What are your favorite true crime urban legends?
the true crime that's worth your time
It makes sense that a topic as loaded as crime should be beset by misinformation, myth, and Mandela effects — after all, it’s always been just this side of the paranormal, since the days we got our blotter roundups around the fire.
Many of us feel compelled to correct true crime misinformation when we hear it — Sarah, for example, admits “I'm always well-actuallying the Kitty Genovese thing.” For my part, I’m fighting a losing battle against the myth that casual contract with fentanyl can prompt an overdose, a lie that is perpetuated by police departments and broadcast TV.
There are other myths that we believed until we learned otherwise, like that serial killers are typically white (well-debunked) or that CSI folks visit crime scenes (apparently not so). (A spin through the Snopes crime archive is pretty eye-opening.) I feel like I learn something new about the topic every day, and that my knowledge base is forever shifting. I guess that’s good, but it can also be unsettling!
What about you! What true crime BS do you feel compelled to correct, and what true crime falsehoods can you cop to once believing? This is a safe place, fess up. — EB