Legends vs. Reality

[scarygirl67]

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We've all heard legends...and I for one have enjoyed them. I think that the "stories" of a town or a family can give it some character. However..it is really fascinating sometimes what we find out when we seek the facts on something.

Case in point: A family story of how my great grandfather died.

The legend: My great grandfather on my father's side was an Englishman in the service. This was near the turn of the 20th century, and he was in Africa on assigned duty. There was a crocodile in the village that was terrorizing the children, but many of the older people didn't want anything done to it because it was considered "sacred". My great-grandfather shot that crocodile after a child had been seriously injured and it was said that the shaman in the village put a curse on him, saying he would be dead in six months. This happened in August of 1911 and by Christmas of that year he was dead.

**my dad didn't buy this story**

The facts: He was in Africa and he was in the service. There was a crocodile that the villagers seemed to be too afraid to do anything about. When a child was seriously hurt, he shot the crocodile. The villagers were GRATEFUL that someone had done something. The shaman of the village was a friend who saw that my great grandfather had early symptoms of a fever that he needed to get treated or he would die. He was treated for it, but unfortunately the medicines of the time did not heal him. That is how he died.

I had heard that story as a child, and while I didn't believe it all the way, I never thought to look into the facts. It's kind of interesting how changing a few details of the story took what the people in the village were actually grateful for and turned it into a curse. Timing of events that weren't even related created a false story, when the real one (in my opinion) was more fascinating.

---

"When you feel like a toad on the highway of life... and everyone seems like a steel-belted radial... when you're lyin' there squished in an assortment of bodily fluids... at least you left your mark." ~Arnie Dogan, "The Red Green Show"

[Fiona]

Thanks for sharing that story, Scarygirl! I think your stories prove how much a few alterations to a story (even minor ones) can really turn the truth upside down.

It's something we all need to be careful of - even down to recounting things from our own memories. One or two words added or taken away can transform a story, and change it into something entirely different.

I definitely see how places with legends attached can be unreliable in this way.

[scarygirl67]

I love researching them, because often the real story has some interesting bits as well. Sometimes there are complete fabrications..others have a grain of truth to them. I think every town has a legend of some "forbidden place" (that all teenagers flock to) and every so often you'll find one that has some truth to it. Often times though,the real story just doesn't have as much "spook" factor.

[Fiona]

Definitely... I think there is probably an essence of truth to these stories... but it's like chinese whispers, almost. One person decides to add or change something for entertainment purposes and then it grows from there. There is probably a foundation of truth beneath it, on some level.

[scarygirl67]

There was an old building in my town that got torn down in the mid-nineties. It was right near the hospital and the legend was that it had been a home for the mentally ill at one time. Tales were told of archaic practices and screams that were said to still be heard there at night.

Even before the books about my town came along to more or less set the story straight about the building, my ex-husband told me what the place had actually been. He had been in it many times. It was a former Knights of the Pythias home/turned nursing home/turned hospital property. He said that many times in his job as a custodian at the hospital he had to go in the building, because the hospital was using it for storage. Eventually, when the building became too dilapidated to even do that..it was torn down.

But how many fascinating stories could have come from a Knights of the Pythias home? After all, it is an organization that has been under as much scrutiny as some of the others (such as the Freemasons). They built the home to house the elderly and orphans. Just not as entertaining as a former asylum with tortured souls.

To Mr. Taylor's credit, he did set THAT particular story straight about what the building had been used for.

[UglyNRude]

We did experiments where we formed groups of 8 people, the leader of the group was given a story, he in turn told another member of the group and the story was told over and over. The last person was told to write the story and it was then told after everyone heard the original story. It was amazing how much it changed in just a small amount of time.

Now look at legends and how they grow over the years. Yes researching them is fun and can give you great insight on the real story if your able to find it.

[jgisafishin]

Heard a story about my grandfather being on a posse that chased down some guys that robbed a store in town in the 40's.

Reality. One day a customer showed up at dad's garage with a newspaper clipping that had a photo of the posse standing in front of a shot up car. The caption listed the men, of which my grandfather was one.

My older brother now has the Winchester my grandfather used and was holding in the photo. Unfortunately the man took the clipping with him (this would have been maybe 1970, way before copiers were common). Wish I could find it now.

[scarygirl67]

I've found a lot of old newspaper articles online or on microfilm at the library..you might still be able to find it.

I had always heard that my grandpa on my mom's side was in the Navy in WWII with Tony Curtis (the actor). Now my grandpa is known to spin a tall tale or two (in fun of course) and I always assumed this was just another one of his "stories".

Grandpa was on the USS Proteus. He was part of Submarine Relief Crew 202. And so was Bernard Schwarz, better known by his stage name...Tony Curtis. So some family legends really do have a basis in reality..as do some town's legends. But it is funny how easily the game of "telephone" is played and how many of the stories can get convoluted through the years.

[dyingenglish]

There's a story in my town i heard of recently. A sort of "woman in white" tale. There's a bridge on a road and at night, if you park your car on it, get out and place your wedding ring on the ground, the ghost of a woman appears and takes the ring.

[UglyNRude]

When I was 16 ..... yes it was a long time ago I used to work doing cement work. We had to be at the bosses house at 6:00 am ... we would then sit in a coffee shop till 8:00 then go to work. In this time I learned the ability of spinning a yarn from the experts. It was amazing the stories tat were told and the people that believed them. After watching my boss convince a guy to call his tv repair buddy to see if he could figure out why my bosses tv pilot wouldn't stay lit. I then became part of a even bigger yarn which I was approached about a couple years later.

My boss was telling this group of gentlemen how I had a giant Rott (this part was true) but the rest wasn't. He then preceded to tell how my rott would jump a ten foot fence and go to the neighbors farm and kill a cow and bring it back to my property. He then said we couldn't figure out how the dog was able to get the cow over the fence.

Well I didn't think much of this till a couple years later I was walking my dog when one of these guys approached me and asked if this was the dog that brought the cows home and if I ever figured out how it got them over the fence. It was then that I knew SOME people are extremely gullible. I am curious if there are still tales of this amazing rottweiler