Halloween is creeping up on us and urban legends start swirling around campus. Often false legends are marked as truth and become university gospel over time.

One urban legend is based on the amount of time that students have to wait for their professor to show up for lecture before they are allowed to leave. I’ve actually heard of this “rule” and I have seen some people use it and actually believe in it. The time amounts can vary, but according to www.snopes.com, an urban legend Web site, this legend is not true.

It’s easy for students to be pulled into this urban legend, seeing as it is so convenient to use and is believed by many. I recall sitting in a large lecture my freshman year and when the professor didn’t show up, someone yelled “Fifteen-minute rule” and a lot of people left. I assumed that these people were upperclassmen and knew what they were talking about so I got up and left as well. I found out later from a friend of mine (who chose to stay in class) that there was a short quiz and the professor was late because he was printing the quizzes.

Another interesting college urban legend that has been made into a movie is the idea that if your roommate dies, you get straight A’s for the rest of the semester. This popular theory was snatched up by Hollywood in 1998. In this movie a couple of guys try to pick roommates that look like they might commit suicide. According to www.snopes.com, this is also an urban legend. In their research they were not able to find any universities nationwide that have this rule in their student handbook.

At the University of Texas, an innocent college student went to have a few drinks with an attractive lady and went back to her hotel room. He felt woozy and decided to lie down for a bit. He woke up in a bathtub full of ice. There was a note by the bathtub saying “Call 911 or you will die.” Frantically the student sat up and felt a sharp pain in his side. He noticed that his side was cut open right below his ribcage. One of his kidneys had been stolen.

If you believed this one, you are gullible. There is no documentation of this happening at any university. However, something like this did happen in England. A man called an ambulance saying that one of his kidneys was missing and was rushed to the hospital. Later, a newspaper found out that he had actually put a kidney of his up for sale in his home country of Turkey and attempted to cover it up by saying it was stolen.

One of the urban legends that I’ve never completed attempting is the “Bloody Mary” or “Candyman” mirror trick. According to legend, if you look into a mirror and chant “Bloody Mary” or “Candyman” three times, a vengeful spirit will come through the mirror and … well … I’m not sure what they do exactly. The story says that they “get you” but I’m not sure of the exact definition of “getting you” or what they might do once they “get you.” Can someone attack from the other side of the mirror? How does that work? I’ll just let someone else try it out and they can let me know.

On to a happier note, an urban legend that is true, is one about Dr. Seuss. His editor challenged him to write a book using fewer than 50 different words. That book came to be known as “Green Eggs and Ham” and uses fewer than 50 words.

If anyone is planning on going to med school, read up. It is true that a medical school student was in anatomy class when she discovered that her cadaver was a body of her great-aunt. A different cadaver took its place shortly. This occurred in 1983 at the University of Alabama’s School of Medicine.

Now you know what is considered truth and what is false for this Halloween. Spirits may be roaming the residence halls and stories will be told, but the legends have been exposed.

Sarah Bolton

is a senior in English from Glidden.