Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Believer Fakes Evidence

 Believer Fakes Evidence
type
FeatureClass
 Believer Fakes Evidence
label
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence
page
BelieverFakesEvidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence
comment
The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Yeti, UFOs, Santa Claus... So many strange myths and legends of strange creatures out there.
Naturally, with myths and legends that have persisted for so long, there are believers and there are Agent Scullys.
But evidence of these fantastical beasts and events isn't easy to come by. That's why they're legends and not proven to exist.
What's a believer to do?
Well, in fiction, they might try faking evidence of the creature or phenomenon to get others to believe. Sometimes this is justified as hoping to gain funding for serious research to help prove the actual existence of their supernatural cause of choice. Other times it's simply the result of a break from reality and pure unbridled obsession. And sometimes it’s just an attempt to silence skeptics.
This almost never ends well for the person involved in the fakery, as they are inevitably discovered, and then belief in their cause is even further diminished.
Might happen during a Cryptid Episode.
See "Scooby-Doo" Hoax for examples of people faking cryptids and monsters for more nefarious purposes. See also Framing the Guilty Party for more mundane examples. See also Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious.
Agent Mulder could be either the perpetrator or the victim of this hoax.
Compare/Contrast Straw Hypocrite, for characters who promote ideas that they don't actually believe in.
See also Sham Supernatural, if the believer goes the extra mile of wearing the guise of the make-belief figures to generate interest.
While fakery of phenomena does occur in real life, it can be difficult or even impossible to discern whether their motivation for doing so is genuine belief, an attempt to make a profit, or merely to garner attention for themselves. That being the case, No Real Life Examples, Please!
 Believer Fakes Evidence
fetched
2024-03-09T10:31:02Z
 Believer Fakes Evidence
parsed
2024-03-09T10:31:02Z
 Believer Fakes Evidence
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_141496c1
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_141496c1
comment
Harry and the Hendersons: We see Lafluer planting bigfoot tracks earlier in the film to try and gin up belief in the creature. Ironically, his own technique would be used against him later, when the Henderson family strap on Bigfoot plaster casts to leave fake tracks, only in this case to lead Lafleur away from the creature, whom they have come to love as a member of the family.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_141496c1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_141496c1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Harry and the Hendersons
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_141496c1
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_1b51bb94
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_1b51bb94
comment
The Addams Family: In "Christmas with the Addams Family", Santa Claus exists, and the adults presumably know he exists. However, when the neighbour tells the children, Wednesday and Pugsley, that he doesn't, the adults all try to convince them that he's real by disguising themselves as Santa. Fester gets stuck in the chimney, Gomez fools the kids, but the rest don't, since not only are they meeting multiple "Santas", their disguises don't hide the fact that Lurch is tall, Itt is short and hairy, and Morticia and Grandmama are women.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_1b51bb94
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_1b51bb94
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Addams Family
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_1b51bb94
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_23185c00
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_23185c00
comment
In Taken, episode "Jacob and Jessie", Tom Clarke and his siblings attempt to make photographs of a UFO by using a car's hubcap tied to a string showing how easy it is to fake. This is in an effort to dissuade their mother, Sally Clarke, from believing in UFOs and extraterrestrials that she is convinced the father of her third child Jacob was apart of. She has also attended conferences and gatherings on the subject and even constructed a radio for communication. While Jacob is indeed special, he gets kidnapped by Owen Crawford to be studied. Jacob escapes and goes into hiding as does his family later on. Later, Tom, who has been fighting the UFO claims, becomes a believer through interactions with his grand-niece as well as fighting Owen Crawford and his family's efforts of persecution and cover-ups.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_23185c00
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_23185c00
featureConfidence
1.0
 Taken
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_23185c00
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2b82b95f
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2b82b95f
comment
iCarly: In iBelieve in Bigfoot, the iCarlys take a trip to Mount Baker National Forest after there are reported sightings of Bigfoot in the area. Carly, being a believer, wants to actually see him, having even invited alleged expert on Bigfoot, Dr. Sydney Van Gurbin, onto their show to talk about him, while he promotes his novel "Bigfoot: True or Real?". When they finally get there and set up a trap for Bigfoot, they discover it's Dr. Van Gurbin himself in a Bigfoot suit, having faked the sightings to drum up publicity for his failing novel. Even after being exposed though, he manages to escape, the iCarlys thinking he stole their camper and ran off, but he actually tried to trick another pair of Bigfoot hunters not even five minutes later, only for the iCarlys to expose him again. It's then everyone realizes the one who stole the camper was Bigfoot himself.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2b82b95f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2b82b95f
featureConfidence
1.0
 iCarly
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2b82b95f
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2ba48a26
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2ba48a26
comment
Castle: In "The Fast and the Furriest", Castle and Beckett fall into a Bigfoot trap while looking for a murder suspect. Then they encounter Bigfoot. Who also falls into the trap. And then unmasks, revealing himself to be Dr. Daryl Meeks, who was faking being Bigfoot for the purpose of, as he claimed, "drawing in Bigfoot". He claimed to hear yowls and tapping earlier, signature sounds of Bigfoot. Ironically, viewers know those were Castle, who is also a believer in Bigfoot, and was also trying to draw out the mythical creature.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2ba48a26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2ba48a26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Castle (2009)
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_2ba48a26
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_3ee92dfe
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_3ee92dfe
comment
Corneil and Bernie: In "Close Encounters of the Alien Kind", Bernie gets Corneil to disguise himself as an alien to prove to his classmates he's met one. It works a little too well; Corneil gets chased by Bernie's classmates and by episode's end, Bernie gets carted off by Mulder and Scully-esque FBI agents because he was able to "translate" the alien.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_3ee92dfe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_3ee92dfe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Watch My Chops
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_3ee92dfe
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_44014b66
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_44014b66
comment
Contact: Discussed in the finale. Kitz suggests that the whole alien contact situation was concocted by the late Hadden to stir belief, pointing out he had the means, motive, and opportunity. Subverted, as Kitz is later informed that while Arroway's device did only record static, it recorded several hours worth of static when her trip seemed to be an instant failure.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_44014b66
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_44014b66
featureConfidence
1.0
 Contact
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_44014b66
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_45dac4bc
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_45dac4bc
comment
At the end of The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, with the titular creature having successfully escaped out into the open sea, its pursuers resort to faking evidence that it exists by cobbling together a replica out of junk and photographing it, resulting in the iconic Loch Ness Monster image◊.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_45dac4bc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_45dac4bc
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_45dac4bc
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_498b77e9
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_498b77e9
comment
In the Skin Horse storyline "Purple Waves", amongst the teams fighting to claim the irradiator are a cryptozoologist named Dr Haller and his loyal manservant Mr Berk. Haller hopes to use the irradiator to create a sasquatch, having previously attempted to present the symposium with a knitted bigfoot.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_498b77e9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_498b77e9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Skin Horse (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_498b77e9
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_691be369
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_691be369
comment
The X-Files episode "Quagmire": In Millikan, Georgia, missing people allegedly attacked and taken by Big Blue, a cryptid, in a swamp, bring Mulder and Scully to investigate. While there are more disappearances happening, a local bait and tackle shop owner walks through the swamp in boots, making fake dinosaur tracks in order to promote his business and the mythical Big Blue.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_691be369
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_691be369
featureConfidence
1.0
 The X-Files
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_691be369
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_76056a87
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_76056a87
comment
The Magic Roundabout: One episode focuses on Dougal refusing to believe in fairies, despite knowing magic exists. His friends get so frustrated at this that they pretend to be fairies in an attempt to trick him, but this backfires when he catches them out...then, real fairies show up, proving once and for all that they exist.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_76056a87
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_76056a87
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Magic Roundabout
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_76056a87
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8a39c411
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8a39c411
comment
In the Hyperion Cantos, Father Duré gets into trouble for faking the results of an archaeological expedition. He was searching for evidence that another planet once had aliens who practiced something similar to Christianity, but the evidence was inconclusive, and the decline of his religion made him desperate for anything to strengthen it.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8a39c411
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8a39c411
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hyperion Cantos
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8a39c411
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8d84363c
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8d84363c
comment
Rome: Julius Caesar, with the help of the priests of Jupiter, engineers a good omen before he goes off to war so that the people would believe his cause was just and blessed by the gods. It may also have been intended to demoralize the Pompeian faction as well. Something of a Genius Bonus as well, as Julius Caesar was the pontifex maximus in real life, so this was a subtle way of showing how Caesar utilized his position to give himself an advantage in this civil war.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8d84363c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8d84363c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Rome
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_8d84363c
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_9a67b688
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_9a67b688
comment
In the Case Closed case Chiba's Difficult UFO Case, the culprit*  this isn't a spoiler, the case only has one suspect is an unemployed UFO fanatic who killed the editor in chief of a cheap tabloid for rejecting his photos and mockingly suggesting he just fake some if he wants to sell them that badly. The culprit is immediately suspected due to having been caught at the scene of the crime, but can't be convicted due to there being no murder weapon and the footprints at the scene proving he couldn't have left to dispose of it then returned. Several months after the murder, the culprit begins posting on his blog that a UFO had appeared at the crime scene, and an alien had killed the victim in front of him... The culprit had suffocated the victim with a black trash bag, then filled with air before tying it off. The heat-absorbent black material heated the air inside the bag until it floated away like a hot air balloon. The culprit had been planning to frame the aliens from the beginning, but lost his nerve when he couldn't retrieve the murder weapon after the police interview due to security cameras being installed in the park where the bag landed. After the case, Chiba gives him a blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech for faking alien evidence to cover up a murder he committed over someone faking alien evidence.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_9a67b688
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_9a67b688
featureConfidence
1.0
 Case Closed (Manga)
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_9a67b688
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_b3414986
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_b3414986
comment
In Lost Tapes, the episode covering the Dover Demon has a set of hoaxers attempting to create a hoax based around the cryptid in question to celebrate an anniversary of its sighting; this being Lost Tapes, the actual Dover Demon shows up.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_b3414986
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_b3414986
featureConfidence
1.0
 Lost Tapes
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_b3414986
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_c0ebde70
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_c0ebde70
comment
Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster: Professor Fiona Pembrook creates a phony monster using a Submarine, and some help from a pair of local pranksters, in order to try and get Sir Ian Locksley to take up the cause again and help her search for the creature. Interestingly, sonar pings from below where her homemade sub could go do get Sir Ian's interest, despite having already been presented with faked evidence.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_c0ebde70
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_c0ebde70
featureConfidence
1.0
 Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_c0ebde70
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_e6318baf
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_e6318baf
comment
Midsomer Murders: In "The Incident at Cooper Hill" had the local UFO enthusiast (and murder victim) plant evidence because he just wanted other people to believe as he did (his murder had nothing to do with the UFO thing).
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_e6318baf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_e6318baf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Midsomer Murders
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_e6318baf
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_f5bddacb
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_f5bddacb
comment
Lance in Grave Encounters does genuinely believe in ghosts, and is disappointed that he and his crew have had to resort to fakery in order to get juicy footage for the titular ghost-hunting reality show. That said, his motives also have a dash of glory-chasing to them, as he believes that being the guy who proves that ghosts are real is gonna make him rich and famous. When, in this case, the ghosts turn out to be Real After All, he's initially overjoyed that he doesn't have to fake it for once, blinding him to the danger he and his crew are in.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_f5bddacb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_f5bddacb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Grave Encounters
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_f5bddacb
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_fdbace96
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_fdbace96
comment
Gravity Falls: A very unusual example in "Grunkle" Stan Pines. When first introduced, Stan is presented as a skeptic who didn't believe in the oddities of Gravity Falls but would put on a show as a shyster and huckster to make money off of tourists. Then comes the Wham Line where he reveals to Dipper that he's always known about the truth of Gravity Falls. He doesn't put on displays of actual supernatural phenomena because for the most part, they're dangerous and he has other objectives such as retrieving his brother, Ford, from the void.
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_fdbace96
featureApplicability
1.0
 Believer Fakes Evidence / int_fdbace96
featureConfidence
1.0
 Gravity Falls
hasFeature
Believer Fakes Evidence / int_fdbace96

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Believer Fakes Evidence
processingCategory2
Mystery Tropes
 Contact / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Grave Encounters
processingUnknown
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Hyperion Cantos / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Norfolk Wizard Game (Roleplay) / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Lost Tapes / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Midsomer Murders / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Rome / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Taken
processingUnknown
Believer Fakes Evidence
 The Addams Family / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 The X-Files / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 The Magic Roundabout / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence
 Watch My Chops / int_a46881f2
type
Believer Fakes Evidence