The Infamous Urban Legend 23% Of People Find Completely Unbelievable

Urban legends are funny things. Some bits of lore are so pervasive that some people believe them without knowing they're being bamboozled by a hoax. For example, every Halloween your Facebook feed will blow up with warnings about kids being maimed or killed by adulterants put into their candy by strangers, even though such a thing has never happened, per CBC News. Other urban legends have their believers who persist in buying into a myth, despite clear and convincing evidence that the legend is false. For example, you may know a guy who swears up and down that he and his buddies used to go cow tipping back in the day, even though it's scientifically impossible for a human to do it, according to Modern Farmer.

When it comes to cryptids, however, all bets are off. These mythical animals that exist in the hazy netherworld between myth and reality have their share of true believers, despite the fact that the "evidence" for them consists mostly of grainy video footage and unreliable memories.

Grunge asked 688 US-based readers which cryptid-related urban legend is the least believable, and here are the "winners."

Grunge readers expressed skepticism about the existence of a number legendary cryptids. In second place, with 20.35% of the vote, readers said the Jersey Devil was the least-believable urban legend. Another 19.91% weren't buying the existence of chupacabras ("goat suckers"). Bigfoot, who supposedly hangs out in parts of the US and Canada, and may or may not murder illegal pot farmers, earned 19.48% of the vote. And finally, with 17.01% of the vote, Grunge readers found the legend of the Loch Ness Monster the least of the unbelievable.

But of them all, a clear plurality of Grunge readers decided that the Kraken, the legendary sea monster of Norse mythology, is the least-believable urban legend cryptid — 23.26% of the vote.

Seamen have been dreading the mythic beast for centuries. In a 13th-Century Norwegian text, made available via Project Gutenberg, the narrator warns fellow sailors about the aquatic boogum. "There is a fish that is still unmentioned, which it is scarcely advisable to speak about on account of its size, because it will seem to most people incredible," the ancient sailor wrote.

According to a 2014 BBC News report, the rare and elusive giant squid, which can grow to 40-50 feet in length, may have inspired the legends of the Kraken.