Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain Which Things They Believed To Be True That Turned Out To Be A Lie

People Explain Which Things They Believed To Be True That Turned Out To Be A Lie
Julia Taubitz on Unsplash
Make us preferred on Google

When it comes to pranking with a lie, people can be so persuasive–especially towards impressionable people–regardless of their age.

So it's not entirely embarrassing that something you wholly invested in believing turned out to be untrue.

Okay, maybe it's slightly embarrassing. People can be so cruel.


Curious to hear how gullible people experienced their moments of truth, Redditor asraarmushtaq asked:

"What is something that you believed in wholeheartedly but turned out to be a lie?"

Dad's can be so convincing.

The Bear Fighter

"My dad told me his job was to fight bears. I had no reason to question this and would tell people that was his job until I was about 12. Learned he was actually an accountant on take your daughter to work day."

– KThuckleberry

The Daredevil

"My dad told me he once went down the Niagra Falls in a barrel, told me he had the newspaper clipping in the loft but didn't know where. I believed that for about 14 years 😂. Do"

– Vanillabean1988

What's The Word?

"When I was a kid, my Dad told me 'verily' wasn't actually a real word, just something they made up for SpongeBob. I believed that for years. Luckily, the word isn't really used widespread today so no real repercussions."

– DahColeTrain

Fuel For Thought

"My dad used to fill our outboard motor with gas from an old beet juice bottle and told me 'really small engines can run off of beet juice' didn't realize he was bullsh*tting me until he heard me repeat it to someone... I was 15 and he found it hilarious."

– joshyp42

Various concepts can easily be misinterpreted.

About Consequences

"if you do no wrong you have nothing to fear. you only get in trouble if you did something bad."

– I_Love_Small_Breasts

A Punishing Past

"I learned this was bs very early. I used to get blamed for so much crap someone else did all the damn time. Suffered many detentions, groundings, and beatings for things i didn't do."

– Aggravating_Ad5989

Misconception About Glass

"The whole 'glass is a slow moving liquid' thing. This was repeated by teachers and my grandmother who was an antique dealer to explain why old windows have ripples and are thicker on the bottom. It's a common misconception, that's just how old panes were made (hand blown glass cylinders are cut and flattened) and this causes imperfections and installers would install the window panes with the thicker edge down so they would be more solid (wider base)."

"Edit: To clarify. Amorphous solid does mean that the atoms do move (albeit extremely slowly in this case, like millions of years at room temperature in this case) but the ripples and thickness variations in old windows are due to the manufacturing process NOT the "slow liquid" thing. Yeah, not a materials scientist obviously."

– eNroNNie

Take It With A Grain Of Salt

"If you tell the truth, people will believe you. Turns out people believe whatever they feel is true and resent being told they're wrong."

– caffeineandvodka

These Redditors learned they had to curb their expectations.

Trouble Can Find You

"if you do no wrong you have nothing to fear. you only get in trouble if you did something bad."

– I_Love_Small_Breasts ·

Unfairly Punished

"I learned this was bs very early. I used to get blamed for so much crap someone else did all the damn time. Suffered many detentions, groundings, and beatings for things i didn't do."

– Aggravating_Ad5989

Kids Don't Win

"You basically can't win when you're a kid. You don't have any legal representation in the principals office. The principal is the judge, jury and executioner. Same with parents. You could be complelty innocent but if you have a history of bad behavior you basically lost already. I honestly think this is why some kids just continued the behavior. They can't win either way so might as well continue the process."

– Keudn883

And then there are natural phenomenon that go down in legend and had absolutely no basis in reality.

Ocean Lore

"As a kid, I believed that the Bermuda Triangle was a 'place of no return'"

"That anyone who sailed there would never be heard from again."

– Back2Bach

Fear From Above

"I worked for an airline (I was 28 at the time of this). And I went into the flight deck during our flight to the Bermuda. I asked 'How far do we have to stay from the Bermuda Triangle so the aircraft isn’t affected' The two pilots laughed at me for an embarrassing amount of time before showing me that we were flying right through it 🤦🏾♀️😅"

– Yaseuk

The Effect Of Piranhas

"I was always terrified of quicksand and rivers and lakes because of maneating piranhas...."

"Turns out quicksand doesn't really exist as it does in the cartoons and piranhas don't eat large moving creatures. They scavenge on dead stuff or catch and eat small things"

– Itakorgrefra

Hot Theory

"And catching on fire. When I was a kid I thought having my clothes catch on fire would be a big part of my life with how often we learned stop drop and roll. I've yet to catch on fire."

– nachosurfer

I was a very gullible kid, and my older brother always took advantage of this.

We had a lot of crows where we grew up, and they freaked me out. Why?

Because every time they crowed, I thought they were gearing up for an attack like in Alfred Hitchcock's nature thriller,
The Birds.

You see, my brother told me the sounds they were making was a battle cry and were calling out MY name, which sounded eerily similar.

I wholeheartedly believed this for about five years after I realized I was still alive at 13.

*Face-palms.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

SONY PlayStation showcases its fun scenes in home consumption at AWE2026 in Shanghai, China.
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Gamers Are Furiously Sounding Off After PlayStation Announces End To Physical Discs

Physical media fans just got hit with a game-over screen.

Sony announced Wednesday that it will discontinue physical PlayStation game discs starting in January 2028, a move that has already sparked backlash from gamers who aren't exactly thrilled about handing over the last remnants of ownership to digital storefronts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Michael Che and Colin Jost
ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Michael Che Just Wished Colin Jost Happy Birthday With A Hilariously Brutal Post—And 'SNL' Fans Are Cackling

Perhaps no two celebrities are better at trolling each other than SNL's Michael Che and Colin Jost.

And for Jost's recent birthday, Che decided it was the perfect time to show his friend who's actually the best troll out there.

Keep ReadingShow less
Danny Glover
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images/Getty Images

Fans Rally Around Danny Glover After He Reveals That He's Living With Alzheimer's Disease In Poignant New Interviews

In an appearance filmed for the TODAY show that aired on Tuesday, actor and activist Danny Glover revealed he, like over 7 million other Americans, is living with Alzheimer's disease. The progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease causes memory loss and cognitive decline.

The veteran actor has 200 film and TV credits to his name going back almost 50 years. His theatre credits extend even further. Glover has also received several prestigious awards for his decades of humanitarian work and political activism, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2022.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Marsha Blackburn from elevator video
NewsChannel 5

MAGA Senator Tries To Dodge Reporter's Questions Only To Get Thwarted By Elevator In Super Cringey Viral Video

Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn was called out after attempting to dodge questions from journalist Ben Hall of NewsChannel 5, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, only to be thwarted by an uncooperative elevator.

Blackburn is the frontrunner in the Republican primary for Tennessee governor; early voting is less than three weeks away and Blackburn has kept a very low profile. That was true even after she just spoken to the Greater Nashville Technology Council for an event members of different media outlets had been invited to attend.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JD Vance; Joe Biden
@atrupar/X; Scott Olson/Getty Images

JD Vance Just Tried To Make A Pitiful Joke About Biden To U.S. Troops—And It Fell Awkwardly Flat

Vice President JD Vance had people groaning after a joke he made about former President Joe Biden falling on the stairs was met with silence from those who attended an event meant to honor "American military excellence."

Vance was speaking to troops at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at one of many different events designed to honor the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

Keep ReadingShow less