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40 Common Myths That We’re Busting Wide Open Like Decades-Old Cold Cases

You’ve been duped for far too long!

40 Common Myths That We’re Busting Wide Open Like Decades-Old Cold Cases

March 07, 2025

Today, we’re telling some cold hard truths whether your precious ego likes it or not. We know that admitting when you’ve been mislead or downright deceived is difficult because a few of these got us too.

We’d all like to think we’re smart enough to detect fraud, but some myths are just too clever. If you’re an “ignorance is bliss” type, we suggest skipping this list. It’d spare your ego a few knockout blows.

40

Flat Earthers

- t BELIEF: Medieval Europeans believed the Earth was flat. TRUTH: People knew the Earth was round by sixth century BC. The myth was started by people in the 1800s. CRACKED.COM

39

Springtime

Research on seasonal effects on suicide rates suggests that suicide attempts OCCUr more frequently in the springtime, contrary to the popular belief t

38

Male Emotions

CRACKED.COM CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, MEN ARE MORE EMOTIONALLY' SENSITIVE THAN WOMEN. In one experiment, when presented with blissful, funny, exciti

37

Alexandria Library

CRACKED COM MYTH The contents of the Alexandria Library were destroyed when invaders sacked and burned the city REALITY BUDGE Although fires and riots

36

Serial Killers

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Most serial killers had an abusive childhood. REALITY: A whopping 70% of serial killers reported no child abuse. These numbers might include individuals who don't want to admit experiencing a traumatic childhood, but that's still a pretty high number debunking the popular belief. Many of them did however report bed wetting, abusing animals, and setting things on fire. — Source

35

Giraffes

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, GIRAFFES MOST LIKELY EVOLVED TO HAVE LONG NECKS TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT BETTER- NOT JUST TO GET MORE FOOD. CRACKED.COM Giraffes also have the same number of neck vertebrae (seven) as most other mammals, including humans. — NY Times / San Diego Zoo

34

Bathing in Medieval Times

Everyone in HISTORY THE medieval times smelled awful. Actually, they were way into bathing. Contrary to popular belief, medieval people actually lik

33

Urine

Urine is sterile. It's a myth that pee is totally clean. In reality, even healthy people have some bacteria in their urine. CRACKED — Source

32

Police Brutality

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Cops manhandling a suspect in a movie or TV show? It's okay if it's the good guys doing it. REALITY: No, it really isn't. A study of 26 crime series (from How To Get Away With Murder to Mindhunter) showed that abuse of power is often portrayed as acceptable, forgivable, and even virtuous, as long as it's the heroes doing it. In reality, this type of conduct is an example of injustice itself. It's also a dangerous belief, as most people think they're the good guys.

31

Birds

Contrary to popular belief, handling a baby bird won't make its parents reject it due to the smell of human. Most birds can barely smell. ... but it's still a bad idea to handle any baby birds you find. Their parents are rarely far off, and even if you don't see them, they see you. CRACKED.COM — Source: 40 Myths (That've Been Around Forever) We All Believe

30

Buddhism

YOU'D THINK THAT A RELIGIOUS LEADER LIKE THE DALAI LAMA WOULDN'T CARE ABOUT SCIENCE 16 A N ACTUALLY, НЕ LOVES IT! World-class scientists have generously coached me in subatomic physics, cosmology. psychology, biology. If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. CRACKED.COM — 19 Celebs Who (In Private) Aren't Like Their Public Personas

29

Seneca Creek

Seneca Creek IN MOVIES IN REALITY Deserted Popular site for Labyrinthine families to hike, fish, ride horses, Terrifying (and and play the infested wi

28

The 1929 Stock Market Crash

BELIEF: Many stock brokers jumped out of windows when the market collapsed. There were two jumping TRUTH: suicides between the crash and 1929. The myth of the common Wall Street suicide originated with a comedian's quip. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Salvador Dali

Contrary to popular belief, the clocks in Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory are not inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity

26

Water

Contrary to popular belief, water is not a good conductor of electricity. The basic rule of electric conductivity is that the conductor needs to carry

25

Madagascar

The original settlers of Madagascar really went out of their way to get there. You'd think that Madagascar was first settled by people coming from Africa-and you'd be wrong. Madagascar's indigeous population are descended from people who canoed all the way from Indonesia, 3,000 miles away. The motivation for that long trip is still a mystery. GRACKED COM — Source

24

Conception

MYTH: conception HAPPENS WHen YOU HAVE sex. FACT: IT COULD HAPPEN A week LATER. Sperm survive longer than a week in the reproductive tract. If you have sex at all in the seven days leading up to ovulation, some of that sperm could be making its way up the Fallopian tubes just in time for a new egg to pop in. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Vitamin C

Contrary to popular belief, Vitamin С doesn't prevent you from catching a cold. But it can have some benefits for colds, like reducing their severity or duration - that's the finding of a meta-analysis of 29 scientific studies. CRACKED.COM

22

Coffee

Contrary to popular belief, lighter coffee has higher caffeine content. When coffee is roasted, it loses caffeine, meaning that a dark and robust cup of coffee has less caffeine than a lighter roast. CRACKED — Source

21

The Middle Ages

Contrary to popular wisdom, witch burning wasn't really a thing in the Middle Ages. It only got going after the Middle Ages ended, and really kicked off around 1500. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Guinness

CRACKED AN ELABORATE RITUAL FOR POURING GUINNESS Guinness has spread the idea that their beer needs to be poured in a very particular way, taking almost two minutes, to get the perfect pint. This is total nonsense - you can pour it any way you want and it tastes the same. — Source

19

Martin Luther King

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Martin Luther King Jr. was a beloved leader during his life. King was an incredibly famous yet divisive figure. At the year of his death, he had an unfavorable rating of 63%. The FBI even attempted to blackmail him to commit suicide. Within civil rights circles, he was criticized for both being too radical and not radical enough. — Source

18

Betsy Ross

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Betsy Ross created the first American flag There's no evidence to suggest this, aside from her grandson's account. Historians have confirmed that she made flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy Board. — Source

17

Alaska

CRACKED.COM MYTH: State with the most serial killers? Must be Florida, or California. REALITY: It's Alaska. Proportional to its population, Alaska wins this one with around 15.65 serial killings per one million inhabitants. It's followed by Nevada, then Florida. Criminologists speculate that it might be due to the cover of darkness during those long Alaskan winter nights. The isolation of the state's remote locations might also play a part. — Source

16

Old Age

CRACKED Old people used to be rare. Contrary to popular belief, people in the past could live to be quite old. Archaeological evidence and records show that humans have been able to reach their 70s, 80s, and even 90s for the past 160,000 years. — Source

15

Napoleon

CRACKED NAPOLEON Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon wasn't particularly short. Не was probably around the same height as the average Frenchman in the 19th century --he was estimated to be 5'6 or 5'7. — Source

14

Microwaves

MYTH: MICROWAVE COOKING DESTROYS THE nuTRIenTS in FOOD. 8 8:8 8 - - Start UNA FACT: ACTUALLY, IT PRESERVES THem. Because microwave cooking often consists of less heat and shorter cooking times than more conventional cooking methods, it actually does the least amount of damage to the nutrients in your foods. CRACKED.COM http //www.health.harvard. edu/staying-healthy/microwave-cooking-and-nutrition — Source

13

Vibrators

CRACKED VIBRATORS AS TREATMENT FOR HYSTERIA It's a common misconception that Victorian doctors used vibrators to treat female hysteria, but there's no proof that this was ever a regular medical practice at all. — The Atlantic / Get Maude

12

Starburst

You might think that the tasty Fruit chew 5 FRUITS ORIGINAL candy is safe Starbursi for vegetarians, Starburst but you'd be wrong. They contain gelatin, rendered from beef. CRACKED COM — Source: 30 Facts About Candy

11

Mental Illness

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Mental illness and gun violence go hand in hand. REALITY: Incorrect. It's estimated that only 4% of all violent gun crimes involve mental illness. Yet the majority of Americans believe otherwise. Alcohol abuse and stress from getting a divorce or losing a job are way more likely to induce gun violence. Mental illness, however, is a great risk factor for gun suicides, and makes up the majority of gun-related deaths in the US. — 14 Myths About Crime We Believe (Thanks To Pop Culture)

10

Knights

Medieval knights wearing full armor actually weren't terribly bulky at all. For example, contrary to widespread myth, knights could get on their horse without any help -- they didn't need, say, elaborate cranes or anything. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Mice

Mice don't really love cheese at all-it's just - a pop culture myth, basically. And it's much older than, say, Tom & Jerry, for that matter - scholars actually think it probably dates all the way back to medieval times. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Naps

DRINK COFFEE THEN TAKE A NAP Counterintuitive, since you'd expect the caffeine to keep you awake, leaving you teetering on the edge of falling asleep but not quite going over. But the trick to the caffeine nap is that caffeine doesn't act immediately; its effects take about 15 minutes — For details, read 5 Ways to Trick Your Body Into Being More Awesome

7

Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi only played Dracula twice in movies. Being the most iconic Dracula, you'd think Lugosi was in multiple sequels and movie monster team-ups — Source: Screen Rant

6

Potted Plants

40 Common Myths That We’re Busting Wide Open Like Decades-Old Cold Cases

5

Lighters

Contrary to popular belief, lighters have been around longer than matchsticks. Chemist Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner invented the first lighter in 1823,

4

Goldfish

THINK YOUR FORGETFUL PAL HAS GOLDFISH MEMORY? 5F 10 50 15 45 20 40 35 25 O0 30 THINK AGAIN. Contrary to popular belief, that goldfish have a three sec

3

Leopards

A leopard never changes its spots This belief is SO popular that it became an idiom, but leopards do change their spots as they reach adulthood. The

2

Urban Upbringings

You'd think babies born in big cities would be healthien. Not when it comes to mental health. Specifically, children born in large cities are nearly t

1

Comets

You might think you can tell which way a comet is headed, by its tail. You'd be wrong. A comet actually has two tails, and they both point away from t

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