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"When you look into legends, you see that they tell us a lot about our fears and obsessions" said Mikkelson. "That's why they make for good storytelling."

With the help of Snopes.com's terrific database of some 1,500 urban legends, here are some strange but true tales. You may have heard variations that have fictional embellishments. At least this much is for real: True Urban Legends

The Leaping Lawyer — A lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a Toronto skyscraper deliberately crashed through a pane of glass and plunged to his death. Garry Hoy, 38, fell from the 24th floor of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower in 1993 as horrified witnesses watched.

The Accidental Video Porn Star — In 1986, the sheriff of Council Grove, Kansas, (population 2,300) accidentally returned an erotic video of him and his wife having sex to his local rental store. Soon, everyone in town seemed to have a copy.

Cadaver Kin — In 1982, A student at the University of Alabama School of Medicine recognized one of the nine cadavers taken to her class for dissection. It was her great aunt, who had at one time discussed the merits of donating one's body to medical science.

The Flying Lawn Chair — In 1982, Larry Walters of Los Angeles soared thousands of feet in the air on a lawn chair tethered to 45 weather balloons. He got so high, he disrupted air traffic and was eventually fined $4,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration. The 33-year-old Vietnam Veteran purchased the chair from Sears, hoping to fly it 300 miles from his home to the Mojave Desert.

Pool Pervert — In 1994, a 33-year-old Floridian man got his penis trapped in the suction hole of a public swimming pool while apparently seeking sexual pleasure. Paramedics shut off the pool's pump, but the man's penis had become extremely swollen. They struggled for more than 40 minutes to pry him loose. After lubricating the suction fitting, the man was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center. What a Dord!