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Midnight0962 Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Total posts: 1713 |
 Posted: 15-03-2005 23:13 Post subject: |
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| Homo Aves wrote: | | I have a friend like that too, oddly. |
It's a curse, the opposite of the man who always attracts women who start out wonderful and turn out to be psychotic.  |
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| theyithian Keeping the British end up
Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Total posts: 8185 Location: At the sharp end Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 11-09-2005 05:29 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Bogeyman in other cultures
* Brazil - In Brazil, a similar creature with the same function (scare misbehaved children) exists as the "Sack man" (portuguese: "homem do saco"). It is portrayed as an adult male, usually in the form of a bum, or a hobo, wich carries a sack in his back (much like Santa Claus would), and collects children who are mean or misbehave to sell them. Parents may tell their kids that they will call the "Sack man" to collect them if they do not behave.
extrcted from HERE |
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-09-2009 13:27 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Urban legend reveals modern fears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8278797.stm
Some urban legends play on the fears of parents
From Belfast to Boston the story goes round that a child has gone missing in a shop and is found in the toilets with foreigners trying to alter their appearance.
It is every parent's nightmare and has one other underlying theme - it's not true, it is what is termed an urban legend.
There have been a spate of such claims being made to newsrooms across Northern Ireland in recent weeks with one common variant, that immigrants are the ones trying to abduct the child.
Police in Ballymena, County Antrim, had to speak out last week to dismiss one such story after reports of an attempted abduction in the town and there have been similar stores in the Greater Belfast Area.
Snopes.com, a website dedicated to urban legends and similar folklore, lists the rumour as being related to the growth of cities and an increased fears of the anonymity of day-to-day life.
Society
It lists such stories under the heading of Parental Nightmares, and with little wonder.
Combined with fears of "stranger danger" such a story can be round the school gates or office quickly with a remarkable amount of embellishment.
Likewise with the rise of the internet and text messaging such a warning can be around a community before it can be debunked.
The relayer of the story may have heard it from a friend whose wife/husband heard it from an employee at the store or a witness.
The story doing the rounds in Northern Ireland can be read as a warning to parents not to take your eyes off your children for a minute or they may be snatched.
While such advice is sensible, there have been no kidnappings from supermarkets in Northern Ireland and the police press office have been debunking such stories for the last two years.
Spaces
Dr Mikel J. Koven from the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research said how such stories begin can rarely be traced, but they say something about society.
"We don't know where they start - it's impossible to trace them back to the very first time they're used and I don't know if that is an important activity, about where they come from, but what is important is what they say about society.
"This one is clearly a story of fear perhaps about an increase in Gypsies or the Traveller population that's more noticeable, but it is certainly fear of the other and toilets are liminal spaces - they are in-between spaces not quite the shop or the supermarket, a place where you get family food, it is just off to one side - the margins of society.
"Likewise having the assailants as Travellers, who are also off to one side of society."
Other urban legends which may strike fear into the heart of parents include a police officer cyberstalking a young girl to show her how vulnerable she is and how a babysitter high on drugs believes a baby is a turkey and cooks it in the oven. Likewise these are all untrue.
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| bunnymousekitt Yeti Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Total posts: 89 Location: hiding under the kitchen sink Age: 32 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 30-09-2009 12:10 Post subject: |
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| In regards to the van, one day my small son was playing in the front yard when a man pulled up and tried to talk him into accepting a ride - not realizing I was just around the corner of the house and could see the whole thing. He sped off. He was also driving a white van. |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13556 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 0 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 30-09-2009 14:59 Post subject: |
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| You didn't get the number? |
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| bunnymousekitt Yeti Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Total posts: 89 Location: hiding under the kitchen sink Age: 32 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 01-10-2009 02:48 Post subject: |
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| escargot1 wrote: | | You didn't get the number? |
No, it happened too fast. I could only report a white van, which might be why they're so often implicated. They're so featureless and generic
Luckily my son immediately knew something was wrong and backed away, saying no, while I ran to get him. I still feel relief about that! |
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| Little_grey_lady Grey Joined: 12 Oct 2009 Total posts: 12 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 12-10-2009 16:11 Post subject: |
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| Remembered from school days.... we had a talk about "stranger danger" and why we shouldn't talk to strangers etc. I don't remember if it was a deliberate planned talk or whether it was related to a suspected abduction. However, the upshot of it was a few days later one of the boys in my class was seen getting into a van... possibly white in the middle of the day with an adult. Cue many children running to our class teacher to tell her - turned out, he was being met by a relative for a doctors appointment. My memory is of an exasperated teacher trying to praise us for being observant whilst probably thinking "pesky kids" |
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| Suzie1980 Grey Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Total posts: 20 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 07-11-2009 18:05 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado wrote: | | Quote: | Urban legend reveals modern fears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8278797.stm
Some urban legends play on the fears of parents
From Belfast to Boston the story goes round that a child has gone missing in a shop and is found in the toilets with foreigners trying to alter their appearance.
It is every parent's nightmare and has one other underlying theme - it's not true, it is what is termed an urban legend.
There have been a spate of such claims being made to newsrooms across Northern Ireland in recent weeks with one common variant, that immigrants are the ones trying to abduct the child.
Police in Ballymena, County Antrim, had to speak out last week to dismiss one such story after reports of an attempted abduction in the town and there have been similar stores in the Greater Belfast Area.
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Yep, I live in Belfast and have heard this story has happened in 3 or 4 different shopping centres over the past 6 weeks or so. The Polish are generally blamed. Mass hysteria and fear of anything different, as usual. |
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