Sometimes, no most times, truth is stranger than fiction. Often people will tell us wild stories and regale us with detailed recountings that just seem s bit.... embellished, but later we see ourselves proven wrong, which leaves us stunned. It is true, some people just live through crazy moments that couldn't be thought up by even the most gifted writers. So be careful when you accuse someone of telling tall tales. They may be spewing facts.
Redditor u/Not-A-Robot12 wanted everyone to chat about the times they realized the truth was the truth which left them stunned by asking.... What was your biggest "Oh, you weren't lying" moment?At 5
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Was working in a care home, a lot of the residents had dementia and would often want to 'go home', not believing that's where they stayed.
I had just started working there and this lady was telling me all day that her mum was coming to pick her up soon, she was about 60.
Sure as heck, at five o'clock a little eighty year old lady comes to pick up her daughter
I felt like such an idiot, it was a very valuable lesson for me though, don't just dismiss someone because they've got dementia!
The Family Tree
Elderly neighbor told me that at one point in the sixties he was the only British person in Finland, and the Finnish secret service had spies on him all day.
Also told me his nephew cloned Dolly the sheep.
That his ex wife was a former Miss Finland.
That his mum had been the governess for the kids of an Indian Prince. (Not sure of proper title)
Yeah, turns out all of it was true.
Moneybags...
I worked with a guy in his late 30s who had all kinds of crazy stories from when he was younger and had won a big chunk of money. I just kind of brushed it off as him being a bullsh***er. Then he brought in a ton of pictures. Ok, so you really did party with Metallica, crash a Lamborghini, get arrested base jumping, and still own a vacation house in Italy. I thought he was just full of shit. Nice guy too.
Through the Smoke
scared on fire GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
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I was heading to school when I got a text from a friend saying my neighbor's house was on fire.
I said "haha, yeah sure" and kept driving. I pass by the fire department and see the ambulance pull out so I decide to follow. I see it pull into my neighborhood and from the highway, I see the fire truck and all the smoke, and I just remember being like "holy crap."
"Twas I"
I was the one suspected. I ended up playing semi-pro rugby in NZ and none of my friends back in the US believed me (even though I was captain of my college team.) Post season I ran into a teammate of mine who had made it big and we ended up in the news. "[Teammate] out on the town in Auckland CBD with former teammate [Me] of the [Our team.]"
But then I didn't want to be the guy to post it and be like "see, I told you guys." Luckily a friend of mine saw the paper and tagged me on FB.
"call the neighbors."
When I was in 4th grade, the teacher was calling each student over to her desk one by one and asked them a question. When she called me up to her desk she said. "You see thick smoke coming out of your neighbors window. What do you do?" I said "call the fire department." She asked "what else would you do?" I again said that I would call the fire department. Then she asked again "what else would you do?"
This went on for a few minutes until she said that I could go back to my desk. When I got home from school, I mentioned this to my mom, and I asked her if she could think of anything else which I could do. My mom said "call the neighbors." To this day, I have no idea if that was the answer which the teacher was looking for or not. I also have no idea why she asked that question.
That Day
I was in middle school during 9/11 and our school didn't announce it or put the tv on or anything so most of us had no idea what was going on. In lunch me and my buddies are sitting there when another kid, who was a known bull sh.... artist, came up and told us about the attacks. We laughed in his face and called him a liar because we didn't believe him. I didn't find out he was telling the truth until I got home and my mom had the news on.
4/1
Hilary Duff Laughing GIF by YoungerTV
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A neighbor called me on April 1st to tell me that I left a faucet turned on, and it caused damage to the apartments below.
Laughed my butt off.
Still paying, though...
Get the RAID!!
My daughter, aged 6 or 7 at the time, is the biggest worry wart. I've never met a more highly strung kid (I'm already aware she's got anxiety and going through steps now to help relieve it and give her tools as she grows) She came running in yelling that a spider ran across her face in her sleep.
Her hair was wild and it was like 2am in the morning. So I'm like "pickle, it was your hair, come on let's go back to bed"
Next morning as I'm getting her clothes ready I see a huge palm sized huntsman beside her drawers. It was indeed a huge spider who crawled across her face.
I'd rather Pepsi....
home alone pepsi GIF
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In college, I was showing off by smashing Coke cans with my head. A girl in the group said "Yeah? I can do it with my boobs."
We didn't believe her.
She stood up, unhooked her bra, put an empty Coke can between her breasts, kinda flexed her arms forward, and completely crushed that can.
I don't remember much after that. I kinda rebooted, and then it was the next day. Dunno where she went.
Grain of salt
I had a friend who was just super dramatic and and full of over the top stories about how f*cked up and crazy their family was; I took it all with a grain of salt. As years went by I had multiple experiences actually meeting their family members, and gradually came to realize that they had not been exaggerating AT ALL. I now look at them in wonder and with profound respect, for managing to come out of such a background as well as they did.
Small town
I'm from a small town and went to a small high school. In the area it was common for kids to switch back and forth between tri-county schools due to parents divorce or guardianship/foster care. Well one day I was talking to a girl next to me in class and I was asking her where she was from. She said the small town and said "yeah there is only one traffic light in the town and it's in front of the middle school." I thought she was just joking around until about two weeks later my academic team went to said small town and I saw she was right. There was only one traffic light and it was in front of the middle school.
Snip
During my vasectomy. My doc said "ok I'm done on that side" it felt like he had been down there for an hour and it was painful. I laughed thinking it was him making light of the situation. He then scooted his chair over and kept working. 😬😅
Strike out
My grandfather told me that bowling used to have nine pins. I honestly thought he was joking, but I looked it up and it's true.
Spurt
I was a huge joker in 8th grade and my teacher (who was a really cool guy) knew it. One day I came in class asking for a bandaid because I was bleeding and he said, "Aw you're messing!" So then I squeezed my finger and blood just spurt out of it. He explained that he thought I was joking and proceeded to get the medical kit.
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Wait, what?
At the beginning of the year, a supervisor where I worked asked me if I wanted to be on the Coronavirus Strike Team (where we'd go to other prisons hit by covid and help them out if staff got sick). This guy was a noted prankster and had a perfect deadpan delivery, so I figured it was another one of his many jokes. I laughed and said sure. Keep in mind, this was January, it didn't seem that big a deal then. Three months later, I got a text reading: "Pack a bag for 3 nights, we're going up to [redacted] Prison. They're hit hard and need people."
I went ahead and kept my word, but I wasn't happy about it.
Missing
When my parents believed I was kidnapped at the age of eight years old or so and decided to organise a search party after not seeing me for the whole day when I was actually in a new friends house from primary school that was up the road from us and I was happily stuffing my face with hotdogs etc with the rest of her family. If I didn't randomly appear in the square when I did during late evening when a family friend was walking back to her house, I'd have definitely ended up on the news as a missing child.
Talking stalk
A guy I worked with in the late 90's claimed he was being stalked by his ex, not entirely unusual. The picture he showed was of some supermodel who was so hot the picture was practically smoking. I did a double-take and looked at the nerdy little goof ball who showed us the picture. I couldn't believe for a half-second this little dweeb with his D&D obsession and fondness for everything Star Wars was being stalked by some woman with a body like an angel. I pretended to go along with it until one day she showed up and confront him, and yeah she had a heavenly body. You couldn't not notice how hot she was, a gay dude in the office couldn't take his eyes off her. She cried for him to take her back, apologizing over and over about something, but he kept shaking his head and told her to leave him the hell alone. We had to get the police to take her off the property.
Much later I learned that she wasn't always that hot little number, they had known each other through high school and got together around graduation. She too had quite the obsession with D&D, making her as rare as a unicorn at the time. The girls cousin came to visit and took her for a makeover and showed her how to maintain her appearance. She had instantly found success modeling and was taking courses to help her get into acting. Her looks got her lots of attention she'd never had before, but that was the problem. She wound up having an affair and kicked her boyfriend to the curb. Later she realized all of the guys she was sleeping with only cared about her looks, but her boyfriend cared about her. He was willing to let it all go, but wasn't willing to take her back.
Odd jobs
That's a common thing people have said to me, usually about my job history/hobbies. I've worked as a MMA instructor (adults and kids, with the kids I've taught martial arts summer camps too), makeup artist/hair assistant, personal support worker, and registered nurse. I'm 23.
When you look at it in order though, it makes sense.
I started jiu-jitsu at age 5, did a few small local exhibition-type fights as a teenager and taught as well. Then I worked at a salon after moving out, as a makeup artist/hair assistant (they provided the hair assistant training) while studying a year of biochem and then switching into an RN degree. I worked part-time as a personal support worker doing homecare in my last two years of my 4-year degree, while still working part-time at the salon. Now, I'm a registered nurse (with some odd skills in my back pocket)
Adoption
I was volunteering in an animal shelter, working in the small pet supply shop that was attached to it. A happy, excited woman came in and asked me to help her find a collar that would be a good fit for the dog she was about to adopt. She didn't have the dog with her, so I asked what kind of dog it was so that I could get an idea of its size.
She told me that it was a Rottweiler/dachshund cross. I admittedly thought to myself, "Right, OK, you don't know much about dogs, this is probably going to be a corgi." But I humored her and said, "Wow, that's an unusual one! Let's wait until they bring him out and we'll size the collar right onto him."
Out he comes on his little blue-and-white slip-lead, and I swear on my honor, there is nothing this dog could have been BUT a Rottweiler/dachshund cross. He looked like a stocky dachshund with a Rottweiler's head grafted onto its shoulders. His body was dark liver-dachshund and light liver-dachshund in the classic Rottweiler dark/light pattern. I was just speechless. He was quite a little sight to behold.
My absolute favorite part of this story: the lady turns to me, eyes shining, and says, "Isn't he the handsomest dog you've ever seen?" Lady, there sure is something beautiful here. Just warmed my heart.
Emergency
Working at Frito Lay, stocking a store in inner city St. Louis at 3:30 in the morning. Guy walks in and shouts "Call 911, I've been shot!" He looked completely fine until he turned around and the back of his wife-beater was completely red with blood.
Got the store clerk to lock the door and call 911 while I provided first aid until police/EMS arrived.
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The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
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"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
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"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
