|
| |
Another Round of Pay Phone Hysteria
Let's face it, a lot of us were phobic about using pay
telephones before all these scary rumors started going around. The filth alone can
be enough to make you want to wear latex gloves, but I doubt that anyone seriously worried
that using a public phone could be a life-threatening proposition until recently.
We can thank the Internet for kick-starting our paranoia.
For the past several months, email rumors have been flying about HIV-contaminated
needles turning up in pay phone coin return slots, allegedly hidden there by diabolical
drug fiends. We've been told that innocent users have contracted AIDS by pricking their
fingers on them.
This bit of foolishness was carefully debunked by the
Centers for Disease Control just last month, only to be supplanted by a new bit of
foolishness on or about April 1st:
| Subject: FW: Please be careful using payphones Hello, this is to warn everyone
of a new thing happening in communities as a gang initiation and such. If you care about
anyone, please forward this to them immediately so they can learn of the possible harm.
Even if you don't read this, at least forward it to people.
Hello, my name is Tina Strongman and I work at a police station, as a phone operator
for 911. Lately, we've received many phone calls pertaining to a new sort of problem that
has arisen in the inner cities, and is now working it's way to smaller towns. It seems
that a new form of gang initiation is to go find as many pay phones as possible and put a
mixture of LSD and Strychnine onto the buttons. This mixture is deadly to the human touch,
and apparently, this has killed some people on the east coast. Strychnine is a chemical
used in rat poison and is easily separated from the rest of the chemicals. When mixed with
LSD, it creates a substance that is easily absorbed into the human flesh, and highly
fatal.
Please be careful if you are using a pay phone anywhere. You may want to wipe it off,
or just not use one at all.
Please be very careful.
Let your friends and family know about this potential hazard.
Thank you. |
So, should you believe this latest rumor? Should you warn your family and friends away
from public phones? No. Don't embarrass yourself. There's no proof that any such thing has
happened, while there's plenty of proof that whoever invented the story cribbed their
ideas from well-known urban legends of the past. The most likely scenario is that the
warning was launched as an April Fools prank. A highly successful one, I might add.
Update |
Who wrote the email?
The "signature" of an Air Force sergeant complete with a Pentagon phone number
began appearing on one version of the message about a week after the original was first
sighted.
The official credentials lent the warning a false aura of credibility -- they got there
completely by accident. The Pentagon says the message did not originate from its
premises, nor was the named officer its author.
The Journal:
|
|
