As promised, the first Urban Legend of my Halloween blog build up... This one is somewhat humerous and established itself across numerours Continents, namely Australia, U.S.A. and the U.K. As with many of these tales, it is common for the details to change, many to connect to the town in which they are regaled. However the crux of the story always remains the same.
In this particular story; one that I find quite humerous, it is widely accepted (albeit impossible to confirm) that the origins began in Australia. According to legend, the reports eminating from a small coastal town not far from Sydney indicated that there had been a baby boom of collosall proportions. This did not go unnoticed by the Government who amidst these crazy reports sent out an investigator to visit the town and report back on his findings. It did not take long for him to note the strange phenomenon of the huge number of children that populated this small town. He noted the large number of temporary classrooms that had been hurriedly erected to support this over-populus of infants. Puzzled the official observed for a few days and reported that 'the folk here appear no different than any other small town one would be inclined to visit' and yet there, before his eyes, the numbers simply did not correlate.
It was some three nights later when a local man whom he had befriended invited him to take a pleasant walk early that morning, where all would be revealed. Confused and clearly seeking enlightenment, he natually agreed. He was taken to the railway as the town was situated on the main railway line. "Here is the answer to your puzzle" he exclaimed to the Government official.
It was 7 a.m. and as a train whistled by, the official listened intently to the local resident:
"At 4 a.m. every morning the train of the Kyogle post will sound its whistle, crossing the line just north of the town. This whistle would wake up many of the townsfolk and of course, just as they were about to fall back asleep, off the train would go... Whistling once again! Well, of course by this point, it was too early to get up, but of course, it was too late to attempt to return back to one's slumber. We have to do something to fill the time..."
This was reported as the reason of the large population of children in this small Australian town. Now, this all seems like a story that could well contain elements of truth. However in 1939, a similar story appeared in Chicago whereby a train travelling via Manitou to Chicago in the Christopher Morley novel 'Kitty Foyle' reported the same thing, only in a completely different location of course.
Simultaneously, or at least within a similar time period, stories emerged in the United Kingdom reporting this strange phenomenon of a large population of infants albeit this was down to the local residents being woken by foghorns. Incredibly, a story continuing the trend also appeared in Boston and was described as a result of the February 1969 nor'easter which was a severe winter storm that affected the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas of the U.S.
Similarly, reports emerged in the North East indicating the reason for the baby boom of 1965 was due to the 'blackout' - again people with little else to do, given as the reason. Incredibly even after the horrific events of September 11th, a baby spike nine months later was again indicated as a result of human nature yet again the cause, as 'when normal life is disrupted, more often than not, adults will resort to sex as a form of entertainment'.
Yet again, an Urban Legend mingling with every day life. Fact and Fiction colliding and becoming confused.
Keep checking for more of these tales as we continue the build up to Halloween 2021.
Stay Scared Folks x
Comments