What do you think is the draw of urban legends?

What is the lure of horror movies?

Same answer; we like being scared. It’s a little adrenaline rush.

If you lurve this, the crush of your dreams will be yours on Friday night. If you don’t, you’ll be cursed by the Wendigo.

Stupidity.

It’s like the less toxic version of conspiracy theorists.

They are short stories that many people enjoy.

I love the story of the choking doberman.

Lurid gossip.

Intelligent people fund them entertaining.
Dimwits have one more thing to worry about…pity their children.

:)

Urban legends are usually a misinterpretation of some actual events. Most people tend to believe it because it may be said or send to them by a friend or any other authoritative source. The story may appear to be so real and convincing that the people who read it will be forced or tempted to believe it. In many cases, this belief runs so deep that a person will insist that an urban legend actually occurred.
Most Urban legends are simply the modern version of some traditional folklore.The ‘voice of authority’ is a very chilling phenomenon that most of them fall for it repeatedly.

They’re like ghost stories & fairy tales, anything that pricks your imagination is bound to linger.

I think most people have a built-in nagging suspicion that things are not as they seem. You can see why such a feature of the brain would have been an evolutionary advantage to humans. It drives us to keep looking beyond the most obvious or popular explanations. It powers spiritual quests. It inspires art and literature. It’s this faculty that gets antsy when the world starts feeling too well explained. The realm of the unknown appears to the layman to be receding beyond his grasp. Unless you’re a research scientist, it can feel like your only option is to accept the world as it’s given to you by those who understand it better. So what to do with this persistent impulse to look beyond the conventional?

Urban legends seem to confirm that intuition that mystery is alive and well. They say, “Aha! See? The word really is full of surprises and hidden causes! It isn’t so neatly explained! There’s room for the unexpected!”. Life seems more interesting that way.

Everyone liked a mystery, a rumor, a ‘what if’, that gives an edge to the mundane existence they have fashioned out of their own lives.

They are typically manipulative. Less scary than a threatening. ’

They are often started with an agenda – either crazy and feed on womens fears, or a fear tactic as part of a political lie.

All the above, but what is scary is that so many people believe them and ACT on them.

Somewhere in the rugged foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains lurks the elusive Chupagoose. Legend has it its giant waddling figure can be seen on moonlit nights roving the hills and its shrieking call strikes terror in the hearts of all that hear it.
Many report waking up to all the bread in their house mysteriously vanished, and finding a 20 inch feather on the floor.
Campers are warned to stash all bread products high in a tree.

This goes out to all my friends, family, and everyone in the African American community.

Once you receive this message please write down the number and then pass it along to every African American you know.

As you my know, all African Americans living here in the United States are descendants of slavery, therefore our government has finally passed a bill to pay all descendants back.

The way they are paying us back is through a refund called the, “Black Inheritance Tax Refund/40 Acres and a Mule”.

When you call this number you’ll give them your name, address, and phone number and they’ll send you out a packet, which includes further details and information on how to receive the refund.

I was informed that it will take only two weeks to receive the packet and then two weeks to receive the money. Now, if you know our government I bet they are not expecting a lot of people to call for this refund, and they may be right, because many of us will not be informed of this.

Therefore, this is why I am taking it upon myself to pass on this information, so our community will soon be informed through word-of-mouth about what has been owed to our ancestors all these years.

Black Inheritance Tax Refund [phone number removed by Fluther] to direct you to the appropriate line open between
East Coast: 8am and 12am
West Coast: 5am and 9pm

Expect to wait anywhere from 5mins-25mins (There will not be any music to entertain you while you wait!)

Ps: You must be 18 years or older and I’m assuming a legal residence of the United States.

So, request an application for yourself, husband, wife, sister, brother, father, mother, etc, or just pass the number along.

God Bless You All and please check this out!!!!!!!!

The government also owes African-Americans a tax rebate for the 60 years of segregation and Jim Crow that followed slavery. Although we were consigned by law to second-class citizenship, we were still forced to pay first-class taxes . . . the delinquent tax rebate [is] now estimated . . . to be at $43,209 per household.”

Since de facto racial discrimination continues to function as a hidden Black tax, it ought to be deductible. So when income-tax time rolls around, on line 59 of form 1040 — which asks you to list ‘other payments’ — simply enter $43,209 in ‘Black taxes’ and compute accordingly.

Just to point out that the above is an example of an urban legend and suggest that people not call that number, which might be a scam.

Should we tell Obama that he can get 5K? No…wait. His ancestors weren’t slaves.

[mod says] Phone number above removed by Fluther.

Well, the question was: What do you think is the draw of urban legends?

You see the draw in that one. Sad.

Thank you to mod who removed the phone number. I didn’t see it. My apologies.

Did anyone cal the number before the Mod removed it???

I don’t think too many people ever saw it. It’s on the Snopes site so I doubt it’s a working number.

I called the number. It lead to a message that said it was no longer active in my area and then proceeded to give me the number to a free 411 line.

Hi Flip: As an urban legend posted on snopes and read by zillions of people over a long time, I kinda doubted it would be a working number but as I wrote to the mod, better safe than sorry.

Maxie