Man Claiming Highway 41 Beating Gets Arrested

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7239857&nav=menu24_1

WBAY-TV [Green Bay, WI]
20 October 2007

Man Claiming Highway 41 Beating Gets Arrested

Police: Man Lied About Highway 41 Beating

By Jason Zimmerman

A story told by a Kaukauna man who said he was pulled over along Highway 41 and beaten turns out to be a lie. Patrick Propson, 22, was arrested late Friday afternoon on two counts of obstructing justice. [...]

[Report updates October 5th account (q.v.) of a man who claimed that, while driving on U.S. 41, he stopped his car after the car behind him kept flashing its lights. Three men in the following car then supposedly beat him up. The account, noted a couple of reporters, is similar to "a common urban legend...in which gang members lure victims by flashing their headlights at them[.]"]

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071019/APC0101/71019175/1979

Appleton Post-Crescent [WI]
19 October 2007

Man who claimed he was beaten along U.S. 41 arrested

Sylvia Browne Predicts Campus Massacre

http://media.www.kentnewsnet.com/media/storage/paper867/news/2007/10/12/Ne
ws/Sylvia.Browne.Rumor.False-3028871.shtml

Daily Kent Stater [KSU student newspaper]

12 Oct 2007

Sylvia Browne rumor false

Kevin Gareau

A rumor that a shooting will occur at Kent State on Halloween is false, said psychic Sylvia Browne's business manager, Linda Rossi. According to the rumor, Browne predicted a shooting at Kent State on Montel, a show where she is a frequent guest. [...]

http://www.ohio.com/news/10662651.html

Beacon Journal [Akron, OH]

19 October 2007

Massacre legend recycled in Kent

KSU officials try to calm nerves of those worried urban myth will happen

By Carol Biliczky Beacon Journal staff writer

Store Refuses to Serve Soldier (Update)

http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18910269&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6

The Republican & Herald [Pottsville, PA]
12 Oct 2007

3 of 4 charges dismissed against ex-store employee

BY STEPHANIE LASOTA
STAFF WRITER

[Amber Wolfgang, who admitted to spreading a rumor that Sam Singh, owner of the Tremont Super Market, refused to service a person wearing military clothes, was arraigned on four separate charges. Three of the charges were dismissed when Sam Singh failed to show up during her arraignment.]

Visine Poisoner

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/NEWS/710170334

Mail Tribune [Medford, OR]
17 October 2007

Visine poisoner gets 60 days
First suspect pleaded guilty earlier this month

[Christina Bongcayao and Shani Davis pleaded guilty to putting Visine in two of their co-workers' strawberry sodas. The article notes that it is popularly believed that Visine "causes nausea and diarrhea when ingested, as seen depicted in the film "The Wedding Crashers," but the effects in reality are far more severe and can even lead to death."]

Gang Initiation Rumor, Philippines (2)

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=95099

The Inquirer [Philippines]
17 October 2007

PNP probes Cebu firm for spreading gang hoax

By Alcuin Papa
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) is investigating the possible liability of a Cebu company for circulating a warning, through email and text messages, about a street gang patrolling city streets to randomly kill motorists that turned out to be a hoax. [...]

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/10/18/oped/editorial.html

Sun.Star [Philippines]
18 October 2007

Editorials: Gang preying on motorists

[An editorial speculating on the causes of the gang-initiation rumor mentions that in the 1980's someone's death sparked rumors of "fraternity recruits being told to kill any person wearing white to test their resolve."]

Am I Cursed by King Tut?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=487991&in_page_id=1879

Daily Mail [UK]
17 October 2007

Am I cursed by King Tut?

By LESLEY-ANN JONES

Eight years ago I found dusty family heirlooms from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Since then, my life has been one disaster after another... [...]

Baby Boom, Saskatoon

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=26519f97-a716-4288-8a2d-1d93ac418c78

Leader-Post [Regina, Saskatchewan, CA]
16 October 2007

Blizzard plays part in baby boom

Darren Bernhardt, Saskatchewan News Network

SASKATOON -- Break out the bibs, Saskatoon is in the thick of a bona fide baby boom.

Nine months earlier, of course, the city was in the throes of a blizzard that brought the city to a standstill. [...]

Gang Initiation Rumor, Philippines

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=94564

The Inquirer [Philippines]

15 October 2007

`Bloods gang' yarn a hoax, says PNP

By Thea Alberto

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday said the 'Bloods' gang, which rumors circulating through text messaging, emails, and blog posts is purportedly bent on killing drivers at night as part of their members' initiation, does not exist. [...]

Hammer Man Update

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/29/stories/2007092960240300.htm

The Hindu [India]
29 September 2007

Mass hysteria or reality? Law & order

Devesh K. Pandey

The spate of attacks on women residents of Baljeet Nagar and surrounding areas in West Delhi has left the locals terrorised. The murderous assaults have given credence to rumours about the existence of a "hammer man" who, according to the local residents, strikes in the early hours of the day targeting women. While investigations are on to confirm the existence of such a serial killer, the police believe that the incidents are unrelated and the "hammer man" could be a product of mass hysteria. [...]

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14537182
Sify News [India]
3 Oct 2007
IANS
Is there a psychopath on the prowl in west Delhi?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/One_held_but_he_is_not_hammerman/articleshow/2456451.cms

The Times of India
14 October 2007

One held but he is not hammerman

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a 28-year-old man for killing a woman in Baljeet Nagar in west Delhi. Baljeet Nagar has been rocked by a spate of murders in the recent past with the residents even claiming that all the victims were assaulted by a serial killer or ‘‘hammerman’’, but the police ruled this out saying that Kanhaiya was responsible for only one case.

The police said that Kanhaiya is a burglar involved in at least three cases and that he killed 22-year-old Sangeeta Gupta in her parents’ home on September 27. [...]

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200710141756.htm

The Hindu [India]
14 October 2007

Another woman found dead in specific locality in Delhi

[...] Victim Kamala was smashed on her head with a stone while she was asleep in her Punjabi Basti residence in Baljeet Nagar[.] [...]

Floor Polisher Affects Computer

Karla Jennings, The Devouring Fungus: Tales of the Computer Age. NY & London: W. W. Norton, 1990, pp. 97-8.

Of course, sometimes glibness and a superficial understanding of CompuSpeak can be an advantage, as shown by a wily major at an Air Force base in the early seventies.

The command headquarters was replacing old mainframes with the latest electronics. The new system worked fine at first, then crashed. Engineers probed the new mainframes but couldn't find the problem's source. They restarted it, and it ran fine -- for a few days. Then it crashed again; they still couldn't find the bug. This expensive, exasperating, and mysterious glitch remained for months, ruining elaborate programs that had to be started all over again.

Major S., who headed computer operations, now found himself the center of unwanted attention. His boss, the colonel, attended all the staff meetings and whenever the system crashed (which happened every few days), the colonel's superiors made him painfully aware of the inconvenience the crashes were causing. After each staff meeting, the colonel always paid a call on Major S. to be sure Major S. appreciated the colonel's unhappiness.

Major S. told the computer operators to call him immediately when the system went down. A few days later, they called him, and he ran into the computer room. He heard an odd, oscillating hum at the end of the room and went to investigate, looking down a row of disk drives to see a technical sergeant buffing the floor with an electric floor polisher. The major's eyes followed the polisher's power cord across the floor to where it disappeared into the open cabinet of the one of the new disk drives, where it was plugged into one of the auxiliary power receptacles.

"How often do you buff this floor?" he asked.

"Every few days, sir," replied the sergeant.

"Do you always plug the machine into this receptacle?"

"Always have, sir."

They brought the system up and watched it crash again as soon as the sergeant squeezed the handle on the polisher. He'd found the problem, but the major still had the delicate task of telling the colonel that months of being in the hot seat and thousands of hours of lost work were due to a sergeant polishing floors. A friend of his watched in apprehension as the major left to tell his superior, and was surprised when he returned an hour later, smiling.

"Didn't you tell the colonel?" the friend asked.

"Sure."

"Wasn't he upset?"

"Nope."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him it was a buffer problem."

Karla Jennings, The Devouring Fungus: Tales of the Computer Age. NY & London: W. W. Norton, 1990, p. 212.

The physics department at the University of California at Berkeley was the site for another ghostly glitch. Late at night experimentalists taking sensitive computer readings on continuous graph paper would see the recording pen go haywire, as if an earthquake were rattling the campus, though it was a bizarre earthquake, appearing at the same time each night and lasting for the same period. They traced it to the night custodian, who polished the linoleum on the ground floor during those hours. Vibrations from his floor polisher rattled the equipment two floors above.

Campus Mass Murder Predicted on TV

http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/2695131

The Record-Courier [OH]
13 October 2007

KSU dispels killer rumor
Pyschic [sic] predicts mass murder on Halloween

By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer

There's a killer rumor going around Kent State University: Apparently, television psychic Sylvia Browne recently predicted on Montel Williams' television talk show that a mass murder would take place at KSU on Halloween. [...] Another permutation of the rumor told to the Record-Courier had it that the murders would occur in an L-shaped building. [...]

Human Sacrifices

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/10/emw560251.htm

[Press Release] 12 October 2007

Satanist [sic] in America is on the Rise With Millions Captured in Spiritual Slavery

Jacksonville, Florida (PRWEB) October 12, 2007 -- Pat Holliday's New Book, Solitary Satanist, describes a man ensnared by the threatening power Satanism. [...] The focus of this book [...] reveals the deadly consequences demonic supernatural powers upon Jeff Bates' (not his real name) life. [...] Bates tells of sacrificing animals and torturing people and eventually dropping into human sacrifices. [...]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://patholliday.com/ebooks.php

[Excerpt from Pat Holliday's description of The Walking Dead, another of her books.]

The Walking Dead

Fiendish devil-worshiping cultists are on the verge of spawning an insane bloodbath of murder and terror in cities and towns across the country. Recently, while I was evangelizing in Miami, a young girl who had escaped from a group of Satan worshipers told a frightening tale of human sacrifice and kidnapping: "They find old people who have no relatives and put them in cages. They torture them with hot irons and within three days their hair will actually turn snow white from terror! They tie them to a pentagram table (a table with a five-pointed star, a witchcraft symbol, on the top). Then they sacrifice them to satan! The satanist temple is located in a very elite section, she reported.

Dwarf Mechanic Mistaken for "Abducted" Boy

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/driving/story.html?id=edf108ff-38fb-494f-b545-de9f3445e211

National Post [Canada]
5 Oct 2007

The dwarf mechanic

Getting to the bottom of an urban legend yields surprising results

Peter Kenter, CanWest News Service

[News reports that an apparently kidnapped child in Bremen, Germany, who was seen being locked in a car trunk, but who turned out to be a dwarf mechanic checking out the car's rattle, were doubted by the reporter. He then contacted the Bremen police, who surprisingly confirmed the tale.]

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2354323.html?menu=news.quirkies
Ananova [UK]
30 May 2007
Dwarf mechanic mistaken for 'abducted' boy
~~~~~~~~~~

Gyles Brandreth, The Book of Mistaikes. London: Futura, 1982, p. 136.

In March 1977, police in Dover, Kent, were contacted by an hysterical woman who had just seen a car driving along at great speed with a body sticking out of the boot. Fortunately she had the presence of mind to take down the car's number and in a matter of minutes the police were able to trace it. Sure enough there were two legs sticking out of the boot. They stopped the car and were about to arrest the driver when the 'body' climbed out of the boot. He was a garage mechanic who was listening for a rattling noise that only occurred when the car was in motion.

ASTRO-PETAPHYSICAL OPERATION 999

http://www.dailyguideghana.com/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3884

Daily Guide [Ghana]

29 Sept 2007

Witches Storm Ghana For Conference

[A global congress of witches is to be held in Ghana to celebrate their evil machinations. "In keeping with the witches’ agenda, 1,000,154 people would be killed worldwide through road accidents, rape, murder and armed robbery. For Ghana, the organizers of the annual global congress insist they want to make the meeting a memorable one and are therefore requesting heavy loss of lives on the nation’s roads."]


http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=4929&section=3

The Statesman [Ghana]

10 Oct 2007

'Witches' to cause mayhem at CAN 2008!

Gabriel Amoah

The Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations scheduled for January next year has hit a bizarre and hilarious snag, as it is claimed to have been targeted by 'witches' all over the world as their platform to cause mayhem among sports fans who will witness the tournament, if the impending witches conference due for the middle of this month is allowed to come off. [...]

Bra Evidence of Something

http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/?uc_full_date=20071010

Dear Abby [Syndicated advice column]
10 October 2007

SKIN DOCTOR'S TALL TALE SHOULD MAKE HIM BLUSH WITH SHAME

[Abby prints a letter from a woman who, after having found another woman's bra in her laundry, angrily threw it out. Her boyfriend's friend, a lawyer, phoned her the next day and told her "the bra was evidence in a sexual assault case...and he needed it for court." Abby's response: "I have heard some tall tales in my time, but the one the lawyer told you takes the cake."]

Dragonfly or Insect Spy?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801434.html

Washington Post

9 Oct 2007

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs.

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 9, 2007; Page A03

[Some protestors at anti-war rallies in New York and Washington have seen what may be either dragonflies or tiny helicopters. "Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security."]

Burglars Mark Targets

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20071010035644498C993919

The Independent [South Africa]
10 October 2007

Crooks show their colours with coded clues

Hanti Otto

[Pretoria police suspect that "house robbers use certain colours to mark targets to inform their accomplices that a house has been identified and what to expect when breaking into the house." A spokesman for the National Hijack Prevention Academy claims that some objects used to mark houses are "red rope, white stones, plastic bags tied to trees, grass knotted in a bundle, pieces of metal or plastic, flattened milk bottles or Creme Soda and Coke cans."]

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=225&fArticleId=192321

The Star [South Africa]
22 July 2003

On the verge of crime

A scary development or urban legend? That's the question hanging over a claim that criminals may be using litter to "signpost" houses as targets for robbery. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4818578.stm

BBC News [UK]
17 March 2006

Chalk symbols are an urban myth

Symbols chalked on walls to tell thieves if a house is worth raiding or not seems to be an urban myth. [...]

Women Robbed and Raped in Mall Restrooms

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20071009162953459C912046

The Independent [South Africa]
9 October 2007

Rape email is a hoax

[An e-mail claiming that "women were being raped and robbed of their valuables and clothing while in mall restrooms" is rejected as a hoax by the South African Police Service.]

Dog Licks Nutella Off Vulva

http://www.villagevoice.com/people/0739,savage,77884,24.html

The Village Voice [NY]

25 September 2007

Savage Love [Sex advice column]

By Dan Savage

Sussing Out Fake Letters

[Savage prints a letter from a man who once discovered his wife getting oral sex from her dog. "But the worst was when I noticed the open jar of Nutella sitting on the coffee table, a faint odor of hazelnut and chocolate in the air." Savage notes that about half of the fake letters he gets are on this subject, most specifying the food in question was peanut butter.]

The Average Woman

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22535627-5006007,00.html

The Daily Telegraph [Australia]

5 Oct 2007

Cosmetics could be killing you

THE average woman absorbs two kilograms of chemicals from cosmetics every year - from cancer-causing compounds in face cream to arsenic in eyeshadow. [...]

For instance, the average woman eats, albeit unwittingly, five lipsticks a year, which in her lifetime is the equivalent volume of 1.5 blocks of lard. [...]

Mormon Folklore

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695216121,00.html

Deseret News [Utah]

6 October 2007

Folklore plays role for LDS
Professor says stories affirm values, beliefs

By Mike Wennergren

LOGAN -- William "Bert" Wilson tells a tale from the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [...]

Woman's Hair Caught in Man's Fly

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/GPG0406/710060525/1250/GPGlife

Green Bay Press-Gazette [WI]

6 October 2007

Failth [sic -- bc] Perspectives: Want to get away? Spend some time at church

By Rev. Mark Schmechel

[...] I have a friend who tells a true story of a guy on a first date with his new girlfriend at the movies. As they are enjoying the movie he realizes that his zipper is unzipped. Embarrassed, he decides that he will tell his girlfriend he's going to the bathroom and as he stands up he will zip it up with no one noticing and be on his way.

But as he stood up and started zipping, he heard a loud scream from the person in front of him. It was a woman with long hair. He had zipped her hair in his pants! If that wasn't embarrassing enough, no one could get her hair out of his zipper, and they had to stop the movie, turn on the house lights and bring him scissors! [...]

Arizona Leads States in Boats Per Capita

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1005clay1005.html?&wired

Arizona Republic
5 October 2007

Tall tale about Arizona's boats per capita ranking just won't float

Clay Thompson

[...] I've lived in Arizona for almost 20 years. Throughout that time, I have occasionally been told that there are more boats per capita in Arizona than in any other state. [...]

Car Lights Flashed, Beating Ensued

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/APC0101/710050642

Appleton Post-Crescent [WI]
5 October 2007

Kaukauna man says roadside attack no urban legend
By Ed Lowe and John Lee
Post-Crescent staff writers

LITTLE CHUTE -- A 22-year-old Kaukauna man concedes his account of a highway robbery on U.S. 41 has the ring of an urban legend, but there's nothing mythical about his injuries. The attack victim spoke to The Post-Crescent on Thursday night, eight days after he said he was jumped by three white males after stopping his car on the shoulder of northbound U.S. 41. The car behind him repeatedly flashed its lights, leading him to think there was a problem with the car's taillights. When he stopped to check, three white males emerged from the car from behind and the beating began, he said. [...]

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7176040

WBAY-TV [Green Bay, WI]
5 Oct 2007

Man Reports Being Beaten on Highway 41

Angler attacks: Racism or poaching?

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/263545

Toronto Star [Canada]
4 October 2007

Angler attacks: Racism or poaching?

Dale Brazao
STAFF REPORTER

[Some residents of the hamlet of Westport, Ontario, believing that Asian-Canadians are illegally fishing in the area at night, have physically attacked them. There are rumors that "aerated tanks trolling the countryside" supply fish to Chinese restaurants in Toronto.]

Babe Ruth's Called Shot

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/10/03/2007-10-03_75_years_ago_babe_ruth_called_his_famous.html

New York Daily News

3 October 2007

75 years ago, Babe Ruth called his famous shot - or did he?

BY ANTHONY McCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

We might discover Elvis alive and well hiding out in Bigfoot's lair before we ever know the real story about Babe Ruth's legendary "Called Shot" home run in the 1932 World Series. Did he or didn't he point to center field and promise the catcalling Cubs and pitcher Charlie Root that he would wallop the next pitch over that very fence? [...]

Local Pooch Knows When You're About To Die

http://www.nbc10.com/health/14248253/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

WCAU-TV [Philadelphia]
2 Oct 2007

Local Pooch Knows When You're About To Die

SINKING SPRING, Pa. -- When Libby the 14-year-old therapy dog enters the room, folks light up.

It's when Libby plants her feet firmly on the ground and refuses to enter a room that things get more complicated.

Her owner says the therapy poodle knows when someone is about to die, NBC 10 medical reporter Cherie Bank reported. [...]

Seattle Baby Boom

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003921165_babyboomlet03m.html

Seattle Times [WA]
3 October 2007

Did last year's winter storm result in a "baby boomlet?"

By Carol M. Ostrom
Seattle Times health reporter

Aislyn Gleghorn, now 4 weeks old, may find she has a certain fondness for windstorms when she grows up.

After all, she was conceived during the great Hanukkah Eve Wind Storm of 2006, which left more than a million Puget Sound residents without electricity - some for days. [...]

Ghostlore of American College Campuses

http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1083

University Press of Mississippi

Haunted Halls
Ghostlore of American College Campuses

By Elizabeth Tucker

978-1-57806-994-1 Unjacketed cloth $50.00
978-1-57806-995-8 Paper $20.00

Why do so many American college students tell stories about encounters with ghosts? In Haunted Halls, the first book-length interpretive study of college ghostlore, Elizabeth Tucker takes the reader back to school to get acquainted with a wide range of college spirits. [...]

Genovese Syndrome: Fact or Fiction?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jYUzWcZtpFq9qv6KSTFMfpUZS4LQD8S0A4D00

Associated Press

1 October 2007

Genovese Syndrome: Fact or Fiction?

By LARRY McSHANE

NEW YORK (AP) - It's straight out of Psychology 101: "The Bystander Effect," a phenomenon illustrated by the infamous 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese as 38 callous neighbors ignored her screams for help.

Except that while details of the case were exposed as dubious over the years, psychology instructors and students still operate off the original parable of bad Samaritans united by indifference to a gruesome attack, according to an article by three British university professors. [...]