The Truth Behind Urban Myths

Hear the one about Richard Gere and the gerbil? Of course you have. How about Rod Stewart having his stomach pumped of semen? What about the picture of the guy with his dead wife preserved in a glass coffee table? Fakes and untruths all of them.

The next time you get an email containing an image or a story that a friend has passed on because it's "Unbelievable!!" get the lowdown on it at one of the reputable sites that deal specifically with urban myths, including Snopes and Urban Legends . Both sites take on the task of tracking down the truth behind commonly circulated stories.

The advertising on Snopes is a tad irritating (although it is what pays for the site's running costs) but its research is good, although Urban Legends occasionally provides more detail. For instance, both sites are informative in their debunking of the "doomed tourist" shot supposedly taken on a World Trade Center viewing deck seconds before it was hit by a plane on September 11, 2001 (pictured), but only Urban Legends gives the full name of the Hungarian man who finally admitted to creating the image as a prank. However Snopes is so well known for its myth-busting that there have been instances of chain emails containing fake stories including the line "checked out on Snopes.com" in an attempt to allay suspicion. Now that's a back-handed compliment …

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