Summary Description of the Warnings

The "Blue Star" LSD tattoo warning is a classic urban legend - it has been frightening parents, fooling journalists, bewildering authorities and delighting urban legend researchers for at least twenty years.

It is an example of a "contamination" legend and can be classed with such others as the "Spider eggs in Bubble Yum" legend. But it is also part of the growing ranks of "xeroxlore" or "faxlore" like the "send a dying boy postcards" plea and the new variant "emailore" often of a similar bent.

Recently, the legend has picked up new virulence and new credibility through the internet, where it has appeared in mailing lists, newsgroups and on web pages.

In a typical outbreak, a school, hospital, or police station will get a copy of a photocopied flyer warning that LSD-infused lick-and-stick tattoo transfers are being given to unwitting children in local schoolyards. The allegations in the warning typically include:

• A new type of tattoo called "Blue Star" is being sold or given away to school children.
• The stars, which are about the size of pencil erasers, are designed to be removed and ingested.
• This form of LSD-laced tattoo is available all over the country.
• The LSD can be absorbed through the skin by handling the tattoos.
• Other LSD-containing tattoos, resembling postage stamps, also exist, depicting:
  • Superman
  • Butterflies
  • Clowns
  • Bart Simpson
  • Mickey Mouse
  • Disney characters in general
  • Red Pyramids
• Other varieties include "micro dot" in various colors and "Window Pane" (or "Window Pain").
• These drugs are packaged in a red cardboard box wrapped in foil.
• This use of cartoon characters is a new way of selling acid by appealing to young children.
• Dealers or older children give these drugs to younger children either for kicks or to hook new customers.
• These drugs are known to react very quickly and some are laced with strychnine.
• These tattoos could cause a "fatal 'trip'" in children.
• Many children have already died from accidental ingestion of these tattoos.
• Symptoms you might see in children who have encountered these tattoos include hallucinations, severe vomiting, uncontrolled laughter, mood changes, and changes in body temperature.
• This warning has been authorized by the authorities, such as:
  • Beth Israel Medical Center in New York
  • The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department
  • The Police Department
  • The PTA of Willow Tree Day Care Center
  • J. O'Donnel of Danbury Hospital's Outpatient Chemical Dependency Treatment Service
  • El Hospital de Saint Roch
  • La Brigada de Estupefacientes
  • Der Waadtländer Polizei
  • The Valley Children's Hospital
  • Die New Yorker Polizei
  • La Brigada Francesa de Estupefacientes
  • Mr. Guy Chaillé, Advisor to the President
  • The Sputnik Drug Information Zone
• You should contact the police if you see these tattoos.
• You should spread the word of this danger far and wide.

Popular folklore chronicler Jan Harold Brunvand devoted a chapter of his book The Choking Doberman and other "New" Urban Legends to the "Mickey Mouse Acid" scare, and has revisited the legend in later books. In a recent interview, Brunvand singled out the "blue star acid" urban legend as the most difficult one to debunk:

These fliers have been around for many years. No police departments or narcotics agents have found the stories to be true - almost every detail in the description of these supposed, drug-laced fatal tattoos is spurious.

Why is it hard to debunk? Because LSD is in fact sometimes distributed in the form of paper absorbed with the chemical. It is called blotter acid. It is not a tattoo, although it may have a design on it and people may chew on it (I think). Any time I or any other folklorist asserts "blue star acid" is just a rumor or legend, someone is bound to respond "Oh no, I've seen that stuff. It really exists."

This warning spreads dependably and rapidly, but alas, it is almost 100% bogus. Get the facts.