This is something I've heard from multiple locals, not something I inferred myself. As you can see, even here in the comment section you have people both for an

This is something I've heard from multiple locals, not something I inferred myself. As you can see, even here in the comment section you have people both for and against the idea. The notion definitely exists, how widely it's held exactly, hard to say. In my experience, that explanation came up often enough to catch my attention.