Urban myths: snopes.com
True or false? Mussolini made the trains run on time; spooky coincidences surround the deaths of JFK and Abraham Lincoln; casinos pump oxygen to the gaming floors in the small hours to keep gamblers from their beds; under the Nazis, Heinz sold swastika-shaped pasta; snuff movies show participants murdered for real on camera; the title of the film The Madness of George III was changed to The Madness of King George so American audiences wouldn't think it was the third in a series; Bert, the Sesame Street muppet, appears on posters carried by supporters of Osama bin Laden.
According to the peerless snopes.com, all of the statements above are false, except the last, about Bert the Muppet. Snopes began as a hobby for husband-and-wife team, David and Barbara Mikkelson, and has blossomed into something of an ur-site for sceptics. Named after the malevolent family of the same name who appear in the novels of William Faulkner, it is dedicated to uncovering the truth behind dodgy e-mail circulars, urban myths, common fallacies, celebrity gossip and cyber-misinformation.
The Mikkelsons take each assertion and attempt to discover its origins. Each analysis is accompanied by a smart, clear, often amusing commentary and references are provided at the end of each article. It also has one of the most intelligent and useful message boards I've encountered.
GK Chesterton is supposed to have said-though after reading Snopes, I'm now not so sure-that when people stop believing in God, they believe in anything. The Mikkelsons recognise human beings' impulse to gossip and make patterns, as well as the media inclination not to let truth stand in the way of a good story. They oppose these forces as good journalists should: by checking the facts.
Snopes is divided into sections such as "Business," "Military," "Disney," "History," "Sex" and "Science." In the paranoid aftermath of anthrax scares and war in Afghanistan, the site has come into its own, heroically picking its way through distortions, hoaxes and misinformation. I've come across a great many of these myths and assumed, in many cases, that they were true. It turns out that almost everything I'd heard was made up except, interestingly, the assertion that prior to the 11th September attacks, stocks in United and American Airlines were sold short in significant volume. Snopes confirms this is true.
Intelligent web users instinctively filter what they read online by brand. We are more likely to believe what we read on Britannica.com or FT.com because they come from publications of record. The Mikkelsons have combined these and other respected organs with excellent historical sources to create an utterly absorbing site that is a must-visit for surfers of all ages. I just hope the Mikkelsons really exist...
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