# NY Blackout: Urban legend?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-blackout-urban-legend/25450>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 13, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-blackout-urban-legend/25450 "2000-07-13T16:30:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-blackout-urban-legend/25450/1 "2000-07-13T16:30:17Z")

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Twisted history ([www.twistedhistory.com](http://www.twistedhistory.com)) repeats the story of the November, 1965 New York City blackout again today: “Perhaps because it was cold outside, the main result was an increase in births nine months later.”

I remember the original stories about the spike in births, but also remember seeing stories declaring it an urban legend. However, I couldn’t find any authoritative references on the web.

So did the births go up or was it within normal statistical expectations?

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**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-blackout-urban-legend/25450/2 "2000-07-13T17:18:43Z")

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I have no idea if more babies were born in the late summer of 1966, but I know that after the big blizzard here in DC in January 1996, a buncha babies were born in October…

And, oodles and oodles of babies were born in South Florida in the spring of 1993 after Hurricane Andrew stopped by for a visit in August 1992. I remember hearing how the hospitals were overloaded with moms-to-be.

I’d say this UL is a true one.

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**Author:** ![MinkMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minkman/32/19170_2.png) [@MinkMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkMan)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-blackout-urban-legend/25450/3 "2000-07-13T17:26:37Z")

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Nope its false. See snopes:

[http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.htm](http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.htm)

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**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-blackout-urban-legend/25450/4 "2000-07-13T17:34:09Z")

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Speaking of baby booms: was there an increase in babies born around January 1 this year? Were a significant number of people aiming to have a Millennium baby?