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AIBU?

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Original poster

to be embarrassed for falling for this urban myth

110 replies

yesway · 20/09/2010 10:21

I just forwarded an email and everyone who I sent it to spotted it as an urban myth straight away.

It's the one where baddies put a doll in a car seat by the side of the road covered with a blanket and you stop the car and get attacked.

It was coupled with the one where the baddies throw eggs at your windscreen which when you try and wipe it causes a 92.5% reduction in visibility (how could I not have seen the lie in that figure alone??) and then you stop and they attack you.

Blush Blush [ blush]

p.s. I'm hoping to find some hard evidence from some of you that this is in fact true Hmm

OP posts:
TheButterflyEffect · 20/09/2010 10:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

stubbornhubby · 20/09/2010 10:24

www.snopes.com is the place to check before your forward

readywithwellies · 20/09/2010 10:25

OK this IMO is an urban myth and actually gives criminals ideas, does it not?
In your defence, DP got sucked in too and all my family and I didn't have the heart to say anything.
However, I would not stop if I saw a car seat and if anyone ever throws eggs at my car I will be shitting myself!! Grin

DetectivePotato · 20/09/2010 10:25

YANBU. I believed it when I first heard it. This was about 8-9 years ago. Although the egg bit is new.

taintedpaint · 20/09/2010 10:25

The story itself is an urban myth, but at the same time, how can we honestly say it's not possible? We can't, because it is.

Chil1234 · 20/09/2010 10:26

No hard evidence either way I'm afraid but I wanted to comfort you with the thought that you have a long way to go before you are as bad as my dear, but very gullible, mother who sends all of these onto me via e-mail - daily. Unlike you, she would never admit or accept that any of them might be a tall tale. For the record, she also believes every conspiracy theory going as well :)

Friend of a friend urban myths are designed to be just credible... you'll know next time. :)

TotorosOcarina · 20/09/2010 10:27

YABU to foward anything on.

All these types of emails are SHITE and should go straight to your junk box!

LittleMissHissyFit · 20/09/2010 10:29

Not heard of the above, but there were a fair few scams in Egypt I heard of.

A guy who used to drive us to Cairo said that he stopped at the scene of an accident, while he was making sure everyone was all right, they said they were, someone managed to relieve him of his takings and his mobile phone... Sad

Mind you, it's just as likely that the guy could be lying to my P just to try and get some money out of him...

People do do the strangest, most devious things to con and trick. OK so this email was a myth this time, but when you have been were I have been, you learn to never totally discredit any outlandish way that one supposed human being, can try to rip off another human being.

If you get another email like that, you can check it out, I think on Snopes.com (??)

Don't feel bad, you did it out of concern.

edam · 20/09/2010 10:29

These urban myths are designed to suck you in, so you aren't alone.

Look for spelling and grammatical mistakes and American phraseology - usually a give-away (and another good reason for teachers being careful about their own spelling - if pupils learn how to spell correctly they will avoid falling for bollocks in later life).

And then check on Snopes.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 20/09/2010 10:33

My mum is another who sends me all sorts of shit. I don't even bother opening them now. When DD was a baby, someone sent me an email about a child who had been snatched in a shop in Bristol (IIRC), taken to the toilets, had their hair dyed and was luckily spotted being led out. The person who sent it to me had added some bollocks about it happening in Dubai too (we were living in Oman but visited Dubai regularly). DH really believed it, I didn't.

Original poster
yesway · 20/09/2010 10:34

thanks for the tips on snopes.
I've never used it but then I've never fallen for one before...
Perhaps I'm a bit more sentimental than usual post baby...
(10 wo)

OP posts:
exexpat · 20/09/2010 10:37

kreecher, that one has been doing the rounds internationally for years - I was told a version of the same thing 'which happened at Tokyo DisneyLand last week' about ten years ago when I was living in Japan.... I think pretty much every theme park and shopping centre must be full of would-be abductors with wigs/scissors/hair-dye who always forget to change the child's shoes or socks.

hackingandhewing · 20/09/2010 10:38

kreecher I am gobsmacked. My SIL lives in Bristol and she told me that story years ago. In her version it was at Cribs Causeway and she said she had read it in the paper.

I will be Hmm whenever she tells me anyhting now!

Anenome · 20/09/2010 10:38

YANBU.....some of them may have a grain of truth in them...the one about the car seat and the doll...that's just odd! What kind of mind thinks that up!

LittleMissHissyFit · 20/09/2010 10:39

yeah kreecher, but I lived in Alex, and my best friends cousin's kid really WAS taken from the shopping mall. They found her in the loo with her hair all cut off.

CaptainKirksNipples · 20/09/2010 10:42

Kreecher that happened in our local Asda too! Wink

...or Tesco details were vague... but it was definitely gypsies that did it. Had the nursery staff tell me about it, fucking numpties!

exexpat · 20/09/2010 10:43

hacking - she might have read it in the local paper, but that doesn't mean it's true. These stories regularly get into local papers with no corroboration at all. Too many lazy journalists around...

olderandwider · 20/09/2010 10:44

Isn't the "body in the road as decoy to make someone stop their car" used in the opening scene of a novel . Lone female in car. She drives past body and spots the attacker lurking behind the wall waiting for her to stop and help. .

Anyone know it or am I making it all up?

potplant · 20/09/2010 10:46

I've heard the Disney World one as well. I thought it was true until I had DCs of my own and realised that there was no way you could get a small child to sit still and quietly in the toilet while you cut and dye their hair.

I have a friend who recently posted a status update on FB supposedly a tip off from a friend of a friend who was a policeman. This poilceman was trying to get loads of people to spread the word via FB to warn people that there was a van pulling up outside a school and trying to drag children into it. He got 20+ comments along the lines of 'ooh bastards'. As if the police would alert people to the dangers of child abduction via FB!

kreecherlivesupstairs · 20/09/2010 10:48

The one that my sainted mother used to send me. Regularly. Was about someone offering you perfume samples on a rag (giveaway detail there) and the perfume being chloroform.

zipzap · 20/09/2010 10:57

you say that potplant - but there are now several police forces using twitter to keep people updated - or at least the bbc says so

went to get the url and there was another story - police on facebook

I know around my area you can sign up for text alerts and all sorts of things making use of technology.

Good way to go I think - if it helps, why not!

monkeyfacegrace · 20/09/2010 10:58

OMG I live in Gloucester, and someone recently told me that 2 women follwed a little girl into the toilets, shaved her head and put her in boys clothes then tried to walk out with her. I totally believed it and have been on alert ever since Blush

ShinyAndNew · 20/09/2010 11:02

CaptainsKirksNipples, you must live in the same town as me because that has also happened in our local Asda. Only they didn't dye this little girls hair, they cut it and dressed her in boys clothing.

BitOfFun · 20/09/2010 11:05

" and my best friends cousin's kid really WAS taken from the shopping mall."

Chinny rack on Grin

StealthPolarBear · 20/09/2010 11:07

yes, child-hairdo-in-the-toilet happened in our local asda too :)

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