Around the Watercooler

Headline: Professor Studies How Urban Legends Arise

"If we can find out how these rumors form and proliferate, maybe we can determine ways to counteract them, especially the false ones with
negative consequences," he said.

There's no need for extensive research on this subject. Mainly, the place this professor needs to go is the small town beauty shop. That's where it all begins. Whether the ladies are too old to hear stories correctly or the hair dryer over their heads confuses the story remains a mystery, but that's one of the places where they begin, at least for women.

For men it's usually disguised as a Staff Meeting. This meeting normally begins with phrases like through the grapevine or rumor mill has it. Nobody ever knows the facts behind anything said but if the person saying it has enough authority then it magically becomes truth.

As far as urban legends go, these usually have their conception at a slumber party or camp-out. Although many adults aren't actually camping out in the woods anymore, it's basically the same when they camp out at the bar and tell these tales. And as long as they don't set their drinks down without watching over them, they should make it back home with their kidneys intact and the only ice available will be in the freezer where it belongs.

Or at least, that is what my friends', sisters' brother-in-law brother told me and he's a cop so he ought to know.