No matter where you’re from, you’ve no doubt heard some version of the story.

A freight truck filled with something edible like chicken, hamburger or even dog food goes off a bridge into a large body of water. Divers go in to salvage the truck and emerge horrified minutes later, claiming to have seen a catfish big enough to swallow them whole.

The details have been skewered to create countless versions of the tale. But no matter how they’re carved and reshaped, the stories always have two things in common – they’re all fascinating, and they’re all false.

“I’ve got a buddy who was scuba diving in a deep, clear lake in north Alabama, and he swears he came eyeball to eyeball with a catfish that had eyes as big as dinner plates,” said David Cantrell, an avid fisherman from Wilsonville, Ala. “He won’t go diving in fresh water anymore because of it. I’m not saying it’s true, but he definitely believed what he’s saying.”

The tale of the man-eating catfish is just one example of the many outdoors myths that have reached legendary status through the years. The stories cover a wide variety of topics and rarely have happy endings. They’re largely unbelievable, but somehow believed by many.

Dr. Rik Newtsom, the Director of Sociology and Gerontology for Columbus State University, has spent much of his career exploring the origins and validity of urban legends with his students. He says such stories frequently gain their longevity from simple fear run amuck.

“There’s no doubt some of it is plain old gullibility,” Newtsom said. “Some of it is that we don’t have a good understanding of science. But a lot of it definitely has to do with fear. The more disgust and the more fear a story generates, the more people will believe it.”

While some of the stories turn harmless creatures like catfish into a source of irrational fear, others magnify our existing fear of potentially harmful creatures.

Because coyotes carry the predator’s mystique, stories about them stealing and eating small children have circulated for decades. However, the average coyote weighs just 25 pounds and feeds mostly on mice, rats and garbage. Though the animals can be dangerous if cornered or provoked, they normally avoid human contact at all cost, and there’s no record of a coyote ever stealing a child.

Poisonous snakes are a real concern for many outdoorsmen – and not surprisingly, they have become the fodder for a number of so-called “rural legends.”

Virtually every town with a creek running through it has a story about the unlucky swimmer who did a cannonball into a ”nest” of water moccasins and was instantly bitten to death. But herpetologists debunk that myth by pointing out that snakes typically despise one another and rarely congregate in large numbers.

There’s also a widely circulated tale about a young boy who went digging for worms before a fishing trip and dug up a bucket full of poisonous baby snakes by mistake. By the time he was found slumped over on the creek bank, it was too late. He had been slowly bitten to death each time he baited his hook.

“Snakebite deaths are extremely rare in the Southeastern United States where those stories are most often circulated,” said Dr. Jim Armstrong, a wildlife biologist and professor of zoology with Auburn University. “When someone does die from a snakebite, it’s usually because they were provoking or agitating a snake and then failed to seek proper medical attention after they were bitten. People certainly don’t get bitten by a rattlesnake or cottonmouth one minute and then fall over dead the next.”

That information also debunks the story of the man who tried on a pair of hunting boots at a yard sale and suddenly fell over dead. As the story goes, the boots previously belonged to a man who had died of a rattlesnake bite, and one of the fangs was still lodged in the toe of the boot.

Besides fear, Newtsom said humans have a natural desire to believe in things not yet discovered that drives them to accept such legends as fact. He also said the storytellers often embellish the tales once they’re “on stage” before a captive audience, making them seem all the more real.

Many outdoorsmen in the Mid-South tell impassioned tales about seeing so-called “black panthers” in the woods while hunting deer or turkeys. But so far, no one has produced a good picture of one – and wildlife biologists insist they don’t exist.

“In my office, I have board with push pins that I use to mark all sorts of reported sightings,” said Alan Peterson, a wildlife biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “The push pins for large black cat sightings outnumber all of the others nearly two to one. But there is no such thing as a black panther or black cougar anywhere in the world. 

“I’m not saying those people are lying. I just believe they’re seeing other animals and mistaking them for predatory cats.”

A Few Random Myths and Truths

Myths and misconceptions about the outdoors don’t always involve elaborate plots or stories. Here are some of the simpler misplaced beliefs held by outdoorsmen:

Myth

A snake can’t bite you under water.

Truth

Snakes often eat fish and can certainly bite under water.

Myth

Alligators can’t bite under water.

Truth

Alligators can bite under water with the same force they use above water. However, they will drown if they try to swallow without surfacing.

Myth

If you’re bitten by a snake, you should cut an X over the bite and suck out the poison.

Truth

People who cut themselves with a knife after being bitten by a snake almost always do more harm than good.

Myth

Whitetail deer are color blind.

Truth

Deer are indeed red-green color blind, but they can see all shades of yellows and blues very vividly.

Myth

Whitetail buck deer sometimes engage in violent antler battles to drive competitive deer off their turf.

Truth

Deer hardly ever fight. When they do, they’re usually fighting over potential mates – not a section of property.

Myth

Bass won’t bite for 72 hours after being caught and released.

Truth

Male bass defending bedding females can sometimes be caught two and three times a day.

Myth

Wild turkeys are one of the smartest birds in the forest.

Truth

Turkeys are, in fact, one of the least intelligent birds in the wild. Their ability to avoid hunters has much more to do with fear and cautioness than intelligence.

Myth

If you drive past a cow pasture and the cows are lying down, it means the fish aren’t biting.

Truth

No matter what your grandfather told you, cows have no inside information about the fishing.

These Animals are Actually for Real

Though some people denounce them as myths or hearsay, the following critters really do exist:

Alabama “Flamingos”

The birds are actually known as roseate spoonbills, and are extremely rare in this region. But when they do show up in the Land of Cottom, Alabamians sometimes mistake their bright pink feathers for those of the flamingo.

Blue-Eyed Cicadas

Most cicadas have bright red eyes, but blue-eyed cicadas are sometimes found when the bugs emerge from the ground to mate.

White Catfish

Not only do they exist, they’re available at most local pet stores – and they’re sometimes caught from the Chattahoochee River.

Freshwater Eels

There are many species, including several that make their home in the Chattahoochee. Some reach lengths of more than 10 feet and may be responsible for many “lake monster” myths.

Mean-Mouth Bass

A laboratory creation gone wrong, it’s a cross between a spotted bass and a smallmouth bass. It was dubbed “mean-mouth” because of its voracious feeding style and its tendency to bite swimmers and waders.