History Main / GossipEvolution

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This trope is instrumental in the creation of UrbanLegends. Some urban legends start off as real stories which are exaggerated through multiple retellings into something more shocking and memorable. This is also why documented urban legends have different versions.
* The children's game [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers Telephone, aka Chinese Whispers]], is built on this trope. HilarityEnsues.
* A Russian-Jewish joke: "Did you hear that Rabinovich just won a car in a lottery?" "Why, yes. But that wasn't Rabinovich but Tzipperovich, that wasn't a lottery but a card game, that wasn't a car but a dacha, and that wasn't a win, that was a loss".
** RussianHumour is fond of these in general, often putting them in the form of Radio Yerevan jokes, usually with implications of [[CulturePolice censorship]] as well:
-->'''Caller:''' Is it true that in Moscow, Mercedes cars are being given to citizens?\\
'''Radio Yerevan:''' Yes, but it is not Moscow but Leningrad, not [[CoolCar Mercedes]] but [[TheAllegedCar Ladas]], and not given to but stolen from.\\\
'''Caller:''' Is it true that comrade cosmonaut UsefulNotes/YuriGagarin's car was stolen in Moscow during the celebrations?\\
'''Radio Yerevan:''' In principle yes, but it was not in Moscow but Kiev, and it was not his car but his bike, and it was not comrade cosmonaut Gagarin but comrade high school teacher Gagarin, and his first name was not Yuri but Leonid...
* It's been suggested that the tradition of Saint Lawrence of Rome being killed in a giant grill originated in a transcription error that changed the word "martyred" to the morbidly specific "roasted". The two words are one letter apart in Latin.
* The French historian Marc Bloch described this as an occupational hazard of historiography:
-->"[The historian] is as if at the rear of a column, in which the news travels from the head back through the ranks. It is not a good vantage-point from which to gather correct information. Not so very long ago, during a relief march at night, I heard the word passed down the length of a column in this manner: 'Look out! Shell holes to the left!' The last man received it in the form, 'To the left!', took a step in that direction, and fell in."
* The story of Galileo dropping items off the Leaning Tower of Pisa was probably made up from whole cloth by his biographer (his notes suggested he definitely proposed it as a thought experiment, but whether or not he actually made the drop is dubious), and over five hundred years since has expanded from "just dropping stuff off" to Galileo making a bombastic speech to a heckling crowd of thousands, and dropping specific weights of specific objects, with each new biographer adding a new touch.
* Similarly, the story of Sir Isaac Newton coming up with the theory of gravity after seeing an apple fall from a tree came from a sarcastic anecdote by him mocking the people who were expecting an EurekaMoment, and somehow evolved into the apple falling onto his head.
* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyokawa_Shinkin_Bank_incident Toyokawa Shinkin Bank incident]], a bank run in December 1973 leading to 2 billion yen being withdrawn from the bank, was discovered to have started from a conversation between three high school girls talking about their jobs after graduating. One of the girls was working at the Toyokawa Shinkin bank, leading the other girls to say: "that is dangerous" (referring to the risk of robbery of the bank). The first girl later asked a relative "Is Shinkin Bank dangerous?". As the relative talked to other people and they talked to others, the topic changed from if it is dangerous to work at the Toyokawa Shinkin bank to that Toyokawa Shinkin bank was in danger of bankruptcy, leading many bank customers to withdraw their money from the bank in fear of losing the money.
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* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', the protagonist's criminal record (which is something he was actually framed for) is leaked to the students of Shujin Academy by resident [[TheBully local bully]] and SadisticTeacher Suguru Kamoshida for no reason other than [[EvilIsPetty a "delinquent" not having any business in a prestigious school]]. Then the gossipy students begin adding more things to it for the sake of spreading MaliciousSlander such as smoking, [[PsychoKnifeNut carrying a knife everywhere]], having killed someone, consuming drugs and... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking being an elephant tusk-trafficker]]... the hell?

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his equally mysterious silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass of a quality hitherto unknown in Westeros, in exchange for seven years of rent of the Wolfswood, bringing with him knowledge and power unknown to the Seven Kingdoms. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass peddled by a Myrish exile and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria, and that all stories to the contrary are idiotic smallfolk talk.

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his equally mysterious silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass of a quality hitherto unknown in Westeros, in exchange for seven years of rent of the Wolfswood, bringing with him knowledge and power unknown to the Seven Kingdoms. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria, and that all stories to the contrary are idiotic smallfolk talk.

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his equally mysterious silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass of a quality hitherto unknown in Westeros, in exchange for seven years of rent of the Wolfswood, bringing with him knowledge and power unknows to the Seven Kingdoms. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria, and that all stories to the contrary are idiotic smallfolk talk.

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his equally mysterious silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass of a quality hitherto unknown in Westeros, in exchange for seven years of rent of the Wolfswood. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria, and that all stories to the contrary are idiotic smallfolk talk.

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass of a quality hitherto unknown in Westeros. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria, and that all stories to the contrary are idiotic smallfolk talk.

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria, and that all stories to the contrary are idiotic smallfolk talk.

* ''FanFic/ThyGoodNeighbor'' exploits and inverts this. [[VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Lord Fairchild, a mysterious nobleman hailing from the lands of Yharnam]], beyond the Sunset Sea, with his silver-haired wife, granted Lord Rickard Stark an obscene amount of plate glass. [[AltarDiplomacy In exchange for confirming Robert Baratheon's betrothal with Lyanna Stark]], Steffon Baratheon promises to report to Aerys that Rickard is an easily-duped clown who has been cheated into accepting barely-acceptable glass and has mistaken a completely normal, fair-haired lady for a daughter of Valyria.

* In ''LightNovel/IsekaiIzakayaNobu'', Archbishop Rodrigo's desire to find a certain witch to ascertain her identity somehow becomes the archbishop wanting to reinstitute a WitchHunt, which ends up being followed by some members of the church. In truth, he was actually trying to find an old friend who had left the church and was rumored to be a witch. [[spoiler: Said friend is Ingrid the apothecary.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E5ThePredator The Predator]]", when Ma-Ti is telling Gi about the shark that followed him while he was swimming, he describes it as 40 feet long. One of the locals overhears it and spreads the news, including increasing the size of the shark. This leads the entire town where they're vacationing to panic, letting Argos Bleak take advantage by offering to hunt and kill every shark in the area (whether or not they're even conceivably man-eaters) for a price.

* Happens in the story "Suzanna" from the Belgium comic book series ''ComicBook/SarahAndRobin''. Early in the story, a couple of hippies/gypsies enter the village in their van, and accidentally cause a man to fall of his bike. The gossip about the newcomers and what they did soon spreads, and by the end has turned into an outright lie stating that the gypsies are violent murderers who recently robbed an entire retirement home and killed all its inhabitants.

* ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'': One of the reasons Jane wants to tell her story is to prevent this, illustrated with an ImagineSpot of the truth "She's an [[HeelFaceTurn ex-villain]]!" being distorted into "She's an [[BrutishCharacterBrutishWeapon axe villain]]!", "She's an [[AxCrazy axe murderer]]!" and "She's a [[IntimidatingRevenueService tax auditor]]!", with the reactions becoming increasingly horrified at each stage.

* One ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' book has Rodrick try to get even with Greg by spreading the word of [[spoiler:an incident where Greg accidentally locked himself in the ladies' restroom at their grandfather's retirement home]]. This [[GoneHorriblyWrong backfires]], since the story ends up getting mutated into [[spoiler:Greg sneaking into the girls' changing room at Crosslands High School]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', while in the hospital, a bored Izaya decides to spread some rumors about Shizuo for the lulz. It's obvious that he intentionally made them as unflattering as possible for Shizuo while still appearing legit. However, it is also clear that the public has decided to 'expand' on them. The rumors involve Shizuo having been gravely injured after fleeing from the yakuza, while also having become involved with a woman and fathering a kid. What the real kicker is that people actually believe them after seeing Akane and Vorona around Shizuo. This also leads to numerous delinquents thinking that Shizuo is now an easy target and try to kidnap Vorona[[note]]a Mafiya assassin[[/note]], Akane[[note]]who's carrying a taser[[/note]], Mairu[[note]]one of Izaya's sisters and a certified badass[[/note]] and Kururi[[note]]Izaya's ''other'' sister[[/note]]. It goes about as well as one might think.

* In ''LightNovel/CookingWithWildGame'', a child mentions to her family (and no one else) that a foreigner moved into Ai Fa's house. Five days later, practically everyone in that family thinks they're lovers.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', the Nohrian border guard Benny is a quiet GentleGiant with a huge FaceOfAThug. However, there's a lot of tall-tales and rumors about his strength and fighting skills, making him a sort-of MemeticBadass in story.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', while in the hospital, a bored Izaya decides to spread some rumors about Shizuo for the lulz. It's obvious that he intentionally made them as unflattering as possible for Shizuo while still appearing legit. However, it is also clear that the public has decided to 'expand' on them. The rumors involve Shizuo having been gravely injured after fleeing from the yakuza, while also having become involved with a woman and fathering a kid. What the real kicker is that people actually believe them after seeing Akane and Vorona around Shizuo. This also leads to numerous delinquents thinking that Shizuo is now an easy target and try to kidnap Vorona, Akane, Mairu and Kururi. It goes about as well as one might think.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': The Dark Forest has mushrooms that provide intel to the Bog King but since they are immobile, they have to whisper it mushroom to mushroom until it gets to a goblin. The results are nonsensical [[spoiler:though the {{Tag}} shows that may be because of the goblin.]]

** Stringer Bell hears that two of his men have spotted stick-up man Omar, and gives the okay for them to attack despite it being Sunday (the "truce" day). What he doesn't know is that not only is it Sunday, but Omar is taking his grandmother home from church. Both Omar and his grandmother narrowly escape, but Stringer's partner Avon mentions stories making the rounds among the other drug lords ([[EvenEvilHasStandards who are all appalled by the whole thing]]) about their people shooting her and urinating on her church hat.
** String and Omar's deaths also become street legend. Marlo Stanfield's crew (falsely) take credit for String's death and claim he was a coward who desperately tried to bribe them into sparing him, (he was DefiantToTheEnd) and Omar is supposedly killed in an epic LastStand against a whole group of heavily armed killers, or even killed by the police who then made it look like Omar was killed by his fellow criminals. (He was shot in the back by a kid who used to idolize him while buying cigarettes).

* In Season 3 of ''Series/SeaPatrol'', [=2Dads=] notes the bond of Kate "X" [=McGregor=] and Bufferafter they give him a (deserved) dressing down. Before long, the entire ship is buzzing about the two having an affair. Nikki even tries to give Kate "advice" on dating a crewmember and doesn't seem to believe Kate's denials of nothing happening. When Captain Mike Flynn hears it, he has the pair brought to his cabin, where they assure him there's nothing going on. [=2Dads=] claims it was just a joke that got out of hand but when he brings up the "sparks" of the pair, Flynn is ready to toss him off the ship in the middle of the ocean. Buffer and X decide to just let this rumor die out rather than add to it with an open denial to the crew but do give [=2Dads=] an appropriate (and disgusting) punishment of "retrieving" the pearls a crook swallowed.