Like most irrational beliefs in the world, urban legends take root during our childhood when we're at our dumbest. Some urban legends are laughably harmless but some can cause a rift between parents and kids that can last a life time. If it wasn't for the Internet I'd still resent my parents because of the Back to the Future hoverboard urban legend. 

You'd think the Internet (being the ultimate fact checking resource that it is) would kill any urban legend before it had a chance to spread but it's actually makes it worse. Most of the persistant urban legends are from the pre-Internet days but there are newer ones like the subscription based Facebook urban legend that keeps annoyingly popping up on our newsfeeds from time to time. 

And famous people are especially vulnerable to urban legends because we know so little about them. For instance, people like Walt Disney seemed to be a magnet for the dumbest urban legends. From brainwashing kids to being frozen in carbonite like Han Solo, the more bizarre the legend the better. And it didn't get more bizarre than the unfortunate gerbil in Richard Gere's hidey-hole urban legend.  

Not all urban legends are that dumb though, since some of them you'd wish were actually true. How awesome would it be if Mr. Rogers was really a navy seal who could have laid waste to the Land of Make Believe and installed a puppet government for America at any given moment. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood because the U.S. Government says so, you hippie!

Check out our 10 Dumb Urban Legends gallery to see if your dumb urban legend made the list.  

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