Can You Guess Which of These Urban Legends Are Based on True Events?
1. The “Bloody Mary” mirror game is based on Queen Mary I, who bathed in the blood of virgins to stay youthful.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
2. The concept of a killer who bursts through a medicine cabinet, as in “Candyman,” is based on real events.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
3. The backdrop of a scene in The Wizard of Oz shows an actor who had hung himself.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
4. The legend of alligators living in New York City’s sewers might seem preposterous but a sewer gator has been spotted before.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
5. The “Maine Hermit,” a man who lived in the woods for decades and stalked campers, waiting for the right moment to snatch their belongings-was a real person.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
6. The legend of thugs driving around and killing anyone who flashes their headlights at them is based on actual gang initiation rites. True or false?
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
7. The legend of “Cropsey,” a Staten Island-based bogeyman that disembowels children who wander into the woods, was inspired by an actual person.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
8. The corpse of outlaw Elmer McCurdy, who died in 1911, was mistaken for a prop and displayed in a funhouse in Long Beach.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
9. You may have heard that earwigs can enter your ear and burrow into your brain. It’s rare, but it does happen.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
10. One Pennsylvania legend says a faceless bogeyman called “Charlie No-Face” walks the highway at night. But the legend is based on a real person who was injured in an electrical accident.
A) TRUE
B) Not a real event
Answers: 1:B; 2:A; 3:B; 4:A; 5:A; 6:B; 7:A; 8:A; 9:B; 10:A