Urban Legends and Conspiracies That Would Make Good Fiction

      I imagine we’ve all heard stories involving some strange occurrence that happened to a friend of a friend. You know the type … they usually sound too weird to be possible. As kids, my brother and I watched the show Mostly True Stories, Urban Legends Revealed on TLC. As an aside, while I was researching the show to make sure I had my facts straight, I fell into what felt like a Mandela effect situation. I went into my search convinced that Dean Cain hosted the show, but according to the internet, he didn’t. And if the internet says it, it must be true. Anyhow, even as a child, I’d watch the episodes filled with bodies under hotel beds, poisoned medication, and men without faces and wonder, what if? These strange stories and even some conspiracy theories leave me with more questions than answers and open a lot of blank space for stories to take shape in my mind.

     Even the little taste of the Mandela effect I experienced as I was researching for this blog post could make for an interesting story angle. In case you’ve never heard of the Mandela effect, it happens when a large number of people have a false memory about an occurence or fact. Nelson Mandela’s death in 2013 sparked the controversy, because lots of people remembered him dying in the 1980s even though he lived decades after that. Some prime examples of the Mandela effect are 1.) the Monopoly man whom many remember wearing a monocle even though he never did. 2.) the famous line in Star Wars where Darth Vader says, ‘Luke, I am your father,’ when, in reality, he said ‘No, I am your father.’ 3.) the memory of a movie called Shazam starring Sinbad (I 100% remember ads for this one) but the movie never existed. The more I think about the Mandela effect, the more it sizzles in my imagination. Just imagine a character who remembers something terrible that happened—she knows people are in trouble and need her help, but no one else believes it happened. She is the only person with that memory. That has some potential for great conflict. 

 

     Another common urban legend I remember hearing about as a kid was about the friend of a friend who found razor blades in their kids’ trick-or-treat candy. I always wondered how big the candy would have to be to adequately hide an entire razor blade. From a suspense standpoint, something weird like this could be a good element to a story, because whether it’s true or not, it carries an element of credibility, since everyone has heard some variation of this story. 

 

     I could regale you with urban legends and conspiracies until you beg me to knock it off, but one thing I will say is that urban legends play a huge role in my stories. The book I’m currently writing centers around a legend surrounding online clothing companies. I won’t tell you everything, since I don’t want to spoil the unfolding of the story, but the first time I heard the legend, goosebumps crawled up my arms, and I knew I had to chase that rabbit and see what hole it led me down.

 

Have you ever experienced a false memory or heard a story that made you wonder if it was possible? Comment below for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.