I was browsing the What’s New section on Snopes and came across this item: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Photo Gallery (Albino Deer)
If a photos of an albino fawn can rate being an Urban Legend than I figure I can share the story of the Cult of the Albino Raccoon.
In 1996 I was part of a group of friends who pooled resources and rented a house up in the Oakland Hills. We were just below Skyline, and essentially living in the woods. We were about as far removed from ‘the flats’ of Oakland as you can be and still be in the city limits.
It only took a couple of days before the new lights in the evening attracted raccoons. If we were careful not to move too fast and spook them we could get them to come right up to us and take strips of bread out of our hands. I started leaving out bowls of cat food, and before too long mother raccoons were bringing their babies around. They were sooooo cute!
One night Michael, one of the housemates, was sitting on the back porch drinking merlot and watching the stars. He comes rushing in and says he saw an albino raccoon. When we went outside to look the only raccoons around were normal. We all figured it was Nick’s white cat, with a touch of blurrry vision from the merlot. Thora, my albino girlfriend, believed him though; as she said, just out of principle.
A couple of nights later Nick is out on the deck with Michael, again somewhat intoxicated, and they both come rushing in claiming to have seen the Albino Raccoon. Nick could reasonably claim it wasn’t his cat, but the Albino Raccoon was nowhere to be found when we followed them outside.
I capitalize the name at this point because the creature had moved from the status of woodland critter to an object of Belief. Half the house Believed in the existance of the Albino Raccoon, and half did not. It was nearly a religion. Believers and non-believers sharing the same house, and neither side able to prove whether the Albino Raccoon existed or not.
The Albino Raccoon became the focal point of conversations when friends would come over, and both sides would try to explain their point of view. One evening we had friends over for dinner, and the topic of the Albino Raccoon came up. While we were explaining the story we heard a scratching on the glass doors of the dining room, not three feet from us. There he was, acting all hurt because we hadn’t set him a plate. (We know it was a Him because we frequently made the raccoons dance on their hindlegs for food, and he was the only male raccoon to ever come for dinner at on the porch.)
Poof, the proto-religion was instantly destroyed. Faith based Beliefs just can’t survive real Proof, even if it is your side that is proven correct.
Over the course of the next couple of years the albino raccoon was a regular at our place. He often brought his girlfriends over for dinner. One time he was eating dinner on the porch with a fairly young female when an older female with babies came to the porch. She chased the younger female away, and then settled in to eating out of the same bowl he was using. He looked at the female hiding in the bushes, and I would swear he gave a raccoon shrug, and them gave the newcomer a quick look before resuming his dinner. I guess even polyamorous raccoons have the occasional relationship tension. 
I only have one picture easily at hand, so that’s all I’m posting now. As I dig up others I’ll add them to this entry. No alcohol was given to under-age raccoons during the taking of this picture. We stuck a piece of whole wheat bread into the top of an empty bottle of Dom Perignon so we could show just how classy our friendly albino raccoon could be.
-Chris
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