Maddie McCann

[SammyG]

well spotted that she was a romainan woman . probably a gypsy too.
was this reported to the gaurds media ect . under the current atmos it would have made a big stink!
urban legend if i ever heard one

It is a true story lads i ain't making it up my Ma works with this woman,It was found out after that she was Romanian.Its too sensitive a subject for me to be telling urban legends

It is a total urban myth, it's been doing the rounds for years with gypsy/arab/black/romanian/whoever was that weeks issue being inserted as the nationality.

[SuperSub]

It is amazing the amount of kids that are let run free in places like shopping centres,Parents don't seem to realise the chances they are taking,Even going to work in the mornings i see very small kids walking to school on their own or with a slightly older sibling.I know you can't wrap them in cotton wool but some things just aren't acceptable in my opinion

[The Real Laoislad]

Sure believe what ye want you all seem to be experts on the matter

[SammyG]

Sure believe what ye want you all seem to be experts on the matter

Nothing to do with being an expert, the story has been about for years, it's usually told about kids disappearing at Disney.

A quick google found this story from April 2000

These urban myths need good dose of skepticism
By KATHERINE SNOW SMITH

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2000


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wrote a column a few weeks ago about the nightmare of losing your children, even briefly, at the airport, circus or any other crowded public place. The column prompted four people to tell me about what happens at Disney World when a child is separated from his or her parents.

From my editor to a doctor friend to my sitter, the story varied only slightly: The Disney people whisk the parents into a room filled with television screens displaying every inch of the park. They anxiously urge parents to "Look at the eyes, look at the eyes." (In one version it's "Look at the shoes.")

The reason is simple. After the child snatchers have the kid, they quickly duck into a bathroom or behind a ride to change the child's clothes, then cut, shave or dye the hair. If you're looking for your little girl with red pigtails and a green Pooh dress, she could walk right past you with short black hair and blue gingham shorts and shirt.

"It happened about 10 years ago to a woman in my Bible study," my sitter told me. "Her little girl had long, black, curly hair and they cut it all off. They found her in line for Space Mountain."

I asked why a kidnapper would take the time to ride Space Mountain instead of hustling the child out of the park. She said she was told Disney immediately closes all exits from the park when a child is missing so the kidnappers have to wait it out until they can find an escape route.

I told my sitter about the others who mentioned this story to me, and that it sounds like one of those urban myths. She conferred with her sister about it and later told me they think this woman could have made the whole thing up. After all, she dropped in and out of the Bible study and was the type who might be capable of turning an urban myth into a personal nightmare.

Still, plenty of other people were telling me this story and they aren't the only ones who know of it. Turns out a web site dedicated to urban myths, http://www.snopes.com, has a whole section on myths about Disney. This one of the hair-dyeing, head-shaving child snatchers is one of the most frequently told. And these days they are spreading farther and faster with the fuel of the Internet.

The same scenario is often said to take place in Wal-Mart as well. The web site included a scary tale by a mother who said her child was stolen at a Sam's Club. The little girl was found within five minutes in a bathroom stall, her head half shaved. The story is one of many circulating throughout the Internet. It's titled "Child Alert," and begins with the mother's urgent message: "Please take the time to forward this to any friend who has children."

The Disney story, according to the urban myths web site, often includes an attack on the mighty powerful Mouse himself. Some storytellers say Disney wants to quell the story so it offers parents a lifetime of free admission to keep quiet about what happened to their child. While a day at the park does cost a small fortune, I still can't see parents trading silence about a missing child for endless free rides on Space Mountain.

Disney's response to all this: False. Bunk. Untrue. Never happened. No way. Wrong.

"No child has ever been abducted from Walt Disney World resort," Rene Callahan, a Disney spokeswoman, told me.

"It is definitely an urban legend," she said of the kidnapping stories. "It has been out there for a while and seems to have gotten around to many people in the country. But it is in fact legend."

I wholeheartedly believe her. There are no past news stories about this happening. And if it did happen as much as people hear it happening somebody would call the cops or tell a newspaper or TV station.

Callahan, however, would not tell me if the gates are ever shut to seal off the park during operating hours. "We don't give out details of security measures. To do so would compromise security," she told me.

Why and how this story spread wide and far as fact is unknown. The urban myth web site stated that many people distrust and dislike large corporations, such as Disney or Wal-Mart, and are happy to tarnish their good-guy image.

My sitter didn't question why these myth-tellers pick on Disney but instead why they lay claim to such a horrible ordeal. "Day-to-day life is hard enough," she said. "Why would you want to have something like this, too?"

To make you more aware of what's fact and what's fiction, here are some other "parental nightmares" listed on the urban myth web site that are widespread and untrue:

A babysitter on drugs mistakes the infant for a turkey and cooks it in the oven.

School children are given cartoon character tattoos laced with LSD.

Drug smugglers smuggle cocaine into the country in the hollowed-out bodies of dead babies.

A Red Cross blood drive found that 20 percent of high school donors are HIV positive.

Venomous snakes live in the outside ball pits at fast-food restaurants.

And then there's the one I fell for in an instant. A couple of years ago a neighbor showed me a notice her husband's co-worker pulled off the Internet. It stated that Gerber had lost a class-action lawsuit because it claimed false ingredients in its baby foods. As part of the company's settlement it had to give a $500 savings bond to any child between four months and two years old. All parents had to do was mail a copy of the birth certificate to Gerber.

Our whole street, along with myself, was rushing around to get birth certificate's copied when another neighbor broke the news that she had called Gerber and learned the whole thing was a hoax. Reality bites!

Source http://www.sptimes.com/News/040900/SouthPinellas/These_urban_myths_nee.shtml

[The Real Laoislad]

So that means it can't be true .As i said your the expert and seem too think because you heard a similar story before it couldn't happen again
Sure maybe my mother was lying and so was her work partner

[The Real Laoislad]

I told a story that did happen and im not going to keep defending myself so as i have said already believe what ye will i don't really care.
Now will posters stop turning this thread about Maddie McCann into a your lying.. no your lying thread there are more important topics about this case to discuss

[SammyG]

I told a story that did happen and im not going to keep defending myself so as i have said already believe what ye will i don't really care.

If it was true why was it never reported anywhere?

Now will posters stop turning this thread about Maddie McCann into a your lying.. no your lying thread there are more important topics about this case to discuss

Agreed, you were the one who took the thread off topic.

[balladmaker]

Not that I would be a great believer, but maybe it's time the police gave the psychic's a shout......I'd try anything at this stage.

[SuperSub]

Agreed, you were the one who took the thread off topic.

Eh i think you did.Always have to have the last word do ya?

[The Real Laoislad]

Just leave it Supersub,I know im telling the truth i don't care what anyone else thinks
Now back to the real topic
Her parents are to make a trip to Fatima to pray for her

More from Sky News on Channel 501
      Site  Web  Search:   Advanced Search Browse Archive Praying For A Miracle At Holy Site
Updated: 07:14, Wednesday May 23, 2007

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann are to make a pilgrimage to the holiest site in Portugal to pray for a miracle: the safe return of their daughter.

At a church service last weekThey will visit the town of Fatima, home to a shrine that is visited by millions of Catholic pilgrims every year.

The trip may well prove to be the first step in an expected European tour aimed at spreading news of Madeleine's abduction across the continent.

And it will be the first time since Madeleine's mother Kate McCann has left Praia da Luz since her daughter was snatched from the resort on May 3.

Friends said Mrs McCann had considered making the four-hour trip even before Madeleine was abducted and has been set on making the journey ever since.

The Sanctuary of Fatima was built to commemorate the events of 1917 when three peasant children claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary.


Prayers for Madeleine at FatimaJust 10 days ago, on the weekend of Madeleine's birthday, around 300,000 pilgrims flocked to Fatima to mark the 90th anniversary of one of the visions.

Many were holding up pictures of Madeleine and praying for her safe return.

Kate and Gerry McCann have said they will do what it takes to keep their daughter's image in the media spotlight, in the hope she will be returned.

"We will travel wherever is necessary to ensure people across Europe recognise Madeleine's picture and encourage them to come forward with information," Mr McCann said.

"We are going to monitor the media exposure throughout Europe and then we will decide along with our campaign manager and press team where we need to go to make maximum impact."

[sureyouwill]

Agreed, you were the one who took the thread off topic.

Eh i think you did.Always have to have the last word do ya?

So among your many talents one of them is you can't read!

[SuperSub]

Keep to the thread now sureyouwill don't be going off topic

[Orior]

Anyone else get the Chris Carberry and Barry Walsh emails? I got 21 of them.

[Square Ball]

Anyone else get the Chris Carberry and Barry Walsh emails? I got 21 of them.

What are they Orior? Diddnt gte any thing at all

[Orior]

******************************************************************************
From:  "Chris Carberry" 
Date:  2007/05/24 Thu PM 03:39:22 BST

To:  about 100 email addresses!

Subject:  FW: Please Read!!!!!!!!! Disparition Madeleine


Please read this message and pass it on!!!!!!!!!

As you are aware my niece, Madeleine, is still missing and I am asking
everyone I know to send this as a chain letter i.e. you send it to everyone
you know and ask them to do the same, as the story is only being covered
in
Britain, Eire and Portugal. We don't believe that she is in Portugal
anymore and need to get her picture and the story across Europe as quickly
as possible. Suggestions are welcome.


Phil McCann

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and then the reply from Barry Walsh:

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No idea wha your talking about.

bw

BARRY WALSH


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