History Main / YouWouldntBelieveMeIfIToldYou

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[LargeHam Bumi]], known for his tall tales, delivers this line almost word for word after single-handedly destroying an entire Water Tribe encampment with little more than a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFfdfsPKEYY flute and pure guile.]]

* The player can invoke this in ''VideoGame/MissionCritical'' after waking up with the first officer of the USS ''Lexington'' angry, holding a sidearm on them, and demanding answers. It goes about as well as one would expect.
'''Player:''' You won't believe a word.\\

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', this trope is the reason why the [[AmateurSleuth Investigation Team]] (a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits ragtag group of high school kids]]) can't turn to the police for help. [[spoiler: Which is proven true late in the game when the Protagonist gets hauled off to Police Station by Dojima (his uncle and a detective) after receiving a threat letter in the mail.]]

* In ''The Gatekeeper: The Gate Contracts'', George Green has to explain to his boss what happened with Lynn in the Men's restroom:

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' [[spoiler:it is employed by Izaya to mess with Earthworm after she kidnaps and 'tortures' him. He has Haruna control Earthworm's allies to free him and to incapacitate them once his people storm the place. He taunts Earthworm as her plans fall apart by answering her questions with "You wouldn't understand"]].

* In ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'', after [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Rika Fuurude]] convinces [[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya Kyon]], [[spoiler:her nephew]], to trust her and tell her his story about the supernatural by her telling him her [[AnyoneCanDie own]] [[GroundhogDayLoop supernatural]] [[EverybodyLives experiences]] he explains that his adventures, while true, are still difficult to believe.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short ''Tweet and Sour'', Sylvester is threatened with being sent to the violin string factory if he's caught trying to eat Tweety again. After spending the rest of the cartoon trying to save Tweety from another cat, Granny walks in ''just'' as Sylvester was putting him ''back'' in his cage. The cat stammers trying to explain, but he then gives up, saying "What's the use? She'll ''never'' believe me."

* A major plot of ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]'' is that Kyoji made a clone of himself with all of his knowledge and skills in order to protect his brother Domon as he was currently under the control of the Dark Gundam and incapable of helping Domon himself. When asked by Domon why he didn't reveal this secret earlier, Kyoji's clone states, "You were so hot-headed back then, Domon; you wouldn't have believed me if I had told you."

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', this is the reason Homura gives as to why she never told anyone about the terrible secrets behind Magical Girls. [[spoiler:And she knows this for a fact: in previous timelines, she ''did'' try telling her friends, but they never believed her.]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

-->'''Kyon:''' (through ManlyTears) I...it's... It's nothing nearly that bad. I wouldn't... You may still think I'm crazy, and... Well, parts of this are secrets I don't really tell anyone else, but...
* In ''FanFic/{{Insomnia}}'', Link acts on this trope's principle whenever he shrugs off Tatl's attempts of uncovering his backstory.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' movie, ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'', Wakko is given a chance to make a wish on the Wishing Star, he goes to tell Yakko and Dot, saying they're not gonna believe what he's about to say. Yakko replies, "Try us. We're gullible."

* ''Film/TheFinalCountdown'' uses the, "They're never going to believe it," variation as the USS ''Nimitz'' is returning to Pearl Harbor, having just spent about a week in 1941 thanks to TimeTravel.

-->'''Old woman:''' ...and he's pulling out my carrots with his tail!
-->'''Cop:''' "...carrots with tail." Rrrright. What does he do with them after he's pulled them out?
-->'''Old woman:''' ...Officer, [[AssShove if I told you, you wouldn't believe me]]!

-->They moved to the far side of the room, and I leaned closer to Shay.
-->"Are you okay?"
-->"You wouldn't believe it if I told you."
-->"Oh, try me."

--->'''Player:''' You won't believe a word.
--->'''Tran:''' Try me.
--->''*Tell her everything that's happened, including [[spoiler: [[TheMole the traitor aboard the ship]], the UNS ambush and resulting death of everyone else on board both ships, the destruction of the [[LostTechnology alien ruins]] on the planet, the resulting loss of the war, TimeTravel, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end of all known space]] due to a later RobotWar ([[SubvertedTrope started]] by [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the humans]]), and the [[SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence sentient AIs]] who sent you back [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong to prevent it]].]]*''
--->'''Tran:''' That is the most ridiculous story I've heard since I graduated from the naval academy.

* At the beginning of the Warden's Keep DLC for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', you can ask Levi Dryden how he was able to pick his way through a series of mountain tunnels to Solider's Peak. He utters this phrase in response, but when you press him, he reveals that it came to him in a dream. It turns out to be true; that was how the [[BloodMagic mage]] Avernus [[TalkingInYourDreams reached out to Levi]], encouraging him to search the (not entirely) abandoned fortress.
* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'', Graham gets carried away by a giant Roc and is only barely rescued from being eaten by its young by a friendly eagle, who deposits him on a beach. When Cedric asks where Graham went, he responds with the trope name.
** Which is rather odd, seeing as in that game alone he dealt with genies, witches, magic ice queens, elves, gnomes, talking animals and trees, yetis and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking gypsies]]. But getting carried away by a giant bird is apparently [[ArbitrarySkepticism too much to believe.]]
* During the final level of ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', Nomad finally meets with Psycho again, who had been supporting him throughout the game up until they were separated, and sees that he has secured an alien life-form for the U.S Navy to study. Nomad asks Psycho how he got the alien off the island and onto a Naval vessel, and Psycho responds saying, "Long story. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." However there was a DLC for the original PC version where we do in fact see how Psycho got it.

* In ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', Carlos used "SHIFT" to send his consciousness between different versions of his body in different timelines, and [[spoiler:ends up in the timeline where he killed Akane (in self-defense, following a misunderstanding over Junpei's murder). When Eric brings up that they all know he killed Akane, Carlos tries to explain that even though that might be the case it "isn't what he did right now". He responds with "I doubt you would believe me if I tried explaining it", when Eric asks what he's babbling about. He does try telling them, to which both Sigma and Diana understand straight away due to having the same SHIFT ability. Whereas Eric continues to think the three of them are sprouting crap.]]
* At the end of Chapter 3 of ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' April meets her friends in her room. They ask her what she was taking her time, for which this is her answer. After finally telling them that [[SummonEverymanHero she was visiting a fantasy world]] and she [[TheChosenOne was chosen to save both worlds from Chaos]], Charlie says that he believes her because he knows she wouldn't lie.

A StockPhrase. [[AliceAndBob Alice]] has just done something/been somewhere/went on a crazy adventure, and Bob asks her about it, usually with "Where Were You?" Rather than boring the audience with the story, or using a quick Fade Out-Fade In to skip it, Alice simply says "You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You..."

* ''WesternAnimation/BozoTheWorldsMostFamousClown'': In "Flying Shoes Blues," Bozo takes off in a pai of jet-propelled shoes an alien left. The Air Force mistakes him as a [=UFO=]; a pilot goes off his nut when he sees Bozo, so when the tower asks for a description, the pilot replies "If I told you, you wouldn't believe it!"

* Doppo Orochi doesn't confirm the rumors he killed a tiger with his bare hands in part because he knows how unbelievable the story is. He's also ashamed of it because tigers are endangered.

* PlayedForDrama in ''Fanfic/HeroChat'' as the reason why Marinette never told her classmates how Lila threatened her to keep quiet about her lies or she'll ruin her life, since they initially dismissed her claim that Lila was lying about her connections and illnesses. When the rest of Team Miraculous hears this, they are shocked to find out, and quickly assure her that they would have believed Marinette if she told them about Lila's threat.

The opposite is CassandraTruth, where Alice ''does'' tell Bob, and Bob doesn't buy it. Likewise, contrast to YouHaveToBelieveMe, where someone tells the truth while making it sound as crazy as possible. Related is SarcasticConfession, where Alice tells Bob in a sarcastic manner to prevent him from taking it seriously. Contrast SuspiciouslySpecificDenial.

* ''Fanfic/TheBodyReflectsTheHeartTheShadowReflectsTheSoul'': At the beginning of Chapter 4, Commissioner Kaburagi is initially outraged that Zenkichi didn't tell her about his Persona and the Metaverse, but when he cites this as his reasoning, she calms down and concedes the point.
-->'''Zenkichi''': I mean, if one hadn't seen it for themselves, who would believe that there's a dimension parallel to this one where monsters of human cognition roam and people can awaken to supernatural powers?

A common variation (or addition) is: "I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen/lived/heard/witnessed/experienced it." And as the examples show, there are several permutations of this sentiment. In short, it's the way a character avoids the CassandraTruth situation, or at least tries to--the questioner may insist on hearing the story anyway.

%%* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds'' episode "The Resurrection"

* ''WesternAnimationo/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': At the end of [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS3E17GhostsOfMortis "Ghosts of Mortis"]], Anakin says this to Rex after the Jedi's ship is mysteriously returned to realspace a few seconds after they disappeared, at the end of a visit to an EldritchLocation.

!!Examples

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 TMNT (2003)]]'': In [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S1E3AttackOfTheMousers "Attack of the Mousers"]], Master Splinter is (understandably) afraid that April O'Neil will tell people about the existence of himself and his four sons, but April points out that even if she did tell anyone, they probably wouldn't believe her--even Leo and Mikey agree that April does have a point.

* Happens in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Changes'', where the [[GoodCopBadCop Good Cop]] is questioning Harry about a building that was bombed. Harry delivers this line when asked if he knows who did it, then the two change subject and talk a while before the cop decides he's innocent and lets him go. Before Harry leaves, the cop asks who really did it, to which he responds "Vampires," adding "I told you you wouldn't believe me" a minute later when the cop goes through surprise and disbelief.

* The player can invoke this in ''VideoGame/MissionCritical'' after waking up with the first officer of the USS Lexington angry, holding a sidearm on them, and demanding answers. It goes about as well as one would expect.

'''The Doctor:''' You'd never believe it in a million years!