How to Disprove an Urban Legend

It starts out innocently enough as an embellished tale told over dinner or an email chain letter, but soon enough a story can spread into urban legend territory with enough storytellers who tell enough versions. Urban legends have blurred the truth of what is real enough that it's worth it to disprove the most egregious tall tales.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Newspaper
• Books

1. Consult the person the legend is about if possible. Tell the person you are researching an urban legend that the person is involved with. If you choose to do this, be patient and polite. The person may become upset, especially if the urban legend is defamatory.

2. Research the legend online. More common urban legends have already been disproved. Snopes is considered the top website for disproving urban legends (see Resources box).

3. Visit a library to research the legend. You can disprove some urban legends by looking in historical documents or books written about the subject.

4. Read a newspaper to research urban legends surrounding violence, such as a reported kidnapping. These legends are often easily disproved by a reporter's objective story on the actual event. You also may contact the reporter if you have more questions on the story.

5. Do the math. Some urban legends can be solved simply by performing a mathematical equation or having knowledge of physics. The Discovery Channel TV show Mythbusters has solved many urban legends using science and math (see Resources below).

6. Cite your sources. Chances are you're trying to disprove a legend for the benefit of someone else, so give them material to show that you're right.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to get more than one source to disprove an urban legend so you can be sure the story isn't true.
• Know what an urban legend is before you look to disprove it. According to Snopes, a story is considered to be an urban legend if it is told to many people with differing details and is believed to be true (see Resources below).
• Don't rely on un-authoritative websites while researching the legend. Often times they are just retelling the tale or assuming it is true.
• Don't try to verify vague legends. Some legends are so general and possible that they could have happened, but it would be hard to prove.

Resources

• Snopes to search for urban legends
• Mythbusters to research science-based myths