Yes, I think some myths contain actual events.
I recall seeing a documentary about the Dark Ages and whether or not it was figuratively or literally dark. Many historians had claimed that is was called the Dark Ages because it was sad, dreary and miserable times, unorganized governments, epidemics, wars, etc... but a team of scientists were taking an interest in this concept of the Dark Ages actually being dark. With the legendary figures of Artwar and Myrrhdyn or Arthur and Merlin, the scientists also looked at their stories and how it may have been a product of the dark ages. (Historians have so many different dates for King Arthur. Dark Ages were said to be from 0-500 CE) When Arthur came back from searching for the Holy Grail he had discovered that Lancelot and Guinivere had had an affair. When the King and Queen are no longer "stable" or in love, the marriage suffers, thus the country and kingdom suffer, and supposedly when their affair was found out, the country fell into a gray, dreary, infertile place. Well, the scientists had discovered from drilling ice in the Antarctic, that the ice contained high levels of ash. This got the scientists dating the ice from 350-400 CE. So they set out and looked at other countries' documents from that time period that would establish any kind of climatic event dealing with ash. Was it a meteroid, a volcanic explosion, etc? The scientists discovered that Japan, Turkey, and other European countries had all indicated a huge event of catastrophic proportions, and the scientists were able to prove that somewhere near Japan there was a huge volcanic eruption that spewed ash into the atmosphere and covered most of the earth, and put it in darkness for 3-5 years. Nothing grew as you could imagine, and people starved. I would like to believe that there is a correlation to the legends and myths that came from this time, and it also explains why this time period was called the Dark Ages. Imagine living in Europe, having no idea that a volcanic eruption had caused the sun to be blocked out of the sky for years... no wonder they needed a scape goat to blame the string of bad luck - crop failures, people dying, etc.