his death. His daughter Diane confirmed his ashes were interred in Glendale, California and the idea that he was frozen was made pretty much false.
Pop Rocks and Cola
Fizzing candy and Cola, what's not to like?
Well if you're a child of the 70s, 80s or 90s, you know exactly what's not to like.
Pain and potentially death.
There was an urban legend created shortly after Pop Rocks were invented, you know the famous candy that crackles in your mouth after it goes in there, which is that if you mix this magical confectionery with Pepsi or Cola, you would create a reaction inside of your body that would lead to immense pain or you know the end of your life.
Now of course there is no truth to this rumor and General Foods, the manufacturer of Pop Rocks, tried valiantly to debunk it due to taking a sales hit, but yet it remains, feel free to try it yourself because beyond possibly hurting your teeth, you know with all that sugar, nothing bad's gonna happen.
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