Snopes (pronounced /ˈsnoʊps/), also known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a web site that is the best-known resource for validating and debunking urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin in American popular culture. Snopes is run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a California couple who met on the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup. The Mikkelsons also founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, and were credited as the owners of the site until 2005.

The site is organized according to topic and includes a message board where stories and pictures of questionable veracity may be posted. David Mikkelson used the username "snopes" (the name of a family of often unpleasant people in the works of William Faulkner) in the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban. Barbara Hamel was also a prolific poster.

The Mikkelsons created the site in 1995. Barbara and David now work on the site full time. Snopes aims to debunk or confirm widely spread urban legends.

The site has been referenced by news media and other sites, including CNN, FOX news, MSNBC and Australia's ABC on its 'Media Watch' program. Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand considers the site so comprehensive as to obviate the necessity for launching one of his own. Snopes's popular standing is such that some chain e-mail hoaxes claim to have been "checked out on 'Snopes.com'" in an attempt to discourage readers from seeking verification.

As of March 2009, the site has around 6.2 million visitors per month.

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