 |
TUTTESTORIE
|
|---|
|
TUTTESTORIE
|
|---|
A collection of coupons and bar-codes is going on in a big way
in Italy, throughout the whole Peninsula. This collection is
carried out by willing people who want to get wheelchairs for
disabled persons. Several articles, dealing with this topic as a
legend, were published by the national press, where interviews to
members of our Center appeared. Revenue officers, too, followed
the event with interest, as they had a suspicion that firms or
private citizens might use tickets and vouchers to obtain illegal
tax refund, thus cheating on their taxes. Even if the fact was
formally denied, the Tradespeople Union in Turin was swamped by
telephone calls from people asking for elucidations, and later on
decided to buy a number of wheelchairs, since, in their opinion,
people's interest, kind-heartedness and care had to be taken into
account and rewarded.
The left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto on July 2, 1991, ran a
working-woman's letter regarding an unpleasant incident occurred
to a writer's young female-colleague. After being dismissed by
her firm, she was proposed a marketing work with a new-born
company. The work talk was fixed for that very evening in a bar
placed in the heart of town. Reached the bar, she found herself
among several men, one of the which looked at her with
insistence. Shortly after she went out of the bar. As several
hours had elapsed, and nobody had come at the appointment, she
went back home. Next day she was resummoned by the putplacement
firm and she was explained that couldn't be employed as having
failed to realize the inquisitive customer was her potential
employer, she was not suited for a marketing work. The newspaper
passed this "sad tale" off as true, nevertheless other
letters sent to Il Manifesto pointed out the story could be an
urban legend.
Since several years, odd rumors have began to spread
throughout Italy: some species of animals, bred in captivity or
purloined, would be carried by night by means of trucks in order
to be unlawfully let in several area. The operators remain
unidentified: some say hunters, some other say ecologists, or
landowners, or nothing less than the legal authorities charged
with the safeguard of natural patrimony. We give three examples
regarding alleged "unlawful" removal of pigeons, deer
and wild boars in some areas of Piemonte.
As usual in our country, "phantom panther" has come
back to the scene this year too: it has been reported throughout
Italy. On February 2 it was sighted in the country around
Avellino, near Napoli. Around the middle of June it was reported
on plateau of Colfiorito (Macerata). On July a new sighting in
Brindisi district. In August 17, going up to the north of Italy,
the panther was reported on the edge of Treviso. Beatings were of
no avail; that's a feature which marks such events, placed
between folklore and Fortean phenomena but, very likely, soaked
with a good deal of fancy.
A reader has reported to us an odd event regarding the TV show
"Piccoli Fans" broadcasted around the end of the
eighties. During the show, Sandra Milo - a star of the screen -
had been interviewing five or six years old children; next they
had to sing in front of an audience of parents as well as
relatives. They say Milo, while interviewing a child of Napoli,
would have asked him if he had the fianc‚e. Following the
affirmative answer, the presenter would have asked: "Well,
what do you do together with your girlfriend?". So the
child: "What Mum does when she is together with my uncle
Antonio". As soon as heard this, the child's father would
have stood up and landed uncle Antonio (as well present in
studio) on the face. The show is interrupted. In spite of having
been remembered by hundreds of people, we haven't got any first
hand witness to the event; it seems the RAI (State television)
Archives does not hold a copy of the film. Is it just a rumor?
Around the end of the summer 1991 a rumor says TV presenter
Marco Predolin has been taken ill of AIDS to a Bologna hospital.
About the middle of September, the presenter, softly, denies. But
in December the rumor, spread all over Italy, says he is dead. To
deny once and for all the rumor, he takes part, as guest, to
several TV show where he carries on the negative result HIV test.
Further, he states his legal adviser would have brought an action
against anyone who spreads the news about his false disease. A
quite similar event happened to French actress Isabelle Adjani in
1987.
|
TUTTESTORIE
|
|---|
Naples is a town of ancient urban folklore, full of legends,
rumors and stereotypes. As an example, we report three
significant tales; they are more local performance of a rather
spreaded score than exclusively neapolitan tales. The first
episode, reported as a true fact on '89 newspapers, regards the
claim for damages by a girl left pregnant owing to the plugging
of his boy-friend's car; the plugging happened "at the most
awkward time" while they were secluded inside the car.
Another tale concerns a man who is walking along a road in the
centre of the town. Suddenly he feels a bump and then realizes of
not having any more the wallet. So he pursues him whom he
believes is the thief and, after having reached him, he orders to
deliver the wallet. Back at home he realizes in dismay the wallet
is not his. The third tell of a huge mouse (25 kg.), white in
colour, which would live in the subsoil of Naples or, more
exactly, under the local cemetery. Is it a local version, dating
back to the half of eighties, of the alligators in the New York
sewers?
In October '92, Simone Allegretti, a four years old child, is
kidnapped and murdered by unknown. The hypothesis of a satanic
ritual abuse, reported by many journals, has roused the raving of
italian religious fundamentalists. According to several religiuos
extremists there are more than 600 (sic!) satanic sects in our
country, and the devil would have seized the toys industry too.
In 1992 the yellow press has carried on his propensity to distort
the truth by creating the "satanic incident" out of
thin air. Several examples are reported.
Coca-Cola is a symbol, a myth. The popular culture has
attached it various "alternative" uses or wonderful
properties. Of course, the tales about Coca-Cola are spreaded in
Italy too. During the 1991 some university students at the
Faculty of Letters of Padova collected many tales belonging to
the contemporary folklore; some of them regarded the alleged
wonderful properties of Coca-Cola. It follows a score of brief
tales about alternative using (tanning and spermicide) and
ravaging effects (corrosive, dilating, lethal).
The well-know tale about the wife forgotten at highway stop is
also a reality. The fact really happened in August '92 at a
highway stop near Rome. During the holiday return journey, the
husband has stopped the car to fill up and have a sandwich. The
wife, who had been sleeping on the back seat among the bulky
luggage, wakes up and get out of the car. Then he starts again
without realizing the wife is left behind. He becomes aware of it
only 500 km. after, when is back at home, at Cant—, in Como
province. So he sends notice to the Carabinieri. The wife comes
back by train. By means of a thorough inquiry we have ascertained
the reality of facts. They are even more astonishing if we
consider that the five months old daughter on board of the car
didn't show signs of uneasiness. Although the wife has denied
having quarreled, it's hard to believe the husband didn't realize
of her missing. Other versions of the tale placed in Italy are
reported.
At the end of last year were speaded in Italy several stories
about the one who Brunvand calls "the bothered bride".
In October the tale is reported on the newspapers too, as placed
in Catania, Sicilia. The rumor is so insistent to identify
Rossella Pietropaolo, 31 years old, as the bride left before the
altar because having caught in bed in company of future
bridegroom's best friend. The girl, of a rich family at Acireale,
near Catania, is even appeared in television and had been
interviewed by newspapers to deny the rumor. She has offered 100
millions to whoever is able to show that she is really the
"bride left behind". Other versions excerpted from the
literature and a comic-strip transposition are reported.
|
TUTTESTORIE
|
|---|
There are some tales coming from the uban folklore: the
speedometer of cars would always point at a speed greater than in
reality for prudential reasons; the peculiarly folded yellow
cloth left on the dashboard of a parked car as a safe antitheft
device; how to do free calls by phone; the thief who, after
having snatched a lady's pearls necklace off, meets her some days
later: so he lands her a powerful blow and mocks her in that the
necklace is false.
In the spring of 1993, in several italian areas within the
borders with ex-Jugoslavia, the gruesome rumor spread that an
italian family went to Slovenia to eat fish at a cheap local
tavern. They were stopped on the way by several armed man and
robbed of their coats and fur coats. The soldiers seized on the
car and took it away. Half an hour later the thieves presented
themselves again, apologized for the mistake and gave back
clothes and car. They advised also the family to go back to Italy
at once. After some kilometers the family got wind of something
and stopped the car: there were two corpses into the luggage van!
They disharged them on edge of the road and ran away thoroughly
frightened. Soldiers' foolish action and the fact that Slovenia
was no longer in war for some time make this tale an example of
contemporary legend.
Since March 1993 "Kefir" have begun to spread
throghout northern Italy. It's a culture similar to the yoghurt
which originates from Caucasus. It's passed from hand to hand and
the rumors spread that it has beneficial virtues: purifying and
detoxicating, firstly, but it seems useful for a very large array
of disease. Some months later, the so-called "japanese
alga"or "egyptian plant" have begun its diffusion
from family to family all over the country. After being put into
a vessel, such "alga" is fed with indian black tea and
sugar until its parts itself into three "daughters" to
present to the friends. While someone says the home cultivation
of the alga is justified by reasons similat to the Kefir's, most
people attend to the plant on "grounds" magic/ritual
only: each wish expressed at the alga "littering" time
will be satisfied. A previous event does exist: the so-called
"fungo cinese" (chinese mushroom) which was raised in
sugared lemon tea. During the fifties it was drank becouse of its
tonic properties.
During the whole 1993, there have been dozens of sightings of
"mystery cats" all over Italy, to a great extent in
central and north-western countries. It seems that phanters,
leopards, pumas and lions are undisturbed running about our woods
as well as our downtowns. We've got torn to pieces animals, quick
sightings, some prints, a couple of photographs and continual
beatings. Evident captures are virtually non-existent. To tell
the truth a lioness and a puma would be captured by a screen
actor in Lazio, but it was almost surely a hoax for advertising
reasons. A small part of sightings of such big cats are likely
due to animals left behind in the country by their owners. Anyway
if we look at it as a whole, the phenomenon is an interesting
example of contemporary legend.
In a correspondence from Moscow there is an update about the
rumor on a still secret underground Moscow (see Tutte Storie No.
4). It seems that each Moscovite hold a peculiar version,
sometimes so detailed to describe the secret entrances.
|
TUTTESTORIE
|
|---|
The theatre does not show as many urban legends as film
imagery. It is quite odd that such a revealing side of imagery
has been left apart in spite of a context so sensitive to
subjects like oral expression and everyday life. In 1989 the
author (a stage actor), following a personal interest into the
argument, developed the hypothesis of carrying on the stage the
contemporary legends. This gave rise to an experimental
performance called "Leviathan" focused around torpedo
fish tale. During fall 1993 it has took shape the idea of
carrying out a "news-reel" about the urban legends. The
meeting of Carlo Presotto (screen artist) and Giacomo Verde
(narrator) has originated the "Miralago Bar"
performance. The pjay had a run of twelve nights so far, and the
onlookers were asked to report tales and personal variations.
"Miralago Bar" has got a good interest.
One of the most serious drawbacks of some parapsichological
books was/is the publication of second-hand, third-hand or
nth-hand news. Toward the end of the past century it was
published a report about a forewarning dream: a man, who was
driving a hearse (in the dream), turned out to be the lift
attendant at a public spot where the fellow, who got the
premonition, died due to a lift breakdown. The very same incident
was ascribed to several people, places and timezs, and was
reported in books four more times at the very least, the last one
being in 1955. Among the alleged protagonists there was Lord
Dufferin, the then English ambassador in Paris. But a careful
examination has excluded such a possibility. It is a classical
example of ante-litteram legend marked by several protagonists
(some identifiables, some anonymous), and a few small changing
details.
The Brunvand-christened "phone revenge" legend is
spreaded throughout the world: a deceived wife or fianc‚e
revenges herself on the faithless man by dialling a foreign phone
number (e.g. the Tokio right time) and leaving the receiver
lifted causing the ex-partner to pay an enormous bill. Such a
legend has got many literary quotations. In 1993 is reached the
Italy press too. The last variation regards a call to a
"sex-line" via a mobile phone. Several new variations
are quoted: they are collected by Peter Burger, Netherland.
Between July 18 and July 22, 1994, it was held at the
"Maison des Sciences de l'Homme" - Paris, the Twelfth
International Conference, for the purpose of discussing about the
perspective regarding the contemporary legend. It was organized
by the "International Society for Contemporary Legend
Research" (ISCRL). Researchers from twelve countries met
together. Italy, Romania and Australia were represented for the
first time. Organizers were V‚ronique Campion-Vincent and
Mark Glazer. They got more than thirty papers; manu of them were
very different in approaches. Most guests were folklorists, but
even some sociologist attended to the meeting. Usually (e.g. the
French ones) the sociologists like the word "rumor"
better than "contemporary legend". There were also
psychologists and specialists in history of art and history of
literature to emphasize the multi-disciplinary nature of the
meeting. Italy was represented by Paolo Toselli who reported
about "Child Kidnapping and the Body Parts Black Market:
Italian Rumors and Contemporary Legends in the Nineties",
and by Lucia Veccia who spoke about the problem of
"Classifying and Cataloguing the Contemporary Legends".
Rumors and legends about clandestine organ trades have been
circulated at large in Italy in the last four years, more than
any other European country. They were based upon and fed by the
living debate on the severe adoption law. But the catalysing
themes were others. At first the media unjustified promotion of a
"missing children" syndrome, just like in the USA in
the '80s. Then, since mid-1992, the problematic law on organ
transplants and donations. As number of donors, Italy ranks at
the bottom of European classification. The charges of illicit
trades made by physicians, members of European Parliament,
Ministers etc., for two years, have been grounded on rumors and
third hand information only. Those claims have been raising a lot
of discussions. The distress for such a situation has helped in
spreading, since June 1993, the legend of child's kidnapping at a
supermarket. This story has the same features of variation who
circulated in USA 10 years ago: cut-haired kid with replaced
clothes is found in a toilet. In the course of a few months the
legend has been placed in almost each supermarket of Italy. At
the beginning of 1994 in Italy it did surface a variation of the
so-called "stolen kidney" legend. At a disco a young
man meets a beautiful girl. Many hours elapse. He doesn't returns
home. Next morning he is found in derangment in his car. He is
getting a phleboclysis. During the night he was extirpated a
kidney; the operation took place on a TIR or a truck equipped
like an operating room. At first this legend spreaded in
Piedmont. It has been placed in several disco of northern Italy
and, sometimes, the alleged "kidney-stealing blonde"'s
victims have been identified by full name.