CREEPY URBAN LEGENDS

THE TUG-OF-WAR MATCH TO TUG YOUR ARM OFF

In one of the largest tug-of-war matches ever held, 800 people

lined up on each side of a nylon rope to be crowned the winners at

Retrocession Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan. Each side pulled as

hard as they could, exerting three times more force than the rope was

capable of withstanding, causing the rope to snap along with the arms

of the two men in front. Yang Chiung-ming and Chen Ming-kuo each

had their arms ripped apart between the shoulder and elbow due

to the force of the rebounding rope. Thankfully, they were rushed to

hospital where doctors spent seven hours reattaching their limbs.

DEATH BY CHIMNEY

Santa Claus somehow manages to make it down millions of chimneys

every year without a hitch – and that’s real magic. Humans aren’t so

magical, as a Californian doctor with relationship problems found out.

In an attempt to infiltrate her boyfriend’s house. Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac

tried to climb down the chimney but got stuck in its confines.

Three days later, a house sitter saw fluids dripping down the fireplace

and smelled rotting flesh, soon discovering the decomposing cause.

THE CHEF WHO COOKED HIS OWN WIFE

A truly accomplished chef can turn even the toughest meat into a

tender, satisfying meal. Chef David Viens must have really thought

himself skilled when he tried cooking some tough meat – his wife.

After an argument, Viens duct-taped his wife up and found her dead

the following morning. Trying to destroy the evidence, he cooked her

in a massive pot (yes, her whole, intact body) for four days.

FLESH-EATING MAGGOTS IN YOUR HEAD

British national Rochelle Harris had a wonderful time on her hiking

trip in Peru – until she got back home. Initially ruled as an ear

infection, doctors soon found a “writhing mass of maggots” feeding

on the flesh of Harris’s ear. A New World screwworm fly had laid eggs

in her ear canal which soon caused seething pain down her face

and a strange discharge from her ear. Doctors successfully

removed the maggots and Harris made a full recovery.

EATING NAILS FOR BREAKFAST

In a serious lesson on food safety, a Galveston, Texas, girl showed

up to the emergency room with severe pain in her throat. After

x-raying her oesophagus, doctors found a piece of metal wire

lodged therein. What had happened? Some days earlier, her

father was cleaning the barbecue grill with a metal wire brush.

Since he didn’t wipe the grill down with a cloth afterwards, shards

of metal remained and lodged themselves into the next meal

the family cooked, which the girl ate.

SLEEPING ON THE DECEASED

One of the urban legends which is often shockingly true is the

dead body under the hotel bed. On multiple instances, including

2003 in Kansas City, 1994 in Miami, and 1996 in Pasadena, hotel

guests complained to staff about a foul, noxious odour emanating

from the room. After hotel staff checked (most times they already

smelled something foul and ignored it), they found a dead,

decomposing body under the mattress frame.

FUNNY-TASTING WATER

When visiting a foreign city or country, it’s natural to think the water

tastes a little funny. This feeling was stepped way up when

vacationing families at Los Angeles’s Cecil Hotel noticed black

water coming out of the tap. A maintenance worker went to

investigate the source, discovering the decomposing body of a

missing twenty-one-year-old Canadian student in the water tank.

It’s not sure how her body ended up in the tank but we’re sure

those guests won’t be staying at the Cecil anytime soon.

THE REAL, DEAD MUMMY

As Jimmy Fallon would say, dead bodies are “ew”. Though some

people like to get nasty with dead bodies (necrophilia), we generally

shy away from them except during the haunted house craze which

pops up every Halloween. It’s a good thing they’re made out of

papier-mâché and old bandages, right? Nope. The movie crew of

“The Six Million Dollar Man” found out via the accidentally-breaking-

a-limb-off kind of way that a prop mummy was no prop at all.

In fact, it was the handy-work of an embalmer who, so proud

of his work, displayed the corpse in a funeral home, charging

visitors a nickel to see it (which they would drop in its mouth).

The mummy, train robber Elmer McCurdy, was claimed by his

“brothers” a few years later. His “brothers” were actually

carnival promoters who showcased the body all over the USA.

A DEAD BODY IN A CARPET

Three Columbia University students looking to cheaply redecorate

their place found an unwelcome surprise in their dumpster carpet

after they got it home. Unrolling their new carpet, the boys found a

dead body with two bullet wounds to the head inside.