YOUVE GOT TO BE KIDNEYING ME @£%@£

So has anyone ever heard of the kidney theft urban legend?

During 1997 a small contagious rumor broke out in New Orleans. As the city geared up for its annual Mardi Gras festivities in January, a rumor began spreading through word-of-mouth, fax, and forwarded email to the effect that a crime ring in New Orleans was carrying out plans what plans you might say? to drug the visiting tourists, clever right? thats not the worse part they were planning to surgically remove healthy kidneys from their bodies, and sell the organs on the black market. creepy right!?

soon enough this email went viral, which most often arrived under the header "Travelers Beware," this had a huge effect on the public and soon enough police were swamped with phone calls,  this prompted the New Orleans Police Department to publish an official statement to calm and contain public fears. unfortunately investigators found no substantiating evidence.

Example of the letter/email:

Dear Friends: 
I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is targeting business travelers. This ring is well organized, well funded, has very skilled personnel, and is currently in most major cities and recently very active in New Orleans. The crime begins when a business traveler goes to a lounge for a drink at the end of the work day. A person in the bar walks up as they sit alone and offers to buy them a drink. The last thing the traveler remembers until they wake up in a hotel room bath tub, their body submerged to their neck in ice, is sipping that drink. There is a note taped to the wall instructing them not to move and to call 911. A phone is on a small table next to the bathtub for them to call. The business traveler calls 911 who have become quite familiar with this crime. The business traveler is instructed by the 911 operator to very slowly and carefully reach behind them and feel if there is a tube protruding from their lower back. The business traveler finds the tube and answers, "Yes." The 911 operator tells them to remain still, having already sent paramedics to help. The operator knows that both of the business traveler's kidneys have been harvested. This is not a scam or out of a science fiction novel, it is real. It is documented and confirmable. If you travel or someone close to you travels, please be careful. 

Regards
Jerry Mayfield
Austin Ops Engineering Manager
Telephone: 512-433-6855
Pager: 512-613-3710 

From: Patty Radford@Desktop@PCPD Hou, on 12/16/96 10:33 AM: 

Yes, this does happen. My sister-in-law works with a lady that this happened to her son's neighbour who lives in Houston. The only "good" thing to his whole story is the fact that the people doing this horrible crime are very in tune to what complications can happen afterwards because of the details precautions they take the time to set up before leaving the room. The word from my sister-in-law is that the hospital in Las Vegas (yes, Vegas) prior to transferring him back to Houston stated that these people know exactly what they are doing. The incision, etc. was exact and clean. They use sterile equipment etc. and the hospital stated that other than the fact that the victim looses a kidney there has not been any reports of other complications due to non-sterile, etc. tactics that were used. 

Please be careful. 

From: Kathy White@OS Dev@Sys Hou, on 12/13/96 3:25 PM: 

Sadly, this is very true. My husband is a Houston Firefighter/EMT and they have received alerts regarding this crime ring. It is to be taken very seriously. The daughter of a friend of a fellow firefighter had this happen to her. Skilled doctor's are performing these crimes! (which, by the way have been highly noted in the Las Vegas area). Additionally, the military has received alerts regarding this.

Researching through related articles and blogs out this legend had happened before it arrived and was noticed by authorities in New Orlean.  this happened before in Housten, Las Vegas and supposedly the person who had experienced this terrifying urban legend was a tourist who they believed was drugged in his hotel room by an unknown prostitute and woke up with a pain in his side and sitting in a bath of ice cubes with a kidney missing. however they could tell the person who took out the kidney had a professional background working with bodies such as a doctor/surgeon. 

looking deeper into this urban legend many believe that this is a tale written by locals who do not want to the hassle of tourists sweeping through there towns causing trouble.

"The majority of people who had this pass through their hands failed to realise this was but an urban legend, an apocryphal tale told and re-told. Moreover, it was an urban legend that had been around at least since 1991. 

As part of the effort to dispel belief in this nonsense, the National Kidney Foundation has asked any individual who claims to have had his or her kidneys illegally removed to step forward and contact them. So far no one's showed up. 

Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand mentions in The Baby Train that he first heard this horrific story in early 1991. Very shortly thereafter he was swamped by it coming in from every direction, told as happening in various large cities. In this earlier incarnation, friends discover the victim either in his blood-soaked hotel bed, on the floor, or propped up against the side of a building. It's only at the hospital that the grim "truth" of the missing organ becomes known. According to (http://www.snopes.com,2016)"

It's deffinatley hard to call something an "urban legend" when it could be so true, but the vast numbers of occurrences of organ theft and because there is not enough evidence these crimes make them the stuff of folklore. as we know, Organs are worth a lot of money on the open market. A single working kidney can be worth as much as $10,000 thats £8061.59 to a black-market organist. Kidney thieves generally strike people who are likely to casually "hook up" with a member of the opposite sex for a one-night fling during this time people used to cal prostitutes to give them the relief they needed while they were away giving thieves the perfect opportunity to drug them. This includes college students, business travellers, singles in bars, and men. If you fit into one of these categories, If you just met an incredibly attractive person and they are in a hurry to get you to a local hotel, check their background before you count your blessings. here are some of the rules/tips the authorities at the time told travellers some of them are perfectly sensible. "Refuse requests for tissue typing, particularly by people you don't know well. Even if it "will only take a minute" and "won't hurt a bit," it's not worth the risk. If you notice that your "date" is carrying a scalpel, disinfectant, bandages, and other surgical equipment in her purse, or the "nice man you met at the bar" has a cooler with a biohazard sticker on it in the back seat of his car, proceed with caution. Be suspicious if your date asks you to go to the ice machine more than six or seven times before "getting it on." When dating, don't drink anything. Have "body contains no working kidneys" tattooed on your lower back. Don't visit hotbeds of organ theft, such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, or Houston. Oregon, ironically, is relatively safe. Wear a surgical steel girdle with a strong lock and leave the key at home. Since organ harvesters almost never target gay people, consider dating within your gender. If you are married, bring your spouse with you on business trips instead of relying on prostitution or cheap casual sex. You will lower your chances of a dangerous encounter significantly, since less than 10% of organ thefts are perpetrated by spouses" According to ( http://www.livescience.com, 2008)  now its up to you what you believe however in this day and age anything is possible due to this story being repeated by mouth and email or internet things can be empathised and not all true! however its creepy enough to put on the blog!