This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

• The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
• Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
• Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
• The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
• The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
• The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
• Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophecy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
• The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
• Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
• The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
• The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
• The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol.

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

Find more information about this carol here: novareinna.com/festive/twelve.html

Christmas At Arlington Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, DC

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.
Know the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell…

Readers may be interested to know that these wreaths — some 5,000 — are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine.
The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He’s done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

John lived in Plainfield, Wisconsin. One day in November 2007, he opened up his Inbox and found a message that appeared to be from two young girls. They called themselves the Smith Sisters and told him they were his older sisters, which confused him because he was an only child. They said years ago, they had lived in his house.

He replied, saying he didnt have any sisters and told them to get lost and leave him alone. The next day, he received a chilling message with some photo attachments. The first photo was of two young girls.
The caption on it said “Smith Sisters murdered anonymously“.

The girls said in the email that they were indeed his older sisters. They told him that in 1993 they had lived in his house. His bedroom had once been their bedroom. They told him all about growing up and about their lives and how happy they had been until one horrible night.

He opened up the other attachment. It was a scan of an old newspaper article.

In 1993, two sisters were brutally murdered in the small-town community of Plainfield, Wisconsin. Lisa Smith, 19 and her sister, Sarah Smith, 15 were attacked in their parents home on the night of November 17th, around 1:30AM. The Smith Sisters were lying in bed when a crazed killer broke into the house. No-one heard them scream. In the morning, their parents found the dead bodies of the Smith Sisters hidden in the bedroom closet. They had been skinned alive. The killer was long gone and no trace of him could be found. They had been murdered anonymously. Police conducted an extensive investigation, but to no avail. The motives for the attack were never discovered. Nor was the attacker ever found. The only lead authorities had was a series of strange emails found in Lisas computer. The case was closed in October of 2000.
In the rest of the email, the sisters said that they were angry that the case was closed and people forgot about them.

They were angry that their parents wanted to forget about them too.

They were angry that their parents decided to start over and had a new baby. A little boy named John.

They were angry that their parents had never mentioned their daughters or their tragic murder to their new son John.

John Smith, sent an angry reply saying he didnt believe what they were saying. He didnt believe the Smith Sisters were really related to him and he didnt believe the newspaper article was real. He told them to go to hell.

Five minutes later, he got another email from them. It said If you dont believe us, look in the bedroom closet.

That was the last email that was found on Johns computer. Police were unable to trace who had sent the messages to him.

On the floor of the closet, the police found a faint message, carved in the wood. It simply read Lisa and Sarah – 1993″. Underneath that, was another carving that read John 2007.

No-one knows what John did next, but in the morning, Johns parents woke up to find their son missing. Then they checked his bedroom closet and got the shock of their lives. There they found the dead body of their son. He had been skinned alive.

No-one knows what really happened that night. Police were only able to piece together parts of the story based on what they found on Johns computer.

The parents were devastated. How could this happen to a family. First their daughters were murdered. And now years later their son is murdered.

It seemed too weird to be just a coincidence. Two sisters are murdered and then years later, their brother is murdered in exactly the same way, in exactly the same place. And the only evidence left behind is a few scary emails Makes you wonder.

Miranda Savanah from Okinawa

Dear SunTrust Online Customer,

We have recently determined that different computers have logged onto your Online Banking account, and multiple password failures were present before the login. It is now necessary to re-confirm your account information to us.

If this is not completed until November 16 2011, we will be forced to suspend your account indefinitely, as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes. We thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

To confirm your Online Banking records click on the following link: https://onlineserve.suntrust.com/Logon.aspx

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

SunTrust Online Banking & Co. Security Center
2011 SunTrust Online Banking & Co. All Rights Reserved

• Email asks you to confirm/update/verify your account data at SunTrust Online by visiting the given link. You will be taken to a spoof website where your details will be captured for the phishers.
• SunTrust Online never send their users emails requesting personal details in this way.
• The anchor text appears as a legitimate URL, but clicking on it will take you to a phishing website.

Jeanie Hoyle from Texas

My car’s instruction manual says to roll down the windows to let out all the hot air before turning on A/C.

Please do NOT turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car.

Open the windows after you enter your car and then turn ON the AC after a couple of minutes.

Here’s why: According to research, the car dashboard, seats and air freshener emit Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin (carcinogen ). Take time to observe the smell of heated plastic in your car.

In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes anemia and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer. Can also cause miscarriage.

Acceptable Benzene level indoors is 50 mg per sq. ft.
A car parked indoors with windows closed will contain 400-800 mg of Benzene.
If parked outdoors under the sun at a temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level.People who get into the car, keeping windows closed will inevitably inhale, in quick succession, excessive amounts of the toxin.Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and liver. What’s worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.

So friends, please open the windows and door of your car – give time for interior to air out – dispel the deadly stuff – before you enter.

Cynthia from Tampa Bay, FL

Some time ago, I attended a Breast Cancer Awareness seminar and I asked why the most common area for Breast Cancer was near the armpit.

My question could not be answered at that time. This e-mail was just sent to me, and I find it interesting that my question has been answered. I challenge you all to rethink your every day use of a product that could ultimately lead to a terminal illness. As of today, I will change my use. I showed it to another friend going through chemotherapy & she said she learned this fact in a support group recently.

The leading cause of breast cancer is the use of antiperspirant. *ANTIPERSPIRANT*

Most of the products out there are an antiperspirant /deodorant combination, so go home and check. Deodorant is fine, antiperspirant is not! Here’s why:

The human body has a few areas that it uses to purge toxins ; behind the knees, behind the ears, groin area, and armpits. The toxins are purged in the form of perspiration. Antiperspirant, as the name clearly indicates, prevents you from perspiring, thereby inhibiting the body from purging toxins from below the armpits. These toxins do not just magically disappear. Instead, the body deposits them in the lymph nodes below the arms since it cannot sweat them out. Nearly all breast cancer tumors occur in the upper outside quadrant of the breast area. This is precisely where the lymph nodes are located. Additionally, men are less likely (but not completely exempt) to develop breast cancer prompted by antiperspirant usage because most of the antiperspirant product is caught in their hair and is not directly applied to the skin. Women who apply antiperspirant right after shaving increase the risk further because shaving causes almost imperceptible nicks in the skin which give the chemicals entrance into the body from the armpit area.

PLEASE pass this along to anyone you care about. Breast cancer is becoming frighteningly common. This awareness may save lives.

David M.

UrbanLegendsOnline.com Input:

The American Cancer Society addresses this email legend on their website HERE Please keep in mind that just because there are no strong studies to suggest a link between the two, it doesn’t mean that a link does not exist. This is a legend/email warning that I personally think has some merit and should not be taken lightly. I’m no physician, it’s just my opinion.

1.) If you get an e-mail along the lines of ‘Osama Bin Laden Captured’ or ‘Osama Hanged’, don’t open the Attachment!!!! 
This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but mainly in the US and Israel. 
Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know.

PLEASE  FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND  CONTACTS:

2.)  You should be alert during the next few  days:
Do not open any message with an attached file called ‘Invitation’ regardless of who sent it. 
It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which ‘burns’ the whole hard disc C of your computer!!!!
This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her  contact list, that is why you should send this E-mail to all your contacts.  
It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.
If you receive e-mail called ‘invitation’, even though sent by a friend. Do not open it!!! Shut down your computer immediately!!!!

This is the worst virus announced by CNN; it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for   this kind of virus.
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where 0ther vital information is kept…  
SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!!!

Paul from Houma, LA

FACT: About two months later, 16-year-old David Gregory read this post and didn’t repost it. When he went to take a shower, he heard laughter, started freaking out, and ran to his computer to repost it. He said goodnight to his mom and went to sleep, but five hours later, his mom woke up in the middle of the night from a loud noise and David was gone. A few hours later, the police found him in the sewer, with a broken neck and the skin on his face peeled off.

Even Google her name – you’ll find this to be true.

If you don’t repost this saying "They hurt her," then Carmen will get you, either from a sewer, the toilet, the shower, or when you go to sleep, you’ll wake up in the sewer, in the dark, then Carmen will come and kill you.

Another Version:

Carmen was 17 years old when her parents decided to move to Indiana. Her father had lost his job and the only way he could find new employment was by moving to a new state. The relocation caused a lot of problems for Carmen. She had to leave her friends behind and attend a whole new school in Indiana.

Carmen had a hard time making friends when she changed schools. It was the middle of the school year and most of the students had no interest in befriending the new girl. Initially, she spent many days alone, walking from class to class without speaking to anyone, but she eventually started hanging around with a group of five other girls. Carmen thought these girls were her friends, but it wasn’t long before she discovered that they had been talking about her behind her back and spreading vile rumors.

When she confronted them, the girls turned on her and began bullying her every day, making her life a misery. They started out calling her names, but then the bullying got much worse. One day, she left her school books in the classroom at break time. When she returned, she found someone had taken a sharpie and written dirty words all over her books. Another day, she opened her bag and discovered someone had poured yoghurt all over the insides. Sometimes, she would come to school and find her locker had been vandalized. The final straw came when she put on her coat at recess and found that someone had stuffed dog poop in her pockets.

There and then, Carmen decided that she couldn’t take the bullying any longer. She planned to stay behind, that evening, after school, and tell her teacher what had been happening. Unfortunately, her decision came too late to save her life.

After lunch, her teacher announced that the school was holding a fire drill. When the alarm sounded, Carmen and the other students filed out of the classroom and assembled in the yard outside. As the teachers read out the roll call, the gang of five girls decided that this was a great opportunity to embarrass Carmen in front of the whole school during the fire drill. They moved over to where Carmen was standing, near a sewer drain, and began crowding the poor girl, getting in her face and nudging her towards the open manhole.

They pushed her and she tripped over and fell head-first down the manhole. When they saw her falling, the girls started giggling and when Carmen’s name was called out, they shouted “She’s down in the sewer!”

All of the other students began laughing. But when the teachers looked down the manhole and saw Carmen’s body lying at the bottom in the muck and the poop, the laughter abruptly stopped. Her head was twisted around at an odd angle and her face was covered in blood. Worse still, she wasn’t moving.

There was nothing any of the teachers could do for her. Carmen was dead. When the police arrived and went down into the sewer, they determined that she had broken her neck. Her face had been torn off when she hit the ladder on the way down and her neck snapped when she landed on her head on the concrete at the bottom.

The police hauled Carmen’s body out of the sewer and sent her to the mortuary. Everyone had to stay behind after school while the police questioned all of Carmen’s classmates. The five girls lied to the police, saying they had witnessed Carmen falling down the sewer. The police believed the girls and Carmen Winstead’s death was ruled an accident and the case was closed. Everyone thought that was the last they would hear of Carmen Winstead, but they were wrong.

Months later, Carmen’s classmates began receiving strange e-mails on their MySpaces. The e-mails were titled “They Pushed Her” and claimed that Carmen hadn’t really fallen down the sewer, she had been pushed. The e-mails also warned that the guilty people should own up and take responsibility for their crime. If they didn’t there would be horrible consequences. Most people dismissed the e-mails as a hoax, but others were not so sure.

A few days later, one of the girls who pushed Carmen down the sewer was at home taking a shower, when she heard a strange cackling laugh. It seemed to be coming from the drain. The girl started to freak out and ran out of the bathroom. That night, the girl said goodnight to her mom and went to sleep.

Five hours later, her mom was awoken in the middle of the night, by a loud noise that resounded throughout the house. She ran into her daughter’s room, only to find it empty. There was no trace of the girl. The worried mother called the police and when they arrived, they conducted a search of the area. Eventually, they discovered the girl’s grisly remains.

Her corpse was lying in the sewer, covered in muck and poop. Her neck was broken and her face was missing. It had been completely torn off. One by one, all of the girls who pushed Carmen that day were found dead. They had all been killed in exactly the same way and were all found at exactly the same spot. In the sewer at the bottom of the same uncovered manhole where Carmen had met her doom.

But the killing didn’t stop there. More and more of Carmen’s former classmates were found dead. It seemed that anyone who didn’t believe that Carmen had been pushed, was eventually found down in the sewer with their necks broken and their faces torn off.

They say that Carmen’s ghost is still on the rampage, hunting down anyone who doesn’t believe her story. According to the legend, Carmen will get you, whether it’s from a toilet, a shower, a sink or a drain. When you go to sleep, you’ll wake up in the sewer, in complete darkness, paralyzed, unable to move, hearing cackling laughter all around you. Then, as you scream in horror, Carmen will come and tear your face off.

So be careful who you bully, because you just might find yourself on the receiving end of the curse of Carmen Winstead

Another Version:

Justin from Reading, PA
EVERYONE?!?!

Ok, I get the point. You are all very good at following directions. STOP sending this legend to me.
Geez People. Thanks for playing though.

HOW TO DETECT A 2-WAY MIRROR

When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms, etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can’t see them)?

There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in female changing rooms. It is very difficult to positively identify the surface by just looking at it. So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type of mirror we are looking at? Just conduct this simple test:

Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is a GENUINE mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, then BEWARE, FOR IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR! So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the "fingernail test." It doesn’t cost you anything. It is simple to do, and it might save you from getting "visually raped"!

After you connect and you realize that the customer service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent),
please, very politely (this is not about trashing other cultures) say, "I’d like to speak to a customer service representative in the United States of America ."

The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, but, again, politely say, "Thank you, but I’d like to speak to a customer service representative in the USA ."

YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED TO A REP IN THE USA .

That’s the rule and the LAW. It takes less than one minute to have your call re-directed to the USA .

Tonight when I got redirected to a USA rep, I asked again to make sure – and yes, she was from Fort Lauderdale .

Imagine what would happen if every US citizen insisted on talking to only US phone reps from this day on. Imagine how that would ultimately impact the number of US jobs that would need to be created ASAP.
If I tell 10 people to consider this and you tell 10 people to consider doing this – see what I mean…it becomes an exercise in viral marketing 101.
Remember – the goal here is to restore jobs back here at home – not to be abrupt or rude to a foreign phone rep.

Pam from Fordyce, AR

Looks like he is finally FULL!