So as you may know, we started a new series of blogs about Urban Legends. Some of them will be famous ones we all know about, and some, like the one I will talk about today, are not very known at all. Also, usually we discuss things of at least some paranormal significance, this urban legend really isn't that. However, this is one of my favorite urban legends so I thought it might be neat to tell you all about it. In a way, it is slightly creepy. At least to me it was.I first learned of this legend from the 1999 Academy Award nominated film "Magnolia". Magnolia is hands down one of my top three favorite films of all time. Tom Cruise and Jullianne Moore deliver two of my all time favorite movie performances in a cast that is simply breathtaking. The ending (slightly spoiled in the movie poster pictured above) is one of the quirkiest but most surprising turns I've ever seen a film make, and it was a masterful ending once you get the meaning behind it. The film also has my all time favorite opening sequence. Let me explain:
The opening scene is about four minutes long. It tells three short stories that are narrated by actor and illusionist Ricky Jay. All three stories are relatively unknown urban legends. The point of the stories is to deliver the message that not everything happens by coincidence and chance, and that sometimes very odd things simply just happen. And these things happen all the time. It's very meaningful for the overall essence of the BRILLIANT film. I want to mention of the stories from the opening scene today.
This legend was originally told at forensic science convention in the 60's. It is said this legend was used as a teaching tool for how to charge certain odd crimes. This is one of those VERY odd crimes. The story goes that a young man attempts to commit suicide by jumping of the 9th story rooftop of his apartment building. The suicide attempt was confirmed by a note in his pocket. The young man was fed up with this constantly arguing parents and wanted to end it all and be with God. The young man jumps, and midway down he is shot through the stomach by a shot gun bullet and is killed instantly before even hitting the ground.
Back up a little bit. In a 6th story apartment a couple is arguing ferociously and all the neighbors can hear this, as they usually do. It is a husband and wife, and apparently they always fight with a shotgun pointing at one of them. The wife is a bit crazy. The gun is not typically loaded. The argument heats up to the highest level and the wife pulls the trigger. She misses her husband and the bullet goes out the window, shattering the glass and hits a person who is falling from the roof.
Now it turns out that the arguing couple...are the parents of the boy who just jumped off the roof. They are the parents of the boy who just jumped off the roof AND was shot and killed by their shotgun. A young boy in the building who is a friend of the young man who killed himself comes forward. He tells the police that the young man intentionally loaded the shotgun knowing full well his parents would use it in an argument. He wanted his parents to kill each other, because that's what he thought they wanted to do anyway with all the yelling and abuse. His plan was for his whole family to perish that day, including himself. He was not expecting to be shot by the bullet he loaded into the gun.
Here's another odd fact: just a few days prior, an awning was installed on the bottom level. This awning would have caught the young man and saved his life...but he had a giant hole in his stomach and was dead before he got to the awning.
It took some time for the police to figure this crime out. Eventually the young man's parents were arrested. The mother was charged for the murder of her own son. The young man...was charged and noted as an accomplice in own murder.
To me this is one of the most bizarre and interesting urban legends I have ever heard. There aren't really a lot of stories online about it, but it is featured in this film. And I just wanted to let you all in on it! Hope you enjoyed it!
Also, I know you just read all that, but I have included the clip from the film "Magnolia" below. The clip is a segment from the opening scene of the film that pretty much explains and shows you what I just wrote about. You should watch it, it's a really well done scene.
--Mike--
