Urban Legends

1. Urban Legends GLE 0801.4.3 Make distinctions about the credibility, reliability, consistency, strengths, and limitations of resources, including information gathered from Web sites.

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3. Urban legends "are realistic stories concerning recent events (or alleged events) with an ironic or supernatural twist. They are an integral part of Anglo-American culture and are told and believed by some of the most sophisticated "folk" of modern society–young people, urbanites, and the well educated. Jan Harold Brunvand, http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/vanish.asp Definition of Urban Legend from "The Vanishing Hitchhiker"

4. An urban legend is an apocryphal story told as true, concerning some horrific, amusing or ironic aspect of modern life. What is an urban legend?

5. Though the term seems to have become synonymous in common parlance with "false belief," it denotes a more complex and subtle social phenomenon having to do with the production and transmission of folk narratives — narratives which are indeed usually false, but which can, on rare occasions, prove to be true. • http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/faq/blfaq-urbanlegend.htm

6. It is a narrative. • It is alleged to be true. • It is plausible enough to be believed. • It is passed along from individual to individual in oral or written form (e.g., fax, photocopy or email). Characteristics: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/faq/blfaq-urbanlegend.htm

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10. Lead in Lipstick • High Cholesterol is Healthy • Coffee Fool…Are You One Too? • Help Find Ashley Flores • Judge Sentences Rap Music Fan to Bach, Beethoven • Woman Says She Was Shot In The Leg By Her Stove • The Centaur Excavations • Dehydrated Water • A Well Known Urban Legend • Consider Your Source • More Urban Legends Fact or Urban Legend?

11. Lipstick Article NEW PRODUCT TESTS FIND LEAD IN LIPSTICKTop brands L’Oreal, Cover Girl and Christian Dior test positive for lead! FACT LEGEND

12. Lead in LipstickThe Food and Drug Administration states that there is only a miniscule of harmful substances in cosmetics, not enough to have any adverse effect. LEGEND Snopes Article

13. High Cholesterol Article FACT LEGEND The secret is out––and studies show that higher cholesterol could slash your stroke risk by nearly 300%!

14. High Cholesterol Healthy? William Campbell Douglass II, M.D. is a famous alternative doctor who is sending a free booklet to many people to get them to buy his Douglass Report. William Campbell Douglass (M.D.) says a diet in low fat is actually killing everyone. He is saying a diet high in red meat will reduce your risk of heart disease. He claims drinking water will do more harm than good. Is high cholesterol healthy? That would be a question for you and your doctor to decide. ? Books by Dr. Douglass Science is Critical

15. Coffee Article Coffee Fool The shocking secret coffee companies don’t want you to know! FACT LEGEND

16. Coffee Fool This site states that all of the coffee out there is stale. The good news is that stale coffee is drinkable but once you've tasted truly fresh coffee, you'll be forever hooked. You will not know fresh until you taste coffee just roasted. You will not know stale until you see and taste what is unstale. LEGEND Coffee ArticleDefining Freshness

17. Help Find This Missing Girl: Ashley Flores A 13 year old girl, Ashley Flores has been missing for two weeks. An email bearing her picture and a plea for help has been circulated. FACT LEGEND Ashley Flores Email

18. Help Find Ashley FloresThe text of the email does not include the most basic information in a missing child plea: where the young girl went missing, when she went missing, when and where she was last seen, a description of her, her parents’ contact information, and contact information for the police handling the case. LEGEND Snopes Article

19. Judge sentences rap music fan to Bach, Beethoven A defendant had a hard time facing the music. Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. FACT LEGEND Rap Music Article

20. Judge sentences rap music fan to Bach, Beethoven Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott says the idea was to force Vactor to listen to something he might not prefer, just as other people had no choice but to listen to his loud rap music. FACT Information from: Springfield News-Sun, http://www.springfieldnewssun.com

21. Woman Says She Was Shot In The Leg By Her Stove A woman said she was shot in the leg by her stove. Cory Davis told the Peninsula Daily News she had just stoked her cast-iron heating stove Sunday when she heard a loud bang and was struck in her left calf. FACT LEGEND Stove Article

22. Woman Says She Was Shot In The Leg By Her Stove A case of shotgun shells spilled about a month ago at her home and one must have landed in the newspapers she used to light the stove. She removed a metal fragment herself and was treated Monday at Forks Community Hospital. FACT http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081008/D93MFO602.html

23. The Centaur Excavations In the Jack Reese Galleria of the great Hodges Library of the University of Tennessee the art and artifacts of the Centaur excavation at Volos has found a permanent home. This reconstruction of a Centaurian burial site was assembled by Professor William Willers of the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1980s before being moved to the University of Tennessee. FACT LEGEND Centaur Article

24. The Centaur Excavations Very well done, with photographs, created in a good academic style with an .edu domain. Actually explaining a hoax, but from a quick look it's easy to be fooled. LEGEND http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081008/D93MFO602.html

25. Dehydrated WaterA commercial website selling dehydrated water. FACT LEGEND Dehydrated Water Article

26. Dehydrated Water Very well put together. They are seeking financial help in gaining market penetration throughout local supermarkets around the world.  The site requests a handful of investors to help pay the required $6.5 million slotting fee to get on the shelves.  If you are interested, please contact investors@buydehydratedwater.com TESTIMONIAL LEGEND http://www.buydehydratedwater.com

27. Dehydrated Water "I can't believe you invested so much time and money to create a web site like this.  Don't you have anything better to do with your life?"Response:  And we can't believe you took so much time to reply and vent your disbelief.  You obviously have never tried our water.  Our customers have a tendency to become dedicated followers.  Don't be a cheapo.  Send us $5 and try it out for yourself. LEGEND http://www.buydehydratedwater.com

28. A Well-Known Urban Legend Print Story

31. Consider your source!

32. More Urban Legends