Brush With An Urban Legend

` I halfway took this story seriously because it was told to me by Brian, a guy who went to OSU with Phil who also now works with him! It goes like this:

` A girl he knew through high school was watching this couple's kids while they were on a trip. At one point, she went into the basement and found a three-foot-tall creepy little statue in the way... a clown. She calls the parents and asks them if the statue is an antique or something and if she can move it. The mom, whom she was talking to, freaked out and told her to get next door and call the police.
` Apparently, an insane little maniac man had broken into their house. The mom remembered the kids telling them about this tiny little clown that would play with them in the middle of the night! It turned out that the highly-delusional midget-man froze as if he was a statue for long periods of time, and broke into their house often to wake up the kids at night.

` Uh...

` I didn't exactly disbelieve the story, but I could have sworn it sounded like an urban legend. I didn't let on that I thought the story wasn't true to very many people. The other day, though, EdgeWalker, Phil and I went on a hike in the mountains, and I told EdgeWalker about it. He said; "That sounds like an urban legend!" So I type this into Google: '"urban legend" clown statue', and that very story was the first thing that popped up!
` Thing is, Brian didn't seem to be lying, though. This girl, however, must have been. (I'm still kicking myself for not checking it out sooner!)
` So remember, kids! Even if someone says that something happened to their friend, but it sounds like an urban legend... look it up on the internet to see if the same story is already online!

` I used to swallow these things all the time as a kid, because I was required to or risk severe DadPunishment, but I don't have to anymore. You shouldn't either!

` I was especially angry when I had to believe the story about the Australian Poisonous Rat in Lake Erie! I knew rats weren't poisonous - and I knew all the species of rat that were native to Australia to boot! (Not many.) I'd never heard that name before! But I acted like I believed it anyway and told everyone it was true! It was much easier than being screamed at...