History Main / RealAfterAll

* Occurs in a ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' short, where Shin-Chan and friends mistook [[TheQuietOne Bu-chan]] for an alien after Masao thought he saw Bu-chan ''teleporting'' away in their local park as a UFO flies past (in actuality, Bu slipped off a low drop just as a thrown frisbee flies past). The gang goes through a bunch of antics trying to expose Bu as the "alien", to no avail, eventually deciding "even if Bu is an alien, he's still our friend". But just then a legit UFO flies past, with only Shin-Chan (who did a quick DoubleTake) noticing.

* Occurs in a ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' short, where Shin-Chan and friends mistook [[TheQuietOne Bu-chan]] for an alien after Masao thought he saw Bu-chan ''teleporting'' away in their local park after a UFO flies past (in actuality, Bu slipped off a low drop just as a thrown frisbee flies past). The gang goes through a bunch of antics trying to expose Bu as the "alien", to no avail, eventually deciding "even if Bu is an alien, he's still our friend". But just then a legit UFO flies past, with only Shin-Chan (who did a quick DoubleTake) noticing.

Contrast MaybeMagicMaybeMundane where it remains up in the air to the very end. Sometimes, technically, that trope and this one combine when it is established that the hoaxer could not have done one thing, but it is never established that no other mundane cause could have done it.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'', Mortimer Snerd is [[SympathyForTheDevil crying over]] Willie the Giant's DisneyVillainDeath. Creator/EdgarBergen assures him that Willie didn't die because Willie wasn't real to begin with, that he was just a figment of Snerd's imagination. Then Willie lifts the roof of the house to peek in! Bergen faints dead away.
-->'''Willie:''' What got into him?\\

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': One episode of the anime deals with the whole tendo household trying to figure out who ate all the takoyaki with seaweed that Kasumi bought. When Happosai is shown with pieces of seaweed on his mouth he tells the story about the "Seaweed child" which is a mysterious child-like monster that eats anything with seaweed in it and then puts pieces of seaweed on sleeping peoples' mouths so they will be blamed instead. Then Genma is shown to ALSO have seaweed in his mouth, to which he tells of the story of the "Seaweed monster", which is the exact same story, but with a big monster instead of a child. At the end, it was revealed that each member of the Tendo household had actually eaten a takoyaki each, making all of them decide to just ignre what happened and leave... then we see a final shot of the house and both the Seaweed Child and Seaweed Monster are on the roof, lamenting that all the takoyaki is already gone.

* "[[http://www.loyalbooks.com/download/text/Prologue-to-An-Analogue-by-Leigh-Richmond.txt Prologue to an Analogue]]" by Leigh Richmond has a beloved TV newscaster reporting on a biological warfare attack in Egypt. Cut to a commercial for Witch Soap, featuring [[HotWitch Hot Witches]] who sing "Witches of the world, unite -- to make it clean, clean, clean, Witch clean NOW!" By morning it's as if the biological attack never happened. The Witch Soap company contributes $$ to "clean up" a slum as a publicity stunt, and the tenements instantly remodel themselves after the commercial. Various stunts are tried to prove it's all just coincidence, but after a disabled girl walks ''before'' her surgery, an unmanned moon shot succeeds when it should have misfired, and some drug addicts are instantly cured, the newscaster realizes ''something'' is real. He never finds out exactly how it works, it's only clear ''that'' it works -- and anyone can do it. [[note]]"The witch power was, quite clearly, a power of the people—of the people who needed that protection, needed those miracles. And it was the power that had worked miracles."[[/note]] Discontinuing the ad doesn't stop him -- he starts reciting the incantation himself, live on the air, after the next horrific disaster. ''And it works.''

* On the streets of Liverpool there was told a legend of a man called "Purple Aki", this man would be described as an incredibly tall muscle bound black man who would appear from [[OffScreenTeleportation seemingly nowhere]] or perhaps [[BehindAStick from around objects that are impossible to hide behind]] before demanding to squeeze your muscles, or getting you to squat lift him. The stories were so ridiculously over the top and strange that the majority of people simply once thought he was some kind of urban legend used to scare children, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akinwale_Arobieke key word being]] [[FameThroughInfamy once]].

* ''Anime/RanmaOneHalf'': One episode deals with the whole tendo household trying to figure out who ate all the takoyaki with seaweed that Kasumi bought. When Happosai is shown with pieces of seaweed on his mouth he tells the story about the "Seaweed child" which is a mysterious child-like monster that eats anything with seaweed in it and then puts pieces of seaweed on sleeping peoples' mouths so they will be blamed instead. Then Genma is shown to ALSO have seaweed in his mouth, to which he tells of the story of the "Seaweed monster", which is the exact same story, but with a big monster instead of a child. At the end, it was revealed that each member of the Tendo household had actually eaten a takoyaki each, making all of them decide to just ignre what happened and leave... then we see a final shot of the house and both the Seaweed Child and Seaweed Monster are on the roof, lamenting that all the takoyaki is already gone.

* Two episodes in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' deal with an apparently impossible murder in a safe zone, and players believe that it was committed by Griselda's ghost. The murders turn out to be a hoax, but at the end, the ghost briefly makes an appearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': For most of the film, Puss only ever interacts with the Wolf whenever he is alone, or when the others are distracted (for instance, during the river scene, where the Wolf publicly shows himself, but everyone except Puss are busy fighting to notice). It is thus easy to dismiss him as an imagination conjured by Puss, since he is revealed to be [[TheGrimReaper Death]]. Then in the climax, the Wolf shows up in the Wishing Star to fight Puss. This time, everyone, from Kitty to Perrito to Goldie and the bears, can and do see him, making it clear that he truly exists, something that is lampshaded by Kitty.
-->'''Kitty:''' You know, when you said that Death was after you, I thought you were just being melodramatic.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', there are no ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' characters, but the ''Franchise/ToyStory'' world features a [[ShowWithinAShow Game Within A Game]] ''Verum Rex'', an AffectionateParody and DevelopmentGag of ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'', Creator/TetsuyaNomura's prototype of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV''. Upon meeting Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Rex mistakes them for the main characters of ''Verum Rex'', particularly Sora for Yozora. [[spoiler:The Secret Movie reveals that ''Verum Rex'' is another reality/world and Yozora lives there.]]
** The DLC ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIIIReMind'' has Sora outright meet and battle Yozora. Beating him sees Yozora return to his own world, which greatly resembles ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'' (rather, Nomura's original vision before it became ''Final Fantasy XV'')
** The ending of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsMelodyOfMemory'' confirms [[spoiler:the existence of "unreality", or the world of Fiction. As well as the name of Yozora's home world, Quadratum.]]
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect''. In the [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 first game]], the Reapers were considered Saren's fiction by the Council; In the [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 second part]] they look more like a fringe conspiracy theory (like UFO conspiracy theories in real life). Then, in the beginning of [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 Mass Effect 3]] the Reapers literally fall around everyone's head. Also the Leviathans. They appeared in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 ME1]] as characters of a small spy story, that can be read on info screen of a distant planet, but in [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 ME3]] they appear to be real and [[spoiler: moreover - they created the Reapers aeons ago]].
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' specifically. During Samara recruitment mission in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 ME2]] you can encounter a young Asari mercenary named Elnora [[spoiler: actually, she committed the murder, that started all the trouble around, but Shepard doesn't know it yet]]. She tells nothing useful, but shares her horror: the Ardat-Yakshi, who were used to scare her in her childhood, DO really exist. [[spoiler: She saw Morinth while taking part in sending her offworld from Illium]].
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' has Morrell the Cryptozoologist looking for the Insulindian Phasmid, a rare insect, that his wife saw as a child. Due to his poor health, he asks the Detective and Liutenant Kim to check and adjust the traps he scattered around the area multiple times. Practically, all this does is give the player more chances to attempt the "We've searched everywhere" skill check for finding their missing suspect, and unlock a substory about Morrel's wife, Lena, not being sure she didn't invent the whole encounter to appeal to him. [[spoiler:However, using the stinky pheromone that Morrell provides will make the Phasmid appear days later by the ruined army base, and show it was far too large to fit inside Morrell's traps. Kim even takes a photograph if you can pass the check to avoid scaring it off.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' if you hide under the cardboard box and then contact Meryl. She'll be left in sheer disbelief as she assumed her uncle was joking when he talked about covert agents using cardboard boxes to slip past guards... and promptly hang up on you.
--> '''Meryl:''' A cardboard box? I heard stories from my uncle, but I always though he was pulling my leg...I...I've got no comment.

* In the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''Phantom of the Auditorium'', the threatening messages left behind by the "phantom" turn out to be the work of a homeless person who didn't want them to find his secret living quarters beneath the school. However, the real phantom eventually does show up and even leaves behind evidence of his real identity for the two protagonists to find.

* In ''Film/ReadyOrNot2019'', the Le Domas family believes that their ancestor made a DealWithTheDevil for their fortune and tabletop gaming empire, and that they must conduct a HumanSacrifice every so often to appease [[LouisCypher Mr. Le Bail]] or else he will come to claim all of their souls. The younger members of the family are skeptical, but go along with it anyway because they don't want to take any chances, while the protagonist Grace thinks they're insane. [[spoiler:When Grace survives to daybreak, Mr. Le Bail reveals that he is indeed very real by exploding the entire Le Domas family in LudicrousGibs, then briefly revealing himself to Grace, nodding his head seemingly in approval of how she managed to beat them. Grace can't help but laugh.]]

--> '''Red:''' He ''does'' exist! (Faints)
--> '''Santa:''' They ''do'' exist! (Also faints)
--> '''Yellow:''' Uhhh... Santa...?

* In ''Fanfic/ParentsOfPonyville'', [[RashomonStyle Scootaloo's version of what happened at the parent teacher conference]] seems like nonsensical blatant wish fulfillment, including stuff like her flying through space on her scooter, going on quests around the galaxy, defeating an enemy alien armada, fighting a space T.Rex, etc. Then [[Fanfic/DaringDosBipedalAdventure one of the sequels]] implies that it was all true.
* The Sixth Doctor in a Doctor Who/Real Ghostbusters crossover, "Who Ya Gonna Call?," firmly refuses to believe ghosts are at work as he and Peri land in Arkham, Massachusetts and the populace are haunted. When the Doctor encounters Revolutionary War ghosts and their master Miles Standoff, he chalks it up to advanced technology. Likewise, he questions the professional integrity of the Ghostbusters.

* In ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel version of Thor is presented as a lunatic who believes himself a god. Eventually it's revealed that Loki has used his RealityWarper powers to rewrite the world and trap Thor on Earth.

* The Green Man was a cryptid said to be a man with most of his face missing who roamed a certain town in Western Pennsylvania for reasons unknown. While he was not a malevolent monster at all, The Green Man was real, Raymond Robinson was disfigured as a child and took long walks at night to avoid being seen. Teenagers in the region found him anyway, and he ultimately embraced his odd reputation. He died in 1980, but the legend lives on.

* Anime/RanmaOneHalf: One episode deals with the whole tendo household trying to figure out who ate all the takoyaki with seaweed that Kasumi bought. When Happosai is shown with pieces of seaweed on his mouth he tells the story about the "Seaweed child" which is a mysterious child-like monster that eats anything with seaweed in it and then puts pieces of seaweed on sleeping peoples' mouths so they will be blamed instead. Then Genma is shown to ALSO have seaweed in his mouth, to which he tells of the story of the "Seaweed monster", which is the exact same story, but with a big monster instead of a child. At the end, it was revealed that each member of the Tendo household had actually eaten a takoyaki each, making all of them decide to just ignre what happened and leave... then we see a final shot of the house and both the Seaweed Child and Seaweed Monster are on the roof, lamenting that all the takoyaki is already gone.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In the world of Remnant, multiple Fairy Tales are known to exist in it with very few people actually believing that there is truth to most of them at the beginning of the series. Later in the series, it's revealed that the majority of these Fairy Tales are [[{{Dramatization}} dramatized]] versions of ''very'' real things that happened in the world of Remnant in one way or another with some of them greatly affecting Remnant's history such as "The Four Maidens", "The Tale of Two Brothers", "The Girl in the Tower" and "The Girl Who Fell Through The World".
[[/folder]]