Subject: Re: Cat killed by owl?
Date: Dec 21 11:29:09 1995
From: Tom Foote - footet at elwha.evergreen.edu



On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, James Lady wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, Tom Foote wrote:
>
> > I heard that story as well, however, I have not been able to
> > substantiate it. When I heard it the husband was smacking his
> > fist into the palm of his other hand, looking aloft, smiling
> > and exclaiming "Yes!! Yes!!" as though divine intervention finally
> > came his way and relieved him of one of life's burdens...
> >
> > I've also seen a bunch of urban legends and recognize this motif.
> > If you or anyone has documentation of this event I'd be interested
> > in seeing it...
>
> I remember reading the story in the Seattle P.I. or Times when it
> happened - it was a wire service story. Maybe that doesn't make it
> absolutely true, but it certainly gives it more credibility than just an
> urban legend.
>
James--

That's precisely the point...the credibility from these stories
gains much from the fact that they are reported in the newspaper
as fact. Jan Brunvand has a drawer full of "authentic accounts"
clipped from newspapers..some of the motifs he's traced to to
pre-Shakespearian England..

And of course, messing around in Folklore as I do
leads me to believe that veracity is only one part of a story..
and often not the most important.. :-)

Tom