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Hotel Urban Legends: Are Your Kidneys Safe In A Hotel?

April 20, 2007 at 9:15 AM | by | Comment (1)

Amy Bradley-Hole of Tripso did a great piece on hotel urban legends. Starting out with something we thought hard to believe, but apparently true--sometimes hotel guests really do find dead bodies under the bed--the tales get even more gruesome and include the story of someone who wakes up in a bath full of ice and has had their kidney stolen. Categorically not true, says Amy.

Another urban legend that's made us a little mad that we've never touched one of those bedside bibles is that money is left inside them to encourage people to read them; also untrue, apparently, but the little effort it takes to check could one day pay off! And finally, something a bit less urban legend and a bit more grounded in the "yes it's possible but ..." files is the idea that hotel key cards could be stealing your personal data. Hotels deny this is possible, and apparently the biggest source of the rumor was the Pasadena Police Department who've now got a web page refuting the idea.

To summarize: your details are safe, your kidneys probably are too, but always check under your bed if there's an odd smell in your room.

[Photo: Cygnoir]

Related Stories:
· Hotel Urban Legends [MSNBC]
· Urban Legends coverage [Jaunted]

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LOL! Great Headline! Here's a story for you ...

amandak: Thanks for the spontaneous burst of laughter as I begin my Friday!  I do, however, have a not so funny story about what you might find in your hotel (if not right in your room).  Ghosts!

My brother is a pilot whom, after Independence Air went under, flew cargo DC-10's from Paris to several countries in Africa (much more exotic sounding than it actually was).  One of his trips was to Entebbe, Uganda (where the hangar of the famous "Raid on Entebbe" film is now cordoned off as a memorial to Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, who died rescuing the hijacked hostages).  For once, the company put him and his crew up at a really nice, country house-style hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria.  He marvelled at the lizards crawling on the lawn and the exotic birds in the trees.  The hotel also had a very nice, if old-style, pool in which he was really looking forward to taking a swim.  That is, until another pilot told him the history of that very pool.

You see, the hotel was a favorite hangout of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.  When he was there, he would drain the pool and have his henchmen round up his enemies in the area.  After "questioning", he would line them up at the pool edge and those same henchmen would shoot them, the pool acting as a pit in which to catch the bodies.

Needless to say, no one took a swim in the pool!

langtry on April 20, 2007 at 10:23 AM #Permalink

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