Urban Myths and Stories From Your Childhood

[WCErevival]

White tail spiders are worse than red backs. People still believe this to this day.

 

[ShanDog]

White tail spiders are worse than red backs. People still believe this to this day.

Guilty as charged....

 

[Starburns_]

Starburns_ Dan Brain Power Cooksen

LOL

'Myth'?

 

[Mofra]

I do like the story of the father who told his kid that the ice cream van plays music when it's run out of ice cream.

 

[ash_1050]

White tail spiders are worse than red backs. People still believe this to this day.

I googled white tail spider bites and red back spider bites. I know which one I'd prefer and it isn't the white tail.

 

[ShanDog]

I googled white tail spider bites and red back spider bites. I know which one I'd prefer and it isn't the white tail.

Did you google the wikipedia articles on them? Might want to readjust your preference!

 

[ash_1050]

Did you google the wikipedia articles on them? Might want to readjust your preference!

"Rarely, other effects are reported such as priapism (uncontrolled erection of the penis)."

Redback bites as it turns out are worse, imagine the embarrassment of uncontrollably pitching a tent for the duration of the bite.

 

[HairyO]

I googled white tail spider bites and red back spider bites. I know which one I'd prefer and it isn't the white tail.

There is a very minor chance of getting a horrible reaction to a white tail spider, there is a pretty good chance of hospitalisation with a red back.

Playing the odds which are you going for?

 

[ShanDog]

"Rarely, other effects are reported such as priapism (uncontrolled erection of the penis)."

Redback bites as it turns out are worse, imagine the embarrassment of uncontrollably pitching a tent for the duration of the bite.

Meh, just own it and it'll be right!

 

[Gersman]

If you pick your nose and eat it you'll grow long hairs inside your stomach and they'll slowly strangle your inner workings.
And you'll die.

Kid at school told me Tasmania used to be part of Australia but it broke off in the wind one night.

 

[Billy ray]

Milk milk
Lemonade
Around the back is where chocolate is made

 

[emuboy]

There was some urban myth years ago that a child actor ate so much candy his stomach exploded and caused him to die.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Kid at school told me Tasmania used to be part of Australia but it broke off in the wind one night.

LOL....Now that's a beaut.

We had the usual one about the spider bite, which ShanDog's O/P reminded me of......This one involved a lady who was bitten by one on the forehead but thought nothing of it.....A couple of months later she had a lump develop there & finally decided to squeeze it, once & for all.....Eventually it burst, with hundreds of little spiders running out of it & all over her face, sending her insane & straight to the loony-bin.

My mother informed me as a young child to never ever use public toilets near playgrounds, as there would be a man inside waiting to cut my willy off.....This was of course, her twisted way of keeping me out of the reach of pedophiles.....Whom she thought frequented such establishments.

 

[ioppolo]

Can't remember the whole story but something about a girl, a dog, a jar of peanut butter and a surprise party.

Yep there was always one girl who was rumoured to have done this

 

[the_interloper]

Milk milk
Lemonade
Around the back is where chocolate is made

Discovered this isn't true by trial and error? You'd think once you got to lemonade you wouldn't try for chocolate.

 

[RelaxMax]

Watching too much television or sitting too close to the telly would give you square eyes

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

If you pull a face, the wind will change and you will stay like that forever.

 

[iluvparis]

If you pull a face, the wind will change and you will stay like that forever.

Err excuse me but this scientific journal suggests otherwise - https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/whe...nd-deborah-niland-9780207167614/#.Wpy_WGpubcs

 

[MaddAdam]

The Jennifer Keyte rumour was actually started by Channel 9 Melbourne.

At the time, she was the number one rating newsreader and caning them.

So at a Christmas Party, once various soft types had gone home, the EP of news (or similar) called the remaining suitably drunken types, mostly journos, around and said: "Here's a CabCharge home, when you get into the cab, we want you to tell the cabbie the following, that Jennifer Keyte was at the Alfred Emergency with a Coke bottle etc, Johnny Diesel. Tell the cabbie that for obvious reasons you can't run the story, but it is deadest true"

Cabbies picking up journos from Channel 9 building hear this story ... obviously within a week all of Melbourne knows.

In the days before social media, a magnificently effective way to spread a rumour.

So there you go, that's how that one started.

 

[perthblue]

If I went outside with wet hair I'd die of shock

If I drank an ice-cold drink on a hot day I'd die of shock

If it was a rainy day and my socks got wet I'd die of shock

 

[Gough]

If I went outside with wet hair I'd die of shock

If I drank an ice-cold drink on a hot day I'd die of shock

If it was a rainy day and my socks got wet I'd die of shock

Is this some sort of Slavic folklore?

 

[WoodyPecker]

This morning I was enjoying a nice hot shower, thinking about world peace, how to write the greatest song ever, why the hell is my wife annoyed with me this time - the usual stuff - when I was given the shock of a lifetime that must have taken about 5 years from my life expectancy.

I went to slap a healthy glob of shampoo into my hair and BANG, a sharp pain in my finger and scalp came out of nowhere. I look down at my hand and see a spider scurrying along the floor of the shower being swept up by the water. Of course, my brain puts two and two together resulting in a girlish scream manly war-cry and instant bodily reaction that sent me from a feeling of serenity to my heart exploding out of my chest, wondering if I will ever see my kids again or figure out why Mrs ShanDog is giving me the stink-eye.

Thankfully, my natural reaction to reach up to my head and feel for the pain in my scalp meant I grabbed at the since-forgotten hair clip my little girl had put in while we were enjoying a tea-party earlier this morning, and it all suddenly made sense. The spider was just a coincidence. And also a sign that I need to call pest control.

In that moment of sheer terror Bond-like instant reaction to potential danger, another thought crossed my mind: A story I heard several times as a young kid that a local man with dreadlocks went to a barber after many years to get his hair cut, but dropped dead in the barber's chair because a family of spiders that decided to live in his hair was disturbed and bit him when his hair was being cut. Being a pretty cluey kid, I never really believed that, or other similar stories, but it did take me down memory lane afterward, thinking about all the silly urban myths and stories that kids passed around to each other like the dreadlocks story.

What other similar stories can you remember as a kid? Did you believe them?

As soon as I read the thread title this exact story came in to my head before I even opened the thread.

 

[perthblue]

Is this some sort of Slavic folklore?

There is no quicker way to instant death in the Balkans than by going outside with wet hair. Or not wearing an undershirt.

 

[ShanDog]

As soon as I read the thread title this exact story came in to my head before I even opened the thread.

Don't worry, everyone thinks about me in the shower.

 

[Jatz]

The Jennifer Keyte rumour was actually started by Channel 9 Melbourne.

At the time, she was the number one rating newsreader and caning them.

So at a Christmas Party, once various soft types had gone home, the EP of news (or similar) called the remaining suitably drunken types, mostly journos, around and said: "Here's a CabCharge home, when you get into the cab, we want you to tell the cabbie the following, that Jennifer Keyte was at the Alfred Emergency with a Coke bottle etc, Johnny Diesel. Tell the cabbie that for obvious reasons you can't run the story, but it is deadest true"

Cabbies picking up journos from Channel 9 building hear this story ... obviously within a week all of Melbourne knows.

In the days before social media, a magnificently effective way to spread a rumour.

So there you go, that's how that one started.

Hadn't even heard about this until your post. So presumably it wasn't true then?