10 Commonly Believed Myths

10 Five Senses

The error: We have five body senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste.

These are the traditional five senses, but there are in fact many more – some say up to 21. Obvious additions to the list are balance, pain, and temperature. Furthermore, we have internal senses which traditionally number four: imagination, memory, common sense (not to be confused with commonsense which many people lack!), and the estimative power. Wikipedia has a very interesting article which covers the large number of senses seldom mentioned.

9 The Rainbow Lie

The error: A rainbow has seven colors

We are, no doubt, all familiar with the old phrase “Roy G. Biv” used to remember the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. This series of colors was coined by Newton who initially excluded indigo and violet. While a rainbow does appear to have seven colors, it is, in fact, one continuous spectrum of color and it is merely an artifact of human color perception that makes it appear to be a series of bands. There are also things called supernumerary rainbows which have more than 7 bands visible to the human eye (pictured above – note the extra green and purple bands at the bottom of the rainbow).

8 Cold Comfort

The error: Drinking alcohol warms you up

This is entirely untrue – yet it is still commonly seen as an antidote to coldness in movies, and people still believe the myth about the St Bernard dogs with casks of liquor around their necks! In fact, when you drink alcohol, your body temperature drops! This is because alcohol allows more blood to reach the surface of the body, and more heat is radiated or conducted away. Any feeling of warmth experienced after drinking alcohol is explained by the fact that this flow of blood to the surface warms the skin and the ends of the sensory nerves in the skin, and these convey to the brain a sensation of warmth. The fact that alcohol actually lowers the temperature of the body was first announced by Sir B. Ward Richardson in 1866 to the British Association.

7 Quake with Fear

The error: Small earthquakes can reduce the chance of a big one

There is a common myth (particularly in New Zealand where earthquakes are common) that if you have a lot of small earthquakes, it helps to alleviate the pressures building up that can cause a big one. But this is not true. Seismologists have observed that for every magnitude 6 earthquake there are 10 of magnitude 5, 100 of magnitude 4, 1,000 of magnitude 3, and so forth as the events get smaller and smaller. This sounds like a lot of small earthquakes, but there are never enough small ones to eliminate the occasional large event. It would take 32 magnitude 5’s, 1000 magnitude 4’s, 32,000 magnitude 3’s to equal the energy of one magnitude 6 event. So, even though we always record many more small events than large ones, there are never enough to eliminate the need for the occasional large earthquake.

6 Don’t Swim

The error: You must wait 30 minutes after eating before swimming

While there is a theoretical concern based on the fact that the body diverts the circulation of blood to the gut and away from the muscles that this might possibly cause a cramp, no one has ever drowned because they went swimming with a full tummy. Going swimming after eating a big meal might make you uncomfortable, but it won’t cause you to drown. And even if you did get a cramp, in most cases you could easily exit the water before any real damage is done.

5 Population Explosion

The error: The earth is dangerously overpopulated or is getting close to being so

This is a myth which has been around for quite some time – from the Anglican minister Malthus in the 18th century who said: “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man” to environmentalists who see humans as evil in comparison to the rest of nature. But, in truth, the world is a big place with plenty of space. So, how much land does it take to hold 6 billion people? To give you an idea, consider the small nation of Japan. It has about 143,000 square miles of area. One square mile has 5280 * 5280 = 27.9 million square feet. Japan has a total of about 4 trillion square feet, enough to give each person of the earth 670 square feet. If we housed people in families of four in simple two-level buildings (8 people per building, one family of four per level), each building could be on a lot of over 5300 square feet. If we used the American average of 8,000 square feet to four people, the entire population of the planet would fit into a space as big as Texas and Nevada combined – leaving the rest of the land for food production and entertainment venues. I should also mention that many countries in the west are now in a period of population implosion as families are getting smaller.

4 Cellphone Plane Crash

The error: Using a cellphone on a plane can cause interference and, consequently, a crash.

The FAA has tested all sorts of electronic devices for 25 years, at 100 times the RF interference levels—and nothing happened. The FAA simply states that no link between operating the devices has been proved. It’s been left up to the airlines to determine their own policy—and that policy is to put away your Blackberry. By using your cellphone during flight, you risk interfering with a flight crew—but the plane won’t crash. Consequently, some airlines are now allowing the use of cellphones during flights.

3 Grumpy Old Men

The error: When you get older, you become bad tempered

A recent study found that our personalities don’t change much after age 30. So, if you’re cheerful and gregarious in your 40s, you can expect to be the same in your 80s. Marked personality changes some seniors experience are due not to normal aging but to some related disease like dementia or stroke. This is something worth considering when you are planning to marry in your thirties – your future spouse probably behaves now the same way he or she will for the rest of his or her life.

2 Raw Fish

The error: Sushi is raw fish

Sushi does not mean raw fish, and not all sushi includes raw fish. The usual Japanese term for raw fish is sashimi. The term sushi actually refers to the way the rice is prepared with a vinegary dressing. Toppings for the rice may traditionally include raw fish—but also cooked seafood, fish roe, egg, or vegetables such as cucumber, daikon radish, or ume plum. The dish constituting sushi and other fillings wrapped in a seaweed is referred to as makizushi, not sushi.

1 Are you a Cop?

The error: In the United States, a policeman must answer truthfully when asked if he is a cop

Entrapment law in the United States does not forbid police officers from denying that they are police. It is more concerned with enticing people to commit crimes they would not, in the normal course of events, have considered. This is an error that is frequently seen in movies – or perhaps it is just that films are realistically depicting people who believe the myth – though I doubt it.

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St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

Unsolved Mystery. - In the famous old city of New Orleans, just outside the colorful and infamous French Quarter lies a crumbling ancient cemetery with a eerie notoriety of its own. This cemetery is well known for mysterious happenings and vaporous apparitions, it is also the final resting place of Marie Laveau (1794-1881), otherwise known as the "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans."

Unlike conventional cemeteries that are laid out as neat rows in grid like patterns, the St. Louis No. 1 is a unique, twisting labyrinth of narrow walkways. These narrow footpaths wind their way through serenely beautiful marble mausoleums, massive wall vaults, and dilapidated unmarked tombs. Walking through this ancient necropolis in the wee hours of the morning can be an unnerving and eerie experience, in fact many visitors have reported strange encounters with the spectral inhabitants of the graveyard.

Since 1881, an apparition of the Voodoo Priestess, Marie Laveau, has materialized many times in the narrow passages of the cemetery. Her tomb has become a shrine to those interested in Voodoo or the occult. In the cover of darkness, practitioners perform secret Voodoo rituals. Practitioners often leave small offerings, scratching three Xs with a piece of soft red brick on the crypt and knocking three times on the wall of the tomb; believers do this to request special favors or invoke spells.

Marie Laveau was said to have been well over 100 years old when she died, yet she was reported to have been as beautiful and vibrant as any 25 year old woman.  It can only be assumed that her devotion to the practice of Voodoo held the secret to her eternal beauty.  Perhaps it is the pursuit of this enduring youth and beauty that compels the Voodoo practitioners to pay homage to Marie Laveau to this day. 

With numerous unmarked and crumbling tombs within the necropolis, unexplained phenomena seems to be common place. Strange mournful sounds emanating from the cavernous crypts and inexplicable glowing vaporous masses have startled countless numbers of people wandering the ancient cemetery. In one area of the cemetery, the ghostly image of a mans face frequently appears on the wall of a tomb, as if he is looking out from someplace on the other side of reality.

Note: St. Louis cemetery No. 1 is the oldest surviving necropolis in New Orleans, it is a preservation project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, defacing or marking the tombs such as described above is considered vandalism and could result in fines or your arrest.

Use your better judgment; dont do it.

Cities of the Dead and Vampire Tales: New Orleans, Louisiana

Unsolved Mystery.-The centuries-old, above ground cemeteries of New Orleans, are icons to an earlier time.  These hauntingly beautiful cities of the dead came into existence due to the unusually high water table under the old city.  The soggy earth made under ground burial impossible before modern drainage systems were devised.

On dark stormy nights it was not uncommon for caskets to literally pop out of the ground and float down the streets.  Of course, this was quite unsettling for the residents, and after a few unpleasant incidences of the dead floating by their homes, above ground burial was agreed to as the only secure sane solution. 

These eerily beautiful and unique cemeteries have also served as an inspiration
to numerous film producers and authors of the macabre.  For example, Anne Rice one of New Orleans' more famous resident authors, in crafting her haunting, gothic horror stories of vampires and the undead.  Interview With The Vampire, The Vampire Chronicles, a spellbinding screen adaptation of Anne Rices best seller, was filmed with Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as the backdrop.  This ornate gothic necropolis figures prominently in Annes other books, as the macabre refuge of the vampire Lestat.

Orpheum Theater : Memphis Tennessee

Unsolved Mystery.-Once called the "South's Finest Theater," the playhouse on the corner of Main and Beale Street in downtown Memphis has risen from the ashes and evaded the wreaking ball several times in its history. 

Built in 1890 as "The Grand Opera House," the theater rivaled those of New York City and Chicago.  Its primary venue was Vaudeville and over time, the theater became part of what was known as the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit.  As a result it was renamed The Orpheum Theater in 1907.  In 1923, during a show, a fire broke out and the theater burnt to the ground.  It was rebuilt in 1928 and the new Orpheum was twice as large and twice as opulent as the Grand Opera.  Today, the newer Orpheum Theater  is a mainstay in the Memphis entertainment complex.

This more recent theater however, has a few unsettling ties to the past.  Over the years many people have reported seeing a diaphanous apparition of a young woman, who has come to be called Mary.  Theater staff and patrons alike have encountered Mary at the most unexpected times.  On many occasions she is glimpsed sitting in seat C-5, sometimes at night after the audience has left the theater, other times she is glimpsed during the day.  In other instances, it is the sound of faint giggling that is heard, and there have also been reports of unseen fingers running across the keys on the massive Wurlitzer pipe organ.   

Maintenance and office staff have also been subjected to mysteriously opening and closing doors, sounds coming from areas in the theater that are unoccupied and other mischief such as misplaced objects.    

The Central City Opera House

Unsolved mystery.-Once known as the "Richest Square Mile on Earth" Central City was the largest city in the early years of Colorado's development.  Central City was not only the economic center of Colorado in the 1860s and 1870's, it was also the cultural center of the territory.

One of the more famous landmarks in the old mining town is the Central City Opera House. Here, some of Colorado's finest troupes of entertainers performed, and some have stayed on to perform in the spectral light of the hereafter.  One such spirit is that of Mike Dougherty, a miner turned accomplished stage performer, and a favorite in the territory of 1865.  Unfortunately, and like many residence of this rough and tumble frontier town, Dougherty drank himself to death.  Apparently Mike's love of the stage has caused him to linger.  

Over the years, numerous back-stage visitors have reported being nearly  overwhelmed with the strong (but fleeting) odor of alcohol sometimes accompanied by a stout nudge on the shoulder, or their hair being lightly ruffled from behind.  While Dougherty seems to be a friendly ghost, the living are always considerably startled when they turn to look and realize that they are alone in the darkened corridor.  

Other reported occurrences have included strange flickering orbs of light that seem to float across a darkened stage and then vanish into the wings. The distinct sound of footsteps in the balcony, thought to be those of a long departed female patron, and the presence of an occasional cold spot that moves from one corner to the next backstage.  Nearly all of these occurrences have been reported when the theater is dark (not in use for performances.)

The Victoria Theater: Dayton Ohio

Unsolved Mystery.-Dayton Ohio is best known as the birthplace of aviation, and perhaps a little bit more obscure, for the electric automotive starter, and the cash register.  Besides its history of innovation and progress in modern industry, Dayton has a few more equally interesting stories.  In the heart of downtown there is a lovely old theater called the Victoria.  Closed several times over the years, and turned into a movie house for a short time in the 60's the theater is now restored to its former ornate beauty.   The theater is once again active with numerous theatrical productions and concerts throughout the year.  There are at least two ladies, however, who would argue that the theater has continuously been active.

Some time in the theater's early years, a young woman was attacked in one of the upper boxes during a performance.  In the darkness and as the music peaked, she was murdered.  While the spirit of this young woman has only been seen a few times since, there have been instances reported, where gentlemen have entered the theater box only to be slapped hard across the face.  Of course no one is ever found in the box, but the phantom hand strikes so hard that it leaves a bright red welt on the face of the gentleman.

A sudden and powerful sent of roses has frequently caught visitors and patrons by surprise.  In several instances they are even more startled, when the sent is accompanied by a vision of a young woman in a beautiful gown.  Paying little attention to anyone, and after just a few seconds she vanishes into the shadows of the theater.  The legend suggests that she was an actress  who left the stage for what was intended to be only a few minutes, but vanished never to be heard from again.  While this incident is said to have occurred at the turn of the century, the mystery remains unsolved to this day.]

Stickney Mansion Crystal Lake, IL

Crystal Lake is a popular and booming northwest suburb of Chicago.  Growth is so dramatic that homes are likely to sell nearly as soon as they go on the market.   However, just north of the city, a bit off of the beaten path,  you'll find a rather unusual but large stately home that no one seems to want.  

This remnant of the past, was built in 1849 by George and Sylvia Stickney.  Unfortunately, George and Sylvia (or someone) still appears to inhabit the house.  Persistent disembodied sounds and strange occurrences night or day, have caused more recent owners to abruptly vacate the house and give it back to the Stickneys.

The Stickneys were seriously involved in the Spiritualist Movement that was considered to be fashionably vogue in the Victorian era.

The house started to gain it's rather dark and sinister reputation early in its existence.  The Stickneys were known to hold frequent and numerous sances in the house, and  socialites from Chicago and other mid-western cities, traveled to the remote country house in hopes of communicating with the dear departed.

A rather unique architectural characteristic of the house, is that it was built almost exclusively without corners. One set of Spiritualist beliefs theorized that evil could sometimes be trapped or lurk in the corners of a normally shaped square room.

Only one room in the house was built with a 90-degree corner.  Allegedly, it was in this corner that George Stickney was found dead with a frozen terrified expression on his face, and his hands clutching at his throat.  His exact cause of death, however, remains a mystery.