31 Eye Movements Cannot Reveal Lies
In 2012, psychology professor Richard Wiseman and researchers in the United Kingdom and Canada debunked the myth that people look left or right when lying. They first videotaped volunteers who either lied or told the truth about hiding a cell phone, but both groups looked in each direction equally often. The researchers then studied press conferences featuring people who appealed for information about missing relatives, some of whom were later convicted of murdering those relatives. Once again, the liars displayed no distinctive eye movements.
32 Hamelin Records Preserve Missing Children
The Pied Piper of Hamelin remains a legend, but medieval records from Hamelin, Germany, preserve the memory of children who reportedly vanished in 1284. A stained-glass window created around 1300 apparently commemorated the event, while a 1384 town record declared, “It is 100 years since our children left.” Later accounts placed the number at 130 children and described a colorfully dressed piper leading them away. However, rats did not enter the story until around 1559, and historians still do not know what the original event represented.
33 Halloween Candy Killer Was Father
Stories about strangers killing children with tampered Halloween candy remain an urban myth, with no substantiated case of a child dying or suffering serious injury from a contaminated treat collected while trick-or-treating. In Pasadena, Texas, in 1974, an 8-year-old boy named Timothy O’Bryan died after eating cyanide-laced candy given to him by his father, who had taken out a life insurance policy on him. A court convicted and executed the father for murder, exposing the death as a family killing rather than a random Halloween poisoning.
34 Van Gogh Gave Maid Ear
Contrary to legend, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh did not give his severed ear to a favorite prostitute but reportedly handed it to an 18-year-old brothel maid named Gabrielle Berlatier. Researcher Bernadette Murphy identified Berlatier as the mysterious “Rachel” who received the ear in Arles, France, in 1888. Earlier that year, a dog had mauled Berlatier, forcing her to undergo painful treatment and receive the newly developed rabies vaccine at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. The costly treatment may explain why the farmer’s daughter took cleaning work at the brothel, although her exact relationship with Van Gogh remains unknown.
35 Frogs Escape Slowly Heated Water
Healthy frogs will try to escape water as it becomes dangerously hot, contrary to the famous boiling frog myth. In 1869, German physiologist Friedrich Goltz helped inspire the tale when he found that a frog with its brain removed remained in slowly heated water, while an intact frog tried to escape at 25 degrees Celsius. Other 19th-century experiments produced conflicting results because researchers used different heating rates. Modern biologists conclude that a healthy frog with an escape route will become increasingly active and eventually jump out.
36 KGB Created American HIV Conspiracy
The widespread myth that the US government created HIV began as a KGB disinformation campaign during the 1980s, commonly called Operation INFEKTION but documented in Stasi archives as Operation DENVER. In July 1983, an anonymous letter published by the pro-Soviet Indian newspaper Patriot claimed that American scientists had engineered AIDS as a biological weapon at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Soviet and East German intelligence promoted the allegation through newspapers, radio, television, and supposedly scientific reports, spreading it across more than 80 countries in over 30 languages. In 1992, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service director Yevgeny Primakov admitted that the KGB had planted the US-government story.
37 Barefoot Driving Remains Completely Legal
Driving barefoot is legal in all 50 US states, despite the widespread urban legend that motorists must wear shoes. No state law specifically requires footwear.
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38 Yellowstone Eruption Is Not Overdue
Yellowstone’s supposedly overdue eruption is a myth because volcanoes do not follow fixed schedules. Seismic studies show that its two stacked magma reservoirs contain just 5 to 15 percent molten material, far below the roughly 50 percent needed for magma to mobilize toward the surface. Yellowstone currently has neither enough eruptible magma nor sufficient pressure for an eruption. If that changed, scientists would expect decades or even centuries of increased earthquakes, ground deformation, and altered heat and gas emissions, providing years of warning.
39 Feminist Bra Burning Never Happened
The image of feminists burning bras throughout the 1960s and 1970s was largely a media myth that critics used to mock and discredit women’s liberation. At the 1968 Miss America protest in Atlantic City, more than 200 women discarded girdles, curlers, and other beauty products into a “freedom trash can.” Police and the mayor prohibited fires on the wooden boardwalk, so the protesters burned nothing. After protest organizer Robin Morgan mentioned “symbolic bra-burning” to a New York Times reporter, news coverage and movement critics turned the phrase into an enduring stereotype.
40 Nazi Army Depended On Horses
During World War II, Nazi Germany cultivated the myth of a fully mechanized army by emphasizing tanks and aircraft, which looked more efficient and threatening than horses. Propaganda footage minimized horse-drawn transport, while later memoirs and films helped preserve the illusion. In reality, horses pulled two-thirds of the German Army’s vehicles and supplied 80 percent of its motive power. More than 1 million horses remained in service near the war’s end, hauling guns, equipment, and supplies.
RE: Fact #9 (Ellis Island Never Changed Names) – Many people chose to change their names. Even well into the 20th century, famous people would often switch to stage names to fit in better. Plenty of Jewish performers did this, like Stanley Lieber becoming Stan Lee, or Chaim Witz changing to Gene Simmons.
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino. She changed it because the head of Columbia Pictures told her she seemed too ‘Mediterranean’ and would be typecast in exotic roles.
RE: Fact #38 (Yellowstone Eruption Is Not Overdue) – People say it’s overdue because it follows a schedule, but that timeline is already long gone. Not that it just takes a loud noise to set it off.
RE: Fact #9 (Ellis Island Never Changed Names) – All my Italian relatives came through Ellis Island and none of them changed their names there. But when the census taker showed up every ten years, it was a different family name every time, Milano, Milone, Melons… neither of my great-grandparents could read or write.
RE: Fact #10 (Vampires Counted Seeds Until Sunrise) – I recall Mulder escaping a vampire by knocking over a bowl of seeds or something similar.
RE: Fact #38 (Yellowstone Eruption Is Not Overdue) – I don’t see why those two points are mutually exclusive. Something can be overdue to happen while not actually being ready to happen. The idea that it could blow “at any moment” might be a myth, but that doesn’t really change whether the eruption itself is overdue.
RE: Fact #8 (Hartlepool Monkey Faced Spy Trial) – I’m not saying the event didn’t happen, but I find it hard to believe they actually thought a monkey was a Frenchman. It feels more like they might have hanged the monkey as a symbolic effigy for France. Just my take, though.
RE: Fact #42 (Green Candy Mocked Aphrodisiac Rumor) – >The rumor that these green candies are an aphrodisiac apparently started or first gained prominence in the 1970s, when students reportedly picked the green ones out of packages to feed to the objects of their desires.Why the green M&Ms were attributed with this power is unknown: perhaps it was because the color green has always been associated with healing and fertility.The same “powers” have also been claimed of other candies, such as green jelly beans and gummi bears. >M&M/MARS finally started using the mythical image associated with green M&Ms to its advantage by running an “Is it true what they say about green ones?” advertising campaign and introducing the vampy “Green” M&M character: >After decades of skirting urban myth, M&M/Mars is cashing in on the legendary aphrodisiac powers of green M&Ms. Boasting bedroom eyes and luscious lips, Green, the M&M character introduced in 1997, has been vamping across movie and TV screens and magazine pages for an ad campaign suggestively titled, “What is it about the Green Ones?” The spots, which will run through the fall, are accompanied by green M&Ms stamped with Green’s come-hither mug, tucked into M&M bags starting [in September 2001].
RE: Fact #3 (Fish Feel Pain And Suffer) – My black moor used to greet me when I came home. I’d put my hand in the tank and he’d rub against it just like a cat.
RE: Fact #1 (Simeulue Folklore Saved Island Residents) – This reminds me of a local mayor who was disgraced and nearly bankrupted his town to build a massive sea wall. He knew from childhood flood memories and hill markings exactly how high the water could get. After the 2011 tsunami, that wall actually saved the town and people started leaving flowers on his grave.
RE: Fact #49 (Televisions Do Not Ruin Eyesight) – Staring at anything up close for a long time is hard on your eyes. It’s definitely bad for kids, especially since they’re still developing. Some people argue this is why myopia correlates with higher intelligence, smart kids spend way more time reading.
RE: Fact #2 (Raymond Robinson Inspired Green Man) – Charlie No-Face. My dad grew up about 20 miles from him and said he’d always buy him a beer when he saw him. He said the guy was great.
That used to be a local thing to do! A friend’s dad would go out looking for him to bring him beer because Ray was known for walking at night to avoid scaring people. Poor guy. I used to think it was a wholesome story, but now it mostly sounds like locals gawking at him and using beer to get close.
RE: Fact #21 (Okiku Inspired The Ring Ghost) – The lesson here: don’t toss women who reject your advances down a well, not because it’s wrong, but because they might end up haunting your life forever.
RE: Fact #18 (Bats See Better Than Believed) – Actually, most mammals can see UV light. Unfortunately, UV light is so high-energy that it can cause cancer in the eye. Over time, humans and other mammals evolved a layer of skin that absorbs UV light before it hits the retina, which is why we don’t usually see it. People who have certain eye surgeries have this layer removed and can actually see UV light afterward.
RE: Fact #29 (Popeye Praised Spinach’s Vitamin A) – I always thought that was just a marketing ploy to get kids to eat their green vegetables.
RE: Fact #34 (Van Gogh Gave Maid Ear) – Also, contrary to popular belief, Van Gogh didn’t cut off his ear because of depression. He did it in a rage after a major fight with his friend and fellow painter, Paul Gauguin.
RE: Fact #47 (English Teeth Defy American Stereotype) – I think it’s just that British actors have a higher tolerance for natural imperfections than Hollywood does.
RE: Fact #40 (Nazi Army Depended On Horses) – I can see a Pixar movie here. A horse gets drafted into the German army after working on a Polish farm. At first, he’s scared, but he’s told it’s just like farm work. He starts off hauling food and medical supplies, which doesn’t seem too bad. Then he ends up on the front lines pulling a mortar. When his horse friends get hurt, he realizes he’s on the wrong side, bucks, and runs off. He tries to get back home while causing chaos for his handlers and dodging cavalry. He ends up helping some partisans, and in the climax, they cross a frozen lake where the cavalry falls through. By spring, he’s back with his farming family just in time for planting.
RE: Fact #19 (Yule Cat Ate Unrewarded Workers) – The Yule Cat is actually the pet of a family of trolls tied to Christmas. The mother, Gryla, eats naughty children. There are also 13 sons who visit on different days and leave presents, but each has an annoying personality reflected in their names, like Hurðaskellir (Door Slammer), Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage Swiper), and Gáttaþefur (Door Sniffer). It’s a fun set of traditions, though they involve a worrying amount of child-eating.
RE: Fact #11 (Romantic Partners Usually Share Traits) – It’s hard to imagine how this wouldn’t be the case, given how people generally meet one another. A more interesting question is whether successful couples tend to have distinct differences relative to their shared social circle.
RE: Fact #19 (Yule Cat Ate Unrewarded Workers) – What a clever way for parents to trick their kids into thinking clothes are actually a fun Christmas gift.
RE: Fact #5 (Alcatraz Attracted Inmate Transfer Requests) – If you ever make it to San Francisco, I highly recommend checking out the self-guided audio tour of Alcatraz.
RE: Fact #21 (Okiku Inspired The Ring Ghost) – I can only imagine how shocked the samurai would be if she crawled out of his flat-screen TV.
RE: Fact #5 (Alcatraz Attracted Inmate Transfer Requests) – The only “tough” part about Alcatraz was how hard it was to escape from, since it was on an island and the water was cold enough to make swimming away nearly impossible.
RE: Fact #12 (Jesus Grew Garlic In Japan) – England, Japan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Tibet, Turkey, Ethiopia, Russia, Spain, and more countries all have similar stories about Jesus moving there, getting married, having kids, and dying of old age.
RE: Fact #31 (Eye Movements Cannot Reveal Lies) – I had a police officer aggressively confront me while another officer was taking my statement about an accident. The guy attacking me was interviewing the other driver and then rushed over to me, cursing and jabbing his fingers in my chest, yelling that I was lying because my eyes were darting to the side. The officer actually taking my statement told the other one to back off and stop playing detective with garbage psychology. My ticket was eventually dismissed, but if the first officer hadn’t been there, the other guy wouldn’t have even bothered to record my statement properly.
RE: Fact #8 (Hartlepool Monkey Faced Spy Trial) – It’s definitely part of the local lore now. Keith Gregson, a historian and former teacher from Hartlepool, has pointed out there’s zero evidence this actually happened. It seems like it gained traction through entertainers like Ned Corvan, who used the story to lampoon the town. The divide between the new industrial workers and the wealthier folks in Old Hartlepool likely kept the myth alive as a way to insult the working class.