Urban Legends? True Stories! Trivia Quiz

Answer: A body

As far as these urban myths go, you (or a couple, or a family) checks into a motel room for a comfortable, if not economic night's sleep. Not all goes as planned-- there's a certain malodorous quality to the room; you're uncomfortable; something is wrong. When you call the porter, you lift the bed and sure enough there's a body.

The funny thing is, it's not all uncommon. It's happened in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Pasadena, and Fort Lauderdale (amongst several places) reaching as far back as the 1980s.

Do they comp the room?

Answer: Yes

As weirdly unnerving as it may be, many people have been buried alive in the past-- more so hundreds of years ago before medical advances have taken us this far. In fact, many coffins were outfitted with small bells that the 'supposedly-deceased' could ring if they weren't actually dead. As recently as the 2000s, people have actually returned from...erm...lifelessness. In Russia, a woman awoke at her own funeral and it so startled her that she had a heart attack and died of shock. I guess that saves the bill.

Of course, you could always opt for cremation and cut out the guesswork.

Answer: She has blood drawn

According to the urban legend, a sick woman walks into a hospital (go figure) and the doctors do a basic blood test; when her blood is drawn it smells so putrid it sickens everyone in the area (even outside the room). She dies soon after and everyone's lives are at risk.

You know what? It happened in California in the 1990s. A woman was admitted to a hospital, her blood was drawn, and it was so toxic it infected several staff members without their coming into physical contact with it. Some had to be hospitalized. Although she was assumed to have a rare form of cancer before she came into the building, later autopsies proved inconclusive.

Answer: The doors can close on someone and the elevator will still work

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the top floor. According to the urban legend (and we've seen it before in "Final Destination 2"), the user will accidentally stand between the doors as they close and the elevator will begin its ascent, completely unaware that anyone is wedged in.

This one's happened too. Due to a single faulty wire, the elevator doesn't register that someone is in its doors as they close; the failsafe doesn't function. The elevator rises. And what do you know? People are killed in elevators and elevator shafts every month-- at least a handful. The odds are slim, but so are the odds of winning a lottery or getting struck by lightning.

Answer: Shoelaces

One of my greatest fears as a child was going to the mall and getting a shoelace (or worse, winter boot lace) stuck in the escalator steps and getting pulled into the machine.

Sometimes greatest fears are realized-- this does happen. Shoelaces and other pieces of loose clothing can get caught in the device's metal folds and, should it come to the pointy end, it can just keep going until someone hits the emergency stop (if you're that lucky). In fact, Crocs tend to be a leading cause, despite having no shoelaces, because their plastic grip gets caught in the metal. One more reason not to wear Crocs.

Answer: Wardrobe

According to the legend, you go about your day-to-day life unsuspecting, yet feeling that creepy gaze over your shoulder. Of course, nothing is there. Right? Wrong. When you leave for work or school, the person living in your wardrobe emerges to spend their day eating your food and using your utilities.

Well, maybe not you, but one man in Japan discovered this odd truth. After setting up a camera in his bedroom he realized that a woman had been living in his wardrobe for (you know) a year! Who needs a reason?

Answer: A lightning storm

According to myth, using your cell phone during a storm is an instant lightning conductor. Not only will lightning shoot through your windows to the nearest phone, but you'll act as a target. In other words, never call for help if you're evading all of those other urban legends in a storm.

The truth is, lightning does have an increased risk of hitting active phones, cellular or otherwise. It happens more than you think-- lightning strikes a line outside and travels through the wall into your electronic device (be it an older phone or an iPhone plugged into the wall). While this doesn't always prove fatal, it does end up contributing to that short list of lightning-to-people strikes every single year.

Answer: A corpse

So the story goes, you head to the public pool for a little cool-down. Unfortunately, you know how dirty those things can get. So many kids swim in these pools that it's amazing they let more and more in. It's even more unfortunate; there's a body at the bottom of the deep and and people haven't seen it for several days.

What's worse is that this has happened in the United States-- after three days, someone found the body in the deep end having been drowned there. She was actually declared missing earlier on and people were swimming in the pool none-the-wiser. This is what happens when your deep end is a murky twelve feet deep and there are too many people in the pool; lifeguards didn't even notice she was missing.

Answer: Forensic investigator

Although the idea of a 'body farm' is urban legend, it's not far from complete truth-- in the United States and other countries, body farms are used by forensic researchers to track decomposition in natural environments. As creepy as this may seem, it goes a long way in developing knowledge needed to solve murder cases.

No, you can't bring your family for a wagon ride at this particular farm. They're typically run by universities, the biggest property being run by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. It's not their biggest selling point, but people are dying to get into the program.

Ha ha ha.

Answer: Kidneys

Here's the story-- you're drugged (anywhere...it could be home, at work, on the way somewhere) by organ thieves and taken to their base of operations. Here, they hastily cut into you, taking out an important internal organ, then they clean you up, stitch you up, and bring you to a ditch somewhere to wake up. Upon later investigations, an x-ray reveals that you are, in fact, missing a good chunk of yourself, usually your kidney.

This one has happened too. Movies have been made about it ("Turistas", set in Brazil) and chain letters have circulated about it, but some people have actually fallen victim to organ thievery. The organs are then sold to the highest bidder. This is usually due to long waits and priority standings on organ donor lists. Some people don't like to wait.