Why do people start unfounded rumors like this....
Because it's fun.
Anyone hear that ISOTOX likes to try and hold hands with people standing in line at McDonald's?? LOL
So about 40 years ago, my dad's best friend at work has a seizure at work. Turns out he's got this massive brain tumor. The next week, they operate. My dad was there with hte guy's wife and kids.
My dad goes into work the next day and is talking about the surgery. The tumor was, IIRC, right at teh crown of hte head. So he tells someone about it in his department.
At morning break, someone is relating the story BACK to him. Now it's in the back of his head.
Lunch - someone is telling him it's at hte base of his skull.
By afternoon break, someone pulls him aside (KNOWING HE WAS JOHN'S BEST FRIEND) and says, "Bill, did you hear about John? Damn. That's awful. So strange going up through the jaw like that. . . . "
I've been in organizations where someone OVERHEARS someone else talking about something completely unrelated and tells someone else that XYZ is happening because "someone" mentioned it and she overheard it. I've seen others just decide in their own mind that X is true and start asking why X is true. Hell, one of my best friends did that over and over. "Yeah, they left because of ABC." "No, they didn't. I know why they left and what was going on." "Oh yeah." Six weeks later, the name would come up and HE'D TELL THE SAME DAMNED FALSE STORY!
For all of the amazing communications things we can do, we suck at it.