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Many times, truth is stranger than fiction. Sometimes, the truth of the fiction is stranger still. This is a phenomenon that occurs when what actually happens sounds as far off as Epileptic Trees -- except, no, it's Canon. Crazy, but Canon. If after telling your friends about a plot you find you have to add the disclaimer No Seriously, you are likely to have stumbled into this trope's territory.

When a viewer accidentally receives spoilers, they often won't believe that they could possibly be real because it seems too crazy to be true. Often times, what fools is in the details of it; "everybody dies at the end of this series" is believable, but "everybody gets hugged and turns into Tang" is not. Also, the previous sentence may contain spoilers. (Yes, we are fully aware of the irony of having that sentence after the spoilers. We do it 'cause we're jerks.)

The opposite of The Untwist; while that's a twist that's too obvious and may not be believed because of this, this is a twist that's not believed at first because it's too crazy.

Contrast Sarcastic Confession and I Knew It, where theories are proven Canon, but aren't absolutely batcrap crazy. Compare They Fight Crime, where the actual series premise is the unbelievable part. There's also a lot of overlap with Better Than It Sounds.

This phrase may have been popularized by humor writer Dave Barry. Nobody knows.

RIDICULOUS SPOILERS AHEAD

Examples: