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Documented: Craig Shergold, UK cancer kid, sought get-well cards to break the Guinness record, overwhelmed with over 80 million. |
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Documented: Craig Shergold's 13th birthday was June 24, 1992. From now June 24 is AFUday |
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Debunked: The American Cancer Society sponsors a chain letter for "Jessica Mydek." |
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Documented: People have been injured/killed by rocking a vending machine that falls on them. |
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Unknown: Man's house demolished after friend places an ad in paper for a joke. |
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Documented: The authorities demolish (burn, blow-up) the wrong house by accident. |
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Unknown: US GI captures Iraqi soldier during Gulf War - they knew each other from Chicago. |
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Debunked: Special chemical for swim pools, turns bright color on contact with urine. |
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Debunked: In the "Wizard of Oz" film you can see a body of someone who hung himself. |
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Unknowable: Wife sprays toilet with flammable bug spray, husband shits, smokes, explodes. Wife sprays toilet with flammable hair spray, you know the rest, etc. ["Hilarious Accidents" in TMP. Variations in TVH.] |
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Debunked: Aluminum ring pull tabs are collected & exchanged for dialysis machine time. ["Redemption Rumors" in TMP] |
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Copycat: ...Some places or people (e.g., The Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, MN) do collect tabs for their scrap value and raise $$ for various causes. |
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Unknown: There are two Canadians who collect them for wheelchairs. See Fred Ennis's article. |
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Impossible: Chanting "Mary Worth" or some other phrase three or more time before a mirror summons dead spirit at slumber parties ["I Believe in Mary Worth" in TMP]. AKA Bloody Mary and La Llorona. |
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Unknowable: Male athlete cheats drug test with wife's pee; test shows he's pregnant. |
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Documented: People have set themselves on fire occasionally. Some of them burn more completely than do others. |
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Impossible: People occasionally spontaneously combust and burn to death. Whoompfh! |
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Debunked: Kid sends badly broken Cabbage Patch dolls back. Death certificate sent to kid. |
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Debunked: Someone is crushed to death trying to shrink blue jeans by wearing in tub. ["Product Defect and Liability Legends" in The Chocking Doberman] |
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Debunked: Tourists' room is burgled, later finds snaps of "toothbrush up thief's ass". |
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Debunked: Two guys see kid fishing; kid says fish aren't biting but worms are; on way back; they discover kid slumped over; worms were baby water moccasins! |
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Debunked: Some boys go swimming and taunt each other to jump in first. First kid in warns everyone to stay back! They rescue him and he's badly snakebitten. |
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Documented: "little gator" S. Mudgett is mentioned in one of Cecil's books. |
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Debunked: Folks find casks of wine in cellar of old house. Tap and drank from several of them. Later, preserved body found in cask. |
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Documented: Nautical saying: "Tapping the Admiral" is based on the above. |
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Unknown: Boyfriend tells girlfriend they're through and she should leave when he leaves on a long trip. He returns to find phone off the hook connected to the "time" recording in Japan/some far away place. |
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Debunked: Helicopter fights forest fires by scooping water from lake. Charred body of scuba diver found in ashes. |
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Documented: Then there are others who compete in http://www.firediving.com/ |
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Debunked: Fat person on airline toilet has intestines sucked out due to vacuum. |
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In Dispute: Apparently, a "slightly obese" person on ship toilet has had intestines sucked out due to vacuum. |
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Documented: A similar accident happened to a little girl who sat on a wading pool drain in North Carolina on 16 June 1991 [she didn't die]. |
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Debunked: Halloween sadists randomly give poisoned candy to children. |
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Documented: A Texas child was poisoned in this manner by his father on Halloween in 1974. Another child died on Halloween after stumbling onto a family member's heroin stash and consuming it. |
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Documented: Well how about razor blades in apples? Or pins in apples? |
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Debunked: Woman frequents tanning salons; develops funny smell; innards cooked! |
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Documented: You can burn yourself to death in a tanning salon if you are taking certain drugs that make the skin more photosensitive. |
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Documented: A guy goes a-shooting at Saguaro cacti; hits one. It falls and kills him! ["The Plant's Revenge" in CBA] |
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Debunked: Someone dies because another person in their panic couldn't call for help during a fire because they couldn't dial the "11" in "911". ["Dial 911 for Help" in The Choking Doberman] |
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True: People were once frequently mistaken for dead and were buried alive. |
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Documented: Edison's last breath is kept in a jar in Michigan. (Well, sort of). |
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Fb: Co-ed loses tampon inside prior to blind date; worried; sees school intern; is acutely embarrassed. Her date turns out to be the intern! |
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Unknowable: Young man buys condom from pharmacist; he's embarrassed so boasts of date. He picks her up, pharmacist/dad answers the door! |
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Debunked: Bride at big wedding thanks each person, then thanks groom for sleeping w/maid-of-honor. Then throws bouquet, etc. |
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Debunked: Kid in Michael Jackson's commercial breaks neck and dies from: breakdancing, OD, hit by motorcycle. |
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Debunked: Phil Collins' song "In the Air Tonight" is about a death witnessed by Phil. |
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Documented: ...Sheesh! This was even debunked in Parade magazine. |
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T: Crotch seam rivet in original Levi's dropped due to pain from standing near fires. |
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Fb: Some famous artist (Picasso/da Vinci/etc.] wants a new piece of furniture or furniture to be moved. Draws sketch for workman; who says no charge for the artist if he can keep the sketch. |
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F: Couple hires hippie-type babysitter. Later, mother calls and sitter says everything is fine; she's stuffed the turkey and put it in the oven. Mom worries since they don't have an turkey; parents rush home and find that stoned sitter has (or is about to) put baby in the (microwave) oven. ["The Hippie-Babysitter" in TVH.] |
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F: "Clever" babysitter stops baby crying by holding its head in oven. ["The Clever Babysitter" in TMP] |
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U: A plain-Jane coed invited to special night out by a BMOC. As she gets ready, has bad gas from lunch. Date arrives;so plans to fart in car before he gets in. She farts and quickly rolls down window. Date gets in, says,"I'd like you to meet Tom and Mary in the backseat." ["The Fart in the Dark" in TVH.] |
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Debunked: Family visits wilderness park. They see bears and want to get "cute pics" of bear w/child so they smear honey on his cheek. Bear eats child's face. |
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Debunked: Bride's father at wedding goes to pay caterer, but wallet is missing and has to take up collection from guests. Later viewing of wedding video shows groom's father lifting bride's father's wallet! ["Sex Scandals" in TCD] |
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Tb: Some guys who make $ recycling aluminum strip a house with new siding. |
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T: People (mostly guys) have been electrocuted pissing on a subway's 3rd rail. |
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T: Common UL mills include Dear Abby, Ann Landers, and Paul Harvey. |
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Debunked: Woman lighting fire opens door with a hot poker; robber at door thinks it is a gun and grabs it! |
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F: Clocks are commonly displayed at 8:18/8:20/10:10 because that's when JFK or Abraham Lincoln was shot. |
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Fb: Henry Ford/Gen. Douglas McArthur/IBM Rep./et al. tests an interviewee by when they salt their food during lunch. |
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Documented: The song "Happy Birthday" is copyrighted. |
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Debunked: ...Paul McCartney owns the rights. |
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Fb: Some guy who works at a factory takes home a part a day until some time later he has a Cadillac/tank/truck (and has been immortalized in song). |
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Tb: Putting a sleeping person's hand in water will cause him/her to pee. Anecdotally, it seems to work for some people but not for others. |
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Debunked: The bizarre suicide involving a guy (variations include Ronald Opus and Paul Aulphis), a tall building, an old couple, and a shotgun (or rifle) is totally bogus but pretty damn good. |
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Debunked: People are much loonier (e.g., shoot, screw, etc.) during a full moon. |
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F: Woman jokes with maitre d' to tell her husband that he won the lottery. ...he does, husband then says all is hers as he's "shagging" her sister. |
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Debunked: Drug smugglers stuff a baby's corpse with cocaine and pretend it's "sleeping." |
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Documented: Fin-de-siecle Frenchman, Le Petomane, got rich farting as music hall act. |
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Unknowable: Blowback (blowforward?) from ignited fart, singed frat-boy's intestines. |
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Debunked: A female reporter asks a general about training a group of visiting boy scouts to shoot and ends up asking him if he isn't equipping them to become "violent killers." The general responds that the reporter is equipped to be a prostitute. |
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Documented: Homeowner tired of having his mailbox knocked down by drunk drivers/vandals builds a indestructible mailbox. Next drunk driver/vandals attempts to drive over mailbox, demolishes car. |
