Myths

A body -- spontaneously -- bursts into flames, leaving behind nothing but ash and a leg, a head or (in one alleged case) a prosthetic hip. In the three centuries since spontaneous human combustion was first discussed by researchers and investigators, heavy drinking, smoking, body fat, static electricity and the wrath of God have all been blamed. These days, most experts have dismissed the phenomenon as a myth.

Crime busters they aren't. But for more than 60 years, a group of myth busters, led by a literary "sheriff" and his posse of fact-checking historians, has pursued the legends of Western lore as doggedly as real lawmen chase outlaws. The organization was founded in 1944 by a group of Chicagoans who considered themselves Westerners, not Easterners. They dedicated their group, the Westerners, to "fun and scholarship." Since then, it's spun off more than 140 chapters around the world.

Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She has been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth hiding in a freezer: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra.

It began as a pagan poem told around shadowy campfires about a hero fighting the monster Grendel, the monster's mother and a dragon. Christendom's world of saints and sinners reinvented Beowulf as a soldier of God and branded Grendel one of Cain's evil kin. "Lord of the Rings" author and Old English scholar J.R.R. Tolkien reintroduced the story to the modern world in 1936 as an important work of literary art rather than an obscure artifact of Old English language.

Italian archaeologists believe they have found the cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome. An underground cavity decorated with seashells, colored marble mosaics and pumice stones was discovered near the ruins of the palace of Emperor Augustus on the Palatine hill. Experts are "reasonably certain," they said, that it is the long-lost Lupercale (from the Latin word for wolf), the place of worship sacred to ancient Romans.

Myths are entertaining as literature. However, when the subject is home maintenance, they can be dangerous and costly. Here are some common misconceptions about home maintenance. Smoke alarms Myth: Pushing the "test" button on a smoke detector is all one needs to do to ensure that it is operating properly. Truth: The test button on a smoke detector will only confirm that the audible alarm is functional. It does nothing to determine whether the detector or smoke sensor is operating properly.

"Weeds," Showtime, 10 p.m. Mondays The premise NANCY BOTWIN (Mary-Louise Parker) is struggling to bring up her two sons and maintain the same lifestyle in the wake of her husband's sudden death. She secretly becomes a local pot dealer. Meanwhile, her family's life deteriorates. While Nancy is on a romantic tryst, her older son, 16-year-old Silas (Hunter Parrish), has his girlfriend stay over, and 10-year-old brother Shane (Alexander Gould) observes them having sex.