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Celebrating and acknowledging the fakeness of urban legends

J

jefflovestone

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Sorry the title's a little clumsy!

I was wondering whether anywhere else acknowledged the fact that a local urban myth was a myth but celebrated it all the same? The frog in the wall has always been popular where I live - why the 'investigation' in the article occurred I don't know as everyone knows this story around here - and has recently got a blue plaque in recognition.

Anywhere else have similar things?


AN UN-FROG-ETTABLE Mottram legend has been kept alive and set in stone!

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Tameside Council sprung into action following massive interest after an article in the Advertiser in August about the Mottram Frog.

We investigated the slippery subject of why a green frog was re-painted every year on the wall of the deep cutting between Stalybridge and Mottram.

The definitive explanation seemed to be that it was to mark a fossilised outline of a frog found when the stone was cracked open years ago by stonemasons.

Now it has emerged that the council has marked the spot with a special plaque.

And as the local legend is not based on absolute historical fact, the council has to-ad the line and used a green rather than a blue plaque!

Longdendale District Assembly chair Councillor Sean Parker-Perry said: “Because, strictly speaking, it isn’t fitting to have a blue plaque, it was decided to make it green — the district assembly’s colours — and, of course, you would assume, the same colour as the poor frog who was trapped there for all to see.

“We decided to put a commemorative plaque on the wall near the frog last week as part of the borough-wide drive to celebrate all aspects of Tameside’s heritage.

“And the recent public interest obviously meant it had caught residents’ imaginations.

“As a listening council we have responded to their wishes and put forward an explanation, based on local legend, of how it got there in the first place.”
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last night a friend told me the captain pugwash ul, despite protestations from someone else that it had been done on mythbusters...

...i didn't say a word!
 
Not so much whether people still believe in stuff, more are they actually celebrated in some way and 'officially' acknowledged. :)

I know Salem kind of buys into and perpetuates the witchlore there, you could say the same about 'Dracula country' etc, etc.. and I was wondering whether other places did this with some kind of semi-official/official stamp of approval from the (local) government. :)
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
last night a friend told me the captain pugwash ul, despite protestations from someone else that it had been done on mythbusters...

...i didn't say a word!
Click to expand...
So no one did Roger the cabin boy then? :)
 
I thought the legend was that the cabin boy was called 'Master Bates'

And I don't think that mythbusters would cover an English cartoon from the seventies on their show.
 
The Gelert the wolfhound story is still very popular. Everyone knows it's crap but we love it. :D

We visited Gelert's 'grave' several times and have photos of it, with the epitaph in English and Welsh. 8)
 
My grandpa used to say one of the worst things to be was a story-wrecker and I still believe that

I love a good urban legend as a good story

My current fave is the one about the woman who buys a second-hand doll for her kid that has 2 fingers stuck up

The child dies and then she looks at the doll and it has 3 fingers up........

scary, oh and the "we don't have a clown statue one"... love 'em, celebrate 'em, don't believe a word...

But I worry about the just plain dull ones that suggest the world is infinitely scary
 
We all (well most of us) celebrated a UL, and do every year, xmas for starters, christinaity hijacked it from the roman celebratrion of MYTHRAS, where most christian "holidays" come from.
 
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