# Who needs urban legends when stuff like this happens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 29, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002 "2008-05-29T12:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/61 "2008-05-30T15:16:07Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick] What are the chances that not one but two people could sleep through not just the noise, but the vibration on the tracks? [/QUOTE] Even with a good Conductor, you’d still need an Injun ear. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/62 "2008-05-30T15:35:36Z")
Fuck, this is one sick thread. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/63 "2008-05-30T15:49:47Z")
Maybe the freakin’ Lionel of trainwrecks should take his twisted, loco motives elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/64 "2008-05-30T15:57:41Z")
Drifting from the topic: Few years back some teens in our state purposefully climbed on top of an electrified train car, reached up and grabbed the overhead wires, and of course were completely fried. Parents sued railroad and won, I mean, how could teens be expected to know that ignoring the Danger! High Voltage! signs and grabbing electrical wires was dangerous … well … fatal. [Wish I could add a pun, but there it is. We were just discussing the above story last week.] ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/65 "2008-05-30T16:53:07Z")
[QUOTE=wheresgeorge04] Never having been in that type of situation, I may be wrong, but I’d like to think that the engineer would be able to say “What the holy hell would cause two people to sunbathe on the train tracks? They got what they SHOULD HAVE expected - a train came!” It’s not like an asleep-at-the-wheel driver or something… Joe [/QUOTE] A part-time co-worker here at the radio station is a retired railroad engineer. According to him, hitting someone on the tracks is a railroader’s worst nightmare because there is simply nothing you can do. He hit a pickup that was trying to beat the train to the crossing once; it was almost 20 years ago, and to this day he still has nightmares about seeing the drunk’s face through the pickup window as he realizes he isn’t going to make it. Having the right of way doesn’t protect you from the damage of someone else’s stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/66 "2008-05-30T17:15:59Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Fuck, this is one sick thread. [/QUOTE] And you know—that notion just crossed my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/67 "2008-05-30T17:31:19Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] And you know—that notion just crossed my mind. [/QUOTE] I thought the article said no drugs were involved. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/68 "2008-05-30T18:11:39Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Fuck, this is one sick thread. [/QUOTE] The express train is waiting to take us all to Hell. We’ll hop aboard in our own sweet time though. [QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] They can always get waitressing jobs at IHOP. [/QUOTE] That was even better than mine! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/69 "2008-05-30T19:18:41Z")
[QUOTE=nofloyd] Few years back some teens in our state purposefully climbed on top of an electrified train car, reached up and grabbed the overhead wires, and of course were completely fried. Parents sued railroad and won, I mean, how could teens be expected to know that ignoring the Danger! High Voltage! signs and grabbing electrical wires was dangerous … well … fatal. [/QUOTE] A Princeton student climbed on top the Dinky (as we called it–the shuttle train from Princeton to Princeton Junction) and did the same thing. The outcome wasn’t fatal. He settled for $3.6 million from NJ transit and apparently $5.7 million total. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDE163DF932A2575AC0A963958260](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDE163DF932A2575AC0A963958260) [http://www.iceandcoal.org/nfa/dinky.html](http://www.iceandcoal.org/nfa/dinky.html) \<\\> ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/70 "2008-05-30T21:22:32Z")
The two drunk dumbasses in Georgia who got in a truck and drove home shitfaced have an urban-legendesque story. Ya see, one was so drunk that he was hanging his head out the passenger side of the truck and puking or getting some air or something…the other one was so drunk, that he drove so close to one of those buried stabilization lines (that are angled out around telephone poles) that he decapitated his passenger. Not only that, but he was so drunk that he didn’t realize his friend had no head. Instead, he had driven home, parked in the driveway, stumbled into the house, and passed out on his bed. A jogger (or was it a man and his daughter?) found the headless body hanging out of the truck the next morning. No cite handy, but I swear to Og it happened something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/71 "2008-05-30T21:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies] No cite handy, but I swear to Og it happened something like that. [/QUOTE] [Cite.](http://www.wsbtv.com/news/3690110/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/72 "2008-05-30T21:41:58Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] [Cite.](http://www.wsbtv.com/news/3690110/detail.html) [/QUOTE] The cite says the head was later recovered by police at the crash site. This leads me to reflect on which would be worse to suddenly stumble upon: the headless body… or the bodyless head? Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/73 "2008-05-30T21:52:36Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] They can always get waitressing jobs at IHOP. [/QUOTE] _sigh_ 24 hours later, and I _just_ got that… ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/74 "2008-05-30T23:06:56Z")
Those darn teenagers these days. You give 'em an inch, and they they take a foot and think they’re rulers. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/75 "2008-05-30T23:34:09Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] They can always get waitressing jobs at IHOP. [/QUOTE] Its less of a pun, but they’d fit right in at “Bickford’s _pancake houses From Hell_” too. Once they get a foot in the door, that is… ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/76 "2008-05-31T00:13:52Z")
In Other Headline News: “Unexpected Run on Handbaskets, Says Hell Spokesman” Hell spokesman Halija “Huey” Clos reports a sudden run on handbaskets in the past 24 hours. “I just don’t know what the Here has happened; it really came like a train out of nowhere. We’re trying to get a leg up on the situation, have put our already tortured work force into express line production, but we just can’t keep up. I have every confidence that we will get back on track, though.” ---
**Author:** ![Emmy2635](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/919ad9/32.png) [@Emmy2635](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emmy2635)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/77 "2008-05-31T00:17:21Z")
The article in my local paper said that this train trestle is used by kids as a diving board into a lake below. It also mentioned that sometimes parents leave their strollers, **with their babies in them** , on the trestle while they go swimming. Unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/78 "2008-05-31T00:54:35Z")
[QUOTE=Emmy2635] The article in my local paper said that this train trestle is used by kids as a diving board into a lake below. [/QUOTE] 200 tons of CSX freight might be considered one hell of an incentive to [jump](http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/StandByMe/stand04.jpg). [QUOTE=Emmy2635] It also mentioned that sometimes parents leave their strollers, **with their babies in them** , on the trestle while they go swimming. Unbelievable. [/QUOTE] Warning. Patients who use CSX bridges as birth control risk mental health issues like guilt and insanity. Using CSX bridges as birth control poses a specific risk of incarceration. Men who experience erections lasting more than 4 hours while boinking their other under a CSX bridge should seek medical attention (as well as spray paint both your names and initials in heart-shaped graffiti under the tressel). ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/79 "2008-05-31T06:12:12Z")
Back to the question: Will the “stumped” teens engage the law firm of Flummox, Flummox&Gaff, and recover $20 million (pan and suffering) from CSX? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002/80 "2008-05-31T11:47:31Z")
Looks like these two decided they didn’t need leg-ends, urban or otherwise? ( **Lib** , I know, but what can you do? Gallows humour is how we deal with the horror of two inattentive teens inflicting irreparable injury on themselves. It may even be how \*they \* end up dealing with the loss.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-needs-urban-legends-when-stuff-like-this-happens/451002.md?page=5)