May 25, 2007

The Ultimate Urban Legends Site

Internet rumors and hoaxes are rampant in today’s world. You can hardly open your email box without 'verified information' about the next conspiracy theory popping up. Rumors of secret gang initiations and get rich quick schemes compete with pleas to save a terminally ill child and plans to help some big company test a new email forwarding system. Most of these rumors are passed along by well meaning friends and relatives who have no idea that the information inside is simply not true.

Fortunately, an excellent web resource exists that will help you sort out fact from fiction. Founded in 1995 by Barbara and David Mikkelson, who still operate the site and do almost all of the research themselves, Snopes has become the recognized authority on a variety of urban legends and other tall tales, from internet schemes to tales of murder and intrigue. David and Barbara do their best to get to the bottom of every legend they research. Verifiable sources are referenced at the end of each article.

Every legend is given a rating as to its veracity. Green, or True, means that the story can be traced to an actual event. Red, or False, means that the story as presented is simply impossible or implausible, or that no verification whatsoever can be found.

Yellow is for disputed claims, ones for which conflicting evidence is available, or ones that contain only a small kernel of truth.

White is reserved for those legends that are so ambiguous that it would be impossible to prove whether such an event ever occurred somewhere at some time to someone, or whether the legend came before or after the alleged event.

Although Snopes strives to provide accurate and complete information, the Mikkelsons want to be sure that you do not become too reliant on just one source. In order to trip up those who become complacent, Snopes has developed its own set of parody pages.

The Repository of Lost Legends (T.R.O.L.L.) is Snopes own reminder that the public should never wholeheartedly swallow anything it is fed, even from a supposedly trusted source.

Some real whoppers are told on the Lost Legends pages :-), so when surfing Snopes, always double check for the word "lost" somewhere in the URL. If you see it, chances are that Snopes is pulling your leg.

Nonetheless, the Mikkelsons do come clean on the site. See snopes.com/lost/false.htm for an explanation.