CONTENTS
PREFACE
1. Horrors
“Curses! Broiled Again!”
“Death in the Funhouse”
“A Bug in the Ear”
“The Plant’s Revenge”
Death and Danger in the Air
“Halloween Sadists”
“Blue Star Acid”
Are We Paranoid?
“The Last Kiss”
“The Message under the Stamp”
“The Fatal Boot”
“The Graveyard Wager”
“The Snake in the Strawberry Patch”
“The Mutilated Bride”—a Tourist Horror Story
2. Automobile Legends
“The Smashed VW Bug”
“The Body on the Car”
“Fear of Frying”
“The Lost Wreck”
“The Arrest”
“The Unstealable Car”
“The Two Hitchhikers”
“The Stolen Speed Trap” and Other Car Crimes
“The Celebrity’s Car Breakdown”
“‘R’ Is for Race”
“The Dishonest Note”
“The Ice-Cream Car”
“The Bargain Sports Car”
“The Wife Left Behind”
“The Pig on the Road”
3. Animal Legends
“The Pet Nabber”
“Fifi Spills the Paint”
“The Crushed Dog”
“Shooting the Bull”
“Lawn Order in New Zealand (and Elsewhere)”
“Not My Dog”
“The Leashed Dogs”
1988—Year of the Rabbit—“The Hare Drier”
“The Flying Kitten”
“The Bungled Rescue of the Cat”
4. Other Legends of Accidents and Mishaps
“The Heel in the Grate”
“The Ice-Cream-Cone Caper”
“The Pregnant Shoplifter”
“The Barrel of Bricks”
“Trouble with Technology”
“Waiting for the Ice Man”—Another Domestic Dram a
5. Sex and Scandal Legends
“AIDS Mary”
“The Handwriting on the Wall (or Mirror)”
“White Slavery in Wellington”
Mistaken Identities
“The Blind Man”
“The Lover’s Telephone Revenge”
6. Business, Professional, and Government Legends
“The Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe”
“Postcards for Little Buddy”
Talk-Show Tales—“Dave’s Behind”
“The Welfare Letter” and Other Language Blunders
“Going by the Old-fashioned Rules”
“Grandma’s Washday”—or Was It?
“The Grocery Scam”
Back to the Drawing Board—Some Architectural Legends
Two Trade-related Legends
“The Veterans’ Insurance Dividend”
“Don’t Mess with Texas”
“The Will”
“The Homemade Lie Detector”
7. Academic Legends
“The Bird-Foot Exam”
“The Unsolvable Math Problem”
College Con Artists and How They Operate
“The Bible Student’s Exam”
“The Telltale Report”
“The Suicide Rule
Let’s Give Toll Takers and Medical Students a Hand
Student Stunts—Kiwi Style
“Roaming Gnomes”
“The Trained Professor”
“The Small-World Legend”
INDEX