Gossiping in school was one of the best parts of it.
Whether is was hanging around with your mates in the playground, staying up late on sleepovers and chatting on the walk home from school, a good natter was squeezed into every available moment.
Back when I was growing up, not many of us had broadband internet and if we did, it was by dial-up connection which took an absolute AGE to load up, so if you were told something by your friends or family, you believed it wholeheartedly. Validating the facts was completely unnecessary.
Stories were then reiterated as though they were Bible verse and before long, they would spread like wildfire.
via Giphy
Thinking of all these stories lately, I’ve compiled a list of 11 of the weirdest rumours we all heard at school that any Irish child will remember.
1.”Marilyn Manson removed his ribs to suck his own d*ck”
American musician and massive scary man in general Marilyn Manson remained a mystery to us all, with his unusual sense of style and strange looking face.
I remember the rumour being passed around that Marilyn had his ribs surgically removed to orally pleasure himself. An odd story granted, but it seems I wasn’t alone in believing this.
Did Marilyn Manson really had his ribs removed to suck his dick?
— Junie B Jones (@livvynce) August 9, 2016
Remember that old rumor that Marilyn Manson removed his ribs to suck his own dick ? ?
— 0riginalKittyKat♥ (@lacedPANTIESx3) August 8, 2016
2. “The Frosties kid stuck two pencils up his nose and committed suicide.”
Back in 2006, a young boy by the name of Sven appeared in an ad for Frosties breakfast cereal which was ripped to shreds by cereal eaters and children alike.
Receiving mass amounts of hatred and death threats, a rumour was spread that the young South African TV star had committed suicide by sticking two pencils up his nose and slamming them off the desk. Gruesome.
Thankfully, reports say that the Frosties star is still alive and well in South Africa.
Got a meeting with Kellogg’s tomorrow and I really want to ask them about the Frosties Kid and what actually happened to him ??
— Emily Richardson (@em_richardson7) August 8, 2016
so what ever happened to the kid from the frosties advert?
— Jaydar (@ItsJaydar) August 2, 2016
3. “Lady Gaga is a man”
via Giphy
Perhaps it was due to Lady Gaga’s strange antics at public events, or her androgynous style but as children, my friends and I were told by numerous people that Lady Gaga was in fact, a man.
We’ll never know why…
*All kids in elementary school*
“Lady gaga is a man!”
Me: pic.twitter.com/stdiSeeDAC— CASS!!☔️ (@cassssssxxx) July 10, 2016
4. “Someone found a dog in Spain, but it was actually a rat”
Here we have the rumour that a family found a dog in Spain, travelled to France and got the ferry home, before realising the pooch was in fact, a rat. Weird.
5. “Galaxy chocolate is made of breast milk”
Another rumour that was rife in Irish schools was that Galaxy chocolate was made of breast milk.
How would that be legal? Who started this?
6. “Blue smarties have been banned because of cockroaches.”
via Facebook
Between 2006-2010, Nestlé stopped producing blue Smarties as it was found that there was no natural dye that could be used instead of the artificial colourings involved.
However, I was told that they stopped doing blue Smarties because they were using shells from exotic cockroaches in Africa to make the outer blue coating. And I believed it, OBVIOUSLY.
remember when they banned blue smarties
— charlie (@lgbtgreene) August 9, 2016
7. “Red Bull contains bull sperm”
Popular energy drink Red Bull contains taurine, an amino acid that helps doctor the amount of minerals and water in the blood, however I remember being told that taurine was in fact, bull sperm.
was that true that red bull has bull sperm….
— Bigste (@XBigSteX) July 25, 2016
Do people still claim that red bull has actual bull sperm in it or did that myth die in 2012
— Dug (@ConnorDooggan) July 5, 2016
8. “Michael Jackson’s nose fell off”
While it was always widely known that Michael Jackson was a fan of cosmetic surgery, however there was always the rumour that his ‘plastic’ nose fell off and he had to get another nose job.
“girl i feel like michael jackson when his nose fell off yeno”
— elle johanna (@ellejwilliams) July 9, 2016
9. “Kenan from Kenan & Kel died in skydiving accident.”
Despite there being no record of a skydiving incident ever happening, many of us heard that Kenan Thompson of 90s cult show Kenan and Kel died in a horrible accident. GRIM.
10. “Kelly Clarkson is Jeremy Clarkson’s daughter.”
This one is probably the most ridiculous.
As a child, I was told that Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was the father of American Idol star Kelly Clarkson. The theory was, he abandoned her as a child and THAT was why she produced so many sad songs, like Behind the Hazel Eyes and Since U Been Gone, not to mention her biggest hit of all…
11. “The Irish girl who kept a snake”
via Giphy
Here in our own little island, there was the rumour of an Irish girl who owned a snake, with the story being that she kept it beside her in bed at night.
The snake wouldn’t eat for a couple of weeks and she brought it to the vet, describing the snake’s odd behaviour and the vet reportedly told her the snake was sizing her up before it ate her. Yes, really.
