History Main / AccidentalTruth

** PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', when Gingy and Pinocchio are breaking Shrek, Donkey, and Puss out of prison, [[ItMakesSenseInContext they need Pinocchio's nose to grow in order for Gingy to reach them]], so Donkey suggests that Pinocchio say something crazy like [[UnmanlySecret he was wearing ladies' underwear]]. When Pinocchio says it...nothing happens. It's only when he gets defensive when the others ask if he really was wearing ladies' underwear does his nose grow.

* ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''. In "The Mystery Knight", Dunk fears the worst when Egg is captured by one of the conspirators, but Egg convinces his captors to defect by claiming that the King knows about the conspiracy and an army is coming to arrest them all. Then a royal army turns up on their doorstep after all, because another conspirator has already revealed the plan to [[TheSpymaster Lord Bloodraven]].

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Every single time Literature/CiaphasCain ('''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM''') decides that he's going somewhere that isn't the front line, he always makes up some excuse about checking on the troops. He invariably runs into some previously-unknown game-changing event (genestealers, Chaos cultists, Necrons, etc.) that the soldiers wouldn't have been able to handle had he and Jurgen not been there.

** Once Morgans learns that [[spoiler:the Five Elders [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness want Dr. Vegapunk assasinated]]]] and that Luffy is currently on Egghead, he has his newspaper write up a PropagandaPiece saying that Luffy has taken Vegapunk hostage, which is a lie meant to earn him the World Government's good graces. The next day, while tapping on a call between the Five Elders and Egghead, Morgans overhears Luffy declare that he's done just that ([[ItMakesSenseInContext kind of]]), leaving Morgans shocked that his lie turned out to be true.

** In [[Recap/ArcherS1E1MoleHunt the pilot episode]], the titular character tries to cover his misuse of ISIS funds by claiming he's searching for a mole in the agency. Later, it turns out that there IS a mole and Archer's "investigation" causes him to attempt to escape.

* RightForTheWrongReasons, where a character follows an erroneous chain of logic to a correct conclusion.

* ''ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp'': Fred Flintstone, wanting to play bowling rather than watch some opera, makes up a story about the opera house being haunted. The place turns out to be [[ScoobyDooHoax "haunted"]] by a CorruptCorporateExecutive who needs the land to build a mall.

* During the Indigo League arc of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Ash's second round opponent is a self-proclaimed Rookie Crusher, who accuses Ash of being a "fake rookie" when he gets defeated. Everyone in the stadium naturally thinks he's just being a crazy SoreLoser, but Pikachu takes notice that [[PeggySue he's technically]] [[MentalTimeTravel correct on his assumptions]].

* In ''The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'' in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'', Brom Bones seemingly makes up the whole story about the Headless Horseman to terrorize the superstitious Ichabod Crane. As it turns out, the Headless Horseman really does exist, and goes after the terrified Crane in the ending. Although the Horseman [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane just might have been Brom in disguise.]]

* A RunningGag in ''Manga/OnePiece'' is that a good chunk of Usopp's lies are either true without him realizing it, or become true at some point. Specific examples:
** When he nailed a faraway rock formation with the Merry's cannon, his immediate response was IMeantToDoThat. He'd later develop those skills for real, and become the crew's sniper.
** One of his many lies is visiting the country of the dwarves, which is exactly what he gets to do in the Dressrosa arc as he visits Green Bit.
** After Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were knocked out in the Thriller Bark arc, he woke them up by claiming a beautiful swordswoman just brought meat. In the Dressrosa arc, enter Rebecca, a beautiful young swordswoman who does befriend Luffy by feeding him.
** His most classic lie is him having 8000 followers. [[spoiler:He does eventually gain a lot of followers in Dressrosa for knocking out Sugar and causing everyone there to return to normal, and the end of the arc sees the formation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.]]

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

'''In many works, the fact that a character's lie turns out to be true is TheReveal, so there are several unmarked spoilers below.'''

* In ''Film/GeekCharming'', Johnny says Dylan got something in her contact lens to hide the fact that they were having a moment when caught by Amy and Asher. Although Dylan denies wearing contact lenses, we see her the next morning wearing glasses after dropping one of her contact lenses in the sink.

* The 1987 Creator/ChristopherReeve movie ''Street Smart'' is about a journalist who makes up a hard-hitting story about prostitution to keep his job. Unfortunately both the authorities and a street pimp (thinking he's the subject of the article) put pressure on him to reveal his non-existent 'source'.

** One episode has Lucy and Ethel running a raffle to raise money for "Ladies' Overseas Aid", a charity they make up on the spot on the basis of, "We're ladies, we want to go overseas, and boy do we need aid." Eventually they're informed that doing such a thing is illegal, but just as they collect all the money, a representative from the ''real'' Ladies' Overseas Aid organization shows up to collect their generous donation, which they gladly hand over as a policeman was there getting ready to arrest them for fraud.

* In the first arc of ''Comicbook/SuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'', Boomerang's narration tells us the story of how after Silvermane's death his head survived, and was found by the son of a junkyard owner, who made it a little robot body, and they became friends. He then says that's nonsense and that Silvermane's head is ''actually'' being held by the Owl, and his masterplan is to steal it. It's then revealed that this is just what he's telling the team, and actually he's after something else, and his narration says the whole story of Silvermane's head surviving is ridiculous... at the same time as the Shocker is at the junkyard and sees the head in its little robot body.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand:'' One ''Batman: Cataclysm'' issue follows a group of mercenaries hired by a CEO to rescue people buried under the rubble caused by the earthquake. One such group of rescues contains a young boy who hero-worships Batman and asks if he sent them. The main rescuer claims that he did, showing one of his friends to a provision in the contract they signed which authorizes them to tell lies to keep up morale. The contract also mentions the name of the [=CEO=] who hired them as rescuers: Batman's SecretIdentity, Bruce Wayne.

* Somewhat bending this trope a bit: Three brothers go out to save the ill princess. The first two are the usual louts. The apples from their garden would have been useless anyway, but meeting the mysterious old lady who wants to know what's in their basket, and giving her a snippish "Penises!" (your bowdlerization may vary) was an especially bad move. One guess what's in their basket when they arrive at the castle and how [[{{Pun}} screwed]] they are afterwards. The third one is polite and says what he believes, apples which shall cure the princess. (Well, technically not a lie but wishful thinking.) The witch makes this real also, cue happily ever after.

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'': Magenta convinces Hedo to help by claiming that Capsule Corporation's advanced technology was developed with the help of aliens. Unbeknownst to Magenta, this claim is partially true: Doctor Brief helped Jaco, a member of the Galactic Patrol, by fixing his ship for him, figuring out how ''their'' anti-gravity devices worked in the process through reverse engineering. The Patrol let him keep the resulting design as thanks for his assistance.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'', Gou (Kamen Rider Mach) at one point apparently turns against the heroes. At around the same time they discover that the current ArcVillain has the power to brainwash people by altering their memories. Chase eventually confirms that Gou had been affected by the brainwashing, but in order to spare the feelings of his sister Kiriko (since a cure for the brainwashing hadn't yet been found), tells her that Gou [[TheMole was actually working undercover to undermine the Roidmudes]]. [[PretendToBeBrainwashed It turns out that he really was; he happened to have a particular biological quirk that made him immune to the brainwashing]].

* This is the problem that led to Literature/DirkGently's expulsion from college: the capstone of his scam to deceive his more gullible classmates into believing that [[NotSoPhonyPsychic he had psychic powers but was in denial about their existence]] founders when he produces a complete copy of a future exam "under hypnosis" (by looking over previous exams and guessing what might come up) only for it to turn out to be exactly letter-for-letter correct. This continues happening to him in the second book where he is horribly accurate doing fortune telling in drag and correctly identifies one of the conspiritors because he want to arbitrarily blame the whole mess on somebody who isn't him.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'': A conversation between two Militia members has them realize that Batman must have a huge amount of money for his gadgets, which they suggest something like government funding. Then one joke that Bruce Wayne also has the funds to be Batman, only for the his friend to laugh.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'': A conversation between two Militia members has them realize that Batman must have a huge amount of money for his gadgets, which they suggest something like government funding. They then joke that Batman is Bruce Wayne.