History Main / ItsProbablyNothing

* Babies. Because they're still low on memory, for the first few months you can get their attention with a toy then cover it up so that they'll wonder where it went until forgetting about it. That changes, eventually.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E19ThePurpleTestament The Purple Testament]]", three wounded soldiers conclude that the "explosion" sound must just be thunder.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Occurs when the ''Ulysses'' picks up the Leviathan on sonar. Commander Rourke wonders if it could be a pod of whales, but it soon stops, leading Sinclair to say it's gone now. Seconds later the Leviathan attacks.

* Subject of a brief gag in ''Film/{{Superman}}'', when a guy working in his skyscraper office catches a glimpse of Superman, or at least his red boots standing sideways on the guy's window, and dismisses it as his imagination.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' when the hero is hiding with her pet bird in a hole. The bird chirps and the guard notice. She lets the bird go as they are about to investigate and it flies out of the hole. The guards shrug, saying it was just a bird and our hero sighs a sigh of relief. Then the guards capture her and go "you didn't think we'd really fall for that, did you?" Of course, another hero shows up to save our first hero.
* Taken to the point of utter farce in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''.
** Repeated quite ridiculously in a later game of the series, ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. Jade(by far the worst offender), Tear, Guy, Ion and even Luke himself all gasp or draw attention to themselves only to say "No, it's nothing." It's *always* something. Always.
** Here are some things in ''Abyss'' that are considered "nothing": [[spoiler: Luke being a replica. Ion also being a replica. Largo being Natalia's father. Guy's desire to assassinate the fon Fabre family, including Luke. ("What do you have to live for?" "Revenge." "What?" "Just kidding!") Anise betraying the party and causing Ion's death. Jade realizing that the only way to stop the miasma is to sacrifice either Luke or Asch. Luke having a very limited time left to live after destroying the miasma.]] And...[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking whatever Jade did to Dist]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dtCoe7sMIQ this scene.]]
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood''. Ezio had been told earlier that the men of Monteriggioni would be practising with the cannons at dawn, so his first thought when he hears cannon fire is that it is a training exercise. Then a cannonball goes through his room.
** A version of this can also be seen throughout the game with the guards as long as you're not in a restricted area or actually on the roof/in sight of a roof guard.
--->'''Guard:''' ''[seeing Ezio hanging on the wall]'' What is he doing? Bah! I can't be bothered with this now!\\
''[seconds later, after the patrol passes, the nearby target gets two hidden blades in the chest]''

* Referenced to in ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge''. During one of the vent sequences, you can hear someone complaining about rats infesting the ventilation system.
** Justified, as one Easter Egg involves triggering a [[RodentsOfUnusualSize rat as big as a truck]] to run down a street. Something like that would HAVE to make some noise.
* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', your partner says something while you're listening to [[spoiler:Grubba]] while in the air vent. He gets suspicious and you have a choice of sounds to make in an attempt to fool him.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', there is an optional sequence in which you follow [[spoiler:Mila]] as she goes to rob Zunari's safe. It is possible to get her attention and still be all right... if you are still hidden and make a cat noise.
** Earlier, the first time through the Forsaken Fortress, there are places where you can move about, as long as you're in a barrel. (If you're seen by a Moblin or shone on by a light, or if your barrel is seen moving, you're thrown in a cell, even if you could have run away.) However, the Moblins have no particular sense that there's something wrong when a barrel was over ''there'', but now it's over ''here'', and there's no one around who could have moved it...
*** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that Moblins are ''extremely'' stupid.
* Similarly to the ''Fallout'' example, making noise around hostile guards in ''{{VideoGame/Metro2033}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' will result in them investigating (even switching on their headlamps to search better in dark environments) and raising an alarm if they spot you, either verbally or by ringing a bell. However, if you manage to hide from sight and stay perfectly still long enough, they'll decide it's "the damn drafts again" or "just the rats" and calm down. If you do something blatantly obvious though, like killing someone in view of their comrades or breaking a gas lamp and starting a fire, the best you can hope to do is stay out of sight while the guards go into hyper-aggressive "Search everywhere!" mode.
* In the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', This is {{Averted}} at low fear levels and {{Inverted}} at high fear levels. At the beginning of a stealth segment, the guards know that Batman is around somewhere, so they have the presence of mind to check anything out of the ordinary. Once they get panicky enough, they'll start freaking out at the slightest noise in fear that it might be Batman, whether or not it is.
* ''VideoGame/InvisibleInc'' plays with this. If a guard leaves their patrol route to investigate a tile but finds nothing, they'll go right back to patrolling. However, if they catch one of your agents (or wake up after you knock them out), they will be [[SubvertedTrope permanently alerted and won't stop searching for them,]] making them much harder to deal with.
** Less obviously, this is happening constantly as your agents are moving in plain sight of random webcams not directly connected to the security net, making noise and vibration, affecting the heat regulation and air filtration systems... all of whose data are being continously scanned by security AI programmed to be paranoid and chase down any hint of intrusion. Invisible Incorporated's AI, Incognita, is simultaneously working to delay identification and confirmation of your presence by invoking this trope, but over time the residue of the deflections will themselves form a detectable pattern. This is why no matter how careful you're being security levels will still rise over time and resources will be diverted towards your location.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins:'' A note can be found with the writer saying how his friend is worried about rustling in the bushes nearby, with the writer telling him it's no biggie. You find the note surrounded by several very angry crocodiles, and no sign of the writer, with that previous statement being the first and only entry.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' A note found in the ruins of the failed colony on Eos has one of the colonists saying this, before admitting that it's not the wind. "Wind doesn't roar like it's hungry." It turns out to be a Fiend.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBountyHunter'':
** A cutscene has Jango Fett sneak onto the asteroid housing the [[TheAlcatraz Oovo IV Correctional Facility]] by flying his ship close enough to one of the prison's cargo ships in order to get past the energy field. One of the crewman takes notice.
---> '''Crewman:''' Uh, Captain? Our scopes just picked up a ghost image on our sensor rig.\\
'''Captain:''' Probably another glitch, like that false bio-signature we saw in the cargo hold earlier.
** [[spoiler:Said bio-signature turns out to be stowaway Zam Wesell, meaning the same ship's crew missed not one but ''two'' intruders thanks to this trope.]]

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Grace is explicitly hunted by a super orc right up until the StealthBasedGame mechanic kicks in and the orc [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/fantasywasteland-13 dismisses her presence as having been nothing]] since she hid for long enough.

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1360721944057731300
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* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Tristan somehow manages to sneak up on a guard while wearing a ''full suit of plate armor''.
* Played with in ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie''. Sonic is relaxing on the beach and Tails goes out to the ocean to try his new machine, it goes out of control and he begins screaming for Sonic to help him. Sonic, who just wants to relax, dismisses it as "probably nothing". Tails continues screaming for Sonic, and he finally yells at him to shut up.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]:'' The team has been chased around the world by characters with mysterious powers that manifest in all sorts of crazy ways, they end up in a strangely lifeless town covered in fog in India, and after being rudely brushed off by a store owner, Joseph notices roaches crawling on the man's neck. The natural reaction? "I must've been imagining things."
** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'': In the middle of a rainstorm, Josuke, Okuyasu, and Hayato are having a very loud confrontation with Kira that involves screaming and explosions. Standing just around the corner, Jotaro hears something but writes it off as the rain just sounding like Josuke.

* In the Series/{{Firefly}} / Series/DoctorWho crossover fanfic ''Fanfic/TheManWithNoName'', while some of the ''Serenity'' crew is hunting Reavers in some woods, they all suddenly stop, thinking they heard something. [[IdiotBall The Doctor opts to barrel through anyway. Guess what he walks right into]]?
* In the ''Anime/YuGiOh'' fanfic ''FanFic/DecksFallEveryoneDies'', Joey ignores the fact that he is ''coughing up blood'' while thinking this.
* In ''FanFic/TheDarknessSeries'', a ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] where Harry is being corrupted by the DarkSide, Hermione notices Harry is changing but just thinks it's stress brought on by the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live Action]]
* ''Film/Bones2001:'' In a flashback, Pearl reads Jimmy's palm and senses that he's in danger if he goes to the meeting with Eddie Mack, but he ignores her concerns.

* ''Film/SpiderMan3'', when Marko's presence in the test chamber is immediately dismissed as just a bird.
* Played with in ''Film/PansLabyrinth''. Early in the movie, Ofelia hears some creepy noises coming from the walls of the house at night, and her mother explains it as the sounds of the house settling. Later, [[spoiler:Ofelia narrowly escapes the Pale Man's lair with the Pale Man chasing after her; and once she gets back into the house, the Pale Man pounding on the door behind her makes the exact same "house-settling" noises Ofelia heard earlier.]]
* In ''Film/DuckSoup'', spy Pinky thinks he's opening a wall safe, but instead turns on a radio that plays loud brass band music, leading to this exchange:
-->'''Mrs. Teasdale:''' What's that?\\
'''Rufus T. Firefly:''' Sounds to me like mice.\\
'''Mrs. Teasdale:''' Mice? Mice don't play music.\\
'''Rufus T. Firefly:''' No? How about the old mice-tro?
* PlayedWith in an odd way in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''--Zefram Cochrane quotes the trope when trying to remember what he might've forgotten to bring with him for the launch of the ''Phoenix''. Just as the final countdown starts, he remembers what it is and starts panicking, saying they can't launch without it. They're about to abort the launch when he finds it in his pocket--a futuristic CD so he can play "Magic Carpet Ride" during the flight.
* A common response used by Steven Glass in ''Film/ShatteredGlass'' when he's trying to keep his fellow journalists and anyone else interested from catching on to what he's up to.

* In ''Film/TheMysteryOfTheHoodedHorsemen'', Tex trails Blackie to the meeting place of the Riders. At one point, Blackie thinks he is being followed, but then dismisses it, saying "It's probably just a coyote".
* In ''Film/{{Killdozer}}'', Kelly asks mechanic Chub to examine the bulldozer to determine why it went berserk. Chub reports back that he can't find anything mechanically wrong with the dozer, but there is mysterious humming emanating from the blade which he can't locate a source for. Kelly listens to the hum, then dismisses it as "probably nothing important".
* ''Film/ScavengerHunt1979'': This is Sam's reaction when her hears Dummitz [[AirVentPassageway breaking into the bidal boutique via the air vent]]. It is only when Dummitz tries to sneak past him [[NobodyHereButUsStatues disguised as a mannequin]] that he decides he should investigate.
* ''Film/{{Shackleton}}'': After the ''Endurance'' is trapped in the Antarctic ice, the crew hears an ominous grinding sound and feels the ship move. Shackleton (Kenneth Branagh) insists that it's the result of a whale mistaking the ship for a hole in the ice. It isn't.

* Harris in ''Literature/DoNotTakeTheShells'' insists there is a perfectly mundane explanation when he sees the strange woman disappear beneath the waves and not resurface. A variation in that he does go after her to investigate, but simply [[GenreBlindness doesn't expect anything bad to happen]].
* In the ''Grimm's Fairly Tales'' version of ''Hansel and Gretel'', the title siblings hear a voice from within the house, but remark "Never mind, it is the wind."

* In the ''Literature/SolomonKane'' story ''Footfalls Within'', by Creator/RobertEHoward, the titular footfalls are blithely dismissed as "nothing" by a bunch of slavers, with [[KarmicDeath foreseeable consequences]].

* ''Literature/TheDarkTower2004:'' While in "Joe Collins"'s house, Susannah hears a noise which she tells herself must be the raging storm outside, even when she is also very convinced must be Mordred. Then, soon after, she realizes the noise is coming from ''inside'' the house...

* [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping/As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door./"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door/Only this, and nothing more."]] ([[ExactWords Technically]], he was right.)

* A famous operatic example is the scene in ''Theatre/HanselAndGretel1893'' where the children are busily taking pieces off the GingerbreadHouse and eating them. Twice, a voice from inside demands to know who's been nibbling at her house, the children think for a moment, and they declare it was the wind, the heavenly child.
* In ''The Rainmaker'' and its musical adaptation ''Theatre/OneTenInTheShade'', the entrance of Starbuck is initially dismissed this way:

* In ''Königskinder'', the Goose-girl hears the noise of branches breaking in the distance, only to dismiss it as the wind blowing through the foliage. The horn-call {{Leitmotif}} heard twice at this moment is a bit of a MusicalSpoiler that a major character is about to introduce himself to her.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' is probably the trope namer for this one.
** "Uh... it's probably not a problem... probably... but I'm showing a small discrepancy in the-- well, no, it's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence." For those who have never played the game, this is about 20 seconds before things hit the fan.
** Beautifully averted at one point when Gordon is climbing through some vents and making noise. Soldiers down below hear him and, rather than dismiss the noise as a headcrab or something, shoot the hell out of it and cause it to fall off the ceiling. Another time a soldier hears Freeman climbing through a pipe, and responds by tossing a satchel charge into it. A refreshing case of the enemies ''not'' [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy being total morons.]]
** In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' ''Episode 2'', Dr. Magnusson dispatches Freeman to the secondary silo where "damn crows have been nesting in the tracks all day", therefore setting off the silo alarms. Apparently no one thought to check on the non-responsive secondary silo staff until Gordon heads over there and finds [[spoiler: a Combine invasion in-progress]].
* In the game ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}'', fighting a guard automatically raises the alarm. Guards who were, just a moment ago, attacked with katanas will dismiss the incident as being caused ''by a dog!''
** This is one of the more common and ridiculous occurrences in the ''Tenchu'' series. In ''Wrath of Heaven'' you can drop down on one guard's head, ''snap his neck with a sickening sound in front of another guard,'' then as the guard pursues, jump up on a roof and hide, only to hear the guard pause and say "Ah forget it."
*** An alternative interpretation for Tenchu guard apathy could be that the guards are PunchClockVillains who aren't interested in [[TooDumbToLive chasing trained assassins]] too closely.
* The guards in ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' do this a lot. Torch that's been clearly doused with a water arrow, presumably leaving puddles of water all over the place? "Must've been the wind." Large metal object falling down, making a stupid amount of noise? "Hmm... must be my imagination." [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/not-what-it-seems/ Et cetera.]]
** A RunningGag in the series is everyone blaming mysterious noises on rats.
** There are exceptions, though. Make the slightest noise on a metal surface, or shoot an arrow at a wall, and most of the time everyone in the immediate vicinity will be on full alert looking for you. If there's an alarm button nearby, they'll most likely be running for it as well.

* Likewise, in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' you can hit a guard in his air tank -- and the other guards will just fix the tank and declare "false alarm".
* Averted in ''VideoGame/RobinHoodTheLegendOfSherwood.'' Guards always check every noise, explore every inch of the room, will free anyone who was tied up, and will report corpses that they haven't already seen to their captain.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', where guards would ''always'' check to make sure it's actually "nothing". The ones in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' would actually search every nook and cranny of the room you were seen disappearing into, and even if they don't find you, extra guards would be sent to patrol that sector.
** Though the entire series pretty much encompasses this trope with a catchphrase. Despite a random box just appearing in their patrol route that was clear 30 seconds prior... ''"Just a box."''
** The guards in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' play this straight sometimes. If they get a glimpse of you from a distance, they'll pull out a pair of binoculars to get a closer look. [[StealthHiBye If you hide yourself quickly enough]], they'll think it was "just their imagination".
* In ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush has infiltrated the ghost-pirate [=LeChuck=]'s ship, using a magic eyeball necklace that makes him invisible. The player has to get a key off of [=LeChuck=]'s cabin wall, but every time Guybrush approaches, [=LeChuck=] turns and makes a comment about how someone must be behind him. When he sees that no one is there, he turns back around while invoking some version of this trope.
--> '''[=LeChuck=]:''' The wind makes not such a creaking! \\
[{{Beat}}]\\
'''[=LeChuck=]: '''[[ImmediateSelfContradiction Must be the wind.]]
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has guards as thorough as (if not more so than) the ones in ''Metal Gear Solid''. Worse, they have far too many ways to remove the shadows you rely on. The guards early in the game have flashlights and flares. The Chinese soldiers have headband-mounted lights. Not to be outdone, the Georgian Special Forces have ''night-vision goggles''. By ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'', enemies with ''thermal-vision'' start showing up, complete with x-ray vision.
** Of course, there are still mooks who have no special way of seeing in the dark, and they fit the trope perfectly. There is a co-op level in ''Chaos Theory'' where you can enter a room with two guards watching a sports game on TV. Shooting out the TV then quickly leaving the room results in them wandering around for a bit, then going back to the couch with a 'probably the wind' comment and watching their shot out TV. Good job guards.
** This is actually lampshaded by the enemies: if the player makes a loud enough noise without being seen, there's a randomly-occurring exchange where one guard says "It's probably--" but is then abruptly cut off by his partner, who tells him that it's never "just nothing".
** In ''Chaos Theory'', messing with a guard enough will cause them to avert this trope entirely, making them paranoid enough to start shooting at ''any'' suspicious noises.
* In the first Predator stage of the original ''VideoGame/AlienVsPredator'' [=PC=] game, after gibbing a guard in the opening cutscene, you can hear the base's MissionControl: "Unit Two, report in... Report ''in'', Unit Two... Unit Two, do you copy?! Damn, his comm must be down." You're doing these idiots a favor when you kill them.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' downplays this. Guards will first investigate, then wonder where you are, before deciding you aren't around -- but it takes all of ten seconds. Often they can be heard to utter "He's miles away by now" when J.C. hides behind a box in a dead end.
** If you shoot a guard in the face with a tranquilizer dart and hide, he'll run around for a moment, then (because the drug in one dart isn't enough to knock them out) return to his patrol with the arrow sticking out of his face.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/DeathToSpies''. While the enemy will brush off strange noises, (such as the sound of someone being punched in the head if they find nothing or thrown distractions.) if any enemy even spots a body, sees the player for too long, hears any noise (except the silenced pistol), or if the player has any visible Soviet gear on at all -- even after changing uniform --, has a weapon out (unless dressed as a patrolman, and then only a weapon that the others have, usually an MP-40), is doing something that doesn't match the disguise's purpose or rank (stealing a truck without being in an officer or driver's uniform) or is a patrolman/officer who can recognize if you are not one of them, they will almost immediately upon entering their "sight confirmation" begin to fire, alerting any other nearby guards, and giving chase, usually for half of the map. In many cases, they will run to hit the alarm, which will effectively end the mission because every guard in the area will be alerted to you (often well over 20-30 people), and quickly open fire if they spot you as well as give chase, often killing you very quickly if there are any sharpshooters in the area, even faster if you are headshot. Oh, and don't try hiding: they'll stay on full alert, just waiting for the chance to find you, even on lower difficulties where alerts eventually stop, it takes much longer than other stealth games, an alarm is very hard to survive unless the player happens to get caught next to some hiding spot that lets them quickly lose their pursers, take alerted enemies out before a full scale alert happens or get lucky with the challenging combat.
* Notably averted by the 2009 ''[[VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame Ghostbusters]]'' game. Even when the PKE meter shows nothing, the Ghostbusters ''never'' assume that It's Probably Nothing. They ''always'' investigate. Of course, blowing up [[spoiler: the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for the second time]] early in the game probably has them on their toes for the rest.
* Lampshaded and subverted in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', where Dom does not brush off the strange sound so easily. He's right.
-->'''Dome:''' Yeah right, when was the last time the wind said ''hostiles!'', to you?

* ''The Great Escape'' plays this to the point of ridiculousness. Having charged through a door and straight into the arms of a patroling German soldier, you dash straight into another room leaving the poor sod gawping after you. His words?
-->"Must have been ze vind."

* Averted in ''VideoGame/DeathToSpies''. If any enemy even spots a body, sees the player for too long, hears any noise (except the silenced pistol), or if the player has any visible Soviet gear on at all -- even after changing uniform --, has a weapon out (unless dressed as a patrolman, and then only a weapon that the others have, usually an MP-40), is doing something that doesn't match the disguise's purpose or rank (stealing a truck without being in an officer or driver's uniform) or is a patrolman/officer who can recognize if you are not one of them, they will almost immediately upon entering their "sight confirmation" begin to fire, alerting any other nearby guards, and giving chase, usually for half of the map. In many cases, they will run to hit the alarm, which will effectively end the mission because every guard in the area will be alerted to you (often well over 20-30 people), and quickly open fire if they spot you as well as give chase, often killing you very quickly if there are any sharpshooters in the area, even faster if you are headshot. Oh, and don't try hiding: they'll stay on full alert, just waiting for the chance to find you.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} Scared Shrekless]]'', Donkey appears to hear the voice of Lord Farquaad's ghost.

-->-- '''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222203 Bump in the Night,]]''' Flavor Text, ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has guards as thorough as (if not more so than) the ones in ''Metal Gear Solid''. Worse, they have far too many ways to remove the shadows you rely on. The guards early in the game have flashlights and flares. The Chinese soldiers have headband-mounted lights. Not to be outdone, the Georgian Special Forces have ''night-vision goggles''. By ''Chaos Theory'', enemies with ''thermal-vision'' start showing up, complete with x-ray vision.
** Of course there are still mooks who have no special way of seeing in the dark, and they fit the trope perfectly. There is a co-op level in ''Chaos Theory'' where you can enter a room with two guards watching a sports game on TV. Shooting out the TV then quickly leaving the room results in them wandering around for a bit, then going back to the couch with a 'probably the wind' comment and watching their shot out TV. Good job guards.
** This is actually Lampshaded by the enemies: if the player makes a loud enough noise without being seen, there's a randomly-occurring exchange where one guard says "It's probably--" but is then abruptly cut off by his partner, who tells him that it's never "just nothing".
** In Chaos Theory, messing with a guard enough will cause them to avert this trope entirely, making them paranoid enough to start shooting at ''any'' suspicious noises.

'''Captain:''' ''(producing [[WhipItGood cat o' nine tails]])'' They're right, [[{{Pun}} it was the cat!]]

* In the Series/{{Firefly}} / Series/DoctorWho crossover fanfic Fanfic/TheManWithNoName, while some of the ''Serenity'' crew is hunting Reavers in some woods, they all suddenly stop, thinking they heard something. [[IdiotBall The Doctor opts to barrel through anyway. Guess what he walks right into]]?

* ''Manga/{{Spriggan}}''. When Yu Ominae assumes this trope while in the [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Forest of No Return]], Yoshino Somei ''[[BulletDancing fires at his feet]]'' to make him go and look! [[LaserGuidedKarma Then she's snatched up]] WhenTreesAttack [[NeverSplitTheParty while Yu is away]].

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'':

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':
** When Akira tests his forth set of PoweredArmor and its InvisibilityCloak in the Higaraka Residence Ruins, the hunters there say things like this when he passes within range of them, since their EverythingSensor is set to pick up large monsters, and Akira’s cloak is on the cheaper end. He never uses that suits cloak function again due to this.
** Occasionally when Sheryl wakes up in bed after having [[ChasteHero slept (chastely) with Akira]], she seems to overhear Akira accidentally speaking out loud to his VirtualSidekick Alpha, when he normally uses {{Telepathy}}, and Sheryl dismisses it as her imagination. With Sheryl having been spoken to by Alpha in a dream, it's an AmbiguousSituation as to whether Akira really spoke out loud or she overheard the telepathy.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Doomed", Giles dismisses an earthquake as "shifting landmasses". On the one hand, he ''is'' in Southern California. On the other hand, as Buffy points out, the last time they had a decent earthquake in Sunnydale, she [[DisneyDeath died]]. Buffy is proven right, as it turns out to be a portent of the apocalypse.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', episode 904 "Film/Werewolf1996":

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', "The Purple Testament", three wounded soldiers conclude that the "explosion" sound must just be thunder.

[[caption-width-right:350:"unless it's a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot ninja rat]], but that's besides the point."]]

* A cutscene in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBountyHunter'' has Jango Fett sneak onto the asteroid housing the [[TheAlcatraz Oovo IV Correctional Facility]] by flying his ship close enough to one of the prison's cargo ships in order to get past the energy field. One of the crewman takes notice.
--> '''Crewman:''' Uh, Captain? Our scopes just picked up a ghost image on our sensor rig.
--> '''Captain:''' Probably another glitch, like that false bio-signature we saw in the cargo hold earlier.
[[spoiler:Said bio-signature turns out to be stowaway Zam Wesell, meaning the same ship's crew missed not one but ''two'' intruders thanks to this trope.]]

* A famous operatic example is the scene in ''Theatre/HanselAndGretel'' where the children are busily taking pieces off the GingerbreadHouse and eating them. Twice, a voice from inside demands to know who's been nibbling at her house, the children think for a moment, and they declare it was the wind, the heavenly child.

* Usually averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. If hostile guards hear you, they investigate and raise the alarm if they see you. If you're well hidden, though, the other guards will berate the first for crying wolf.

* Agent Wyoming's introduction in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is full of this trope:

* The people manning the Chernobyl power plant did this twice. First they ignored the obvious pieces of reactor fuel lying around and thought the explosion hadn't blown everything the hell up, then after several dosimeters were [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale pegged at maximum]] and they brought in one that actually had the proper range, it read so high that they assumed it must be defective. It wasn't. Though by many accounts there was [[HeadInTheSandManagement a degree of wilful self-delusion]] going on as well.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', where guards would ''always'' check to make sure it's actually "nothing". The ones in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' would actually search every nook and cranny of the room you were seen disappearing into, and even if they don't find you, extra guards would be sent to patrol that sector.

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Unfortunately for the [[VideoGame/{{Dishonored}} Watch of Dunwall]], [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/9976-Still-Just-a-Rat this is a subversion.]]]]-]

* Defied in ''WebAnimation/HowItShouldHaveEnded'' when the FreakLabAccident caused by supervising scientists saying that readings are WithinParameters are implored by a highly sensible black scientist character to ''make sure'' everything's actually fine. This character would go on to become a running gag, appearing to avert plots [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot easily avoided]] by basic precaution and [[NoOSHACompliance safety measures]].

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', episode 904 "Film/{{Werewolf}}":

* ''Anime/{{Spriggan}}''. When Yu Ominae assumes this trope while in the [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Forest of No Return]], Yoshino Somei ''[[BulletDancing fires at his feet]]'' to make him go and look! [[LaserGuidedKarma Then she's snatched up]] WhenTreesAttack [[NeverSplitTheParty while Yu is away]].