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Why is this email a hoax and other needle stories urban legends?
Hoaxes and urban legends aren't synonymous.
Someone set out to deceive when he wrote the gas pump needles email. It is larded with detail that gives it an air of crediblity: a police spokesman (fictitious), reports of seventeen incidents (bogus), a dire warning from the police (fake), above all, an exhortation to PASS THIS WARNING ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!! All of which are easily shown to be false.
On the other hand, urban legends have multitudes of variations. Why? People have faulty memories. They like to tell a good story. Instead of some dire fate befalling some unknown unfortunate, the victim becomes a 'friend of a friend', or FOAF as urban folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand dubs them. The location is changed from a distant city to the town next door. All to make the story more immediate and interesting.
Urban legends are spread by people not seeking to deceive but to warn, amuse, or tell a good story. Unfortunately, however, spreading these stories is not without consequence. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has been flooded with inquiries and it distracts them from doing their appointed work.
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Urban Legend Zeitgeist: Pump Fake