Bill Ellis | Lettrs to Ambrose Merton # 16, 1998

First e-mail message

From Rosemary Hathaway

Hi all?? Have any of you heard versions of this legend circulating in Columbus, or wherever else you might be? Some of my students told me a similar story this fall, alleged to have happened at a specific dance club in Denver, and it was a first for me. I assumed it was a local phenomenon (yeah, yeah??I know…), and then another student sent me this electronic variant, naming totally different clubs (I’m not sure whether these places are in Denver or not).

?Rose

Attachment:

From: Rachel Webb

Do you any of you guys like to go clubbing? Well you might want to think twice after this message. Just in case you don’t already know, there is a certain group of people with stickers that say “Welcome to our world.” Once this sticker is stuck on you, you contract the AIDS virus because it is filled with tiny needles carrying the infected blood. This has been happening at many dance clubs (even DV8 and Beatbox) and raves. Being cautious is not enough because the person just chooses anyone, and I mean anyone, as his/her victim. So you could just be dancing the night away and not even realize the sticker had been stuck on you. It sounds too demented to be true, but it’s the truth. In fact my sister’s friend knows someone who just recently contracted the virus in this manner. The world isn’t safe anymore. Please pass this on to everyone and anyone you know.

Charmaine

Second e-mail message

From: Joseph P. Goodwin

This is fascinating. Somewhere (most likely in Discover magazine) in the last couple of months, I’ve read about this new technology for delivering medication??sort of like the patches used to transmit drugs through the skin. The new patch, though, incorporates hundreds or thousands of microscopic needles. So this new system has already made its way into legend. I’ll try to find the article I read, but I’m afraid it will be like the elusive Oprah episode featuring ____ declaring his/her ties to Satanism or stating that she doesn’t design her clothes to fit black women.