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Then Spiders Exploded From His Face!

The truth behind the strange stories known as urban legends  

Illustration of spiders popping out of a pimple on a teen's face

Art by Carolyn Ridsdale

    Have you ever heard the story about the boy who had a giant pimple?

    The trouble was, it wasn’t a pimple.

    A few weeks earlier, a spider had crawled across the boy’s face while he was sleeping. The sneaky creature stopped just long enough to lay eggs under his skin.

    Then, a few weeks later, the boy stood in front of the mirror. He popped the pimple . . .  and hundreds of baby spiders poured out!

    This famous story has been repeated countless times. But here’s the thing: It never happened. The spider story is a type of folktale called an urban legend

A Life of Its Own

Illustration of crawling spiders of all sizes

Art by Carolyn Ridsdale

    Urban legends are typically about some awful thing that supposedly happened to a real person. Where do these tales come from?

    Jan Harold Brunvand is an expert on folktales. He says that an urban legend probably starts out as a true story. It then gets passed along through conversations, emails, social media, and texts.

    As the story is repeated, details are added or changed to make the story better

    Soon the story takes on a life of its own

    “Urban legends are just too good to be true,” says Brunvand.

    Often, an urban legend is a story about a friend of a friend of a friend. Maybe you’ve told these stories yourselflike the one about the crazy thing that happened to your neighbor’s grandmother’s friend’s cousin.

    If so, you’ve done your part in helping spread an urban legend.

Think Twice

    Most urban legends have things in common. They often deliver a warning. Sometimes they tap into our fear of being hurt. Almost always, they’re shocking.

    For example, there is a famous urban legend that started in the late 1970s. It still fascinates people today. It’s about a child actor named John Gilchrist

    At some point, word spread that Gilchrist had died. The legend claimed his stomach exploded from eating a fizzy candy called Pop Rocks while drinking a bubbly soda

    More than 40 years later, Gilchrist is still alive. And Pop Rocks have bounced back from the rumors that caused people to stop buying them

    Still, what if we offered you a packet of Pop Rocks and a can of Coke?

    We bet you’d think twice before you tried them together

Leveled Articles (2)
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Weird But True

Higher Level: Then Spiders Exploded From His Face!

Read or print a 800L-900L version of this article in magazine view.

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Weird But True

Lower Level: Then Spiders Exploded From His Face!

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