Urban legends

An urban legend or urban myth is modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used with a meaning similar to the expression apocryphal story. Urban legends are not necessarily untrue, but are often false, distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized. Despite the name, urban legends do not necessarily take place in an urban setting. The name is designed to differentiate from traditional folklore in preindustrial times.

Some Urban legend theories

The urban legend that Coca Cola developed the drink Fanta to sell drinks in Nazi Germany without public backlash has its roots in a actual tale of German Max Keith. He invented the drink and ran Coca-Cola's operations in Nazi Germany during World War II.

Sewer alligator stories are part of urban legend that date back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. They are based upon reports of alligator sightings in rather unorthodox locations, in particular New York City. The theory was that many rich people would return from vacation from Florida to New York City, bringing alligators with them, as pet, then proceed to flush the reptiles down the toilet, when they got fed up with them.

Does swallowing gum take seven years to digest?
The answer to this is false and that it leaves the system in several days, but it still unhealthy to eat the stuff.

A TV series, MythBusters, tries to prove or disprove urban legends by attempting to reproduce them.

The idea that Placing a silver spoon in a bottle of champagne can keep it bubblier for longer, was busted on the TV show. The spoon actually reduces the fizziness of champagne.

It is true that a clothed snowman melts slower than a naked one.

There is one urban theory that Pepsi introduced a slogan into the China "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" and this was translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave". This has not been proven.

Coca-Cola: The name Coca Cola rendered phonetically in Chinese can sound like the words for bite the wax tadpole or "female horse stuffed with wax". Before marketing in China, the company researched Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, "ko-kou-ko-le," which means happiness in the mouth. It was never marketed by the company using the other phrases, though individual merchants may have made such signs.

The idea that you can only balance an egg on its ends during the spring and fall equinox is not true

There is a fake urban myth: Fidel Castro, was given a try out by the Washington Senators baseball team.

An urban legend holds the Chevrolet Nova automobile sold poorly in Latin America, as "no va" means "won't go" in Spanish.

Faxlore is a sort of folklore: an urban legend that is circulated, not by word of mouth, but by fax machine.

Silverpilen ("The Silver Arrow") is a ghost train that haunts the Stockholm Metro, according to an urban legend circulating in the Swedish capital Stockholm. The silver train was rarely seen, which may have given rise to stories of a mystical white, shimmering ghost train.

There are urban theories of many a POW practicing imaginary sport games and that on release their performance had improved

The Chimera House is an urban legend which consists of the usual young teens going out for a night on the town, only to stumble across a large, worn down building about 3-5 stories tall where they are offered to go on a "ride" that consists of "real" horrors inside. In the story, the teens are asked to pay a certain amount of money (anywhere from 20-100 dollars) and told they will receive a portion back for every floor they complete. The twist is that, no has ever completed the house, and the ones who tried never came back out.

One famous narrative relates to Cambridge university Queens' College's so-called Mathematical Bridge. The story usually goes as follows: supposedly constructed by Sir Isaac Newton, it reportedly held itself together without any bolts or screws. Years later, students took it apart in order to see how it fitted together and the deconstructers were unable to reassemble it without bolts.

Foreign Names for Urban legend

Netherlands = broodje aap verhalen "monkey sandwich stories"

Germany = Großstadtlegenden, moderne Mythen, Wandermärchen

Espernato = Urba legendo

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