This lady came in from the rain, and her miniature poodle was wet and shivering. So she put him into the microwave to dry him off. He exploded. She was so horrified she had a heart attack and died.
I’ve told that one. I thought it was true. It is, but a different kind of true. It’s a modern urban legend, a gripping, bizarre, often moralistic tale that goes the rounds as a factual account— “It happened to a friend of a friend of mine”; “I read it in the newspaper.” Hundreds are in circulation at any time, and many do get picked up in newspapers. Vanishingly few have factual origins.
But they are wonderful stories, living for decades and often reappearing after centuries in new guises.
