David Emery's Urban Legends Blog

Update on Time Travel Spammer
Brian McWilliams of Wired News confirmed today that the sender of hundreds of millions of spam messages seeking information about a 'dimensional warp generator' and other 'time travel' equipment since 2001 is indeed Robert Todino, a Massachusetts-based spammer previously investigated by authorities for 'misleading and deceptive' marketing practices. According to his own father, the 22-year-old has 'psychological problems' (as some observers suspected all along), but Todino insists he is 'perfectly mentally stable' and the technology he's so desperately trying to obtain 'does exist,' though his efforts have been hampered by a 'conspiracy.' Massachusetts authorities confirmed they are monitoring his online activities.
Full story | Background | Examples
11:45 AM  #

A Hotbed of Anti-Triclavianism
Objective: Christian Ministries is on the radar again due to its new campaign against the heresy of triclavianism (the belief that only three nails were employed in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ). Previously known for its campaign to shut down the arch-satirical Landover Baptist Church, as well as the shocking allegation that Apple Computer, Inc. is a 'front for evolutionism,' the site is so deadpan it may may seem real on first viewing, but in fact it's a spoof. (If you don't believe me, check out the products in its online store — the Ruby Matrimony Thong, for example — for clues as to just how serious these 'Christians' really are.)

In semi-related news, if you've been hankering for a reliable vendor of fetus soap, look no further than Fetopia — 'The Place to Buy Fetos Online.' Should you have any questions or objections, its real-life proprietor dwells here.
03:35 PM  #

Con Ed Won't Reimburse Consumers for Blackout Food Spoilage
Contrary to what you may read in forwarded emails now circulating throughout the New York area, Consolidated Edison will not be reimbursing residential power customers for food spoilage caused by the August 14 blackout. Why? Because, the utility said in a statement last week, the disruption was the result of a glitch that happened hundreds of miles away. I.e., blame it on Ohio.
01:46 PM  #

Bogus Satellite Imagery of Blackout 2003
Don't waste too much time marveling over the purported satellite image of the August 14 blackout currently circulating by email — it's a fake.
01:24 PM  #

NOT a Hoax: Massive SoBig Virus Outbreak
About's Antivirus Guide Mary Landesman warns that a new variant of the SoBig virus is making the rounds. Do not open or run any files attached to emails with the following headers: Re: That movie, Re: Your application, Your details, Re: Wicked screensaver, Thank you!, Re: Thank you!, Re: Details, Re: Approved, etc. Read more...
11:30 AM  #

Demi and the Amorous Dolphin
Rumor has it that actress Demi Moore endured the untoward advances of a randy dolphin while swimming in a Las Vegas aquatic park last month. How fishy is that?
02:30 PM  #

Breaking News
- Construction Worker Survives Drill Through Head
- Giant Lizard Terrorizes Beirut
- Man Dies After Wife Squeezes Testicles
- School Closed Due to Black Widow Infestation
- Ikea Catalog More Widespread than the Bible
- Wedding Guest Bites off Man's Finger
11:41 AM  #

Scientists Divided on 'Six Degrees of Separation'
Popular lore has it that every human being on earth is connected to every other via a chain of no more than six social contacts — 'six degrees of separation.' That buzz-phrase, ensconced in our vocabulary during the 1990s by a play and a film of that title, originated from an experiment conducted in 1967 by psychologist Stanley Milgram which seemed to prove, albeit based on a tiny sampling of Americans, that it really is a small world after all. Despite its impact on pop culture, the notion has long had its detractors, including Dr. Judith Kleinfeld of the University of Alaska, who dismisses it as 'the academic equivalent of an urban myth' due to methodological weaknesses in the 1967 study and the lack of follow-up research.

Enter the Internet. The Electonic Small World Project, begun at Columbia University in 1999, is an attempt to confirm the 'small world' thesis on a global scale, using, of all things, email chain letters. The preliminary results, announced in the current issue of Science, are no less controversial than Milgram's. A New York Times article (free registration required) published today reports that researchers found that the successful chain letters — those which actually reached their intended targets via an indirect route of acquaintances — arrived quickly and in as few as four steps — an actual improvement on Milgram's results. The bad news is that 98 percent of the messages never reached their targets at all, because so many intermediary recipients — nearly two-thirds — simply didn't bother to forward them.

So, even as the designers of the study claim provisional success, skeptics like Kleinfeld continue to cry foul. 'Instead of showing we live in a small world,' she told the Times, it really shows the opposite. Ninety-eight percent of people can't reach anybody.'

Perhaps it's a medium-sized world after all.
01:14 PM  #

Tempus Fugitive
Via Alex Boese, word of another infamous time travel poseur (see earlier story). This one, calling himself John Titor, created a buzz in 2000 by claiming he had come from the year 2036. A few months later, Titor 'vanished' without a trace and hasn't been heard from since.
03:04 PM  #

Blob of the Month
For the second time in as many months — this time in a saltwater lagoon off Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey — scientists are working overtime to identify a gelatinous aquatic mass indescribable as anything other than a 'mysterious blob.' Lurking just below the surface of the water and consisting mainly of 'undulating bulbs' reminiscent of the pods from 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers,' according to the Associated Press, the New Jersey thingie gives off such a horrible stench (described as a cross between rotten eggs and decomposing flesh) that locals refuse to swim in the lagoon even though health officials have determined there's nothing toxic there. Last month's blob, the subject of much speculation after it washed up on a Chilean beach, was eventually identified as the carcass of a sperm whale. Update.
11:54 AM  #

G.I. Urban Legends Abound in Iraq
'Just as truth is the first casualty of war,' writes the NY Times' John Tierney in Iraq, 'urban legends seem to be the first creation of a military occupation, especially when the cultural gap is as wide as it is here.' Among the remarkable beliefs some Iraqis hold about American military personnel are these:

• U.S. troops have x-ray sunglasses allowing them to see through women's clothing.
• They take special pills that keep them cool in the desert sun.
• They have air-conditioned underwear.
• They use pages of the Qur'an for toilet paper.
• Many have converted to Islam and moved to Saudi Arabia to take Muslim wives.

G.I.s stationed in Iraq have gone out of their way to try to dispel these falsehoods, Tierney says, but 'some legends will not die.' Full story.
07:01 PM  #

It's a Near Myth as Hawk Attacks Chihuahua in Manhattan
A tiny Chihuahua barely escaped serious injury in Manhattan's Bryant Park on Tuesday when a trained hawk swooped down and scraped it with a talon, according to press reports. Had the pooch not been leashed at the time, it might have become a real-life urban legend — Cf. 'The Pet Nabber' in the 'Encyclopedia of Urban Legends' (W.W. Norton, 2001) by Jan Harold Brunvand:

A small pet — often a Chihuahua, a miniature dachshund, or a toy poodle and usually belonging to tourists — is snatched by a large bird, generally an eagle, an owl, or a pelican. Such things do happen, although the more likely predators on pets in many regions might be coyotes.

A miniature dachshund wasn't so lucky in a similar incident reported in Halland, Sweden earlier this year when a golden eagle 'made a meal' of the unfortunate pet. (And let's not forget the legendary dog-eating catfish of Germany... may it rest in peace.)
09:47 PM  #

'Magic Stone' Protects Saddam from Harm
'In a country where decades of isolation and repression have cut people off from the modern world, belief in the occult is commonplace, and Iraqis regularly consult soothsayers to find stolen cars or tackle mental illness,' reports the Christian Science Monitor. 'Many believe Hussein has shrouded himself in his dark powers.' An Iraqi car dealer describes the 'magic stone' that some are convinced renders the dictator-in-hiding indestructible: 'First of all, he put it on a chicken and tried to shoot it. Then he put it on a cow, and the bullets went around it.' He did not share these magical powers with his own two sons, evidently, both of whom were killed two weeks ago by U.S. forces.
Full story | Saddam and the Occult | Hussein Graves Give Rise to Myths
05:23 PM  #

I Got Your Dimensional Warp Generator Right Here!
The mysterious time travel spammer is at it again. Since November 2001, this strange character (who some think is certifiably crazy) has been mass-emailing deadpan requests for time travel equipment (e.g., a 'mind warper generation 4 Dimensional Warp Generator #52 4350a series wrist watch with z80 or better memory adapter'), sometimes offering a sizable cash reward for information leading to a 'reliable vendor' of same. In the past few weeks a fresh torrent of messages flooded the Net.

Although he has hidden his identity behind a variety of fake names and email addresses, some sources believe the man behind the spam (who has at times referred to himself as 'Robby' and 'Bob White') is actually notorious 'Net marketer' Robert Todino of Woburn, Massachusetts — a theory bolstered by a set of geographical coordinates specified in some versions of the message: N 42.47935, W 071.17355. (See also: Strange rendezvous in Woburn.)

The whole phenomenon is a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma, but what puzzles people most is the motivation behind it — what is this guy trying to accomplish? One reader contacted me insisting it's a scam, citing two defunct eBay auctions (here and here), both of which offered, for minimum bids of $300 and $500 respectively, 'Mind Warper Generators' precisely matching the spammer's specifications.

'If you are fooled by the text in the message,' my correspondent writes, 'you may say to yourself, where can I find one of these? You may think to yourself, "Hell, if they'd pay me $5,000 for a lead, what would they pay for the real deal?" Note the two for sale are completely different looking beasts that wouldn't fool the savvy folks, but hoaxers aren't after the savvy.'

Nice analysis, but how do we know who's scamming whom? Maybe the auctions were posted by an entirely different party; maybe they were an attempt to scam the spammer; maybe their intent was purely satirical.

Update | Examples of Time Travel Spam | Discuss
01:11 PM  #

Are Email Hoaxes Worse than Viruses?
The damage they do is harder to quantify, but some security experts believe email hoaxes cause more harm to businesses than viruses. 'Hoax emails are a major headache for IT departments,' Sophos analyst Chris Belthoff told TechWeb last month. 'They're more insidious; they prey upon weaknesses of the end-user; they panic employees over non-existent viruses.' Read more...
12:43 PM  #

Pen in Shirt Pocket Stops Bullet
A Brazilian carjacking victim's life was miraculously saved when a pen in his shirt pocket stopped a bullet fired at him at point blank range, according to news reports. Luciano Oliveira Giovannini escaped with minor injuries to his arm. 'We are amazed,' doctors said. (As are we all.) Read more...
11:09 AM  #