Unwitting Theft: Polly and Her Pals (1926 comic)

Cliff Sterrett, “Polly and Her Pals,” 20 June 1926 (topper strip omitted). A variant of the contemporary legend of a driver who relieves a hitchhiker of his watch, thinking the passenger has stolen it from him. When the driver gets home, he finds his missing watch. Cliff Sterrett, Polly and Her Pals, Volume One: 1913-1927 (San Diego: IDW Publishing, 2010), 96.

Sirhan Sirhan & John Schrank Parallels

In the tradition of the popular list of uncanny coincidences in the lives and deaths of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy is psychic Alan Vaughan’s discovery of “synchronistic parallels” between Sirhan Sirhan, Robert Kennedy’s assassin, and John Schrank, who tried to kill Theodore Roosevelt. For example, both assailants were immigrants, unusually short, and bachelors; even more convincing, their last names have 5 letters in common. “If the parallel goes further, it may even be shown that like Schrank, whose bullets were nonfatal, Sirhan’s too were nonfatal – that is, the fatal bullet fired behind Kennedy’s head was fired by someone else.” -- Alan Vaughan, Patterns of Prophecy (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973), 51-2.

French Children Named “Clitorine” – Suspicious Van in Kroger Parking Lot –The Green Lady (Philadelphia, 1959)

https://www.thelocal.fr/20200212/how-frances-most-embarrassing-baby-name-doesnt-actually-exist

The Local [France]

12 February 2020

How France's 'most embarrassing' baby name doesn't actually exist

The fact that some people call their children Clitorine in unwitting reference to the clitoris (which incidentally is the same word in French in case you were searching for it) seems to be quite widely accepted in France. Except that they don't. The data from French statistics body INSEE does not list it, neither does the Paris electoral roll or the register of deaths. It seems that the nearest this has ever come to being a real name was in the title of a series of pornographic novels from the 1970s. […]

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https://www.pjstar.com/news/20200212/east-peoria-pd-no-kroger-van-in-kroger-parking-lot-isnt-full-of-kidnappers

Journal Star [Peoria, IL]

12 February 2020

East Peoria PD: No, the Kroger van in the Kroger parking lot isn’t full of kidnappers

EAST PEORIA — Social media chatter about a white van filled with possible kidnappers in a Kroger parking lot is not just greatly exaggerated, it’s flat-out untrue. […] In fact, police say, the van is owned by The Kroger Co. and employees in the van are not doing anything unlawful. […]

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https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/backintheday/back-in-the-day-green-lady-legend-struck-fear-into/article_07edda3a-9b55-5f54-8343-512e9d90512d.html

Philadelphia Tribune [PA]

15 February 2020

Back in the Day: 'Green Lady' legend struck fear into kids

[…] The Green Lady was viewed as an urban legend. However, for children, she took on real life and had many of us afraid to go out at night and caused chaos in our elementary schools. So, are you dear reader wondering about the history of The Green Lady? Well, let me take you back to an Oct. 9, 1959, article that appeared in The Philadelphia Tribune titled “Rumored ‘Green Lady’ Cause of School Panic.” […]