10 Urban Legends That Turned Out To Be True

The Legend: The man of the house attempts to surprise his family by dressing up as Santa Claus and climbing down the chimney on Christmas Day. Instead of presents and season's greetings, he delivers only abject horror because he gets stuck along the way and is later found dead in that sooty shaft.

The truth: Mercifully, no would-be Santa has ever been found dead in a chimney shaft, but several have ended up trapped attempting to pull off this holiday stunt.

Chimney-related fatalities have occurred at households over the years, though the victims have been burglars attempting to enter the property from the roof. A thief in California died of smoke inhalation in December 2015 when this fate befell him.