Webster’s Dictionary states that the word “myth” is an, “unusually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief or natural phenomenon.”

In other words, the word “myth” essentially means that people make things up to try to explain the unexplainable. And myths typically grow bigger through folklore before they’re debunked and claimed as what they are: a false statement.

The world of rock has thousands of myths. There’s the one that Michael Jackson owns the rights to all The Beatles’ songs. Then there’s also the one about Roy Orbison being blind and another one about the plane that crashed and killed rockers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper being named the “American Pie.”

About.com put together a list of the top 10 Rock Music Myths of all-time, including the ones about Elvis Presley and Jim Morrison being alive and Mama Cass dieing from choking on a ham sandwich.

About.com’s Top 10 Rock Music Myths:

1. Paul McCartney, Lou Reed and Ginger Baker are dead
Myths:
McCartney died in an auto accident in 1966 and was replaced by an impersonator. Reed and Baker died of drug overdoses.
Facts:
The McCartney and Reed myths started with what looked like legitimate wire service reports being fed to radio stations. The fact that it took McCartney a while to deny the rumour added fuel to it. The Reed hoax came shortly after the death of fellow punk rocker Joey Ramone, which gave it an additional touch of plausibility.
Baker was addicted to heroin throughout most of the ’60s and ’70s. After Cream disbanded in 1968, he dropped out of public view, leading some to believe that he had died a drug-related death. He kicked the habit in the early ’80s and is quite alive, as are McCartney and Reed.

2. Elvis Presley and Jim Morrison are alive
Myths:
Elvis didn’t die in 1977 but used that as a cover to go into seclusion and get out of the public spotlight. Jim Morrison is alive and someone else’s body is in his grave.
Facts:
In spite of extensive and largely irrefutable evidence to the contrary, there are still those who believe that Elvis is alive and is periodically spotted in convenience stores, restaurants and trailer parks all over the world.
Some people still don’t believe that Morrison’s body is the one buried in his grave in a Paris cemetery. The official cause of Morrison’s was listed as a heart attack — believed by many to have been drug related — in 1971. One enterprising gentleman has even produced a video (for $24.95 plus shipping) that he claims is Morrison living the life of a cowboy in the Pacific Northwest. People who have seen the video say the man in it bears no resemblance whatsoever to Morrison, and other than the fact that many of his song lyrics had mystical themes, there is no evidence to suggest that his death was faked.

3. Cass Elliot choked to death on a ham sandwich
Myth:
Mama Cass died when she choked on the sandwich she was eating, the uneaten remains of which were found near her body.
Fact:
There may have been a partially eaten sandwich somewhere in the vicinity, but she died of heart failure brought on by the effects of obesity and crash dieting. The coroner found no evidence of anything, ham sandwich or otherwise, blocking her windpipe.

4. Grace Slick named her daughter “god”
Myth:
Shortly after her baby was born, Slick told a hospital attendant that the baby would be named god, with a small “g” out of respect for the religious significance.
Fact:
Slick admits that she made the remark to a nurse who was wearing a crucifix, but says she meant it as a joke. Given her well known drug use and her prominent role in the pioneering Psychedelic Rock group Jefferson Airplane, it wasn’t hard to believe that she was serious. Slick’s daughter’s name is and always has been China Kantner (her father being Jefferson Airplane guitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner.)

5. Mr. Greenjeans was Frank Zappa’s father
Myth:
The gentle, kindly character on the children’s TV show, Captain Kangaroo was the father of Frank Zappa, who specialized in absurd humor and not-so-gentle social satire in his many song lyrics.
Fact:
Zappa was the son of a Sicilian immigrant named Francis Zappa, who lived in Baltimore. The fact that among Zappa’s many songs were two titled “Mr. Green Genes” and “Son of Mr. Green Genes” no doubt served as the basis of the myth. Coupled with the fact that Zappa’s persona was such that you could easily believe most anything about him, it isn’t hard to see how this myth started and lasted.

6. The Beatles smoked dope in Buckingham Palace
Myth:
Prior to the ceremony in which they received Member of the British Empire (MBE) awards, the Beatles smoked a joint in one of the Palace’s bathrooms.
Fact:
It was actually John Lennon who made this claim, saying that the band’s members were nervous and smoked a joint to calm down. Paul McCartney later refuted this as a joke, with its probable basis being in the fact that the boys did share a cigarette of the tobacco variety to calm their nerves before meeting the queen.

7. Keith Richards had his blood replaced
Myth:
Prior to a European tour in 1973, the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards went to Switzerland to have his blood removed and replaced with a supply that was devoid of drugs and alcohol.
Fact:
He did undergo a procedure that removes impurities from the blood, but it was a far cry from having his entire blood supply replaced. Richards eventually admitted that he got tired of answering questions about the procedure and made up the story himself.

8. Robert Johnson made a deal with Satan
Myth:
Robert Johnson, a mediocre blues guitarist, sold his soul to the devil in exchange for being able to master the instrument.
Fact:
Johnson had a profound influence on artists like Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Bob Dylan. True, he didn’t start recording until three years before he died, and he recorded songs with titles like “Hellhound On My Trail” and “Me and the Devil Blues.” A vast improvement in his playing was accomplished by incessant practice, not a pact with Lucifer.

9. Gene Simmons had a tongue transplant from a cow
Myth:
KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons, famous for wagging his considerable tongue as part of his onstage antics, had a cow’s tongue surgically attached to his own.
Fact:
Simmons’ tongue is abnormally long, and he has learned to use it in ways that draw abnormal attention to it. The fact is that ’70s medical technology didn’t extend to successfully attaching animal parts to humans, and a cow’s tongue looks nothing like Simmons’ or any other human’s.

10. Ozzy Osbourne bit the heads off of live bats on stage
Myth:
Osbourne routinely bit the heads off of live bats as part of his outrageous live performance antics.
Fact:
Given his trailblazing efforts in achieving a high shock value with his live concert shenanigans, this myth isn’t too hard to swallow. The fact is, Oz did bite a live bat onstage – once, and by accident. He thought it was a prop made of rubber. The fact that the bat bit back, requiring Osbourne to undergo rabies treatments, kept him from ever attempting it on purpose.

One of the shorter and more popular urban legends is of “The Hitchhiker.” The urban legend goes as follows:

A man was driving home late one night and noticed a young woman, about 17 or 18 years of age, standing on the side of the road.

Worried about her safety and curious why she was all alone in this secluded part of town, he stopped and offered The Hitchhiker a ride. When she got into the car, the man asked her why she was alone and standing by the side of the road. But all The Hitchhiker replied with was, “I need to get home very quickly before my parents become upset.”

So the man drove the young woman home and once he pulled up to her house, he watched The Hitchhiker safely go inside and drove off. As he was driving home, however, he realized that The Hitchhiker had left her sweater in the back seat. Considering how late it was, the man decided to return the sweater to her in the morning.

The next day, the man returned to the house where he had dropped off The Hitchhiker the night before to return her sweater. When an older woman answered the door, the man explained that he had given a ride to the girl and she had left her sweater in the back seat. With a terrified look on her face, the older woman responded, “But that’s impossible! She’s been dead for four years!”

As the urban legend goes, the young woman and her boyfriend were coming home late one night from a school dance when their car was involved in an accident and both were killed instantly. The ghost of the young lady now hangs around the same spot as the accident, in the form of The Hitchhiker, beckoning men to pick her up and take her home.

The Hitchhiker always leaves something behind.

One of the oldest and most popular urban legend is the tale of “The Boyfriend’s Death.”

One night a teenage couple parks their car out in the middle of the woods for a make out session. After they’re done, the boyfriend tells his girlfriend that he has to go outside to relieve himself.

After waiting for what seemed like three or five minutes, the girl starts to grow concerned that her boyfriend hasn’t returned yet. Just then, she hears a squeaking noise coming from the top of the car.

Right before she opens the car door, she looks out her window and sees a dark shadow only a few feet from the car. She recognizes that it’s not her boyfriend and fearing for her life, she hops into the driver’s seat to peel off.

But the car won’t move. 

She frantically keeps hitting the gas but something is holding the car back. Someone had tied a rope around a tree and to the bumper of the car. She hits the gas one more time only to hear a loud scream. 

She slowly gets out of the car only to discover that her boyfriend was tied to the tree and the squeaking noise she had heard was his feet dragging across the top of the car. 

In another version of this urban legend, the young couple is out driving and hears a radio broadcast about a deranged man with a hook who escaped from a local penitentiary. 

On their way home, they hear a loud thump hit the side of the car. The boyfriend pulls the car to a screeching halt and wants to investigate the noise. But fearing the radio warning, the girlfriend urges her boyfriend to keep driving and check out the car when they return home. 

After a moment of deliberating, the boyfriend agrees with his girlfriend and they keep driving. When they reach home, they realize that the noise that they had heard was someone attempting to get into the car. 

Hanging on one of the door handles was a bloody hook. 

Both versions provide their own warnings. In the first urban legend, the message is clear: teenagers shouldn’t engage in pre-martial sexual situations. And the second urban legend is a warning to not stray too far from home, as well as to heed warnings in general.

Whether the moment came from a professional game or high school, every sports fan has a story to share. SportsNation did something great and listed the top 10 legendary sports stories submitted by ESPN.com users. Below are just three of the entries, but make sure to check out the entire list by clicking here. 

“ROBERTO CLEMENTE THROWS OUT BOBBY BONDS WITH AN AMAZING HUCK FROM DEEP RIGHT FIELD. It was either 1971 or 1972, and I attended an S.F. Giants night game at Candlestick Park. At some point in the game with the Giants batting and Bonds on first, a Giant crushed a sure double off the fence in right. Clemente played the carom perfectly. Bonds, one of the NL’s fastest, took off like a shot, his goal being third base. Clemente unleashed a seed to nip Bonds at third and he was called out. While such plays were de rigueur for Clemente, it was a Hall of Fame play to witness. I was 13 years old at the time and it was the greatest defensive play I’ve seen live at an MLB venue. I am 50 now.”- Jon Leonoudakis

 ”In the summer of 1988, I was covering the Triple-A Nashville Sounds for the now-defunct Nashville Banner. In August of that season, I witnessed no-hitters in consecutive games on consecutive days. Randy Johnson (yes, that Randy Johnson) threw a no-hitter for Indianapolis, but Johnson lost the decision 1-0. Nashville’s Lenny Harris drew a first-inning walk, stole a base and later scored on a groundout. The run stood up as Nashville’s Keith Brown tossed a two-hitter. I remember Indianapolis had to pinch-hit for Johnson in the eighth inning and Pat Pacillo pitched the bottom of the eighth. The next day, Nashville pitcher Jack Armstrong happened upon Johnson prior to that day’s game. Johnson told Armstrong, “Don’t throw a no-hitter and lose.” Armstrong took Johnson’s advice. He threw a no-hitter and won 4-0. Armstrong’s no-hitter was nearly a perfect game; the only blemish was a walk to the fabulously named Razor Shines. You can look it up.”- Mike Waters (Syracuse. N.Y.) 

“I witnessed a pitcher strike out the same batter twice in a row on six pitches, (literally the same person, consecutively for the second and third outs of the inning). It was the bottom of the first inning in a significant high school game, with one out and the all-region shortstop at the dish. This guy was by far the best player on the field and was hitting in the 3-hole as he had all year. He proceeded to look foolish on three straight pitches (very unusual) and made his way back to the dugout. It was then called to the umpire’s attention that he had batted out of order. He was penciled in to bat fourth this game and no one caught it. He went right back up to the plate to bat in the correct order and again struck out on three straight pitches. This guy had just struck out two times in a row, on six pitches, and the pitcher was his first cousin. He only struck out four times that entire season and two of them came not only in the same inning, but on consecutive at-bats.” - Doug (Athens, Ga.)