Bingo!!National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
Most Believable Story in the Annals of LostHorizons
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Judge Roy Bean
- Judge for the District of Quatloosia
- Posts: 3704
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:04 pm
- Location: West of the Pecos
The purpose behind these stories is as old as mankind's desire to impress others with stories while sitting around the fire. The teller of the tale garners attention, admiration and even awe from some members of the audience if the fable is told artfully.
The mythology spreads; mutates. It becomes larger than life for a few who are truly gullible.
If you're old enough to remember mimeograph stencil machines, you may realize that back in the 50's and 60's these kinds of stories were typically typewritten assemblages of rants put into tract-like pamphlets from one nut-job organization or another.
My favorite was one I actually used to have a copy of that was circulating up in Idaho around the mid 60's. A guy selling "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" was giving them out for free if someone bought the book.
It outlined in mystery-shrouded hints and innuendo-laden detail how Hill Air Force Base was secretly being turned into a prison camp. Worse yet, there was a national shortage of railroad box-cars because thousands were being sent there to be fitted with cages and restraints as well as those stand-up hand loops used in commuter trains. This was all set up by the Illuminati to have tens-of-thousands of dissident (read: patriotic) Americans rapidly rounded up, transported and enslaved when the takeover began.
Having spent time at Hill, I pointed out to the relative who sent it to me that there were more airplanes at Hill than box cars. The fact that she (an educated woman with two children and a job in a doctor's office at the time) actually thought it might be going on is indicative of how suspicious people can be if the spinner of the tale is creative and wants to fertilize those seeds of doubt.
Now they don't even have to go to the expense and trouble of a hand-cranked mimeograph.
The mythology spreads; mutates. It becomes larger than life for a few who are truly gullible.
If you're old enough to remember mimeograph stencil machines, you may realize that back in the 50's and 60's these kinds of stories were typically typewritten assemblages of rants put into tract-like pamphlets from one nut-job organization or another.
My favorite was one I actually used to have a copy of that was circulating up in Idaho around the mid 60's. A guy selling "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" was giving them out for free if someone bought the book.
It outlined in mystery-shrouded hints and innuendo-laden detail how Hill Air Force Base was secretly being turned into a prison camp. Worse yet, there was a national shortage of railroad box-cars because thousands were being sent there to be fitted with cages and restraints as well as those stand-up hand loops used in commuter trains. This was all set up by the Illuminati to have tens-of-thousands of dissident (read: patriotic) Americans rapidly rounded up, transported and enslaved when the takeover began.
Having spent time at Hill, I pointed out to the relative who sent it to me that there were more airplanes at Hill than box cars. The fact that she (an educated woman with two children and a job in a doctor's office at the time) actually thought it might be going on is indicative of how suspicious people can be if the spinner of the tale is creative and wants to fertilize those seeds of doubt.
Now they don't even have to go to the expense and trouble of a hand-cranked mimeograph.
The Honorable Judge Roy Bean
The world is a car and you're a crash-test dummy.
The Devil Makes Three
The world is a car and you're a crash-test dummy.
The Devil Makes Three