To not point out story is an urban legend?

[StingLikeA]

I was in a group earlier of parents of DC's friends at a party. We were chatting away and one of them told an urban legend story (stealing a penguin from the zoo if that's relevant). I just went 'oh really ha ha' and moved the subject on as it felt really awkward.

Would you have politely pointed out that the story was a crock of shit to avoid them repeating it again? AIBU to have ignored it and presumably let them keep on telling it?

Has anyone else been told one of these face to face?

What I absolutely detest is clickbait rubbish on social media. Someone pointed something out yesterday about Dermot murnaghan and Chris Hoy that had a deluge of "so sad" comments. It was an AI picture supposed to be DM, looking like a corpse. A bit of critical thinking would reveal both guys are doing relatively well.

It’s happened a few time from different zoos.

Yes I think it was! A whole pint! 😬 (Midlands here.) I also heard that he had to be rushed to hospital to have his stomach pumped. (To get 'it' all out!)

I was 16-17 and working in a factory at the time, (1981-1982) and did believe it when the older factory women told me this tale (Older as in 30-ish!) I thought some time later (a few months) that they may be having me on.

I didn't know until about 20 years ago (25 years after I first heard the stomach pump/pint of jizz story!) that it was a rather well known urban myth. Around 2005, I saw Marc Almond himself being interviewed and he said quite angrily, 'no THAT rumour is NOT fucking true!' Then he laughed. I think he has taken it with good humour, but it is fake. 😆

If it had been a Mumsnetter, the names would have been DDenise, and DDenephew.

Also Urine! Pronounced Yoo-Reen-Eee. Quite a nice name actually. 😂

People would take the piss if you had that name though! 😬

.

Ooooh, I remember this. Still gives me the chills. 😱

Yes I heard this one as well. Also one about a random man that pretended he was a parking attendant and charged people parking in the zoo car park.

OMG! 😂

Oh yes, I had forgotten about the spider one.

@Unpaidviewer

And the one about Marilyn Manson having ribs removed was a playground favourite.

Did you mean to say Marilyn Monroe? I have heard that she had ribs removed... To make herself look thinner. Pretty sure it's not true. She was slim anyway. Despite the reports of her being a size 16, and a 'bigger girl..' In today's sizings she would have been a 10-12. With a 28" waist probably.

@LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway no there was one about Marilyn Manson that he'd had ribs taken out for the purposes of being able to give himself.....well you get the picture.

It was definitely Marilyn Manson at my school.

If Ozzy biting the head off a bat isn't true then it's a rumour he happily spread himself.

I find it more disturbing that the woman concerned (or anyone for the matter) thought stealing an an animal was actually funny. A baby penguin was stolen from a zoo some years ago. The poor thing almost certainly died and not before god knows what was done to it. People are fucking sick.

Ah ha, thank you. I have just googled this, and seen that this was indeed an urban myth also. It was rumoured that he had some ribs removed for a different reason to Marilyn Monroe though! 😬

I think we must be different generations, (I'm guessing you're a decade or two younger than me, I'm an old gimmer of 60-ish!) So the Marilyn Monroe rumour was rife when I was at school/a teen, (early to mid 1980s,) and the Marilyn Manson one was some years later in the late 1990s.

Agree about the Ozzy bat rumour!

Yes I just read this!!! It was named as auto fellatio! 😱

Weirdly the microchip one has really just happened. Except it was a race horse called Smart latch and the microchip was served in someone’s soup in Turkey!

metro.co.uk/2026/03/13/english-racehorse-killed-served-soup-kitchen-breaking-leg-race-27410042/

Puts me in mind of that stupid cow who took a baby wombat from its mother for Instagram and TikTok likes. Stupid c*nt! The little wombat was OK thank God, but really stressed and upset. The mother could have ended up rejected the baby. Some people are dreadful, and don't even deserve oxygen.

I think it was supposed to be Jane Fonda who had ribs removed

OMG! 😱

The Marc Almond story I heard was that he had the jiz of six different men I his stomach - I mean, how would they ever know?

Sylvester Stallone has admitted he made up the story about Richard Gere and gerbils to get back at him for landing a starring role in something Sly missed out on.

The rumour was based around her too, as well as the 2 Marilyns! (Just googled it coz I don't remember this one...)

They’re making tits of themselves - nobody’s going to be daft enough to think they’re telling the truth. It’s not your job to rescue them from themselves though, is it?

Nothing to do with slimness. This was so he could suck his own penis. Primary school aged boys found it hilarious.

Someone up thread mentioned the story re the ‘madman’ escaped from the local asylum knocking a dismembered head on the car roof…I haven’t heard that story for about 40 years, since my cousins and I scared ourselves silly telling it 😂😂😂

Is the David Beckham one the one where a couple had their wedding booked at a fancy hotel venue and got offered an obscene amount of money (in some variations their mortgage paid off) to move the date and when the cheque arrived it was signed by David Beckham, then the Beckhams had their wedding/anniversary/birthday/random other event at the venue on the couple’s original wedding date? 😁

Urban legends are a modern form of fairy tale. Oral folklore with lessons, warnings, etc.

Its a part of human nature that can be traced back to the bronze age.

It's interesting that it doesnt matter where we are or when we lived, we all participate in keeping this tradition alive