h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am looking for a collaborative effort here. The more stories that can be added here, the better this piece will be. The spooky spiders piece should serve as an example for what I am looking for. All stories that I incorporate in the final article will, of course, get researcher credit.

The myth that is based on fact:

Many people take an annual holiday and enjoy the benifits of a change in life style and a well deserved rest. The fortunate may go abroad or different States, others may stay in there own country or state but for some it is stay at home especially if the pennies are not available.

When friends and neibours ask where they are going for their holiday, a crptic answer may be given which the locals know to mean 'not going away'. In Maidstone in Kent UK, the crriptic answer is "We are going to visit Tovil Treacle Mines". In Gravesend a nearby town it could be "Up to see the Cobham Lighthouse". Cobham is a village close by. Neither of the places exist. Cobham is miles away from the River Thames and a lighthouse is not likely to be on the cards, but the Treacle Mines (although not generally known) did exist.

Trebor/Sharps a sweet and confectionary manufacturer in the area used to produce syrup from sugar at a plant in Tovil (an area of Maidstone) for making their toffees, THis plant became to be known loving by the locals as The Treacle Mines. It is no longer there but remains a place where locals can pretend to go on holiday.

Hope this is what you are looking for.
BTW I will advertise this on my front page for you.

If you would like a text editor to go at the foot of the article, like in the Fun Run - Just ask me or Bruce and we will arrange it for you.
catcha
vegiman

Not exactly what I'm looking for here, vegi. I'm looking for stuff which has two basic principles: 1. It reads somewhat like a story. 2. Someone reading it who did not know it was a myth would be likely to be deceived by it. In this way, even though ths is a collection of fiction, it does provide a bit of useful information for the otherwise gullible traveler. I may change my mind about that, though, and use your input anyway. Eventually, I hope to make this main page into a bigger description of what an urban legend is, and then use a table of links to carry readers to the slew of stories I've collected. Not getting much support there from the powers that be, though...does Peta ever check her home page?

Jan Harold Brunvand has written four or five books full of urban legends. Paraphrasing those probably wouldn't be a copyright infringement if proper credit was given, but unfortunately I don't have copies with me, although I could attempt to recall some of them over the next few days. For starters, there's the myth my dormmates are insisting has some basis in fact: if your roommate commits suicide, you get straight A's for the semester...presumably to compensate for the mental trauma.

Lupa: there is a comedy movie that was released recently that dealt with this very subject...your friend probably learned about this from the flick.

Yeah, I've heard about it. Maybe they did get the idea from it...but it was certainly widespread even before that.

That's right...
We used to joke about it when I was in college in the 80's.

- I'm going to slit your wrists some night when you're drunk because I'm failing all my classes this semester. That kind of light-hearted campy kind of fun!

Still finding the kettle a bit here. But settling in now - so able to get on with this.

I am sorting it out right now. I even have a good urban legend for you! Will be right back.

But is it urban legend, or is it true?

I'd say it was an urban legend....
If only because everyone knew about it, but nobody ever knew if it was true.

Lupa or Jimi: if someone wants to write a piece on it, and post it to this forum, there's a researcher credit in it for ya....

One of my favorites is probably the first one I ever heard. When I was younger and played on the swingsets in the park near my house, there was this story that went around about the kid that swung so high that he went all the way around, made a loop on the swingset. Nobody really believed this story, but everyone seems to know someone that knew someone that knew the guy. I think the story served to keep us from swinging as high as we might have otherwise.
The rope swings which hang over mill creek provided fertile ground for our imaginations as well. There were smaller ones which we regularly used to swing out and jump into the river. There were also big, long ones which were tied way, way up on a lone branch at the tops of the trees. I heard several stories about the person that climbed up the tree to tie the rope on, way back when, and about how far out you would go if you used that swing and hung on 'till the end, and the rock they would jump from to catch the rope. We couldn't even reach the rope.
There were supposed to be bodies and cars full of money at the bottom the river, too, but that's another story.

At UCSC, if your roommate commits suicide, you don't necessarily get straight a's, since only certain classes there give grades, and even then you have to ask for the grade. You do pass all of your classes automatically, though, which we referred to as the 'ultimate sacrifice.'

If it's desired, I will get ahold of the UCSC student manual to verfiy the 'ultimate sacrifice.'

I would definitely like verification of that. I always thought that story was nothing more than a myth. If it's true at UCSC, at any rate, I can tell my friend who goes there. It'll be especially useful for her since she's got three roommates to choose from...and presumably whichever one she chooses, she'll be able to enlist help from the other two since all three of them will reap the benefits .

Thanks, vague...you reminded me of a popular urban legend from my own hometown...stay tuned for the addition of "Bloody Mary." It's rather farfetched, but it was told among 5-9 year old kids, so it was often believed.

Here's a nice one I picked up at school:

A young woman, in her twenties, named Diana, lived in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. She lived in a single flat by herself, except for a very large, very hairy, very friendly labrador, called Roger. Diana and Roger were very close. Roger would always sleep beside Diana's bed, and if she ever woke up in the middle of the night, Roger would lick her hand and this would calm her down, and within a few minutes she would fall back to sleep. One night in June, a loud crashing noise woke her up. She stuck out her hand, it was licked, and Diana, reassured, fell back to sleep. In the morning Diana got out of bed and went to have a shower. She opened the bathroom door, stared for a moment, then ran screaming and called the police. For in the bath was the bloody torn remains of Roger. And written on the wall in blood was: HUMANS CAN LICK HANDS TOO.

There is a similar story to this about a young woman in New York who shared a flat with another girl. The second girl stayed in one evening while the first went out on the town. The girl who went out had left her coat at home and came back to get it. Not wanting to disturb her friend she didn't bother turning the lights on and fetched her coat and left again in the dark. On returning late at night she found her frind butchered on the floor, and written on the walls in her blood "I bet you're glad you didn't turn on the lights"

A woman went swimming in India a few years back. She swallowed some of the water.

She started getting an extended abdomen - feeling really uncomfortable and really unwell. They scanned her abdomen and found a 5ft snake. She had swallowed it when it was tiny and it was living in her guts.

Any poison to kill it would also kill her. So they operated. But couldn't get it out because as they cut open the gut the snake wriggled away to another part.

So it is still in there. She just has to live with it....

That one is really gross Peta!

I heard on the radio that kids are thinking that Mountain Dew prevents pregnancy...
Apparently it was in Monday's edition of the Wall Street Journal (the story about the kids thinking this, not that it actually works!).