History Main / TinfoilHat

* The crazy conspiracy theorist in ''Film/NoroiTheCurse'' takes it one step further and wears an ''outfit'' made of tin foil.

When a writer wants to establish a character as a ConspiracyTheorist, a CrazySurvivalist, or another kind of paranoid {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, they usually give them hats made out of tinfoil to wear, ostensibly to protect themselves from TheGovernment's MindControl rays.

* The 1952 edition of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'' advised readers worried about nuclear war to make cloaks of aluminium foil, "and you will be as safe as you can get. Aluminium reflects incredible amounts of heat, which is apparently the worst hazard if you are close to wear a bomb falls." Let's hope those DirtyCommunists aren't using A-bombs in the megaton range, eh?

* ''Literature/PilgrennonsChildren'': Alpha, Peter, and Dana spend part of ''Pilgrennon's Beacon'' wearing foil-lined hats so the evil supercomputer Cerberus won't be able to detect their {{brain-computer interface}}s.

* The novel ''Idiots In The Machine'' by Edward Savio portrays a character who believes that tin foil keeps harmful gamma rays away and becomes a media sensation, marketing a successful line of foil hats to Chicago.

* ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': {{Inverted}} in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/foil "Foil"]]: It's not to protect him from the signals, it's to amplify them, since if there are such signals, they're probably very important.

* ''SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': {{Inverted}} in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/foil "Foil"]]: It's not to protect him from the signals, it's to amplify them, since if there are such signals, they're probably very important.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Foil" (which provides the trope picture and is a parody of "Royals" by Music/{{Lorde}}) has Al claim to have cracked the code on conspiracy staples such as TheIlluminati, {{Black Helicopter}}s, the MoonLandingHoax, and more, which is why he crafted a handy hat from foil, to protect himself from alien AnalProbing and mind reading. It doesn't do him much good, because TheMenInBlack just tranquilize him and drag him away. The music video ends with the director (played by Creator/PattonOswalt) unmasking himself as a [[ReptilianConspiracy lizard person]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3498 Squigley's protection from the Illuminati.]]

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Foil" (which provides the trope picture and is a parody of "Royals" by Music/{{Lorde}}) has Al claim to have cracked the code on conspiracy staples such as TheIlluminati, {{Black Helicopter}}s, the MoonLandingHoax, and more, which is why he crafted a handy hat from foil, to protect himself from alien AnalProbing and mind reading. It doesn't do him much good, because TheMenInBlack just tranquilize him and drag him away. The music video ends with the director (played by Creator/PattonOswalt) unmasking himself as a [[TheReptilians lizard person]].

But even then, this is still a DeadUnicornTrope. When was the last time you saw an ''actual'' conspiracy theorist wear one of these, after all?

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1403537601083129900
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* Most of the main characters in ''Film/{{Signs}}'' wind up wearing one at some point before the end of the movie. The scene gets parodied in ''Film/ScaryMovie 3'', where the hats are giant Hershey's Kisses.
* More of a hat in spirit, in ''Film/Series7TheContenders'', the ceiling of competitor Franklin's trailer is lined with tinfoil, and his personality follows suit (YMMV on whether it's played straight--along with the rest of the movie).
* The crazy conspiracy theorist in ''Film/NoroiTheCurse'' takes it one step further and wears an ''outfit'' made of tin foil.

* Inverted in ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'', where demonic mind control and illusion powers can be blocked by foil and the story gets much mileage out of this, including the line "There will always be eccentrics who deny that the tin foil hat is absolutely essential to prevent baldricks taking over your mind."

* When [[ConspiracyTheorist James]] of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfSteveStollberg'' suggests that Mickey Mouse faked his death, Miss Jackson implies that he likes to wear tinfoil hats.
* In ''Literature/EverWorld'', Senna gets into a mentally-ill homeless man's head, telling him he should have remembered to wear his tinfoil hat as she makes him go yell disturbing things outside Jalil's house.
* In ''Literature/ISitBehindTheEyes'', Terry's Uncle is an [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} eccentric]] Parapsychologist who wears one for work. It doesn't do much good, as the title Entity [[OrificeInvasion enters people through the mouth]].

* In ''Series/TheXFiles'', Series/TheLoneGunmen wear them occasionally. Also, [[JustForFun/JohnMunch a policeman]] suggests they all get one in their OriginsEpisode when he realizes what kind of kooks he is dealing with.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheFinder'' the Finder wears an aluminum foil hat. The client (Hodgins from ''Bones'') mocks him, but it really does help block the government from interfering with your brain waves so you can move.
* In the fourth season of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' a Sheriff (or deputy) encountered by Moya's crew when they land on Earth in 1985 via time travel turns up again showing off a tinfoil-lined baseball cap on TV in 2003 when the crew returns. In his defense, he did receive several doses of one of Noranti's potions during the first visit.
* Oliver does this in ''Series/HannahMontana'', but it's really more of a parody, because he wants Joanie to think he's insane and dump him.
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'': Senator Perrin goes public accusing the Rossum Corporation of unethical practices, hoping that it will encourage witnesses to come forward. The following episode he's griping that the only witness so far is a guy in a tinfoil hat claiming that Rossum mailed his liver to Saturn.
* ''Series/TheGlades'': The VictimOfTheWeek of the "Close Encounters" episode was a millionaire who believed that he was abducted by an UFO and had a few foil hats scattered through his mansion.
* On ''Series/GoodEats'', Alton wears a foil fedora and a metallic suit, while he's inside of a grill, explaining how a grill works, how it can be a problematic method for cooking chicken, and how to get around these problems. Unlike most examples, it's not worn to keep radio signals from messing with his head or anything along those lines, but simply [[RuleOfCool because it's cool]].
** In an earlier episode about pot roast, Alton wants to use some foil for braising the meat while cooking pot roast at his neighbor Chuck's trailer home. There's no foil to be had in the kitchen, but there's plenty of it on the roof of the trailer, formed into a satellite dish. When questioned, Chuck responds that he got the idea from a neighbor of his who wears foil on his head to block mind-controlling signals from the government. Alton tells him to take the satellite dish down so they can use the foil for the pot roast.

* Chuck in ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' wears a foil thermal blanket whenever he wants to go outside. Though not a true tinfoil hat (thermal blankets are made of plastic), when coupled with his belief that it protects him from harmful electromagnetic radiation, it definitely invokes the imagery.

* The tin-foil hat was an April Fool's Day item created by Blizzard to parody player paranoia about their character information being searchable on the ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' armory.

* Dogen Boole in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' wears a tinfoil hat he claims prevents him from accidentally [[YourHeadASplode making people's heads explode]] with his PsychicPowers.
* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'', you occasionally encounter humans wearing tinfoil hats. [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight And Crypto can't read their minds.]]
* Some ''VideoGame/NetHack'' variants include these; wearing one blocks both incoming and outgoing telepathy.

* ''VideoGame/ThimbleweedPark'' has a pirate hat wrapped in tinfoil. It doesn't protect against mind control, but it does reflect some real lasers used by [[spoiler:the [=PillowTron=] AI.]] Chet, on of the characters in game, goes far further than a tinfoil hat: He tinfoils the entire inside of the giant novelty pizza costume he's wearing.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Deponia}} Doomsday'' it's shown that a tinfoil hat stuffed with straw will provide RippleEffectProofMemory necessary for a time traveler. Rufus, luckily, has a de facto built-in version thanks to a metal plate in his head.
* In ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective'', one of Dooley's conspiracy theorist colleagues believes that wearing a tinfoil hat will help keep the Man from tracking him down.

* ''VideoGame/ForTheKing'' has a headwear item called the Iron Foil Hat, which resembles a tinfoil hat in appearance and confers immunity to mind-related status effects such as stun, confuse, and frighten.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3498 Squigley's protection from the Illuminati.]]

* Karl from ''Webcomic/FreakAngels'' wears one at all times to block his telepathic link to the rest of the group, because they mostly seem to use it for inane bickering, {{Seinfeldian Conversation}}s and complaining about how crap their sex lives are. AMindIsATerribleThingToRead indeed... It's not clear whether or not it works because their telepathic link uses radio waves or if [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve it works because he thinks it ought to]], but it makes him feel better.

* SJ Games used to (still does?) run a site cataloging weird things you might find in a SecretGovernmentWarehouse. One of them was a crate of instruction booklets on how to make a tin-foil hat. They were all stamped "obsolete" and there was a note in the inventory saying that the mind-control system had been upgraded since printing, so tin-foil hats were no longer effective. (Elsewhere in SJ Games's paranoia-inducting line of games is the note that ''aluminum'' foil beanies do not work against mind-control devices, but ''tin'' foil beanies did. This fact is behind the switch from tin to aluminum foil in the mid-20th century.)
* A guy wearing a tinfoil hat is the symbol of the WildMassGuessing section of Wiki/ThisVeryWiki.

* WebVideo/VenetianPrincess mentions wearing one in her ''The End Is Nigh'' (spoof of Music/LadyGaga's "You and I") to protect against solar flares.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': A [[MagicPoweredPseudoscience Devisor]], Dr. Herbolt, used his powers to make tin foil hats that blocked psychic intrusion, but because they are powered by his power, they might not work for anyone else. There's no info on that latter point.
* The [[FanFic/FirstMembranes 1st Membranes]] have tinfoil helmets as part of their standard gear. It helps block out the Warp from the Guards' minds.

* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Brother's Little Helper", Bart becomes paranoid after taking an ADD drug called Focusin, leading him to believe that Major League Baseball is spying on him and begins donning a tin foil bodysuit. At the end of the episode, Bart turns out to be right when he shoots an MLB satellite out of the sky.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', Mr. Small wore this when he says he's aware of many things in Elmore disappearing like Janice. It turns out he was right when Gumball and Darwin noticed Molly was missing and they all went to the Void to rescue her and Janice. Tinfoil hats were worn so they are aware of the existence of the Void and at earlier times, change one's luck like in "The Helmet".
* A variant in ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'': the cops arresting Mentok the Mindtaker wear helmets lined with aluminum as that blocks Mentok's mindtaking powers. Metal plates also block them, as he found out when he tried taking daredevil Ernie Devlin's mind.

* In "Olivia and Her Alien Brother" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Olivia}}'', Olivia wears one and has her friend Julian do the same, under the mistaken impression that her "older bother" Ian is an alien studying intelligent life forms on Earth and plotting to get rid of all little sisters.
* A variation on this trope is used in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. In the episode "The Last Mabel Corn" it is revealed that Uncle Ford has lined his skull with metal to prevent the series antagonist Bill Cipher from possessing him or entering his mind without realizing it.

* Averted in ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. The protagonist is discussing how hundreds of people have been secretly implanted by the Telepathy Corps. If you find out about it, the only way to prevent them reading your thoughts is to wear an iron cap for the rest of your life.

->'''D'Ork of the Thorkoth:''' I seem to recall it was your bright idea to spend billions of credits on those orbiting mind-control lasers!

->''"I seem to recall it was your bright idea to spend billions of credits on those orbiting mind-control lasers!"''\\
''"How was I to know that tinfoil hats would become the latest fashion?"''

-->-- '''[[http://www.tomparisdorm.com/viewstory.php?sid=4084 Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space]]'''