How can you spot a fake urban legend?

Answer 1

This really comes down to:

1. identifying a story as being an urban legend and then
2. determining if there is any truth to it (nearly always it is fiction)

On point 1, typically urban legends

• occur with no known author beyond "I swear it happened to someone I know" or something similar
• appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in varying forms
• contains elements of humor or Horror (the horror often "punishes" someone who flouts society's conventions).
• makes good storytelling (interesting and easy to retell)

On point 2, some suggestions are:

• Personally trace it back to the origin and confirm the facts; not just an original source of reporting but the actual source the report came from - an eye witness, a video tape of the incident, the actual crime report from the responding office (not just a report of what was supposed to be in the report). If you can't do that, it's probably fake
• Often the source of the story will tip you off; if it comes from The Onion or another satirical source, it's going to be false; the story is intended to entertain, not inform
• Check out Snopes.com or a similar website to see if it's a known UL. They are usually pretty good about documenting the authenticity of the stories - although they sometimes get duped.
• Like any scam - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
• If you've heard the same story with altered details, it's probably false (urban legends tend to be modified in their details to fit the teller and audience)