Jewish Urban Legends

When I have a bit of extra time (when??) I like perusing the Snopes "urban legends" database. They do a tremendous job detailing and researching the veracity of a huge variety of tall tales, rumors, internet hoaxes, etc. Well, just as the Jewish blogosphere has grown on the heels of the general one, I've been thinking that we need a similar "Jewish Urban Legends" database.

Actually there is an existing blog with that name. But it hasn't been updated in almost 18 months, and what is there is pretty sparse. Also, it focused exclusively on showing that certain well-known midrashim [stories] from the Talmud- e.g., that Rivka was three years old when she married Yitchak, that Serach Bas Asher lived hundreds of years, etc. - are not taken literally by all meforshim [commentators]. While useful, that's not (or not mainly) what I had in mind for this proposed database.

Another start of a list can be found here. That's about all I can find using Google.

I'm thinking of a site that would detail - and usually, debunk - those fanciful stories that are always floating around the Jewish community, but nobody ever has real first-hand knowledge of. A well-known example, which I'm sure there's a version of in every Modern Ortho community, is the one about the teenage boy and girl at a party that were joking around with the marriage ceremony - e.g., he gave her some item and said "harei at mekudeshes lee" - and they ended up being technically married and needing a get [Jewish bill of divorce].

Another is the famous "Rose Castle" yarn that was going around a few years ago, about a shocking announcement by the bride at a frum wedding, supposedly occuring at that Brooklyn hall. I won't detail the story, but a non-frum version is on the Snopes site without a linkable page; search the site for "The Bothered Bride" if you're interested!

Of course, more serious/scholarly hoaxes like the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and my all time favorite, the forged Yerushalmi on Kodshim, would be included as well.

One day if I get real ambitious and/or unemployed (hopefully not the latter) I'd like to help start this database. But I'm not sure how I'd go about verifying the stories. Worth thinking about, though.