Picture the scene: you’re eight years old, and you’re out camping with some of your best friends. Maybe it’s Scout or Brownie camp, perhaps it’s just your backyard. Regardless, it’s way past your bedtime and you’re all supposed to be asleep. It’s probably even as late as midnight. Your parents would not be happy. Snuggled up in your sleeping bags, and illuminated by your torches, you’re all crammed into one tent. You’ve all been waiting for this camping trip for ages. It’s going to be awesome.

First things first: the tent’s pitched, the sleeping bags are rolled out, and you’ve eaten your body weight in sweets, pizza or charred barbecue. The adults are all fast asleep, dreaming of tax returns, new kitchens and HR software (or whatever it is that adults dream of) For us kids, its storytime! Specifically, spooky, creepy urban legend storytime.

I was an easily frightened kid, which is why I think I remember these stories so well. You might well have forgotten them, but they were seared onto by brain! My friend Claire was particuarly good at dwelling over the most terrifying, gruesome parts, and at the time, I pretty much took them for the truth.

They were essentially always the same story, and had pretty much the same format everytime.

Take two or more unsuspecting people, an average day, one homicidal maniac, one or horrific deaths (usually of a pet or husband), a dark, dark night, and a cliffhanger involving the words “don’t look back!” or “but…she had no head!” and you were all set.

The no head story haunted my childhood years, having been told it numerous times at a friends house next to the local graveyard. I have no idea why I always thought they were real, especially since they were so formulaic! I’ve been writing up a few of the ones I remember recently, just to share with my childhood friends. I’ll share one or two on the blog, too! Which ones do you remember?

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One of the most famous crystal skulls was found in Central America in the 1930’s by an American explorer. He was not an outrageous, attention seeker, but a three piece suit wearing businessman, who himself did not even believe that the object that was found on his expedition was special in any way. It was found in a Mayan temple, under a lot of rubble, and kept for many years before it was really known about by the public. Now tests have been done on it by Hewlett Packard, the giant American computer company, and the results were astonishing, and leave the doubters with some serious questions to answer. The skull is made from one giant quartz crystal, and has been crafted so flawlessly, that they admitted that we do not even have the modern technology to make these now! Also, the skull reacts very strangely when stimulated by different light, electricity and other energy.

If you are a doubter, because you have watched the latest Indianna Jones film, and think that the whole thing is ridiculous, then I urge you to look into the ’real'crystal skulls. It is in fact one of those things where the truth is stranger than the fiction, yet nobody wants to believe that things of this nature even occur! I wonder what other amzing ’myths'have a strong base in reality?

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Golden age Hollywood was pretty much a hot-bed for spooky urban legends. Tales of wild parties, vanishing starlets, criminal cover-ups and on-set antics abound from the 1910s through to the 1950s. It was a heyday for movies and a heyday for… well pretty much anything you could get up to in a newly rich desert town with the police on your side.

Before the advent of such uninspiring modern inventions as PR people, health and safety and… I don’t know, online recruitment software, urban legends about the movie business spread like partially truthful wild fire.

One of the most famous Hollywood urban legends concernsThe Wizard of Oz. For years it was believed that at one point in the movie you can see one of the Munchkin actors hang himself. If you look carefully (very carefully!) during the scene when Dorothy and Scarecrow meet the Tin Man a shadowy movement in the background does look oddly like someone hanging from a tree. The myth gained momentum and detail: it was suggested that the suicide hung himself from a broken heart, caused by unrequited love for another one of the performers.

For a long time it was suggested that the studio had dodged answering questions about the supposed suicide, and this added fuel to the fire. However, this was never the case. They’ve always maintained that the unusual shadow was one of the live birds they hired in from Los Angeles zoo to decorate the techni-coloured set. The most likely culprit is a crane or pelican! This does seem more plausible- I can’t imagine Judy Garland et al happily acting away whilst someone meets their demise behind them! You’d think they’d pause filming at least.

Of course, this won’t convince the most hardened urban legend fan. There are a whole range of clips of this scene on youtube for you to check out yourself- in black and white, in colour, mastered, unmastered… Have a look and see- is it an unchecked suicide or a bird stretching its wings?

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We all enjoy our food and occasionally, like to try out different cuisines. Often when we are pressed for time or just want to eat out, it is the perfect occasion to try something innovative. Recently I decided to make a career change and was looking for primary teaching jobs as I felt that would be more fulfilling. In the melee'of applying and attending interviews, I found I was indulging myself rather frequently. A friend noticed this and remarked that I was carrying food from restaurants and takeaway joints in plastic containers on a regular basis. She pointed out that often such containers are stored until consumed or warmed up in a plastic vessel in a microwave oven. While we enjoy the food, there are also chemicals that we unwittingly ingest with the food.

The burning of trash, waste incineration and forest fires result in the release of a chemical known as Dioxins. This is found pretty much anywhere and is an environmental containment. These are caught in the atmosphere and come down with rain and settle on the earth which is then consumed by animals. Human beings are the highest predator in the food chain and when meat is consumed, they take in everything – Dioxins included.

Depending on the exposure, Dioxins can cause a many health problems. At the higher end, it can lead to cancer. Sustained exposure can also lead to reproductive and developmental problems. However, warming food in the microwave does not release dioxins; they in fact, get incinerated. The container itself is tested extensively before being deemed safe for use and is launched in the market. So the myth about plastic containers not being safe is busted as long as you use a vessel made of the intended material.

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“You can’t wash your mouth out with soap,” I told my friend Dan. It was a mistake.

As well as working for some 24 hour fuel oil suppliers and spending much of his working life in a porta-cabin…

The best way I can describe it is suds poisoning…the same symptoms you might get if you ate raw chicken…

my friend Dan is also one of those people who will do anything. Thing is, before the soap incident I had drawn a line somewhere and assumed that even Dan had a limit…which was also a mistake, as I should have known that no line can ever be drawn where Dan is concerned.

So that was when he did it. He just ran up to my bathroom and grabbed the soap of the sink and shoved it in his mouth.

Within a few seconds the first sign of frothing appeared. It was a good job nobody else was in the house or they’d have seriously questioned how close Dan had recently been to a rabid dog (he’d be nowhere near as it happens, thanks to his hating dogs, rabid or otherwise).

Soon he started to choke and splutter. The next time he opened his mouth it was absolutely FULL WITH SUDS AND IT WAS DISGUSTING. Then he burped and out came, you guessed it, bubbles.

So Dan did it all right. He clearly wasn’t prepared for what happened next, though. If he had of know what was coming then he’d have never attempted it…

The best way I can describe it is suds poisoning…the same symptoms you might get if you ate raw chicken.

The vomiting lasted for about 48 hours if I remember correctly. In the end he finally, sensibly, took himself to the doctor’s where he was promptly told he had to be “one of the most stupid men alive ever.”

Funny and horrendous, that’s Dan all over.

I suggest you don’t try this at home. Not unless you want to be blowing bubbles and having them come out of ever orifice – and I do mean EVERY – for the foreseeable future…

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The thing is, though, some people really do eat road-kill. As I witnessed last week. Now is the time to turn away if you want to, and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I was invited to the BBQ as one of those people who is a friend of a friend. Someone who can literally walk around for hours without actually speaking to anyone. So I knew I wouldn’t know anyone really, but it didn’t bother me: I’m a sucker for free food.

The only problem with the food this time was that…it was roadkill. I kid you not. Everyone there was eating some kind of animal that Steve, the host, had run-over the day before. There was a Jamie Oliver book opened up and when I saw it, I swear it said Jamie’s Roadkill BBQ Recipe!

It didn’t. It turned out that everyone there was quite London and hip and thought it was all quite cool. Me? I didn’t stick around long, and I stuck to the beefburgers. They seemed much safer.

I don’t care what anyone says: if it got run over by a car or any kind of road vehicle, I’m staying away from it (even if a girl I like, who is wearing designer silver jewellery , is tucking into it with a smile on her face. Ugh…).

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Whilst in a Travel Agents to book my holiday to Lanzarote I got talking with the branch manager Dawn about the many rumours and urban myths that exist around the world. She began telling me about something that had happened to several people who had been on holiday to Lanzarote that quite frankly terrified and excited me at the same time.

Whilst we were browsing through Lanzarote Villas, Dawn began to show me one villa that was apparently haunted. I found this ridiculous because the villa looked brand new and in fact was only built a decade ago by a private contractor. I soon learned that a building doesn’t have to be new to be haunted. Three couples and a group of friends that had stayed in the villa in the previous five years had all reported seeing a mysterious mist in the house at night. I laughed and told Sarah that it was probably their imagination and condensation from the cool air outside. She shook her head whilst smiling and told me she hadn’t finished her story yet.

Mist was reported in the house at night, but the really creepy thing was that each report detailed a dark figure at the centre of the mist each time. It had the shape of a person but no features to speak of. Two out of the three couples reported that it seemed more like a shadow of a human being, like something you would see in the distance through smoke.

Needless to say I laughed it off, but I decided to book the villa anyway. I’ve always wanted to have a paranormal encounter, or at the very least see what a misty house would look like at three in the morning.

I didn’t see anything whilst I was there but I did learn that a worker had died whilst building the villa. He was trapped in a small fire and choked to death on smoke that filled the villa when it was half built.

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Legends are as difficult as waiting for the results of DNA Testing but sometimes easy to believe especially as kids. For many kids who grew up in some parts of Africa, they had a unique legend about the city of London as shared by the numerous African course mates I have. The one that struck me the most is the one about the gold plated streets of the ancient city. You really don’t have to go back to read that again, I meant what I wrote and it is from the perspective of ‘eyewitnesses’. It is very funny to them now as well but those who heard it then believed it with all their hearts that the streets of London is in gold and people and cars move on gold.

A friend remarked that the idea of London he had made the city synonymous to heaven. The other one that I really liked involved London as well but this time with the United States of America. Legend also had it that all houses in America and London (not UK) have taps that are connected to a source that provides milk, Pepsi and coca cola. These very important drinks are believed to exist in every house in the locations stated above. Explaining this; a friends said he thought every house had four running taps. One is of course for water while the others have milk, Pepsi and Coca Cola running out of them. Learning this was so much fun just like it was even more fun for the pals that shared it.

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Well, I haven’t, but I’ll tell you a story now and it might just change your mind and make you think twice the next time you chew gum…

I was 15 when it happened. I was eating M&Ms. Now, as anyone who loves the chocolate ones will tell you, few things are as highly addictive. And few things are also as lethal, too, because one minute I was happily eating them on my own, and the next I was fighting for my life, running about the corridors.

We were on a school trip to Paris and corridors have always baffled me, but with an M&M stuck in my throat choking me to death, I was useless: I kept running up and down this one corridor and nobody was hearing my death cries. Mainly because they were all inside my head.

It was night, by the way: note to self – never eat M&Ms alone at night, no matter how terrified I am of someone else stealing the bag off me.

Eventually someone came out of a room and grabbed me up and did that H manoeuvre that I can’t and never will be able to write down correctly. And I lived to tell the tale. I was a lucky one.

So there you have it: the M&M is much humbler and smaller than the mighty chewing gum stick, yet it very nearly killed me in my boxer shorts in a foreign land.

Next time you visit some Lanzarote Villas and consider opening your bag of goodies for some lone chocolate indulgence, make sure people are nearby. You don’t want to become a chocolate based urban legend.

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The confusion comes when you compare the Mothman with the Thunderbird. Both are similar in physical description, but very different in legend: while the Mothman is said to be a strange half man half demon creature that can read minds and predict the future with worrying accuracy, the Thunderbird is thought to be a long extinct bird of prey, or even just a very large Andean Condor or Wandering Albatross.

It’s safe to say that there is more truth to be found in the Thunderbird theory: not that far-fetched when you consider other recent findings which have revealed the existence of animals we thought to be long dead.

Whatever the case, both stories are fascinating (and a good release for me from looking at carte r4i cards, which is all I seem to do some days).

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