JKCinema has this series of movies online called the Urban Legends series. Against my better judgment, I watched a few, and now I’m shaking in my computer chair. I know the majority of the first few episodes aren’t true, I looked up the stories on Snopes and thus disproved (most) of them.
JKCinema got smart. They found and put in their shows stories that aren’t on Snopes, so I can’t disprove them, and because I’m so damned gullible, I’m alone and very very much creeped out.
Take for example their origin of the Sloppy Joe. I won’t post the details here, but the name Manwich makes a lot more sense now…ew…
Please, fellow Dopers in the pit. I know I’m gullible and stupid and a wimp, no need to post that in here…just help me fight ignorance. I’m currently Googling the Manwich story, along with the Christmas Carol story and the Led Zepplin backwards song story. Help me find some answers so that I’m not so freaked out. Please?
I don’t get it. If these stories are presented as urban legends, why would you think that they need to be debunked? It’s kind of like saying “Disprove this anecdote from Martin’s Book of Tall Tales.”
If it makes you feel any better:
No, there has never been any record of a diner cook grinding up his cheating wife a la Sweeney Todd. It’s just a funny story. If it were true, there’d be dozens of American Justice type documentaries on the guy, because, let’s face it, it’s a better story than Ed Gein’s.
“Christmas Carols” have nothing to do with a missing girl named Carol. That’s totally backwards – the name “Carol” comes from the sense of a “joyful song.” It’s from the Greek * “choraula”*. (Piping song.) You can see the etymological connection to “chorus.”
And the Stairway to Heaven thing has been done here a thousand times. Nobody hears the “backwards content” unless they have been told what to expect to hear first. It’s not there.
LadySybil, since there’s really no Pitting here, I’m going to close this thread. If you want factual debunking of urban legends, I’d encourage you to start a new thread in GQ.
