History Main / UnexpectedlyRealMagic

* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "WesternAnimation/Transylvania 6-5000", Bugs spends the night at the castle of Count Bloodcount, a vampire wanting to sink his fangs on our hero. Unable to sleep, Bugs picks up a book on magic spells and reads out loud about the words Abracadabra and Hocus Pocus. Unknown to him, those words cause the Count to turn into a bat and back again, respectively. As Bugs makes up a song about them, the Count keeps changing at the most inopportune times.

* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "Transylvania 6-5000", Bugs spends the night at the castle of Count Bloodcount, a vampire wanting to sink his fangs on our hero. Unable to sleep, Bugs picks up a book on magic spells and reads out loud about the words Abracadabra and Hocus Pocus. Unknown to him, those words cause the Count to turn into a bat and back again, respectively. As Bugs makes up a song about them, the Count keeps changing at the most inopportune times.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': This was how the serial killer Ryuunosuke Uryuu summoned the servant Caster. He had found some old documents from his ancestors that he interpreted as summoning rituals for demons. Thinking it would be fun to try he began trying various stuff from the notes, not expecting much. As luck would have it, one of of the rituals present were for summoning Servants and the Holy Grail War was just around the corner resulting in him summoning Caster.

* In ''Film/HocusPocus'', there's a legend that if a certain candle in the local witch museum is ever lit, it will summon the long-dead witches. Nobody really believes the legend anymore, and Max decides to light it up as a gag. Unfortunately, there just happens to be the right combination of elements in play for it to actually work.

* ''{{Webcomic/Spinnerette}}'': In the settings lore, the ''[[{{TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons}} D&D rulebook]]'' had actual magic spells in it. A villain uses it to become a [[SpiderPeople drider]].

Contrast SorcerersApprenticePlot, when the character knows something really is magical but doesn't realize the potential danger (and then gets scolded by their mentor); MagicMisfire, where the caster is serious about trying to cast magic, but messes it up; and DramaticIrony, where the audience knows magic is real in the story before a skeptical character does. Compare and contrast RealAfterAll, which is when the "real thing" only shows up at the end when everyone thought the thing in question was a fake. See also IdiotBall, SchmuckBait, and AndYouThoughtItWasAGame. Can overlap with EvilIsNotAToy and GenreBlind.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero: This was how the serial killer Ryuunosuke Uryuu summoned the servant Caster. He had found some old documents from his ancestors that he interpreted as summoning rituals for demons. Thinking it would be fun to try he began trying various stuff from the notes, not expecting much. As luck would have it, one of of the rituals present were for summoning Servants and the Holy Grail War was just around the corner resulting in him summoning Caster.

* ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus'' Inverted when John Faustus recites a conjuring spell he is given, so when the messenger to the Devil appears, Faustus thinks that it has somehow worked. The demon tells him that it didn't work, but he was listening anyway and decided to find out what Faustus was doing, especially because Faustus was blaspheming and the demon really likes that.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie]]'', to avoid being punished by Principal Krupp, George and Harold wave a toy ring around claiming that's it's a mind control ring in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to intimidate Krupp. What they don't know is that the "toy" is not a toy at all, but an actual mind control ring, and they actually succeed at controlling Krupp's mind, creating [[JekyllAndHyde the Captain Underpants persona]] and thus setting the plot of the movie in motion.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-717 SCP-717 ("The Ambassador")]]. SCP-717 is the ruins of a home where a cult once worshipped. A group of teenagers tried to use a OuijaBoard in the basement and opened a gate to another dimension, which allowed a group of spirit entities to enter the basement and attack them.

* ''Literature/TheLaundrySeries'' notes that this can happen to people who take Creator/HPLovecraft too seriously. When [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN]] gets going, ''any'' kind of ritual could do this.

When someone or a group of people come across a written magic spell, or a magical-looking item (like a SpellBook, enchanted toy, amulets etc), they then try to play pretend magic with it, thinking that it's not something really magical. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

* The Disney movie ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' has a reversed example. Miss Price is a spinster who enrolled for mail-order witchcraft lessons so she can use the mailed spells to aid Britain's war efforts during WWII. However she receives a letter informing her that the remaining classes were canceled, just before she gets the one spell she really needs. She (along with some children assigned to her care) travel to London via a enchanted teleporting bed to confront Mr.Brown, the administrator of the classes, so she can get that spell. However it turns out that Mr.Brown is a fraud, who doesn't think magic actually exists and was just selling transcripts of the spells he found in an incomplete 'spellbook', hoping that gullible individuals will pay for 'fake' magic spells from a faraway 'headmaster' they've never met. The idea that the spells would actually work for anyone, such as Miss Price, never occurred to him to be an actual possibility. After being convinced of the existence of magic by a temporary bout of BalefulPolymorph, much of the plot afterwards is for the group to search for the other half of Brown's spellbook for clues for the one spell Miss Price seeks.

* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark''. In the episode "Jake and the Leprechaun", a play in which the protagonist's character is turned into an elf turns out to be a real ritual [[spoiler: which will subject him to a BalefulPolymorph and give the villain his lifeforce.]]

* The Halloween special of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has Candice jokingly read a spell to bring inanimate objects to life. She then spends most of the rest of her screen time unaware that she's being followed by her Ducky Momo doll.

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-->"Magic by the lake," said Martha, trying out the words to herself. "Doesn't it sound lovely? Don't you wish it ''were'' true?"
-->"''I'' certainly do," said Jane.
-->There was a silence. The turtle stuck its head out of its shell.
-->"Now you've done it," it said.

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** In ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'', the hitherto incompetent wizard Rincewind, pursued by a [[TorchesAndPitchforks mob intent on wreaking revenge]] on all things wizardly, throws his usual desperate bluff to gain time. Rincewind's tactic in a fight is to strike the pose of a wizard about to cast a lethal spell, knowing GenreSavvy pursuers will realize ''exactly'' what it means when a Wizard strikes a pose with arms extended and fingers poised to deliver death. It usually buys Rincewind enough time to run and get away, or else to do the unexpected and deliver a more mundane punch or kick. But to his surprise, for the very first time the magic ignites, his fingers crackle with octarine fire, and people get killed. He just wasn't expecting this.

Contrast SorcerersApprenticePlot when the character knows something really is magical but doesn't realize the potential danger (and then gets scolded by their mentor). Contrast MagicMisfire, where the caster is serious about trying to cast magic, but messes it up. Compare and contrast RealAfterAll, which is when the "real thing" only shows up at the end when everyone thought the thing in question was a fake. See also IdiotBall, SchmuckBait, and AndYouThoughtItWasAGame. Can overlap with EvilIsNotAToy and GenreBlind.

* The tagline for the first installment ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' animated film series, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'' was "This time, the monsters are real." After decades of fighting mortal, human, realistic adversaries pulling {{Scooby Doo Hoax}}es, the protagonists find themselves facing ''real'' supernatural threats.

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* ''Film/HocusPocus'': When Allison takes Dani and Max to the witches museum on Halloween showing them the Sanderson Sinsters' home and possessions, including the Black Flame Candle, which will bring them back to life for one night when lit by a virgin on All Hallows Eve, Max, who happens to be a virgin, sarcastically suggests lighting it and meeting them. After being attacked by Binx the cat, the girls want to leave, but Max dismisses it all as "a bunch of hocus pocus" and lights the candle. The flame turns black and the witches come back. HilarityEnsues.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' had three lonely depressed college girls attempting to perform a spell on 3 animals that turns them into attractive men. To their surprise, the spell works, but only after playing a recording of a modified version by one of the actual witch protagonists.

-->--'''WebVideo/{{Jerma985}} as Carl Schnozzwell''', trying a fireball in a magic mod, ''[[Videogame/TheSims Simoleon Murder House]] stream''

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes'', the villain Blackwood passes himself off as a talented magician. His spells turn out to be tricks, but Holmes notes that Blackwood performed all the magic rituals perfectly, which could mean "the devil's due a soul". Sure enough, there's a conspicuous raven following Blackwood around everywhere he goes...

* Appears frequently in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'' series:
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'', the protagonists gain their powers by playing the Persona Game, a Bloody Mary-like ritual which several of them complain is just superstition.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' had three lonely depressed college girls attempting to perform a spell on 3 animals that turns them into attractive men. To their surprise, the spell works.

-->--'''WebVideo/{{Jerma985}} as Carl Schozzwell''', trying a fireball in a magic mod, ''[[Videogame/TheSims Simoleon Murder House]] stream''

** In ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', the hitherto incompetent wizard Rincewind, pursued by a [[TorchesAndPitchforks mob intent on wreaking revenge]] on all things wizardly, throws his usual desperate bluff to gain time. Rincewind's tactic in a fight is to strike the pose of a wizard about to cast a lethal spell, knowing GenreSavvy pursuers will realize ''exactly'' what it means when a Wizard strikes a pose with arms extended and fingers poised to deliver death. It usually buys Rincewind enough time to run and get away, or else to do the unexpected and deliver a more mundane punch or kick. But to his surprise, for the very first time the magic ignites, his fingers crackle with octarine fire, and people get killed. He just wasn't expecting this.
** In ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'', the titular amateur demonologist believes Rincewind to be a summoned demon and orders him to grant his wishes. Rincewind sarcastically asks if Eric thinks that happens with a snap of Rincewind's fingers... and they find themselves deep in the jungle. Rincewind looks at his fingers with deep suspicion after that. [[spoiler:There's a demon lord casting all the magic when Rincewind snaps his fingers, all part of a complex plot to overthrow the current king of Hell.]]
** ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' The young witches are "new age Wiccan"-type witches, all about mystic symbolism and occult jewelry, while the old witches know that real magic is mostly psychological and comes from not being used. The girls actually have magic power, but it's being supplied by an elf queen in order to help their invasion of the disc.