Comments on: The Quick 8: Clarifying 8 Horror Myths

By: Joanna

Joanna — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:25:22 +0000

I saw a short film/commercial once where a guy talks to the camera about “You know the story: Guy gets picked up at a bar, goes back to the girl’s hotel room, wakes up in a bathtub full of ice with his kidney gone.” He then proceeds, in a very matter-of-fact way, to explain that it was bunk because kidneys are the cheapest organs, so why not just kill the guy and take the whole shebang? And the whole time the camera is slowly panning back to reveal that he’s sitting in a motel room, putting organs into plastic bags, while his hot accomplice works at cleaning up in the bathroom. It all turned out to be a call for video submissions; the winner got a walk-on part in a horror film. You can see it at YouTube if you search for “urban legend Ziddio.com”

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:44:46 +0000

My Grandmother told me about the kidney thieves- my uncle picked on her about it because he knows it’s an urban legend,

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:12:48 +0000

I want to say that earlier this year or maybe the end of last year there was a big story about some foreign surgeon who was hiring poor or out of work people to help “clean” in his offices and then would later bride them for their organs. I think in a few cases he was charges with drugging these poor people and just taking an organ or two. He didn’t slash ‘em and leave them in a bathtub but he was using repulsive means to sell organs on the black market. I seem to remember seeing it on a legit news site, but maybe the spooky season is messing with my memory. Anyone else remember that story??

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:03:12 +0000

I was about to mention the story about a woman hanging herself in a tree on Halloween in 05- but you got to it. It happened in lower Delaware and scared the sh1t out of me. I’m from north DE, so I didn’t see it or anything, but its seriously crazy.

By: Diana

Diana — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:15:41 +0000

When I was a little girl in the mid-70s we had “love rollercoater” on 45 (!) and I was scared to even it look at it after my sisters told me about death scream.

My sisters also used to tell me that if I ever had a tapeworm, they would have to starve me for a long time, then hold food in front of my mouth and the tapeworm would crawl up my throat. Strangely enough, I ended up becoming a parasitologist :)

By: majka

majka — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:13:58 +0000

The kidneys are so difficult to get to, due to being beneath the layer of connective tissue that most abdominal organs hang in, that you would almost certainly die from the trauma if anyone but a surgeon took one out. Also, that picture is of someone with situs inversus, a relatively harmless, but cool, anomaly in which all the major organs in your body are flipped.

By: Lorelei

Lorelei — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:43:44 +0000

#5 can actually happen. I was there helping remove a spider sac from the inside of an elbow. The eggs were laid in his arm like the birth control sticks.

date pushing as a catchpa? someone’s having a bad month

By: Kid knee

Kid knee — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:20:54 +0000

Loved the article, but a few comments about the kidney part. I’m in med school and I can tell you that those things are hard to find because they’re actually beneath the fascia that most of your abdominal organs hang in, meaning that an inexperienced person would most likely destroy your liver, spleen, pancreas, and splanchnic nerves, so you wouldn’t just get up and walk away. Second, that is a picture of someone with situs inversus, a harmless, but cool, condition where all the major organs are flipped to the wrong side.

By: nutmeag

nutmeag — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:16:41 +0000

I put most of my silverware facing up (aside from knives), but since my silverware basket is attached to the dishwasher door (and thus not facing upward), I think I’m safe from impalement.

Good article, Stacy. The Quick 10 is one of my favorites here on the _floss.

By: j

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:05:09 +0000

As for #5 – it may not be true about spiders, but there is an insect called the Bot Fly that will plant eggs on mosquitoes, which can then be transferred under your skin and the larvae will happily live under your skin. They live in Central America and are gross!!