Urban Legends: Suicidal Roommate / Straight A’s

Author: Hal Pierre Livingston

An urban legend is a humorous or horrific story or piece of information circulated as though true. Usually the one purporting around, telling the story, has no clue or is vaguely related to the person who originally told the story. There are thousands of urban legends out in the public right now, some true some false. Some examples of urban legends are Bloody Mary, the belief that Walt Disney’s body isn’t dead and is frozen, and the myth that alligators inhabitant the sewers of New York City.
        According to the Bloody Mary myth, if you turn off the lights and say Bloody Mary three times in a mirror, you will summon the spirit of Mary Worth. Mary Worth was a woman who was said to be killed execution style, for being a witch. The myth about the sewer gators states that several alligators who were brought up from Florida to be kept as pets in New York City, grew too big and violent and escaped into the sewers where they now live freely. This myth dates back to the 1930’s, and has been proven false but is still being circulated around the United States.
The Urban Legend I chose was Suicidal Roommates/ Straight A’s. This myth says that if somehow your roommate or suitemate dies, you receive a 4.0. Prior to this research assignment, I would have argued to the end that this was absolutely true. Coincidentally my suitemates and I were talking about it at the beginning of the year and were making jokes about one another saying that we better watch our back. I personally thought this was a well-known rule. This Urban Legend have been proven false but different versions are still being told to this day. Depending on where you from, the stipulations may be different. Not all versions of the myth specify that the roommate has to die. Some versions actually say that the death of a parent, or other close relative, or anybody who is important in the student's life, also qualifies. Some say that if your roommate commits suicide in front you then you get a 4.0, but if you didn’t witness it then you only receive a 3.4. This just proves how easily things can be manipulated and taken seriously by society.


Work Cited
• http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/suicide.asp  
• http://www.collegebound.net/content/article/college-urban-legendslies-students-love-to-tell/19214/. 
• www.Akorra.com 
• Brunvand, Jan. “The Truth Never Stands In The Way Of A Good Story”. Chicago, Illinois. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Year 2000. Web.13 Oct. 2013.
• http://list25.com/25-most-popular-urban-legends-still-being-told/ 

Further Research
http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/suicide.asp - the website gives the most information about the urban legend of getting a 4.0 if your roommate commits suicide specifically.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend - Wikipedia gives the initial origin behind urban legends in general.
http://akorra.com/2010/03/04/top-20-urban-legends - This websites gives a variety of urban legends to read and look into.