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

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

Kacey Musgraves
Wendell Teodoro/Getty Images

Kacey Musgraves Has Fans Cracking Up After Revealing She Accidentally Visited A Gay Sauna

You know how it is, we've all been there: You're wandering down the street in an unknown city and whoops! You've ended up in a gay sauna. Yes, THAT kind of gay sauna.

Okay, so maybe that doesn't happen to all of us, but it did happy to musician Kacey Musgraves during a recent visit to Sydney, Australia, and it has fans cackling.

Keep ReadingShow less
Marjorie Taylor Greene; Donald Trump
Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images; John McDonnell/Getty Images

GOP Rep. Claims MTG's Resignation Could Be The First Of Many In Eye-Opening Rant

Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene—once the conspiracy theory-spewing, QAnon-embracing apple of MAGA's eye—announced on Friday her intent to resign and retire from Congress effective January 5.

In the wake of her almost 10-minute video announcement, an anonymous senior House Republican said many others in the party have also grown sick of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump and his incompetent, petty, glory-hogging administration. They cite Christian nationalist Speaker Mike Johnson as his primary enabler.

Keep ReadingShow less
An audience in a movie theater watching a movie
person watching movie

People Break Down Their Most Controversial Movie Takes

There really is nothing like a truly great movie.

Or, for that matter, a truly awful movie!

Keep ReadingShow less
A man standing across from a woman with her hands covering her eyes.
Man offers ring to surprised woman covering eyes
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

People Divulge Which Things Scream 'I Don't Love My Significant Other'

It's hard to ignore when we witness true love.

Generally speaking, it's when a couple can't keep their hands off one another, hangs on each other's every word, and oozes chemistry.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Donald Trump
Andres Kudaski/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

AOC Lays Out Why 'We Should All Be Questioning' Trump's Mental Stability In Powerful Rant

In remarks to reporters, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained why "we should all be questioning" President Donald Trump's mental stability after he called for the execution of Democratic members of Congress.

Last week, Senators Elissa Slotkin (Michigan) and Mark Kelly (Arizona) joined Representatives Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan (Pennsylvania), Maggie Goodlander (New Hampshire), and Jason Crow (Colorado)—all of whom are veterans—to issue a call to service members.

Keep ReadingShow less