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Classics
Snopes Classics from back in the day.
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Did the Selective Service Harvest Names from a 'Free Ice Cream' List?

Written by:
Barbara Mikkelson
Dec. 30, 1998 A pair of brothers were surprised when the fictitious name they made up for a free yearly ice cr ...
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Prayer Request: Child Shot by Nail Gun?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Aug. 9, 2010 (Updated: June 30, 2025) A prayer request about a 22-month-old child who shot himself in the heart with a nail gun has ci ...
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Can You Sell a Testicle for $35,000 to $50,000?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Oct. 13, 2005 Not one of the better schemes for those who need cash in a hurry.
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Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis: Male and Female?

Written by:
Snopes Staff Barbara Mikkelson
April 6, 2001 Long-standing rumor holds that actress Jamie Lee Curtis acknowledged in an interview that she wa ...
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gerbil

Richard Gere and the Gerbil

Written by:
David Mikkelson
March 28, 1998 Hoary urban legend reports a celebrity was taken to a hospital emergency room to have a gerbil r ...
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Did Jane Fonda Betray American POWs in North Vietnam?

Did Jane Fonda Betray US POWs by Handing Over Messages to North Vietnamese Captors?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
June 20, 2000 The long-standing claim that Jane Fonda turned smuggled messages from U.S. POWs over to their No ...
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Tug of War Dismemberment

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Sept. 28, 1998 A photograph shows the aftermath of a grisly tug-of-war contest in which two men lost their arms.
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Did a stuntman die in 'Ben-Hur'?

Written by:
Judy Johnson
July 12, 1997 (Updated: July 29, 2025) Rumor holds that a stuntman was killed during the filming of the chariot race scene in the 1959 ...
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Was Jayne Mansfield Decapitated?

Written by:
Barbara Mikkelson
Jan. 2, 2001 Gruesome Hollywood legend holds that the automobile crash that killed Jayne Mansfield also decap ...
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Does Being an 'Only Son' Exempt You from a Military Draft?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Oct. 8, 2001 Contrary to common belief, being an only child (or an only son) does not automatically exempt yo ...
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Were Hurricane Katrina 'Looting' Photographs Captioned Differently Based on Race?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Aug. 31, 2005 News photographs alternately described subjects of different races as 'looting' or 'finding' sup ...
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McDonald's hamburger and fries.

Are McDonald's Hamburgers 100% Beef?

Written by:
Barbara Mikkelson
Jan. 23, 2011 Rumor holds that McDonald's buys their meat from a company called '100% Beef,' which allows them ...
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Rock Star 'Stomach Pump' Legend

Written by:
Snopes Staff
Feb. 4, 2001 Urban legend describes a rock star who collapses at a party and has a pint of semen pumped from ...
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Did a Topless Woman Appear in Disney's 'The Rescuers'?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Jan. 13, 1999 An image of a topless woman can be fleetingly seen in the initial home video version of the anim ...
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Is the 'Poltergeist' Curse Real?

Written by:
Barbara Mikkelson
Jan. 28, 1999 Superstitious legend holds that a number of strange deaths are connected to a 'curse' on the 'Po ...
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neil armstrong mr gorsky

Good Luck, Mr. Gorsky!

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Sept. 16, 1998 Neil Armstrong supposedly offered a cryptic remark to a 'Mr. Gorsky' during the Apollo 11 moon l ...
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Moses parts the Red Sea

Were Chariot Wheels Found at the Bottom of the Red Sea?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Feb. 20, 2008 Claims that archaeologists discovered Pharaoh's chariot and the bones of horses and men under th ...
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'Captain Pugwash' Double Meanings

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Sept. 11, 1999 Rumor: The characters in 'Captain Pugwash' had names that were sexual double entendres.
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Did Mr. Rogers Hide Violent and Criminal Past?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
June 28, 2007 (Updated: June 28, 2022) Children's television show host Fred Rogers has been the focus of many rumors.
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The Miselucidation of Lauryn Hill

Written by:
Barbara Mikkelson
Nov. 2, 2000 Legend holds that singer Lauryn Hill said she'd rather die than have white people buy her albums.
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Thousands of Israelis Were Absent from the WTC on 9/11?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Sept. 21, 2001 Did 4,000 Israelis stay home from work at the World Trade Center on 9/11?
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Romantic Encounter with a Necrophiliac?

Written by:
Barbara Mikkelson
May 8, 2001 A girl's unusual medical condition supposedly led to the discovery that the boy she'd been intim ...
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Was Walt Disney Frozen?

Written by:
David Mikkelson
Oct. 19, 1995 Half a century onwards, the rumor that Walt Disney's body was put in cryonic storage remains one ...
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Are These the Final Words of the Challenger Crew?

Written by:
Brooke Binkowski
Feb. 22, 2001 Reports of a secret tape recorded aboard the doomed space shuttle Challenger that captured the f ...
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Brian Peppers

Written by:
David Mikkelson
May 24, 2005 A photograph of a man named Brian Peppers, who was a registered sex offender in Ohio, was indeed ...
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