A Buck Fifty

Gang Initiations: Slash and Slice


Gangs have recently been trying out a new initiation process, supposedly. This urban legend suggests that new gang members have been stopping people in the street and asking them to wind down their car windows before slashing them with a blad, from ear to mouth, which is known as 'giving a buck fifty', possibly because the wound takes 150 stitches to fix or because a typical slice of pizza costs $1.50.

This is spreading around as a warning, as these often do (see our first blog post, the Car Bumpers) but again, this legend isn't true. The closest to it being true is the fact that this has happened at least once, but it's uncommon and has nothing to do with Gangs.

So you have nothing to worry about... for now.

~Bucked Bee

Hot Down Here

Letters from Hell: Wish You Were Here!


A couple had been married for twenty years, and so they decided that for their next vacation it would be romantic to go back to Florida and stay in the hotel where they stayed twenty years earlier on their honeymoon. Of course, things never work out perfect and the schedules didn't match, so the husband left for Florida and the wife intended to arrive a few days later.

The husband then discovered that the hotel had got computers now and so he decided to send an email to his wife. Unfortunately, he made a little typo and the email got sent to the wrong address.

Meanwhile, across the country a woman was greiving the death of her own husband, who just happened to be a minister. After getting back from the funeral, she decised to check her email for messages from family and friends. But she soons collapses when she reads the first email:

To My Loving Wife,
I know you'll be surprised to hear from me, but they have computers here now so we can send messages to our loved ones. I've just arrived and i've just been check in. I see everything is in order for your arrival tomorrow, I hope your journey is as eventful as mine! Look forward to seeing you!
Love, Your Loving Husband.

PS. Sure is hot down here!

Another similary and equally as entertaining story is about a minister who holds bake sale and takes a photo of some teenagers with the treats they baked. He sends an email to his sister and puts the picture in it too.

He puts the subject as 'Teenagers baked brownies' but makes a terrible typo, substituting B for N, the key right next to it. And so the email entitled 'Teenagers Naked Brownies', with a picture attached, goes flying through the FBI computers.

Of course, the minister was soon arrested - turns out there was a problem and the FBI couldn't open the file to check it. So they decided to arrest him anyway and be on the safe side. Typical.

~e-Bee

Flat Tires

Hitchhikers and Helpful Strangers


This story was going around, about a guy that asks a lady for a ride to his car in a mall parking lot.

"A lady was leaving a store and went to her car and notices that she had a flat tire. A good samaritan says he'll change the tire for her which he does. He then asks her for a lift to his car on the other side of the lot. She asked him why his car was on the other side of the lot and he said he met a friend for lunch and drove him here. When he puts the flat tire in the trunk she notices that he also puts a bag in the trunk. She gets suspicious and tells him that she forgot her credit card in the store and would he mind waiting a minute. She calls the police. When they got to her car he was gone; but in the bag in the trunk was duct tape and a butcher knife. It turns out that he let the air out of the tire.

This is a great urban legend because it has all the typical qualities of an urban legend. It has a horror theme that has a warning to helpless female victims and it has a surprise ending. There is another variation of the legend in which the killer takes on a clever disguise to trick his victim, but once again, for once, unlike in most legends, the victim doesn't become the victim after all.

A woman was driving along one night, on her way home, when she saw an elderly woman by the side of the road. She decides to pick the old woman up, despite her decision to never pick up hitchhikers when she is driving alone. Halfway through the journey, she glances at the old woman and notices that she has unusually hairy arms. Getting suspicious, the woman stops and asks the old lady to get out and check the back of the car because something may be wrong. The old woman gets out and goes to check and the woman drives away, feeling comforted and safe, but soon feeling guilty knowing that she was probably just a poor old woman. Then she feels even more guilty when she realizes she has took the old woman's bag with her. She gets home and takes the bag to the police so it can be returned, but upon investigation they discover a huge butcher knife stained with blood, hidden inside the bag.

I have also heard this story spoken by mouth, I cannot verify whether it is true or not, but it was told to me by my father and is about a woman near where he used to work.

The woman was helped out by an old man and he asks for a ride to thank him. She agrees, but then suddenly regrets her decision, knowing it was a stupid move. But he's expecting a ride now, so she tells him she only just passed her driving test, and asks him to guide her out. So he stands and watches as she backs out of her parking space, but of course, she doesn't stop, she just drives away. But feeling guilty, she takes the suitcase he left to the police to be returned, only for the police to discover a knife hidden within it.

A very popular tale, you can tell, by the fact that it has mutated into various strains as it has been spread by word of mouth.

~Butchered Bee

Night Kingdom

Disney World: Launching New Park for Adults?



Will Walt Disney World in Florida soon be launching a new park aimed at adults, entitled the 'Night Kingdom'? There have been rumours of this and cast and crew members have claimed that they are in on the project and released some details which may or may not be true, such as the inclusion of villain-themed rides and attractions, and the inclusion of nocturnal animals. Disney have refused to comment on the rumours, but the park is rumour to be completed by 2011.

Park Employees say that it is being worked on in secret near the Animal Kingdom, where food is grown for the animals, but rumours claim that it will be built on or near Pleasure Island. It is said to be a smaller park geared at a smaller audience, and it will be a night-time attraction and have a more intimate setting. It is rumoured to be able to hold 2,000 people.

An inside source leaked the information that the original plans had been put on hold and designers and started from scratch. Another source claimed that the park would be based on villains, as oppose to the main parks for children being based on heroes, and that it would include more 'mean' rides and attractions.

~Night Bee

The Manhattan Project

Shadows of the Past: Hiroshima and Nagasaki



This is an interesting legend regarding the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the unexplained-mysteries forum:

"When I was in the 5th or 6th grade we had a substitute teacher. A very animate man with long hair, very effeminate. But we all loved him and enjoyed having him as our sub! Anyhow, he told us a story once during our history lesson. He said he had visited the city of Hiroshima (or what was Hiroshima?) and that the shadows of the people remained as they were at the very moment the bomb hit. The shadows still existed, and hadnt moved."

This is because the bomb sent out massive amounts of radiation, which burnt anything in its path, but where something blocked it, it wasn't burned, so there are shadows permanently burn into objects which were shielded from the radiation.

Similarly, some people had the patterns on their clothes permanetly burned into the flesh because the dark parts of their clothing absorbed radiation and burnt their skin whereas the light parts of clothing reflected radiation and so protected the skin. So someone wearing a shirt with zebra stripes printed on it would have zebra stripes permanently burned into their skin.

In the picure above you can see the shadows cast by a fence at the side of a bridge. The white lines are where the fence protected the ground from radiation from the bomb.

~Bombed Bee