Legends of the crazy cat ladies

The story "A Rose for Emily" is one of the strangest and most disturbing stories I've read. But, I feel like there are legends like this that have floated around countless small towns and cities throughout American history. Although there is nothing to dispute the investigations done in the story and their findings, I feel like some of this sources of the story are questionable. Mystery and unknowing leads people to fill in parts. No one a clue what happened: "We did not even know she was sick; we had long since given up trying to get any information from the Negro." Stories like these are sometimes added to or made up completely in towns today.  For example, my dad was told as a child, and believes to this day, that a woman that lived down the street from him who had 10+ cats forgot to get cat food and was eaten by her cats. Whether or not it's true or not, I don't know. But legends like this don't die off easily.