# Come on admit it, that UL got you **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362 "2004-06-14T21:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/1 "2004-06-14T21:34:59Z")
There was a recent thread (maybe in the Pit) about people sending “helpfull” emails around the office that were no more than urban legends. Lots of replies about sending co-workers to Snopes and being resented for it. I remember being the resident spoil-sport when I worked in an office setting. I could spot a UL a mile away. Then I remember one that got me hook,line and sinker. After active duty when I joined the National Guard I heard [this](http://www.snopes.com/military/stress.htm) was going around. It was always presented as an absolute fact. It didn’t occur to me that I never talked to anyone who saw it for themselves. It was on the SDMB that I found out its UL status. The question is: have you ever fallen for an urban legend? Come on admit it I won’t tell any one. If I could admit it so can you. Confession is good for the soul. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/2 "2004-06-14T21:52:17Z")
As a teenager, I totally believed the Kentucky Fried Chicken [cyst](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/tumor.htm)" UL. I genuinely didn’t know of the existance of ULs at the time, and passed it on to many people. I have since learned the error of my ways. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/3 "2004-06-14T22:46:22Z")
When I was in high school, I was responsible for redistributing a staggering array of ridiculous bullshit, partly because I believed it but more because it was an effective way of getting attention. “Didja know FDR knew Pearl Harbor was coming but he let it happen on purpose? Norilly!” My current swing back to the other extreme, stamping out bullshit wherever I come across it, is something like atonement. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/4 "2004-06-14T23:04:23Z")
Reading the thread title, I’m thinking about someone who was caught selling electrical products which weren’t listed by the Underwriters Laboratory. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/5 "2004-06-14T23:12:22Z")
I heard Kentucky Fried rat, and believed it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/6 "2004-06-14T23:22:56Z")
I believed and passed on the thing about glass being a liquid… :o ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/7 "2004-06-14T23:34:09Z")
The [HIV-infected needles](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/pinprick.htm) didn’t _really_ fool us… we just didn’t go out dancing in clubs for a while… Ok, we were scared half to death. I mean, it was on the news! Until the station came back a couple of weeks later with a story about how it was an urban legend and even they’d fallen for it. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/8 "2004-06-14T23:51:43Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I believed and passed on the thing about glass being a liquid… :o [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_120.html) believed it too… ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/9 "2004-06-15T03:43:49Z")
The one I fell for was the Eddie Murphy and Michael Jordan in the elevator story. But the more I thought about it, the more suspicious I got - how would that not have made the news? That’s how I found Snopes. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/10 "2004-06-15T05:42:10Z")
I was visiting a friend in D.C. and his stepfather warned us not to flash our headlights if we saw anyone driving with their headlights off; it was part of a gang initiation, and they’d track us down and shoot us. I don’t think I passed it on, though. I did believe (and passed on, even :smack: ) the bit on the snopes site [debunking the rumor](http://www.snopes.com/lost/kfc.htm) that Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to remove the word “fried.” ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/11 "2004-06-15T06:13:00Z")
Wow, I guess I passed that one on as well. That is a very interesting one as it is a rumor hiding a runor hiding the truth. You think you are enlightening people from their false beliefs when in fact you are just giving them another. Of course, this may be forgiven as the company itself started the rumor with their official statements. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/12 "2004-06-15T15:53:49Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > I did believe (and passed on, even :smack: ) the bit on the snopes site [debunking the rumor](http://www.snopes.com/lost/kfc.htm) that Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to remove the word “fried.” I believed that [Mister Ed was a zebra](http://www.snopes.com/lost/mistered.asp?version=color#toggle) for a while. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/13 "2004-06-15T17:01:04Z")
A few years ago there was a hoax going around, warning people not to turn their headlights off and back on to remind people who don’t have their headlights on to turn them on. According to the hoax, this was an initiation rite being performed by gangs, whose members would drive around with their lights off. Anyone who turned their lights off and on would get shot at. I avoided performing my civic duty to remind others to turn on their headlights for several months before I found out that this was only a damn hoax. I also fell for the myth about only being able to balance an egg on end on the day of the spring or autumnal equinox. I even got a picture of it, which was even run in the local newspaper’s “photo of the day” since my cat jumped into the scene right as the picture was taken. Our own **Bad Astronomer** (a.k.a. Phil Plait) has debunked this one on his [web site](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/egg_spin.html). ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/14 "2004-06-15T17:01:13Z")
I believed my mother’s friend had run into Paul Newman at the ice cream shop. I shoulda known better, since the same friend had run into Lionel Richie and his doberman pinsher in an elevator. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/15 "2004-06-15T17:18:33Z")
The way it was presented to me, I totally fell for the “Kentucky fried chicken uses scientifically created chicken blobs (for lack of a better word)” UL. I mean, I wouldn’t put it past them! I think it’s rather telling how many ULs are belived about them… ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/16 "2004-06-15T17:37:17Z")
Aaaaand synchronicity rears its ugly head. I’m sitting here reading about ULs (and I admit it, I fell for the Kentucky Fried rat, except in my version it was a mouse, when I was younger) and what do I get in my email? An urban legend about the evil man attacking women in strange and unexpected locations. Sheesh. This one someone had gone to the trouble of adding local locality names to to make it sound real. But don’t people _ever_ wonder when about “it happened to the sister-in-law of the cousin of a friend of a friend” that maybe they should be just a _wee_ bit suspicious? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/17 "2004-06-15T17:45:17Z")
I fell for the “High Beam Headlights / Gang Initiation” UL, as well. Imagine my fear when, driving in LA, I flashed my lights at an an approaching car that had their brights on and watched with terror in my rear view mirror as the car made a quick U-Turn and began accelerating after me! It turns out that the driver had simply missed his turn and hung a quick right into the next street we passed! As a kid, I firmly believed the rumour that Bubblicious Bubble Gum was made with spiders’ eggs! ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/18 "2004-06-15T18:08:29Z")
I believed the one about Jamie Lee Curtis being born a hermaphrodite (although, I guess technically we don’t know that it’s _not_ true). I also believed that there were people hiding under cars in parking lots who cut the owners’ achilles tendons when they came back to their cars. In my defense, though, I’m pretty sure the latter was reported as fact by the local news media. Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that, either, I’d bet. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/19 "2004-06-15T18:17:17Z")
I fell for the “Guy in disco faints because sausage/salami/cucumber stuffed in pants cut off circulation”. I thought I had heard my sister, who worked on a rescue squad, claim to have responded to this call. Later on, I found that I had misunderstood, she said that it happened “to a friend of a friend”. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362/20 "2004-06-15T18:55:09Z")
I believed that [Rod Stewart](http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/rockstar.htm) collapsed at a concert and had a quart of semen pumped from his stomach. :eek: But hey, that _was_ like 25 years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-on-admit-it-that-ul-got-you/250362.md?page=2)