Have you ever recieved any popular stories alleged to be true and and had you worried we'll thats called an Urban legend. some people ask wat is an Urban legend.

Urban legends are popular stories alleged to be true which spread from person to person via oral or written communication (e.g., fax or email). Typically, said stories concern outlandish, humiliating, humorous, terrifying, or supernatural events, which, in the telling, always happened to someone else.

As to the origin of urban legends no one really knows where the whole "happened to a friend of a friend" story really originates. Most likely they have been told in some form since the dawn of civilization, many have evolved over time, been given more modern twists. Likely most of them originated as morality tales, or tales to scare children and teenagers away from reckless or unsafe behavior by letting them know "This could happen to you.They really took off during the 20th century- particularly following the Jack the Ripper murders (in England) and the Ed Gein case (in the US) - people suddenly realized that in some cases the murderer could be the guy next door. Children started to tell each other wildly speculative stories about sadistic and cannibalistic murderers - these were popularly known as "Geiners". The advent of the modern teen horror movie (using realistic as opposed to fantastic elements- i.e. an axe murderer rather than a vampire or zombie) helped the popularity along, particularly amongst young people. It’s uncertain when the term "urban legend" was first used, but it was made popular in scholarly circles by Professor Jan Harold Brunvand- a notorious expert in the phenomenon. He's a huge presence on the web and has written several books on the subject, as well as being a regular in the FORTRAN Times. According to lady fuschia from www.answerbag.com

My first urban legend that I have research is true and it’s titled phony guns and this one is about guns that police found that appeared to be cell phones but were disguised and were really guns. Police found these guns when they were active in a drug raid in Amsterdam the Croatian drug dealer was caught trying to get a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe the cell phones never hit America yet have been briefing everyone about them and to look out for them. These guns are disguised as cell phones but beneath the face lay a .22 caliber pistol that is capable of firing four rounds in quick succession. This means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone. Police say both shipments are believed to have originated in Yugoslavia. Interpol sent out a warning to law enforcement agencies around the world. European border police and customs officers are at a heightened state of alert at all ports, airports and border crossings.


My next urban legend is about Tommy Hilfiger the legend is that the creator of this line said that is he knew that Blacks and Asians were going to wear his clothing line he would have never made it. But this legend comes out to be false. The origin of this rumor that Tommy Hilfiger made a racist remark exploded onto the Internet in the fall of 1996 after a news article saying that this was to be from a Philippines tabloid began making this information available online. These self-same rumors had been in the people latest news at least nine months earlier, but the appearance of this article brought them to critical mass according to Cristina Peczon (author of the article), the revealing remark happened on CNN Style with Elsa Klensch but it is also said to be aired on the oprah show which Tommy denied ever being on, during an interview with both Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren on the latest fashion trends.

The last urban legend that I thought was interesting was about Chinese food restaurants in U.S. were claimed to be selling off cats and rats in Chinese food entrees. This was false the origin originated with a rumor about Fluffy's or Fido's being slipped into Chinese food by unscrupulous restaurateurs has been traced by British researchers to the earliest years of the British Empire in England and to the 1850s in the United States. I think that rumors like this totally destroys any Chinese food restaurants business cause no one wants to eat there after hearing something like that.

I have recieved messages like this and most people have but dont believe everything you hear do a little research cause there are alot of different stories out there some true and some false.