[JapanUrbanLegend] frozen ears
On a brutally cold winter morning, a boy was running late for school due to oversleeping. The school had issued a notice that, given the extreme cold, all students must wear earmuffs on their commute. However, the boy was so focused on avoiding being late that he forgot to bring them.
As he rushed towards the school gate, a teacher standing there noticed that the boy wasn’t wearing earmuffs. The teacher scolded him, saying, "Where did you leave your earmuffs?" and tapped the boy on the back of his head.
At that moment, the boy’s ear fell to the ground and rolled around, having frozen solid due to the extreme cold. In reality, human tissue exposed to cold for a long time can develop frostbite, and if the condition persists, the extremities can gradually necrotize. In places with extreme cold, like near the poles, neglecting proper care can easily lead to frostbite. The reason people in high-latitude regions like Russia or Scandinavia always wear fur hats is because it's so cold that their heads could freeze. While it’s true that extreme cold can freeze human tissue, if the cold were enough to freeze a person’s ear to the point where it falls off from a light tap, it’s more likely that the boy would have frozen to death before even reaching school, or the teacher who stood outside for a long time would have died first. It’s also implausible that only the ear would freeze like that.
Another similar urban legend involves a woman who was hit by a train while walking on the tracks on a frigid day. Her severed waist froze almost immediately, helping to stop the bleeding so she didn’t die instantly but lived for a while longer. While it's true that extreme cold can aid in blood clotting, it’s more practical to worry about frostbite than bleeding in such conditions.
There are many absurd urban legends related to the cold that are hard to distinguish between horror stories and humor. Stories include urine freezing mid-stream into a column, lips freezing so one cannot speak, or even eyes freezing open while staring. There are also tales of a frozen horse being thawed in the spring and heard by someone unexpectedly.
Of course, body parts like ears and hands are very sensitive to cold, and frostbite can easily cause tissue necrosis, so it’s advisable to wear earmuffs, thermal headbands, and gloves during winter.
