The Dead Body Under Your Mattress

The Legend: 

A couple checks into a hotel and have to put up with a foul odor in their room all night. They call the staff to complain and somebody figures out the stench is coming from the bed.

 

Now, there's no way that scenario is going to have a good ending. You're almost hoping at that point that it'll turn out the last guest just got drunk and pooped behind the headboard. But, no, the staff take off the matress and discover the couple has been sleeping over the rotting body of a dead girl who had been stuffed in the box spring.

The Truth: 

This actually happened, in Las Vegas. Also, Kansas City, MO and Atlantic City, NJ and several times in Florida and California and, well, let's just say that in or under the bed in a hotel room seems to be a fairly popular destination for the recently deceased. 

Don't Flash Your Headlights!

Online variants of a familiar urban legend claim that innocent people who flash their headlights at gang members' cars will be chased down and killed as part of a gang initiation game. 

Text example:
Email contributed by Kris C., Sep. 16, 2005:
Subject: FW: Read & Heed

 Police officers working with the DARE program has issued this warning: If you are driving after dark and see an on-coming car with no headlights on, DO NOT FLASH YOUR LIGHTS AT THEM! This is a common Bloods gang member "initiation game" that goes like this:

The new gang member under initiation drives along with no headlights, and the first car to flash their headlights at him is now his "target". He is now required to turn around and chase that car, then shoot and kill every individual in the vehicle in order to complete his initiation requirements.

Police Depts across the nation are being warned that September 23rd and 24th is the "blood" initiation weekend. Their intent is to have all the new bloods nationwide drive around on Friday and Saturday nights with their headlights off. In order to be accepted into the gang, they have to shoot and kill all individuals in the first auto that does a courtesy flash to warn them that their lights are off. Make sure you share this information with all the drivers in your family!

Jose Rizal was the real ‘Jack the Ripper’

The hearsay: Jose Rizal and Jack the Ripper–both with initials “J.R.”–are one and the same person. 

Fact check: Before anything else, let’s examine the facts that started it all: On May 24, 1888, Rizal was in London’s British Library to copy the book “Sucesos de las islas Filipinas” by hand. During this time, Jack the Ripper began to terrorize the Whitechapel district, killing more than 5 victims in the end. Rizal then left London to publish the book in January 1889–exactly the same time when the murders stopped.

Due to the intricate method used in the killings, the murderer has been suspected to be a surgeon or someone equipped with medical knowledge. Jose Rizal, as we all know, was also a doctor. Was this coincidence? The story seems plausible but with no tangible proof and tons of speculations surrounding the case, it will likely remain an interesting legend. 

Source: filipiknow.net

Cortal + Coke = Abortion

Story

Some people think that taking Cortal (a local brand of aspirin) and washing it down with Coke would induce abortions. More often than not, people will retell a story that they had heard from a friend of a friend's other friend about a young woman who could not face the fact that she had gotten knocked up. The said young woman allegedly used the Cortal-Coke combo to solve her problem. 

Legend

Information about the young girl would vary. The name of her school or dormitory would change. In some stories, she got away with her so-called "self-medication." In others, she was rushed to an emergency room of some hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Of course, the young woman in question never had a name and it was never revealed who the father of her unborn child was.

Fact

This is either a twisted cautionary tale that's told to young girls who are out on their own or a campaign against Cortal and Coke. Nevertheless, somebody posed a question related to the combo online

Sources: http://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/41192/urban-legends-that-drove-pinoys-crazy