Urban legends

Thephantomsmask

An email that went around from female friends at various times when I lived in different parts of the country. It was a warning that someone was spiking drinks in *nearby nightclub* with a rohypnol and a drug used to make horses sterile so that they could be raped without falling pregnant. No source/victims/name of mythical drug could ever be provided.

JustAThought

What about the one where the dark web was watching you through your laptop camera and unkess you put a sticking plaster over it you would be streamed on pay per porn washing and dressing and having bedtime fun in every jailblock in Russia

AllForIt

JustAThought wrote: »

What about the one where the dark web was watching you through your laptop camera and unkess you put a sticking plaster over it you would be streamed on pay per porn washing and dressing and having bedtime fun in every jailblock in Russia

I've always wondered about this. When I have used any cam whether on a desktop usb plug-in type of thing or an inbuilt one on a laptop - a mini led light would turn on when the cam is activated. Thereby altering one that the cam is being accessed. Thus if the light isn't on it's hardly being used without your knowledge is it? I don't think any hacker has the capability to activate your cam without the led light being on.

JustAThought

AllForIt wrote: »

I've always wondered about this. When I have used any cam whether on a desktop usb plug-in type of thing or an inbuilt one on a laptop - a mini led light would turn on when the cam is activated. Thereby altering one that the cam is being accessed. Thus if the light isn't on it's hardly being used without your knowledge is it? I don't think any hacker has the capability to activate your cam without the led light being on.

Do you think the dark web nèeds a light - or leaves a trail?

What about the one that says if you die alone with just your dog it will lie beside you and howl and pine. But if you die alone with a cat it will eat through your dead eyes to your brain to save its soul.

gozunda

The story goes that in 1987 a guy in a burnt out wetsuit was found lodged high up in a tree after a serious wild fire in Northern California.

The local police department had no idea who the guy was or what he was doing in a forest at over 5000 feet in altitude dressed in scuba gear.

Checking the missing person reports - the police found a match of a missing guy who had been doing some underwater work on a river dam some 50 miles to the north of the forest fire. Turned out the guy had been scooped up by one of the planes used to suck up thousands of gallons of water to douse forest fires and had been dropped to his death ...

True story

ricero

Heard this one a few times. A girl goes on a foreign holiday and falls for one of the locals and has sex all week with the person. He gives her a gift to open only when shes on the plane. Girl opens box to reveal a letter from the guy saying that he had aids.

banie01

mikemac2 wrote: »

The yanks on bus eireann who passed Bunratty Castle and remarked it was clever the castle was built so close to Shannon airport

Meh, the Brits have the same about Windsor castle and Heathrow

This might be shouted down as an urban legend but I hand on bollox swear it's true.
I once had the pleasure of listening to a group of American tourists complain that they could not believe they built King John's Castle so close to the road and the river...
Was traffic lighter back then?

mr chips

razorblunt wrote: »

The pet snake that was "cuddling" up to its owner at night being being flat out on the bed alongside them. Turns out this behaviour a snake does when it's measuring potential prey to see if the carcass would fit ... or something.


Also, the fell who had a liathróid get caught in the hip socket while it was being put back into place following a dislocation on the sports field.

That one's more or less true - happened to Jaco Taute, the South African centre/fullback who now plays for Munster.
http://stormersmagazine.com/issues/2016-06/#page7
"It started in 2013 in my first game for the DHL Stormers, when I can off the bench against the Vodacom Bulls. One of my testicles burst in a nasty tackle - it was a not a pleasant experience".

Back to the urban myths - a single female teacher at my secondary school absolutely, definitely used to sleep with one or two sixth-year students.  Possibly every year.
(That was a bit of a bizarre one because frankly, she was no oil painting.)

RDM_83 again

AllForIt wrote: »

I've always wondered about this. When I have used any cam whether on a desktop usb plug-in type of thing or an inbuilt one on a laptop - a mini led light would turn on when the cam is activated. Thereby altering one that the cam is being accessed. Thus if the light isn't on it's hardly being used without your knowledge is it? I don't think any hacker has the capability to activate your cam without the led light being on.

If Zuckerberg does it there might be some truth to it as I can imagine the man has people working for him that are at the highest end of IT security


It wasn't a dark web thing instead focussing on Yahoo but look up the Optic Nerve program, that was literally millions of webcams

wexie

gozunda wrote: »

The story goes that in 1987 a guy in a burnt out wetsuit was found lodged high up in a tree after a serious wild fire in Northern California.

The local police department had no idea who the guy was or what he was doing in a forest at over 5000 feet in altitude dressed in scuba gear.

Checking the missing person reports - the police found a match of a missing guy who had been doing some underwater work on a river dam some 50 miles to the north of the forest fire. Turned out the guy had been scooped up by one of the planes used to suck up thousands of gallons of water to douse forest fires and had been dropped to his death ...

True story

I was going to write a post to say I wonder how many of these posts originate from Darwin awards and then I spotted this one

http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1998-03.html

It is indeed an urban legend though.

(and if I'm not mistaken I think it was also the subject of an episode of CSI (not sure which one))

Gwen Cooper

facehugger99 wrote: »

That reminds me of the schoolchild who committed suicide by sticking 2 pencils up his nose and slamming his face into the desk - happened a few years ago and a couple of schools over.

This one made it to Eastern Europe, was being told about 18 years ago

Iseedeadpixels

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

This one made it to Eastern Europe, was being told about 18 years ago

Can you think of any funny/scary myths from Eastern Europe we wouldnt have heard?

.red.

The one about the couple's quiz on Gerry Ryan's radio show.
Their separated for the quiz and have to answer a list of questions with the same answers to win a holiday.
All correct going into the last question and the wife is asked the last place they had sex, she's mortified cos her parents will hear it but is told that she can't win if she doesn't answer. Eventually she answers it was in the kitchen.
Up comes the husband and likewise he's too embarrassed to say it on live radio, he's assured his wife has already answered so there's nothing to hide,
He thinks about it for a moment and decides to answer,
"In the arse"
They don't win the holiday and he goes home to everyone knowing his wife loves a bit of back door action.
Definitely happened!

Hector Savage

The one about getting into the car and about to leave, but the object sensor is going mental, driver can't see anything but gets out just to be sure, and there is a baby/toddler playing under the wheel ..as kids do like !!

cavemeister

I remember hearing a story a few years back and not sure if real or not (I'm leaning towards real as this happened in America)

I guys rings his bank to dispute a charge. Gets through to a call center in Texas and after a heated exchange, he asks the girls name. She only gives her first name (Sarah for now) saying it was bank policy never to give out last name.

The man then rings Interflora and orders 12 red roses to be delivered to Sarah in the Texas bank call center.

He waits outside and when he sees a girl emerge at the end of the day with the flowers, he shoots her.

Hector Savage

cavemeister wrote: »

I remember hearing a story a few years back and not sure if real or not (I'm leaning towards real as this happened in America)

I guys rings his bank to dispute a charge. Gets through to a call center in Texas and after a heated exchange, he asks the girls name. She only gives her first name (Sarah for now) saying it was bank policy never to give out last name.

The man then rings Interflora and orders 12 red roses to be delivered to Sarah in the Texas bank call center.

He waits outside and when he sees a girl emerge at the end of the day with the flowers, he shoots her.

jaysus!!

Wouldn't surprise me at the same time MURICA!!

Gwen Cooper

cavemeister wrote: »

I remember hearing a story a few years back and not sure if real or not (I'm leaning towards real as this happened in America)

I guys rings his bank to dispute a charge. Gets through to a call center in Texas and after a heated exchange, he asks the girls name. She only gives her first name (Sarah for now) saying it was bank policy never to give out last name.

The man then rings Interflora and orders 12 red roses to be delivered to Sarah in the Texas bank call center.

He waits outside and when he sees a girl emerge at the end of the day with the flowers, he shoots her.

This story was told to every new hire in the call center I worked in as a reason why we don't give out last names, but we were told that it happened in our call center years ago. She didn't get shot though, she was badly beaten up. Everyone believes that in there. Eeeeeeveryone.

Hector Savage

Your Face wrote: »

This one has happened everywhere to everyone ever:

A family moved into one house of a row of attached houses.
Every morning they wake up and the place looks a little bit different. Sometimes food is missing.

Then one night, one of the children says they saw a man in the kitchen but the parents don't believe him.
Weeks pass when the father needs to put stuff up in the attic.
He gets up there and first thing he notices is there is no wall between the attics in the houses.
He then sees that the place is kitted out to be a home. Someone is living up there and sneaking into the house at night to steal food.

That was a storyline in Coronation Street about 20 years ago ... Les Battersby !!!

Gwen Cooper

Hector Savage wrote: »

That was a storyline in Coronation Street about 20 years ago ... Les Battersby !!!

Something like this actually happened in Japan: Full article

The resident of the house, who has not been named, became suspicious that he was the victim of repeat burglaries after he noticed food was going missing from his refrigerator.

The man decided to install security cameras linked to his mobile phone and on Wednesday caught images of a woman walking around the house while he was out.

Believing he had detected the burglar, the man contacted police and, after an exhaustive search of the property, officers found the woman hiding in the top of a built-in cupboard designed to store bedding and mattresses.

Behind the sliding door, she had laid out a thin futon and had several plastic drinks bottles, police said. There was just enough room for her to lay down, they added.

I remember seeing the CCTV video years ago, however I can't find it now, can't confirm that the video was not fake though.

LirW

Junkies walking around in crowded places and inject their own Aidsblood into random people to make them sick.

Also that one guy who was bitten by a spider, got a weird bump on his leg and when the doctor cut it open, tons of baby spiders came out.

IITYWYBMAD

.red. wrote: »

The one about the couple's quiz on Gerry Ryan's radio show.
Their separated for the quiz and have to answer a list of questions with the same answers to win a holiday.
All correct going into the last question and the wife is asked the last place they had sex, she's mortified cos her parents will hear it but is told that she can't win if she doesn't answer. Eventually she answers it was in the kitchen.
Up comes the husband and likewise he's too embarrassed to say it on live radio, he's assured his wife has already answered so there's nothing to hide,
He thinks about it for a moment and decides to answer,
"In the arse"
They don't win the holiday and he goes home to everyone knowing his wife loves a bit of back door action.
Definitely happened!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xxHJ5m8cGQ

Dramatik

Heard this one, it's usually told with different fast food restaurants. A man is out and about doing his shopping and what not when he has the sudden urge to go to the toilet. He looks around and the closest place is Mc Donalds, he runs in and just about makes it to the bowl. A couple of minutes later he is finished, he goes to get up off the toilet and realizes that he is stuck, some prankster has covered the seat in super glue. The fire brigade has to be called and yer man has to be cut off the seat and the story ends up in the local newspaper with pictures of him stuck on the toilet.

NickNickleby

Dramatik wrote: »

Heard this one, it's usually told with different fast food restaurants. A man is out and about doing his shopping and what not when he has the sudden urge to go to the toilet. He looks around and the closest place is Mc Donalds, he runs in and just about makes it to the bowl. A couple of minutes later he is finished, he goes to get up off the toilet and realizes that he is stuck, some prankster has covered the seat in super glue. The fire brigade has to be called and yer man has to be cut off the seat and the story ends up in the local newspaper with pictures of him stuck on the toilet.

Same one, but its a girl at a 21st party. The fire brigade arrives and unsrcews the toilet seat from the toilet. As she's bent forward with her ass in the air and a paramedic behind her , she says in deep embarrassment "oh God, I'm sure its not often you get to see this" to which the paramedic replies "oh not at all, but its the first time I've seen one framed!"

and apologies, as I'm sure this is probably more a joke than an urban myth....

DaeryssaOne

The one about people leaving needles sticking out of random seats in the cinema so you sit on them in the dark and get infected with aids :eek:

wexie

Dramatik wrote: »

Heard this one, it's usually told with different fast food restaurants. A man is out and about doing his shopping and what not when he has the sudden urge to go to the toilet. He looks around and the closest place is Mc Donalds, he runs in and just about makes it to the bowl. A couple of minutes later he is finished, he goes to get up off the toilet and realizes that he is stuck, some prankster has covered the seat in super glue. The fire brigade has to be called and yer man has to be cut off the seat and the story ends up in the local newspaper with pictures of him stuck on the toilet.

that's not exactly an urban legend :

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/woman-gets-super-glued-to_n_1633026.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/04/06/maryland.toilet.prank/index.html

http://www.wfmj.com/story/22485723/woman-glued-to-seat-at-walmart-in-liberty

seems to be most common in Walmarts, make of that what you will

Dramatik

Shieet, there's some evil, evil people out there :eek:

gctest50

LirW wrote: »

...............

Also that one guy who was bitten by a spider, got a weird bump on his leg and when the doctor cut it open, tons of baby spiders came out.

You get that sort of thing from mosquito bites - it's fairly important to know it if you're going abroad

NSF(delicate people ) - contains faceworm thing :

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1716138

Annasopra

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

Woman/Man eats kfc burger, loads of mayo.

Next day severe stomach cramps.

Rushed to hospital.

Established that there is semen from several different sources present in stomach.


Have heard that story, concerning about 8 different local KFC branches in my time.

1 of which was in Holland.

Years ago the urban legend was the Chinese restaurants were dressing dog meat up as pork

banie01

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Years ago the urban legend was the Chinese restaurants were dressing dog meat up as pork

I never thought they were using dogs!
But...
Ask yourself this!
Given the number of Chinese people living in Ireland, there is an awful paucity of Chinese Funerals or headstones....


And on that note, not that I believe for a second our Asian friends are purveyors of long pork...
When I lived abroad, a Chinese restaurant I frequented was raided and 2 bodies were discovered in a freezer(Fully intact).
Apparently the family that owned the restaurant we're saving to send them home for burial.

arybvtcw0eolkf

JustAThought wrote: »

What about the one where the dark web was watching you through your laptop camera and unkess you put a sticking plaster over it you would be streamed on pay per porn washing and dressing and having bedtime fun in every jailblock in Russia

I actually know someone who covers their laptop cam 'just in case' lol

Brett Proud Female

Brett Proud Female wrote: »

I actually know someone who covers their laptop cam 'just in case' lol

Mark Zuckerberg does it as well. Sure what would he know about privacy or security?

Subcomandante Marcos

gctest50 wrote: »

You get that sort of thing from mosquito bites - it's fairly important to know it if you're going abroad

Not just mosquito bites.
Any open wound. Not flies will lay eggs in scratches or open pimples. They're pretty harmless but can hurt and will leave a lil scar.

You have to suffocate them to get the larva to come to the surface and then pull them out. I've seen one in person, pretty trippy.

wexie

Brett Proud Female wrote: »

I actually know someone who covers their laptop cam 'just in case' lol

Deleted User wrote: »

Mark Zuckerberg does it as well. Sure what would he know about privacy or security?

I don't know how common it is (probably not very) but it has certainly happened

I thought this case was particularly interesting, a student got disciplined over something he did in his own bedroom (never specified what I think)...as recorded by his school supplied laptop....who'd have thought that would ever end badly :rolleyes:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams

http://ca.norton.com/yoursecurityresource/detail.jsp?aid=webcam_hacking

circadian

I remember when everyone was losing their collective pre-teen minds because Keenan & Kel were killed in a car crash.

wexie

wexie wrote: »

I don't know how common it is (probably not very) but it has certainly happened

I thought this case was particularly interesting, a student got disciplined over something he did in his own bedroom (never specified what I think)...as recorded by his school supplied laptop....who'd have thought that would ever end badly :rolleyes:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams

http://ca.norton.com/yoursecurityresource/detail.jsp?aid=webcam_hacking

I love when people say that the light comes on when the webcam is on so it's fine. Because it would be so hard for someone who managed to highjack a webcam to figure out how to disable the light. :pac:
I don't bother with taping my camera because the worst they'd see would be me picking my nose. Been meaning to get a hard switch on the mic though.

cavemeister

Another urban legend from years ago. I hope I remember it correctly.

A woman in America goes into KFC and orders a chicken burger and asks for no mayonnaise.

She gets home and take a bites into it an realizes the burger is smothered in mayo. She's starving so continues eating it but after a few mouthfuls, becomes violently ill.

She goes to the doctor with whats left of the burger and he sends it off for testing.

The test comes back that there was no mayo in the burger, the chicken had a large tumor that burst when she bit into it and the "Mayo" was all the innards of that tumor...... Bleugghhhh!!!

Paddy Cow

Can't remember the whole story but something along the lines of a guy being really drunk at a party and is meant to shag someone but ends up shagging his sister who is drunk on the bed.

DaeryssaOne

Yeah wasn't it that the guy doing the business was so drunk he couldn't complete the deed so goes out and asks his friend to go in and finish for him...she'll never know in the dark etc. Then it turns out they're brother and sister and they both emigrated shortly afterwards as couldn't live with the shame.

Also the one of the girl who blocks the toilet the morning after a one night stand when he has left for work so puts her poo in a baggie instead and accidentally leaves it on his bed and can't get back in to take it :pac:

Stigura

Paddy Cow wrote: »

Can't remember the whole story but something along the lines of a guy being really drunk at a party and is meant to shag someone but ends up shagging his sister who is drunk on the bed.

Similarly; Some girl, at a party, is bent over hanging out a window as all the guys step up for a go at her.

Bloke gets his piece of the action. Steps outside for a smoke and there's his sister, hanging out the window.

wexie

DaeryssaOne wrote: »

Also the one of the girl who blocks the toilet the morning after a one night stand when he has left for work so puts her poo in a baggie instead and accidentally leaves it on his bed and can't get back in to take it :pac:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-41167296

A woman who threw her poo out of her date's toilet window because it "would not flush" had to be rescued after she got stuck trying to retrieve it.

Close enough

AfterLife

gctest50 wrote: »

You get that sort of thing from mosquito bites - it's fairly important to know it if you're going abroad

No you don't. That's not how mosquitos reproduce.

fixXxer

AfterLife wrote: »

No you don't. That's not how mosquitos reproduce.

Mosquito are well known vectors for parasite.

Subcomandante Marcos

AfterLife wrote: »

No you don't. That's not how mosquitos reproduce.

No. But they are vectors for botfly larvae.
The female botfly can either lay eggs directly on the wounds of large mammals like cows, sheep, dogs, or people, or they can capture smaller flies like houseflies or mosquitoes, hold them in place and then lay their eggs into the body of the smaller fly, when the smaller fly lands on a large mammal the eggs fall off due to the heat radiated from the mammals body.

That said of all the parasitic nasties to pick up from mosquitoes, botflies while gross might be the least dangerous. I'm in a a malaria zone for work right now and I'd ****ing hate to contract malaria.

YFlyer

Karl Spain.

wexie

YFlyer wrote: »

Karl Spain.

Surely you mean Karl Urban?



:pac:

metaoblivia

I love urban legends. Has anyone ever come across the "Weird" book series ("Weird England," "Weird U.S.A.," etc.)? They always have a section devoted to regional urban legends, which I loved. They say there's always a bit of truth to every urban legend, and this man is a good example of one - The Green Man of Pennsylvania:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Robinson_(Green_Man)

As for my own urban legend, I grew up in Florida and we sometimes get hurricanes there. A few bad ones hit south Florida in the 1920s and killed a lot of people. One town in particular, near Lake Okeechobee, lost hundreds of people, some of whom reportedly ran into the lake trying to escape. The legend goes that sometimes when the water is low, you can see human skulls in the waters of Lake Okeechobee - victims of the hurricane from almost a century ago.

Hotblack Desiato

DaeryssaOne wrote: »

Also the one of the girl who blocks the toilet the morning after a one night stand when he has left for work so puts her poo in a baggie instead and accidentally leaves it on his bed and can't get back in to take it :pac:

Slightly less far-fetched is the one about the guy invited for the first time to his girlfriend's parents' rather posh home. But somehow, when he goes to use the toilet it won't flush. Having emitted a massive turd, the embarrassment of just leaving it there is too much, so he fishes it out and flings it out the window. Washes his hands, and breathes a sigh of relief.

He goes downstairs, the gf and the future in-laws and most of their family are sitting downstairs getting ready for dinner.. in the extension with a glass roof...

ElWalrus

Heard one about Irish lad who went down under to work in construction. One time he was driving a dumper truck, foreman asked him to fill it up with diesel at the end of the day.

Foreman came back to see the bucket full to the brim with diesel. Never found out if he got let go afterwards! 😀

TomOnBoard

williestroker1 wrote: »

Girl I know went to a chippendales gig years ago. At some stage a posing pouch was thrown into the audience missing her by inches but she felt something go into her eye. Days later her eye became sorer and sorer. She goes to the doctor and after examining her eye he uses a tweezers to get a pubic lice from her eye.

That's a lousy story...

TomOnBoard

JustAThought wrote: »

What about the one where the dark web was watching you through your laptop camera and unkess you put a sticking plaster over it you would be streamed on pay per porn washing and dressing and having bedtime fun in every jailblock in Russia

You have to use insulating tape coz the sticking plasters have little holes in them that the camera can still see through...