How Urban Legends and Folklore Start

Urban legends and folklore are passed on from person to person, either by telling the story, by e-mail or by the media. Urban myths and legends are tales that sound as if they could be true. They often trigger feelings of anxiety, suspense or fear, and they lose or gain new details as the tale is retold. Urban myths are generally not true, at least not completely true, regardless of whether they could have happened. They can be debunked with research, and some Web sites such as snopes.com are dedicated to doing just that. So how do these legends get started?

Misunderstandings
Sometimes an urban legend gets started because someone made an erroneous judgment about something he saw. For example, a misinterpretation of something that actually happened is reported by one person, and passed on. It may even make the news, prompting inaccurate information to spread further.

One example of this is a story about LSD stickers being distributed to kids. LSD is frequently applied to blotter paper that is stamped with pictrures. Someone saw one with cartoon characters and assumed that drug dealers were giving these acid tabs to kids. The story caused parental concern as it spread, but it was a step away from the truth, as no one could prove the tabs were stickers or that they were intended for kids.

Another popular legend holds that you can unlock your car with a cell phone. All you need to do is have someone point a spare key at their phone while you call them. A variation on this legend says that there's a special code you can type into a cell phone to unlock your car. Don't try this if you are locked out, because it doesn't work. This myth came about because of the OnStar service, which can open cars remotely by satellite.

Sources and Details Make a Story Seem Eeal
Sometimes an urban myth is spread because someone believed a story read online, heard on the news or heard from another person. When details have been added to a story, for instance local landmarks or first and last names, it makes the story seem plausible. The story spreads, and people spreading it are assuring each other it is true.

An example of this is the Halloween myth of razors in apples. There are no proven cases of people putting razors or poison in kids' Halloween candy. A Minnesota man was arrested in 2000 for putting pins in candy, but this is the only documented case and no one was seriously injured.

E-mails warning of people stealing photos on Facebook or people using special codes to erase the information on cell phones pop up online every few weeks. These e-mails usually contain a hysterical warning that's followed by some official-sounding "proof," such as, "This has been verified by Microsoft," or, "This was reported on CNN." You can try to look up those reports, but you won't find them; it's simply a tactic used to make the myth seem real.

A Grain of Salt
If you hear a story that makes you worry, or wonder if it's true, it's prudent to check the details before passing it along. Snopes.com is an excellent resource for doing so, and many times you will find out the story is not true. Better to check before passing the rumor along, because you could be cited as the source of a false story if you don't. Take things you hear with a grain of salt, and check anything that seems alarming before passing it to others.