Myths That People Surprisingly Still Believe
Urban legends, myths, fables, there are a lot of names for stories and beliefs out there. Part of the fun is how outrageous they can be. That’s also part of the problem. A lot of popular myths that we grew up with have done more harm than good! Thankfully, many of them have been disproven. Thanks, science! That doesn’t mean people are willing to accept the facts. To this day there are still reasonable adults who believe some of the most ridiculous things. It’s a good thing the Internet’s here to help straighten stuff out.
Whether it’s the truth about the shape of the Earth or the simple clarification that spots don’t equal age, we’re here to help set the record straight.
This One Sounds Pretty Hairy
Think back to the very first time you shaved. People who deal with body hair are all too familiar with the aggravation of keeping it trimmed. It doesn’t help that some (or a lot) of us were told some hair-raising “facts” about shaving. Raise your hairy knuckles if you’ve heard this one: shaving will make your hair grow back double and thicker.
Yeah, that’s what we thought. Here’s the thing with that: it’s not true. That’ll be a running theme here. It doesn’t make sense that something you remove will come back with a vengeance two-fold. If that were the case the cure to baldness would be immediate hair removal!
Candy Wouldn’t Taste As Delicious
Growing up in the 80s and 90s was a trip. Shopping malls were still fun. MTV played music. Oh, and nobody ate Halloween candy unless they bought it themselves. Okay, the last one is a bit of an exaggeration. However, there’s some truth to it. A rumor about people hiding razor blades and illegal substances in candy started in the States! Helpless trick-or-treaters would then ingest them and instantly combust, or something like that.
This urban legend gave rise to a lot of paranoia, and for a while, people didn’t want to trick-or-treat at all! However, there’s been no proof of this being some sort of mass-adopted belief. That’s probably because people don’t want to give away certain substances for free. Plus, who’s wasting perfectly good razors on strangers?
We’d Never Be Hungry Again
Let’s start this off by saying gum does not stay in your stomach for seven years. Nor does it stay wedged in there for even one. Who knows where this nonsense started, but it’s been widely disproven time and time again. Whichever parent started this to scare their kids didn’t take a basic anatomy and physiology course. The human digestive tract is pretty impressive.
Take a moment and think about the junk food most people eat and successfully digest, it makes gum look pretty harmless. Just like any other food, gum comes and goes almost as quickly as it is ingested. Though we still don’t advise consuming it!
Please Don’t Test This One
The only being on Earth that can withstand multiple lightning strikes on the daily is Storm from the X-Men. Are you Storm from the X-Men? No? Okay, then just take our word on this one. The old adage of “lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice” is a crock of crap. Lightning doesn’t have free will or the ability to comprehend its own destructive nature.
If there’s a giant metal object, or anything else that’s struck in a storm, there’s a chance it can happen again and again! There’s a lot of science involved, but just because something is electrocuted once doesn’t make it immune to electricity. We’re shocked that people don’t seem to understand that.
Some Spicy Deets On This “Fact”
Monosodium glutamate sounds pretty scary. Whenever a report is published on the “dangers” of this mysterious chemical people seem to go up in arms. Once they settle down they go out and eat ranch dressing, chips, or just about anything else with a delicious savory flavor. MSG is pretty common in a lot of local and international dishes. You can even find it in your favorite processed snacks.
Most people seem to think it’s the root of all nutritional evil and take it out on their local Chinese restaurant. The only thing they’re protecting people against is good taste. You can’t pick and choose when you enjoy this tasty treat, especially with how common it is. Besides, it’s basically on-par with table salt in terms of danger.
Yeah, This Sounds Half-Brained Already
Evolution is a pretty extraordinary thing. Over millions of years, humans have become the most dominant species on the planet. Sure, having thumbs helped. You know what else has done a lot of legwork? Our giant brains. While some animals have bigger ones than ours, the power of our gray head blobs is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, some people don’t believe that. They think we only use 10% at a time.
Here’s the thing: that’s false. If that were the case, then we’d basically be vegetables with cell phones. Oh crap, maybe they’re right…but no, here’s the thing: the neural pathways in the brain are always firing. Just because 100% aren’t going off at once doesn’t mean your brain isn’t functioning at full power.
This Article Was Written By A Pisces
Okay, this is a big one. Relax, take a deep breath, and make sure Mercury isn’t in retrograde. Actually, none of that matters. For as long as the planets and stars have been viewed by people, our species has tried to place their fate in their hands. Star signs, planetary alignment, even romantic compatibility have all been believed to be dictated by things floating out in space.
That sounds like some long-ago history lesson, but it’s happening to this day. While trying to figure someone out by a bizarre system of beliefs in the cosmos sounds fun, it’s actually all in our heads. If a Taurus and Aquarius want to get together just let them. The stars don’t care.
This Isn’t A Television Drama
Who here doesn’t have a favorite cop drama? Heck, anything to do with badges, missing people, and solving a mystery as quickly as possible is entertaining. Why? Probably because we’re terrible, who knows. While entertaining, these shows have shifted the way we look at actual crime and missing persons. In TV and movies, most people are told to wait a full 24 hours to report a missing person.
Why? Drama. In the real world, things work a bit differently. If someone is kidnapped, wanders away, or just disappears, don’t wait. The sooner someone of authority knows they can help, the easier it can be to find the missing person. It doesn’t make sense to let someone be lost for a full day. Why are we giving them a head start to get even more lost?
Disney Isn’t All About Happy Songs
Lemmings are tundra-dwelling rodents that look like guinea pigs. They’re ridiculously cute and a bit territorial. If you believe a certain Disney-produced documentary, they’re also prone to mass suicide. Wait, what? Yep. If you’ve seen the 1958 documentary White Wilderness you may have seen a bunch of lemmings flinging themselves off of a cliff. The belief here is that if one does it then the rest of the group will copy them, regardless of paying attention to their own safety.
Here’s the dealio with that: it’s fake. Most, if not all, animals (including people) understand that throwing yourself off a cliff isn’t a great move in most instances. To make the documentary wild and exciting, the people associated with it ended up forcing these adorable animals off the cliff themselves.
Biologists Hate This One Trick!
You can gauge the age of a tree by counting its internal rings. You can determine someone’s age by asking them. What do you do if neither of those options are available? In the case of ladybugs, you can just count their spots, right? We’re not sure where this started, but ladybugs don’t spontaneously sprout spots with age.
Some have ten or more at a time, which would mean they’ve lived over a decade! That’s not the case. Most ladybug species only live for a year (if they survive that long). The spots are basically pre-determined thanks to genetics. As magical as age-defining spots would be, they have nothing to do with the passage of time.
Weather Is Not The Enemy
Wintertime is the best time of year. The weather is delightful, the clothing is cute, and more people want to stay inside. There are some downsides to the chillier months, but they’re not what you think. Dealing with shoveling your sidewalk or defrosting your windshield are annoying. But don’t blame the seasonal cold or flu on the season. They have nothing to do with the temperature!
Germs spread more easily when people are inside and coughing/sniffling in close proximity. That part makes sense. What doesn’t is how people get sick in the summer if the temperature is the culprit. Everyone getting feverish over this belief needs to chill out.
Humans Don’t Have Blue Blood
All people are red-blooded. That’s pretty much widely accepted. But there’s a little myth going around that needs to be squashed. Everyone knows we have veins and arteries in our bodies. Veins carry blood to the heart and arteries carry it away. Veins appear blue to us for a very simple reason: our eyes don’t respond to blue light well.
Deoxygenated blood is darker, and the blue light doesn’t penetrate as well as red. This gives off the illusion that it’s transporting blue liquid through our bodies! In reality, all your blood is red. Some are darker than others depending on how much oxygen is in the cells, but you’re all red and gooey inside, just like everyone else.
They Just Don’t
Are y’all ready to traverse a slippery slope? We sure are so grab your ski poles and hold on. There are some valid reasons why people would or would not want to get vaccinated. A massive thing that’s not okay is the fear that vaccines cause autism. This whole ridiculous belief started in 1997 when a surgeon produced a dubious study stating that the rise in autism in the UK was caused by increased vaccinations in children.
It turns out a whole lot of unethical stuff was done, financial matters influencing “results”, plus falsified data was used. This caused a massive shift in beliefs that resulted in the study having to be debunked over and over again. Unfortunately, public opinion was altered and now people are fearful for no justifiable reason.
It’s More About The Animal Abuse
Bulls do not naturally live in arenas full of people screaming and shouting. Ridiculous, we know, but it’s true. Bullfighting, from cartoons to the real thing, has painted a pretty mean image of bulls. Here’s the kicker, bulls in natural grasslands normally don’t charge random red things. Why’s that? They’re red/green colorblind. Yeah, they can’t even see the capes of the matador that’s about to torture them.
What does make them charge is probably the immense amount of noise and flag-waving going on in front of their faces. Would you be entertained by being ripped from your home and having bedding whipped around in front of you while hundreds watch? Of course not. The swords in their backs (true story, look it up) don’t help either.
There’s No Prescription For This
A lot of us have nervous habits. Cracking your knuckles is one of them, though we don’t really know why we do it. It’s a “guilty” pleasure that makes a fun sound and feels good (for a moment). A lot of people think doing this will cause arthritis and joint damage. And as a result, knuckle-crackers have tried to curb this habit for the sake of their hands.
Spoiler alert: the only thing cracking knuckles causes is the annoyance of others around you. The sound we’re all creating is due to bubbles of synovial fluid (the stuff found in joints) popping! It’s kind of like blowing gum bubbles with your joints and then popping them.
There’s An Organ For That
Who reading this has done some sort of cleanse or detox? You bought into those teas, potions, and chemicals, didn’t you? Do you feel cleansed? No? That’s not surprising. Most of these are snake oil, diuretics (makes you pee), or just plain bad for you. But what are you supposed to do when you want to remove toxins from your body?
NOTHING. There’s already something inside of most of us that does just that: your liver. The entire point of this massive organ is to be the body’s filter. It’s like magic. When properly maintained (stop binge-drinking) your liver can pretty much filter most normal things you throw at it! It doesn’t cost twelve easy payments of $59.99 either.
Just Stop Eating So Much
Thanksgiving in the Americas is a fairly large deal. There’s a parade, tons of family time, and delicious food. Part of the tradition of that day is literally embodying the word abundance. The more the merrier! Fill up that plate, add more sides, scarf down tons of food. Eat, eat, eat! Feeling tired yet? Don’t blame it on the turkey. Many people think the chemical tryptophan is what causes people to feel heavy and fall asleep after a Thanksgiving meal.
There IS some in turkey, but that’s not why you’re tired. Here’s a pro-tip: YOU’RE SLEEPY BECAUSE YOU ATE A LOT. Sorry for yelling, but common sense is really important to us. Having two or three plates full of turkey and sides, plus a bottle of wine or two (we’re not judging) can cause people to get a bit drowsy after a holiday meal.
Not As Dangerous As You Think
Did you know that daddy longlegs (aka harvestmen) are the most venomous spiders in the world? Did you know that that’s also a complete lie? Many of us grew up hearing that these harmless spiders are actually horrifically dangerous creatures hellbent on our destruction and extermination. Luckily for us, their itty-bitty jaws just weren’t strong enough to pierce the tough rhino hide that is the human skin. That’s also a falsehood.
They don’t produce venom at all! Most daddy longlegs are actually scavengers, not predators. How this myth came into being we’ll never know. It really gave these harmless hard working guys a bad name. All they want to do is look for food and not be bothered.
Bugs Bunny Should Be An Optometrist
Eat your carrots so you can have excellent eyesight. Ain’t that right, doc? No? Yeah, total lie. Carrots are a great source of Vitamin A. This vitamin, in particular, can be beneficial for eyesight. However, it won’t give you superpowered night vision. The over-exaggeration about the power of carrots originates from WW2. The British were working on a special type of radar in their effort against the Axis Powers.
However, to throw them off, they had to think of something to let slip to the public. Somehow, they settled on the belief that their soldiers saw better by seeing in the dark after eating carrots! It was also a great campaign to encourage people to grow vegetables in their gardens and promote healthier diets during food shortages.
That’s Just Being A Decent Person
Parents are super protective of their kids. It doesn’t matter who they are, how many they have, or what species they happen to be. When you happen upon a lost baby you better help or stay out of the way. Apparently, this belief stops with birds for some reason. A lot of people think that if you find a stranded baby bird you need to leave it alone.
We don’t think abandoning a writhing grub of a baby is a smart idea. It turns out that we’re right. The belief that mama birds will completely ignore a hatchling if someone touches it is kind of ridiculous. They may get protective, but putting the flightless infant back in its home does more good than harm.
It Is Not That Great
You can see some beautiful things in space. You can even see some beautiful things on Earth FROM space. One of the most widely believed things is that the Great Wall of China, which is pretty big, can be seen by the naked eye from the International Space Station. Sorry cosmonauts, this is an urban legend. Sure, the Great Wall is pretty great. It’s also super long.
However, being smaller than most skyscrapers, it can’t be seen from the cosmos. That doesn’t mean people can’t try to spot it. However, you’re going to need a really strong telescope in space to see back down to the ground. Think we’re wrong? Head into space and let us know what you find. Hint: It won’t be any part of a wall on Earth, great or not.
Gym Bros Are Gonna Be Upset
In recent years terms like “alpha”, “beta”, and all other Greek names have been thrown around. People love to pretend this shows some sort of hierarchy between others. In reality, it’s a load of bull baloney. The myth that there are alphas and betas comes from a flawed study on wolves! A researcher originally thought that a pack was ruled and protected by a singular alpha male. As it turns out this person was 100% wrong.
As it turns out, wolves are pretty familial and help one another in the raising of younger members. Even after the person tried to retract their statement the damage was done. Now there’s a whole mess of people thinking they rank higher than others for no discernible reason…
It’s A Spider-Free Zone
It’s a tale as old as time. A song as old as rhyme. Beauty and the case of swallowing spiders in your sleep every year. We’re not sure why this latched on to people, but ask anyone and most will say they believe the tale of people swelling around seven spiders a year while they’re sleeping. Why in the world would anyone believe this? Fun fact: spiders are pretty solitary creatures.
They’re also most likely terrified of giants thousands of times their own size. Wouldn’t you be? Why would they go spelunking in a giant’s mouth? They wouldn’t. This massive myth is pretty alarming. It’s not even based on any facts!
We All Use Our Whole Brain
Right-brained people are more artistic. Left-brained people are super analytical and like math. The brain is a complicated and fascinating thing that’s roughly the size of your two fists smashed together. It also has billions of neurons that spark and send messages to one another at lightning-fast speeds. These messages go across both sides of your brain pretty darn fast.
Sure, some lobes specialize in certain functions, but they’re all important. We’re guessing this myth sprouted to create more personality quizzes. That’s got to be the reason, right? The idea that one person only uses part of their brain’s half is pretty small-minded. Obviously whoever thought of this wasn’t thinking with their full thinker turned on.
They’re Not Part Of A Movie Sequel
Goldfish are some of the first pets many of us try to raise on our own. Unfortunately, they’re not exactly the luckiest of fish. Those first few finned friends don’t make it very long. Mostly because we don’t have the right type of aquarium to keep them happy and healthy. Does any of that matter if they have the three-second memory? Yes. Yes, it does.
Why? Because they have multi-month to multi-year memories. Whoever thought these dazzling little beauties can’t remember things wasn’t good with fish. In fact, goldfish have been documented to have some pretty good thinkers in their heads. Some of them can even be trained!
Why Do People Believe This?
BOO! Did we scare you enough to drop that snack on the floor? It’s fine. There’s a five-second rule! This widely held belief started in our youth and never really vanished. As long as we pick up whatever good we dropped within five seconds it must be safe to eat. Right? Wrong. Bacteria doesn’t have a sense of time. They don’t even have manners. As soon as something lands near them it’s theirs.
You can’t politely ask them to wait before contaminating something you lost your grip on. When that potato chip hits the floor it’s as good as garbage. That is unless you enjoy eating germ-covered stuff. In that case, count to five and have fun in the hospital!
That’s Basically Just Public Urination
During beach safety class (that’s a thing, right?) we’re taught that jellyfish like to sting things. Whenever they sting a person we immediately need to be a good friend and pee all over the affected area. This myth doesn’t hold much water. First off, don’t pee on your friend. It’s rude and pretty gross.
Second, it won’t do much for a jellyfish sting. The urine could actually make it a whole lot worse! Instead, a trained lifeguard may use vinegar or just resort to scraping the stingers off if they’re still clinging to the affected area. Neither of those requires anyone to lower their bottoms.
He Was Born To Do Math
Kids who had a hard time with math class might’ve been told this myth about Einstein. If a literal genius could fail math then you shouldn’t feel too bad about it, right? We don’t want to burst your bubble but this urban legend is false and you should study for that final exam. While untrue, there’s a reason why this story started circulating.
Einstein DID flunk an entrance exam for the Federal Polytechnic school in Switzerland. However, his math scores weren’t the issue, it was the other general subjects. Another explanation is that foreigners didn’t understand the grading system of his school. Either way, Einstein was always excellent when it came to numbers. But you still shouldn’t feel bad if you struggle with them!
Your Tongue Is More Complicated Than That
Let’s turn the clock back to our days in elementary school. Remember learning about how the human body works? Every organ and muscle in our body has its own function, even our tongues! We learned that different segments of this body part sense different flavors. If you wanted to eat a hot pepper you put it right in the center, where there are no taste buds…Oh wait, that’s not actually true.
Whoever decided to simplify this organ was dead wrong. The idea that certain segments of our tongues can detect certain flavors was proven false a long time ago. This is a simple case of scientific study advancing, we should all be up to speed with the new info!
We Can’t Wrap Our Heads Around It
The Earth is not flat. The Earth is not flat. Here’s a fact one more time: THE EARTH IS NOT FLAT. Okay, do we all understand that? Great. Now let’s break this down. Every planet in the solar system, and essentially in the observable part of our galaxy, is a sphere. Physics and lots of math can prove it, as can our eyes. There is no such thing as a flat planet.
The fact that people are beginning to put some personal belief or validity in the planet being as flat as a sheet of paper is preposterous. How can planes and ships travel AROUND if they can’t calculate travel paths based on the horizon? Exactly.