On Tue, 28 Apr 1998, Felicia Pickering wrote:

:| Ah yes, the Barbie doll head letter ....
:| *sigh*   This is at least the fourth time in less than a year that
:| this little story has been posted to museum-l.  It seems to be
:| endlessly circulating on the Internet.  We at the Anthropology
:| Department at the Smithsonian thought it was an amusing parody
:| the first time we saw it (several years ago).  However, we are now
:| fairly tired of it, as you may well imagine (anyone who has seen
:| the $250 cookie recipe a few too many times will be able to sympathize.)

One imagines that ultimately, all of the urban legends circulating
around the net will comingle into one story about the buried letters
of a dying child who wanted to raise money for disease research by
getting postcards from around the world of whales that exploded
because of the JATOs propelling the famous cookie recipe through
said whale.

Bundled with this missive will, of course, be yet another copy of
the Dancing Baby .avi, a warning about the incipient disasters to
be caused by the goodtimes virus and an invitation to join an
XXX-rated service based somewhere in Tonga*.

Rich Johnson
Director of Marketing
Cotton Expressions
Science, Nature and Educational Imprinted Apparel

*-No insult, implied or explicit, is meant toward the nation or
people of Tonga.  It's all just a joke. :)