Urban Legends

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This is a thread of Urban Legends all over the world.

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Origins

    * The 10% myth most likely arose from a misunderstanding (or public misrepresentation) of neurological research undertaken in the late 1800s or early 1900s when researchers either:
          o discovered that only about 10% of the neurons in the brain are firing at any given time; or
          o announced that they had only mapped the functions of 10% of the brain at that time (accounts differ on this point).
    * Another possible origin of the 10% myth is that neurons only compose approximately 10% of the cells in the brain; the rest are glial cells that, despite being involved in learning, function differently from neurons.
    * In the early 20th Century, the myth was attributed to William James[4] who wrote in 1908: "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources"[5][4]
    * Albert Einstein is reported as quipping that people typically only use 10% of their brains. Although a facetious remark, the media took this as fact.[6]
    * There is not a direct relationship between the performance of the brain and its level of activation; this variable has confounded scientists, because some 'gifted' individuals showed less brain activity than those with brain performance considered average. Haier proposed that indeed more gifted individuals might possess more efficient brain circuits.
    * Dr. James W. Kalat, author of the textbook Biological Psychology, points out that neuroscientists in the 1930s knew about the existence of the large number of "local" neurons in the brain, but only knew that these cells were small. The misunderstanding of the function of local neurons may have led to the 10% myth.[7]

Refutation

Neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein sets out seven kinds of evidence against the ten percent myth:[4]

    * Studies of brain damage: If 90% of the brain is normally unused, then damage to these areas should not impair performance. Instead, there is almost no area of the brain that can be damaged without loss of abilities. Even small areas of damage can have profound effects.
    * Evolution: The brain is enormously costly to the rest of the body, in terms of oxygen and nutrient consumption. If 90% of it were unnecessary, there would be a large survival advantage to humans with smaller, more efficient brains. So the process of natural selection would have eliminated the inefficient brains.
    * Brain imaging: Technologies such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) allow the activity of the living brain to be monitored. They reveal that even during sleep, all parts of the brain show some level of activity. Only in the case of serious damage does a brain have "silent" areas.
    * Localization of function: Rather than acting as a single mass, the brain has distinct regions for different kinds of information processing. Decades of research has gone into mapping functions onto areas of the brain, and no function-less areas have been found.
    * Microstructural analysis: In the single-unit recording technique, researchers insert a tiny electrode into the brain to monitor the activity of a single cell. If 90% of cells were unused, then this technique would have revealed that.
    * Metabolic studies: Another scientific technique involves studying the take-up of radioactively labelled 2-deoxyglucose molecules by the brain. If 90 percent of the brain were inactive, then those inactive cells would be show up as blank areas in a radiograph of the brain. Again, there is no such result.
    * Neural disease: Brain cells that are not used have a tendency to degenerate. Hence if 90% of the brain were inactive, autopsy of adult brains would reveal large-scale degeneration.

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The Angels of Mons is a popular legend about a group of angels who supposedly protected members of the British army in the Battle of Mons at the outset of World War I. The evidence suggests that the story is fictitious, developed through a combination of a patriotic short story by Arthur Machen, rumours, mass hysteria and urban legend, some actual visions seen after the battle and also possibly deliberately seeded propaganda.

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Aokigahara (青木ヶ原?), also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海, Jukai?), is a 35 km2 forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The forest contains a number of rocky, icy caverns, a few of which are popular tourist destinations.

The forest, which has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology, is a popular place for suicides; in 2002, 78 bodies were found, despite numerous signs, in Japanese and English, urging people to reconsider their actions.

Due to the wind-blocking density of the trees, and an absence of wildlife, the forest is known for being eerily quiet.

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Atuk

Atuk (Inuit for "Grandfather") is the name of an as-yet-unfilmed American film screenplay, intended to be a film adaptation based upon the 1963 novel The Incomparable Atuk by acclaimed Canadian author Mordecai Richler. It is essentially a fish out of water comedy of a proud, mighty Eskimo hunter trying to adapt to life in the big city with satirical elements on racism, materialism and popular culture. Peter Gzowski's afterword adds some historical context, and elaborates on the satirized real-life counterparts of several of the novel's minor characters, including Pierre Berton.

The script for the proposed film adaptation has been in existence since at least the very early 1980s, and although numerous Hollywood film studios have shown an interest in producing the film over the years, the movie remains unfilmed and the entire project in development hell. The film script is also reknowed for an alleged paranormal curse which, as an urban legend, has said to have killed all the actors who have shown an interest in the lead role. These include John Belushi, Sam Kinison, John Candy, and Chris Farley, and even others who were planning to be in the film or associates of the late leads who had read the script in their presence, such as Michael O'Donoghue and Phil Hartman, amongst others.

Alleged curse

Atuk is most infamous, however, for supposedly being cursed and, at least partly responsible for the deaths of several major comedic actors in the 1980s and 1990s. The Atuk Curse has become one of the better known urban legends of Hollywood. Its first victim, supposedly, was John Belushi, who had read the script and was reportedly enthusiastic about taking on the role of Atuk. Shortly afterwards, he was found dead of a drug overdose in 1982.

After Belushi's death the part was offered to comedian Sam Kinison, who accepted it in 1988. Kinison filmed at least one scene for the film before he grew dissatisfied with the script and demanded parts of it be re-written, halting production. His leaving the film led the production company to file a lawsuit against him which was a large part in of making him destitute when it finally settled. Not long after, while talks were underway to continue the project, Kinison died in a car crash in 1992.

The curse supposedly struck again in 1994 when John Candy, who had been approached for the role of Atuk, was reading the script when he suddenly died of a heart attack, on March 4 (the day before the 12th anniversary of Belushi's death). It was around this point in the production's history that the press began to speak of a curse. Some believe the curse struck twice that year, since in November Michael O'Donoghue died of a cerebral hemorrhage. O'Donoghue was a writer and comedian who was also a friend of Belushi and Kinison and, the story goes, had read the script (in some versions even worked on it) before recommending it to them.

The final victim of the Atuk Curse, to date, is said to be Chris Farley, who idolized John Belushi. Like his idol, he was up for the role of Atuk, and was about to accept when, also like his idol, he died of a drug overdose in December 1997. According to some versions the curse would strike once more, only six months later in May 1998 when Farley's friend and former Saturday Night Live cast-mate, Phil Hartman, was murdered by his wife. Farley is said to have shown the Atuk script to Hartman, before his death, and was encouraging him to take a co-starring role.