Urban legends are still spreading

Newspapers worldwide are reveling in the life-imitates-art story of two rattlers unleashed in a Phoenix theater showing "Snakes on a Plane" causing near-riots. The only problem? The incident didn't exactly happen.

Early in the week, several Arizona television stations reported that pranksters had released a pair of rattlers at the Desert Ridge AMC north of Phoenix. The reports claimed that nobody had been hurt, but that theatergoers had panicked before the snakes were removed and released into the desert.

Details were scarce, but at least one local station got this fabulous quote:

"That to me is very scary," herpetological association representative Tom Whiting said. "I would hate to be watching a movie about snakes and have a rattlesnake bite me."

Yes. That would indeed stink.

The actual reality of the event is a bit more ambiguous.

According to the National Ledger newspaper, two snakes were, indeed, isolated in and around the theater. One rattler was found in the theater parking lot, while a baby diamondback rattlesnake somehow made it into the theater complex itself.

Far from causing a panic, the baby rattler was dumped into a Tupperware container and given to representatives from the Arizona Herpetological Association. Police officials are claiming that the snake entered the complex on its own, probably from a nearby construction site. Snake experts disagreed and suggested a stupid prank.

Whatever the case, the ruckus occurred at some point over the weekend, with AMC spokespeople telling the National Ledger that an ""isolated incident that occurred this weekend at a Phoenix theatre was taken care of immediately and none of our guests were harmed. We hope our guests will continue to respect their fellow moviegoers by not engaging in any disruptive activities during the film and, as always, AMC takes steps that are both proactive and cautionary to ensure the safety and security of our guests and associates."