Nobody knows why the Tumba is called a "fly", since it's actually a worm, but make no mistake: The misnaming merely adds to the unutterable terror the name evokes in all who have heard the tale.

During a stop in the Ivory Coast, G..., another Air Force pilot, visited the beach, and decided to stretch out in a wooden beach chair. After a sun-soaked nap, G... awoke to find a sheepish cabana boy offering to put a blanket on the chair, since, as he explained, it wasn't a good idea to sit directly on the wood. The cabana boy was inordinately nervous and apologetic, but G... didn't think much about the matter ...

... until it was too late.

Later, while taking a bath, G... noticed a strange white strand - with the look of a particularly thick hair - protruding from his forearm. He reached out to touch the "hair," but it reacted to his touch! and instantly burrowed back into G...'s arm!

The diagnosis was simple and terrible: Not only had G... become an unwilling host for the rare and fearsome Tumba Fly, but the Fly had been busy breeding inside G...'s body. Over the next few weeks, Doctors - who have never discovered an effective treatment for this parasite - pulled several hundred worms out of G...'s skin, some of them the size of a pencil in diameter! Worst of all, there is no way to know when the Tumba Fly has been eradicated. At last report, G...'s body was still regularly yielding new worms, with no end in sight!

Fear factor = 5 (Our highest rating! If you can think of anything more terrifying than the Tumba Fly please tell me).

Probability of truth = 18.3% (While terrible, the tale of the Tumba Fly has the friend-of-a-friend provenance characteristic of the best - and most fanciful - urban legends).