tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26665321096556959592024-03-13T09:02:05.026+02:00Legends from a small countryArthur Goldstuck revisits and updates the urban legends that have appeared in his various books, and monitors new ones as they appear and disappear from the psyche. The focus is on South African urban legends, but sometimes goes global.Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-22159063921052425022012-11-11T16:55:00.001+02:002012-11-11T16:55:13.111+02:00Letter from a Legends cop
Letter from Stephen Clark, SAPS Westville (Durban):
In 1990, I read the words, "What is an Urban Legend and where can I buy
one?" and looked up, blinking at my dad. I had told him some fantastic
story I had heard and he had rolled his eyes, muttered
something unintelligible and stomped off to examine his book case.
David Clark (dad) had been a journalist most of his life, so it was
Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-3524016533126085492012-09-19T17:20:00.001+02:002012-09-20T07:45:05.049+02:00"Prince of fools" - fake "quote of the century"
The following e-mail doing the rounds in South Africa, aside from circulating among expats and having an irritatingly unlikely headline, rang the urban legend alarm bells because of its unlikely source:
QUOTE OF THE CENTURY, MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENIUM
Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic.&Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-8997900861682582722010-10-25T11:35:00.000+02:002010-10-25T12:50:34.101+02:00In the spirit of media mythsSpirits blamed as girls faint in CambodiaTeachers of 10 teenage girls who collapsed one after another at their rural Cambodian school blamed the mysterious ailment on angry spirits on Saturday. - Sydney Morning Herald, October 24, 2010 News services around the world, who received this report from Agence France Presse (AFP), handled it in an entirely predictable manner: they focused solely on theArthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-2239266009703390422010-10-20T08:36:00.000+02:002010-10-20T08:45:25.399+02:00Arthur's new bookArthur Goldstuck's new book on urban legends, "The Burglar in the Bin-bag: Urban legends, Hoaxes and Mass Hysteria" (Penguin), is now out.It will be officially launched on Wednesday, October 27, at 6.30pm, at Love Books in Melville, Johannesburg. If you'd like to attend, RSVP to Kate by clicking here or by phone on (+27) 11 726 7408.Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-18975974716018042242010-09-01T06:37:00.000+02:002010-09-01T19:04:28.095+02:00The Micro Frog of Floral DoomIf you see someone selling arum lillies you must call City Law Enforcement on (021) 596 1400/1424It is the start of Arum Lily season. A tiny endangered Arum Lily Micro Frog breeds inside the water and dew held in the cup of these Lilies. We are desperate to curtail the gross destruction of Lilies. Please don't buy Lilies sold at traffic intersections. Would you please do a tiny bit, and just FWD Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-19178614293783571392010-08-24T10:03:00.000+02:002010-08-24T11:32:22.573+02:00Shoes on the lineOld shoes hang from an overhead telephone cable in Thokoza, on the East Rand. Residents are not entirely sure why the line is festooned with the shoes - one said they advertise the fact that dagga can be bought in the area, others said the shoes are thrown onto the cable by recovering dagga smokers. Most residents said children throw them onto the cable when they are beyond repair. - The Times, Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-59908913267416557282010-04-26T16:21:00.000+02:002010-04-26T16:22:40.294+02:00"KIll the Whites" DayThe police's national spokesman, Colonel Vishnu Naidoo, has slammed "malicious" text messages that claim pamphlets calling for white people to be killed on Freedom Day are being circulated in Limpopo. The police have found no evidence that such pamphlets existed, he said. - The Times, 26 April 2010Which is more outrageous: a call to kill white people, or a text message claiming that pamphlets to Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-46925328691978420582010-01-12T10:05:00.000+02:002010-02-17T22:35:42.588+02:00'Kill a Tourist Day'An Irish actress and a major newspaper have both fallen for the same urban legend.On 31 December 2009, Irish actress Victoria Smurfit came close to personal tragedy during a night out in Cape Town. The vehicle in which she and her family were travelling was driving along Strand Street in the city centre, when a bullet shattered the passenger window of the taxi, grazed her elbow, and lodged in theArthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-24673176645586310162008-10-30T11:11:00.005+02:002008-10-30T14:47:58.592+02:00Burglars are a load of rubbishWe all know how creative burglars get in the land of urban legends. But when they begin masquerading as bags of rubbish, isn't it time they hired new strategy consultants?An e-mail doing the rounds, starting with the time-honoured disclaimer of people who suspect they may be making idiots of themselves ("Don't know if this is true or not, but I received it from a good friend, so... you never knowArthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-66345178419127282402008-08-27T21:22:00.024+02:002008-08-28T20:29:17.302+02:00E-mail scares #4: Beware of the keychain!Please be advised that there are people handing out key rings at intersections and stop streets... These key rings have tracking devices in them.... Kindly refuse them as you would be able to be followed if you accept it.... Please pass this on.... So goes the latest e-mail hoax warning doing the rounds. Promotional keyrings have indeed been handed out, but the warning barely stands up to the Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-86798504480601178132008-06-13T15:52:00.012+02:002008-06-13T16:58:32.284+02:00E-mail scares: Eskom is coming!You (yes, you!) have got until June 19 to stop Eskom from destroying the economy, repossessing your home and dropping a piano on your car. Think that sounds ridiculous? Well, otherwise intelligent people are falling for equally ridiculous e-mail appeals doing the rounds. The latest one urges - no, begs - everyone to sign a petition calling for Eskom not to increase electricity prices by 53%. It Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-58367238459142992982008-04-25T11:23:00.001+02:002008-04-25T12:16:46.984+02:00Haunted by white ghosts! The curse of DipokongI love the Daily Sun, that scurrilous South African tabloid that plumbs the depths of human gullibility. Despite its unashamedly tabloid credentials and dubious news claims, it is a highly professional newspaper that has refined the formula for mass-market sensationalism down to the finest element of punctuation. Just in case you don't realise how sensational each story is, almost all headlines Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-81429095273011831542008-04-24T08:00:00.001+02:002008-04-24T09:06:07.643+02:00The 2010 sex trade scarePlease be warned that a group of men are busy kidnapping girls from schools. They are specifically targeting schools with young girls ranging in age from nine and older.This group of men kidnaps these girls with the intention of assisting prostitution for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.Thus starts a warning doing the rounds of South African schools; a warning designed to connect the country’s greatestArthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-74515589877620956882008-04-14T15:39:00.005+02:002008-04-14T16:02:06.335+02:00The ghost of the mine shaftsThis tale of South Africa's haunted mines comes from the pages of Homeless Talk, a newspaper written mostly by homeless people and sold by street vendors who themselves are homeless.Luke Jentile, a former miner, contributes a column about his experiences under the heading Deep Levels. His April 2008 column is entitled Eerie tale from the shafts. He describes how miners get used to working in Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-15701791280267567172008-03-13T08:41:00.003+02:002008-03-13T09:09:35.869+02:00Please DON’T Call MeIf you reply to a “Please Call Me” SMS, you will be the victim of a scam to bill you R50.50 per second of air time. That’s R3300 for one minute! In dollars, that’s more than $400! Okay, now you can relax: it’s only an urban legend. Starting life as an e-mail warning at the time the Call Me service was launched by Vodacom, it has yet again resurfaced on the grapevine, doing the rounds by word of Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-24940512183238879132008-03-09T20:23:00.011+02:002008-03-10T09:49:54.268+02:00Right (no, left) of way:The error at Hospital BendDid you know that Cape Town’s notorious traffic bottleneck known as hospital bend is the result of an absurd engineering blunder? At least, that’s the way it goes in the land of urban legends. There are two variations on the theme, and both are usually told as “everyone who lives in Cape Town knows about it”.Here is a classic version of the first variation, as shared with me by correspondent Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-31831832357984862872008-02-27T05:57:00.006+02:002008-02-27T15:28:10.193+02:00"South Africa Needs A Leader Like This!"Just days after Australia elected its first leader in many years who was able to display racial sensitivity, an outrageously anti-Muslim statement from previous prime minister John Howard did the rounds in South Africa, suggesting we needed a leader of his temperament.The e-mail, which circulated at the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, ran:South Africa Needs A Leader Like This! Muslims who Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-70899159029524512052008-02-03T16:54:00.000+02:002008-02-03T16:56:49.885+02:00Legends of the Tokoloshe #1: A monster ate my homeworkPeople from the district of Ohrigstad say they chased a man from their village after finding evidence that he kept a Tokoloshe. The witch then approached a white farmer and suggested that he fire all the black labourers on the estate as he could do their work alone. This the farmer promptly did, but his curiosity was aroused. One night he visited the fields, and found a large number of small Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-84093513429645581782008-01-15T05:55:00.000+02:002008-01-15T06:28:29.477+02:00Laptop survives bombs but not post officeWhich is more hazardous: a war zone or the Post Office? A wonderful urban legend that answers this question in no uncertain terms has finally made its way to South Africa.Supposedly:A laptop computer was sent by courier to military headquarters in Pretoria for testing in battlefield conditions. The laptop survived shock waves from being in close proximity to shelling; it survived burial under a Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-40256573963191734602008-01-14T07:30:00.000+02:002008-01-14T08:47:00.422+02:00Christmas not cancelled shock!Another Christmas is safely behind us, finally putting to rest one of the great urban legends of South African government interference in ordinary people’s ordinary lives.Back in August 2004, one Rufus Malatjie, chief director of legal services at the Department of Home Affairs, who headed a government task team evaluating the number of public holidays, was quoted by the Sunday Times, under the Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-18580741737271153002007-11-28T16:43:00.001+02:002007-11-28T17:09:08.425+02:00The magical cookie recipeOne of America's favourite urban legends of the 1980s became one of its most readily-believed myths of the '90s, thanks to the Internet. And then died at the turn of the 21st century, again thanks to the Internet. Hardly a week used to go by without some online discussion forum or another being told the story:A customer thoroughly enjoys her desert after a meal at a Neiman Marcus Cafe somewhere Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-31401435824113929732007-11-23T13:18:00.000+02:002007-11-28T17:12:46.896+02:00Dogged by votersDuring South Africa's last election campaign, the few candidates who went canvassing from door to door found themselves firmly in urban legend country. They often met with horrific experiences, not least of which was the amount of dogs set on them. An urban legend that has emerged from that kind of experience tells of the candidate stamping the streets of a low-income area. The candidate arrives Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-21589554504376332002007-11-21T11:09:00.000+02:002007-11-21T11:20:01.865+02:00Legend of the angry groomSouth Africans were believing the tale of the angry groom long before the Internet arrived here. Everyone knows someone who was at the wedding where the groom made a gracious speech before turning to his bride and telling her he had, in his pocket, two tickets to Hawaii - for his bride and for the best man, who, he announced, had been sleeping with each other for the past six months. In one Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-86222995234654580052007-11-20T07:40:00.000+02:002007-11-20T07:43:39.030+02:00Debbie does dishesAnother urban legend about our new national flower, the satellite dish:A Sandton dude decided to connect his new dish himself, wiring it up to the receiver, the receiver to the tuner, the tuner to the TV set, the TV to the PVR, the PVR to the VCR, and not managing to get anything to appear on screen.Eventually he told his wife he was sick of all the gadgets, and was going to the pub down the roadArthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2666532109655695959.post-85358803421608275982007-11-19T08:10:00.000+02:002007-11-19T08:09:03.451+02:00Legend of a hot dishWith half-a-dozen pay-TV channels about to be unleashed on South Africa, look out for the blossoming of the new national flower: the satellite dish. And expect these dishes' omnipresence to result in the transmission of many new urban legends into our consciousness.In particular, prepare yourself for a new generation of do-it-yourself urban legends.This one happened in Cape Town, where one Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15324885081072773878noreply@blogger.com2