No doubt about it, we're a squeamish lot. Just as we'd prefer to think steaks come from a grocer's freezer and not from a cow, we'd much rather not be confronted with the gore and finality of someone else's death. It's too immediate a reminder of our own fragile mortality, something we'd much rather not dwell on. No one wants to discover a corpse, whether it be the remains of a person or a pet. Dead bodies belong in funeral homes where we have a chance to emotionally prepare for viewing them; they shouldn't turn up under our hotel beds or stuck to the grills of our cars, where their shocking appearances can send us screaming into the night.

Ratings Key         = true         = false         = multiple truth values         = undetermined         = unclassifiable veracity Select this link for an expanded definition of our rating system.

Drunk driver finds girl's body embedded in the grill of his car. Vacationing couple discovers dead body under their hotel bed. Volkswagen Beetle is found crushed between two trucks. Decades-old automobile wreck is discovered alongside road. Dead pet shipped by air freight is replaced with live animal by baggage handlers. Family mistakenly returns neighbor's dead rabbit to its cage. Thief steals shopping bag containing dead cat. Woman dies of heart attack with phone in hand; telephone in husband's crypt is found off the hook. Cuckolded husband presents his wife with the head of her lover. Grandma's mortal remains are stolen along with the car she was being transported on. People have been buried alive by mistake. Girl goes insane after medical student slips cadaver's arm into her bed. "Hanging man" in funhouse turns out to be corpse of outlaw. Bride kidnapped on her honeymoon turns up years later as a sex show captive.* Threatened motorist finds severed fingers of his assailants caught on his car. Corpse of a hide 'n' seek-playing bride is years later found in a locked trunk.* Secret tape recorded aboard the doomed shuttle Challenger captured final panic-stricken moments of the crew. Man who died at his office desk went unnoticed by his co-workers until five days later. Man locked in an unplugged freezer thinks he's freezing and dies. Farmer who cannot sell his cattle at auction due to their drought-caused emaciated state kills them and himself. Girl feels for the furry collar of her roommate's housecoat and finds no head. Encounter with a dead man on the subway. Man fooled into thinking he has been executed dies of a heart attack. Suicide victims have been mistaken for Halloween decorations. John Wayne's autopsy revealed 40 pounds of impacted fecal matter lodged in his colon. Father parks his truck atop a leaf pile containing his daughter, killing her. * Entries marked with an asterisk will display in a separate browser window.

Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2013 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.
This material may not be reproduced without permission.
snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.