In Praise of Snopes.Com

What do good luck charms, ghost stories, Disney, and Coca-Cola have in common? They're all sources of urban legends! The Net has taken the game "Telephone" and made it a worldwide phenomenon. Thankfully, that's why there's Snopes.

Snopes.com, a virtual directory of all things urban legendary, is one of the best sites to visit whenever you receive a suspicious e-mail, get a dubious request asking you to send money, or "meet" a shady character on Yahoo! Personals. Barbara and David P. Mikkelson, the site masters of Snopes, do extensive research on many urban legends, some of which have even been around before the advent of the Internet. So if you've been tricked into believing any of these legends, the odds are that you aren't the first victim.

As mentioned earlier, one of the most popular sources for urban legend material, especially since the 1990s, is Disney. Perhaps it's just that people find it unbelievable that Disney's carefully crafted family-friendly image is real; or, it may be that there is some truth to a few of the rumors, and as they travel, they are blown out of proportion.

Perhaps most famous among the Disney legends are those that surround their films, both animated and live action. In the 1977 film The Rescuers, for example, there is a scene in which two frames of a topless woman can be seen in the background as Miss Bianca and Bernard go on a chase through New York City. According to Snopes, "Disney...claimed that the images were not placed in the film by any of their animators, but were inserted during the post-production process." The site also mentions that Disney recalled 3.4 million copies of the home video version following the spread of the rumor.

Yet another persistent Disney rumor that Snopes addresses is the gossip claiming that Aladdin, in the film of the same name, says "Good teenagers, take off your clothes." The Snopes researchers examined the scene in question, in which Aladdin is trying to woo Princess Jasmine at her balcony; according to them, he says, "Come on, good kitty," and then a separate voice whispers "Pssst...take off your clo.." It has never been officially determined what is being said in this scene, but it doesn't seem to be quite the way the buzz has put it.

One of Snopes' most popular and possibly even most important sections is cleverly titled "Inboxer Rebellion"; it tackles the thousands of e-mail rumors and money requests that are, to this day, passing around from one IP address to another.

Some of these requests were true at one time, but have now ended. For example, the "Avon Breast Cancer Crusade," as it's referred to, says that "Avon will give 10 cents toward breast cancer every time someone 'pulls on the rope' --- please take a minute and do it!" Below this message is a picture of a white teddy bear in a pink shirt, pulling on a pink cartoon rope. Avon Canada does indeed raise money for breast cancer every year, primarily through its sales of inexpensive products such as pens and keychains.

According to Snopes, however, in 2002, their fundraising strategy was the "Give a Hug" program, which worked through users clicking on a link sent by e-mail, as described above. However, once the campaign was over, an unnamed Internet user stole the Flash animation and put it up on his/her own website, subsequently tricking many others into thinking they were donating money to the cause. Unfortunately for that webmaster, the use of the graphic eventually resulted in a cease and desist order.

Yet another section that many surfers should check out is the "Music" page, which covers the mysterious lives of singers from Eric Clapton to Mariah Carey, and Marilyn Manson to Michael Jackson (who, no doubt, may have some fresh Internet rumors circulating in his name). Although you may not be surprised to learn that a good portion of these rumors aren't true, some actually are, and even the ones that have been debunked still have funny stories behind them.

One of the most interesting pages in the Music section deals with "hidden messages" that have supposedly been found on rock records. The most notorious among them? Debatably, it's The Beatles. Snopes debunks the infamous "Paul Is Dead" rumors, as well as the widely held belief that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is about LSD. Snopes, in fact, has a detailed explanation of the title's origin. While it's well known that Lennon and friends did their share of drugs, it often seems to have been left to listeners' interpretations as to whether they mentioned them on record.

There are many more categories of rumors and old wives' tales on the site: it'll be worth your time to check out the "Horrors" section as well, which contains some of the oldest urban legends of our time (possibly invented before the Internet or even TV).

Interestingly, some of the stories in "Horrors" can be found in children's "scary story" books, such as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, by Alvin Schwartz. Schwartz is not the original author of most of these stories; he has collected them from the same urban legends that have ended up, recently, in dubious e-mails. One of the e-mail rumors, for example, is entitled "Clown Statue," and revolves around a creepy clown doll like that famously featured in Poltergeist. In Schwartz' book, there is a short story entitled "The Babysitter," in which eerily similar events take place. Schwartz' adaptation, however, trumps the e-mail chain by a long shot.

A second legend in Scary Stories has made its way around cyberspace as well. A tale called "The White Satin Evening Gown," in which a poor woman has an ill-fated encounter with a previously owned dress, has been updated via the 'Net to take place on shows such as "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?"

So...why visit Snopes.com? Chances are, if you have an Internet connection, then you receive e-mail. If you get e-mail, you'll probably hear one of these rumors at one time or another. If nothing else, a trip to Snopes can save you from risking your bank account or the security of your computer...or at the very least, keep you from panicking about the latest threat to your neighborhood.

Then again, there is something sinister about that clown statue...

Sources:

Mikkelson, Barbara, Mikkelson, David P. Horrors. Retrieved July 6, 2009, from Snopes.com.

Mikkelson, Barbara, Mikkelson, David P. 'The Rescuers' Topless Scene. Retrieved July 6, 2009, from Snopes.com.

Schwartz, Alvin. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. (1986). New York, NY: HarperCollins.