[WorldUrbanLegend] Baby Train
The Baby Train is an urban legend told in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. This legend first appeared in Christopher Morley's 1939 novel "Kitty Foyle." According to the legend, a certain small town had an unusually high birth rate, allegedly caused by a freight train passing through the town and blowing its whistle, waking up all the residents. Since it was too late to go back to sleep and too early to get up, couples would find something to do in bed, resulting in a mini baby boom.
In one version of the myth, Australian author and folklorist Bill Scott writes in "The Long & The Short & The Tall" about a small town on the coast, not far north of Sydney, where the birth rate was three times the average for the rest of Australia. This was so unusual that the government sent someone to investigate the cause of the high birth rate.
When the official arrived, he found children everywhere he looked. "Even the local school had temporary classrooms all over the place to fit them in, and there was a special maternity wing at the local hospital." He was mystified for a while because the people there did not seem different from those in other small towns. After a few nights in the town, he figured it out.
This particular town was right by the main railway line. The train was delivering mail and blew its whistle when it passed through. Since it was too early to get up and too late to go back to sleep, the adults had to find something to do in bed, which led to the very high birth rates.
Other versions of the myth vary, with the small town sometimes located in America or England, and one version even tells of noisy foghorns rather than a train whistle.
