History Main / YouHaveToBelieveMe

* ''Film/PetesDragon1977'': Pete wisely decides it's best for he and Eliot (a magical dragon who can turn invisible) to keep a low profile while in town. Whenever Eliot's clumsiness starts causing a commotion, Pete stupidly throws his draconic pal under the bus by frantically telling the townsfolk that Eliot was responsible every time, although if you're trying to avoid drawing attention to yourself, blaming problems on an invisible dragon is pretty much the ''last'' thing you'd want to do.

* Averted in the ''Literature/DarkestPowers'' series by the main character, Chloe. In the first book, she's sent to a group home, where she's diagnosed (incorrectly) as a schizophrenic -- she's actually a necromancer. After realizing that she and the other kids are in danger, and then escaping and being chased down by the staff with tranquilizer guns, Chloe manages to get to her Aunt Lauren's house. Once there, she immediately tells Lauren about being hunted down by the staff. But rather than blurt out the entire insane story to Lauren, Chloe leaves out the part where she's a necromancer, ghosts are real, she accidentally raised the dead, and the people she was fleeing with include a fire half-demon, a sorcerer, and a werewolf. And, in an even ''further'' aversion, before going to her aunt, Chloe actually takes the time to go back to the scene to ''bring evidence'' in the form of a tranquilizer dart, because she knows that she'll be just brushed off as crazy otherwise. [[spoiler:So it's a damn shame that all of this effort goes to waste when it turns out that her aunt knew about everything all along, and was, in fact, in on the whole plot.]]
* Hoffmann from ''Literature/TheFearIndex'' increasingly sounds like this as the events of the book unfolds. What first throws his sanity into question is when he insists a picture in a 100 year old book is a clue to the break-in of his house. Amazingly Quarry still believes him, but only because Hoffmann was never that normal to begin with.
* In the book of ''Literature/FreakyFriday'', the protagonist starts, well, freaking out for a variety of reasons, one of which being that while she is inhabiting her mother's body, her mother has presumably gone joyriding in hers, and is now nowhere to be found. She decides to call the police. Instead of saying, "I'm deeply concerned that my daughter has vanished", she decides to [[FreakyFridayFlip blurt out the whole body-swapping story]]. The cops, unsurprisingly, think she's nuts.

* Near the end of ''Literature/TheSharingKnife: Horizon'', [[spoiler:while Dag has, admittedly, had a pretty rough night, and just about anyone [[JustifiedTrope would be forgiven a fair bit of hysteria]] over finding their spouse BuriedAlive; an authoritative explanation about the Enchanted Lakewalker Wedding Cords would have gotten Fawn dug up far faster than clawing at her grave barehanded while screaming "She's not dead! She can't be dead!"]]

* In ''Literature/TheSpaceMerchants'', Mitchell Courtenay falls headlong into this trope when he returns to Fowler Schocken and tries to explain the complicated intrigue he has been tangled up in.

*** In a later book a hacker warns Zak that the ship's computer, which Zak is trying to give full control of the ship to, is evil. Of course, he'd self-sabotaged there — in their previous interaction the hacker had agreed to let Zak examine some of the ship's functions, then immediately shut them down and blamed Zak for the failure. The hacker was also highly disheveled from being tortured by the computer, and the safeguards built into computers and droids to keep them from [[AIIsACrapshoot spontaneously becoming evil]] are so ingrained in popular consciousness that the idea seems laughable to Zak.

* In ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'', the standard for appearing mad is much lower than in more recent works. Having a bare head does it:

* Early in ''Literature/WatershipDown'', the WaifProphet Fiver approaches the warren's head rabbit to tell them they must leave before a disaster overtakes them. He's too shy and scared to make a good argument. Subverted, when a character who escaped the disaster tells them afterward that the Chief Rabbit did listen but decided they could weather whatever disaster might be coming.
* ''Literature/ProjectTau'': Kalin keeps insisting that he's a [[spoiler:college student and a legal human]] to the scientists. None of them believe him until it's almost too late.
* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Spine Tinglers II'': In ''The Elevator'', Martin desperately tries to convince his father about the evil nature of the large woman who has been riding the elevator with him and staring him down. Naturally, the man just thinks his son is being a baby.

* Intentionally invoked by Frank in ''Series/SevenDays1998''. When a journalist is about to expose the government's time-travel experiments, he [[SarcasticConfession confirms her story on national television]]. He then [[RefugeInAudacity goes on]] to say that he is the only man that can time travel, which is why the CIA let him out of the psych ward so he can pilot the ship that [[ETGaveUsWiFi runs off of alien technology]] found at [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell]] and designed by a sexy Russian that totally digs him. He (and the journalist) are laughed off the show.
* ''Series/Accused2023'': In "Danny's Story" Danny is convinced that his stepmother had murdered his mother, and wants to murder his father too. He acts so unhinged however that everyone just becomes convinced that he's lost it, including his father. [[spoiler:He gets committed to a mental institution in the end, with a wrongful diagnosis of having paranoid schizophrenia. Danny was right, and his stepmother really did murder his mother, has now murdered his father and is working to murder his brother as well.]]
* An episode of Season 2 of ''Series/AmazingStories'' is actually titled "You Gotta Believe Me". It involves a man (Creator/CharlesDurning) who has a horrific dream of a plane crashing into his house in the middle of the night. As he walks among the wreckage, he sees ghosts of some of the passengers and the ghost of the pilot talking about having to attempt take off too early due to something being on the runway. He wakes up and, while still in pajamas and robe, heads to the airport. While there, he sees the things that were part of the wreckage in his dream (including a girl's Teddy Ruxpin toy) and some of the ghosts. Convinced his dream was a prophecy, he keeps trying to convince the passengers, crew, security and so on that the plane's going to crash and gets more and more frustrated by people not taking him seriously. In the climax, he's on the tarmac and sees a single-engine plane with a drunk pilot taxiing onto the runway, heading into the path of the airliner. He rams the plane with a forklift, saving the passengers. Security grabs him and he says: "They were going to crash! You gotta believe me!" At which point, they finally do.
* In the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' episode "[[Recap/ArrowS2E11BlindSpot Blind Spot]]", Laurel's insistence that the only reason she's been arrested for possession of illegal prescription medicine is because Brother Blood knows she's onto him and wants her out of the way sounds increasingly paranoid and crazy. It doesn't help that she has to acknowledge that, actually, she ''has'' been illegally self-medicating.
* Deliberately invoked by Jimmy in ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' when he demonstrates to a packed courtroom that his brother Chuck's "electromagnetism sensitivity" is all in his head, which causes Chuck to become unnerved enough to give a rambling rant insisting that Jimmy was behind all the bad things in his life. It gets Jimmy off with a slap on the wrist.
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Howard tries to convince a skeptical policeman that the reason he was speeding was that government agents were trying to track him down.

--->'''Buffy''': I can't believe [[ArbitrarySkepticism you of all people]] are trying to [[AgentScully Scully]] me!

** This is also happens to their opponent one week. When Michael finds out about a well connected father who was beating up his wife and kids, [[CloseToHome he decides to do something about it]]. The problem is that his brother is a gangster and therefore they have to drive a wedge between them. [[spoiler: When they find that the father was doing side deals, they convince him that those deals have caused someone to want to kill him and that he must leave town. Unfortunately, this is when his gangster brother shows up and begins to question him. They then pass of the abusive father as crazy when Michael, Sam and Fiona all appear randomly on the street and the father begins claiming to his brother that he saw the three of them killed. ]]

* Used a bit creatively in the ''Series/DeadtimeStories'' episode "Invasion of the Appleheads": A girl calls police to tell them that her parents have been turned into "appleheads", immobile doll-like figures. The police don't believe her, and threaten to come to her house if she doesn't stop "prank calling" them. Realizing that she can get the police to her house anyway, she then calls back and intentionally makes up a fantastical story to anger them into indeed coming to her house. [[spoiler:They show up, but are turned into "appleheads" by the time they get there.]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':

** Played with in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]], when Rose meets with a conspiracy theorist who has information about the Doctor (whom she has kept mysteriously bumping into). Initially, he starts off presenting his theories about why the Doctor keeps popping up in different parts of history in a calm and reasonable fashion, and presents a relatively plausible theory that she'd be likely to believe — they're all different men who are related and sharing a code name. Then, as he gets a bit carried away with having an audience, he starts getting a bit more worked up and intense, until he's convinced that Rose believes him fully and so blurts out his ''real'' theory (which is the truth) — that they're same man, and the Doctor is an alien travelling through time. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't quite won Rose over before this, who leaves believing that he's a nutcase.

* ''{{Series/Extant}}'': Refreshingly averted with Molly going out of her way to avoid telling everybody, because she knows it's insane sounding, and gaining all the evidence she can to corroborate her story.
** Played straight in season 2 since the government covered up what happened in season 1 and Molly suffered a nervous breakdown due to [[spoiler: John's death and Ethan's seizure by the government]]. She is committed to a "rest home" and her efforts to convince people that she is sane quickly devolve into this trope. It is then subverted when Molly decides that it does not matter if people think she is insane as long as they also think that she possesses useful information they need in the current crisis.
* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': The parents of Simon and River Tam have some excuse for not believing their son when he claims their daughter, supposedly safe at a government school, is being tortured and tries to hire criminals to kidnap her. As it happens, Simon is absolutely right, but it isn't exactly the most believable of stories. A deleted scene implies that they didn't completely ''dis''believe him either, but were also afraid to go poking around in Alliance business.

-->'''Young Barry''': Please, you have to believe me.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Series/Frasier}}'' when no-one believes that Frasier is dating a supermodel:

* Played for laughs in an episode of ''Series/TheGoodies'' called ''Invasion Of The Moon Creatures'' -- the audience has followed everything that happened and knows that it's true, but of course, it sounds insane summing it up. Context: Tim and Bill have been brainwashed by moon rabbits, and Graeme pleads for help with the authorities.

* In the ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' episode "Woman in Black", Nick is desperate is convince his {{Muggle}} girlfriend Juliet that Wesen are real so that she will accept that it is possible that one is trying to kill her by magic and go to the hospital. So he takes her to his aunt's [[RoomFullOfCrazy Trailer Full of Crazy]], shows her all the medieval weaponry, the books of Grimm lore (in languages she doesn't understand and full of gruesome illustrations) and the collection of Nazi propaganda films and earnestly explains that several people they know are monsters that only he can see, pausing every few sentences to beg her to believe him. For obvious reasons, she thinks he's delusional, and he can't get her to the hospital until after she collapses.
** The next season he gets to try this again as a case of Magical Amnesia has wiped Juliet's memory of the event. This time he is much calmer, and makes sure that he can back up his claims by actually having some friendly Wesen transform into their GameFace in front of her.
* In the 1996 TV adaptation of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', Gulliver heatedly tries to convince people his experiences were real, but comes off quite deranged since they're incredibly bizarre and he also suffers from very frequent traumatic flashbacks which make him seem like he's just hallucinating it all. [[spoiler: His son Tom though eventually finds the tiny sheep from Lilliput which he brought, proving it was real.]]

* Played absolutely straight in season 1 of ''{{Series/Homeland}}'' when Carrie goes to Brody's house and, in the most wild-eyed, rambling manner possible, tries to convince his wife and daughter that he's a terrorist. She even says the trope name aloud word-for-word at one point. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that Carrie is mentally ill with bipolar disorder and is currently in the throes of a manic phase.
* Doctor House from ''Series/{{House}}'' is a brilliant medical expert who nails the most bizarre diseases and syndromes week after week, yet nobody ever believes him when he dismisses the obvious diagnostics of the other doctors, despite there always being a nagging little detail that derails the simple explanations. Oh, and the standard treatment to the obvious diagnostic always seems to instantly kill the patient if administered before House stops them.

* Danny Rand from ''Series/IronFist2017'' might be the ultimate example of this trope. Having been presumed dead for fifteen years, he returns to New York intending to reclaim his share of his father's megacorporation. He starts by walking into headquarters looking like a hobo and asking to see the CEO. When they don't let him, he breaks into the CEO's office by attacking the guards. Once he gets there and sees childhood acquaintances Ward and Joy, he repeatedly claims to be Danny without providing any proof and is shocked that they don't believe him. He sneaks into Joy's house and admits it to her face, then breaks into Ward's car and purposely nearly crashes it in anger. When he's put in a mental asylum, he violently lashes out on multiple occasions and insists on telling everyone he's spent the last fifteen years in an extra-dimensional land and has magical powers in his fist. On occasion he sees the potential value of [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay speaking about memories that only he would have,]] but he ignores plenty of good opportunities to do this (especially when speaking with Joy and Ward), preferring instead to repeat ridiculous sounding claims and attack people when they don't believe him.

* In the first season of ''Series/TheListener'' Toby is unable to explain how he can read minds and thus simply insists others have to trust him on things like knowing when a crime is to be committed or a secret someone has. When he meets police detective Michelle in the season, Toby decides the only way to avoid all this is to tell her the truth and then reads her mind, answering her questions verbally until Michelle believes him.

* This is the title character's usual tactic in ''Series/Merlin2008''. He never has any proof, because obviously AWizardDidIt, and so it never works. You'd think he'd learn after a few tries. Or alternatively, you'd think the other characters would learn that no matter how insane Merlin's initial claims may seem (or however badly he goes about explaining it), he's always -- ''always'' -- proven to be right by the end of the episode.
** Although this is finally subverted by ''The Dark Tower'', when Merlin is trying to get the Knights to follow him. Arthur, being his usual ignorant self, starts to ignore him, but the Knights point out that it can't hurt as they're already lost, and ask Arthur to give him a chance.
* ''{{Series/Misfits}}'': Nathan yells dramatically at his mother that her boyfriend is a "psycho, rough-trade, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis gay, rapist werewolf!]]" Granted, his mother probably wouldn't have believed him even if he'd just calmly explained the situation (especially considering that Nathan is pretty much a compulsive liar, and had leapt to a rather silly conclusion based on what he'd seen anyway) but by the time he realized that babbling like a crazy person probably wasn’t doing him any favors, she'd already totally dismissed him.

--->'''Gibbs''': Skipper, I have reason to believe a bomb, possibly containing a biological agent, is set to detonate aboard this ship by sunset.\\
'''Captain''': How real do you think that threat is?\\
'''Gibbs''': ''(flatly)'' Very real.\\
'''Captain''': ''(immediately turns around to face the XO)'' [[RedAlert Sound General Quarters.]] Deploy the flying squad, start with the ventilation systems, and alert sickbay to the situation and have them stand by.

* Mentioned by name in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' during the [[WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}} Arendelle arc]] in Season 4; Ingrid locks up Anna and tries to convince Elsa that Anna was plotting against her. Elsa confronts Anna in the dungeon and accuses her of treason, and then demands the guards leave her alone with her sister. Anna tells Elsa she would never even think of betraying her, pleading, "You have to believe me." Once she hears the guards close the door behind them, Elsa drops her angry mask and unlocks Anna's cell, assuring her, "Of course I believe you."

* In an episode of ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'', an archaeologist discovers some artifacts that are potential weapons for the villains. Instead of visiting her as a Ranger and just explaining the situation, the Red Ranger shows up in civvies and tells her that people he can't talk about want the artifacts for reasons he also can't talk about, and can he have the artifacts for safekeeping? Not surprisingly, she says no.

* In the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The Gum," Deena, an old friend of George's, becomes convinced that George is paranoid and delusional due in part to a complicated string of the show's typical [[ContrivedCoincidence Contrived Coincidences]] and in part to George's actual neurotic personality (he's obsessed with perceived wrongs done to him by a cashier and by his childhood acquaintance Lloyd Braun; at one point he insists that Jerry Seinfeld, whom Deena presumably only knows as a stand-up comic, is his best friend and only failed to recognize him when George tried to flag him down because he was wearing glasses that weren't his "to fool Lloyd Braun," which, this being ''Seinfeld,'' [[ItMakesSenseInContext he actually was]]). Shortly after finally convincing her that he's mentally sound, he runs into her in public while [[NapoleonDelusion wearing a Henry VIII costume]] from the "Institute for the Preservation of Motion Picture Costumes and Wardrobe" to promote a showing of the film it's from at a local theater. He decides that a good way to explain himself is to chase her down the street screaming, "I got it from The Institute! THE INSTITUTE!"
* In the ''Series/SquidGame'' episode "Hell", the players vote to discontinue the DeadlyGame they've been recruited to participate in after the first game and are dropped back home on the South Korean mainland. TheProtagonist, Gi-hun, immediately goes to the police station to report the games, and it's only after the disbelieving officer repeats his claims back to him that Gi-hun seems to realize how crazy he sounds.

** Also played straight in several episodes. In the three episode arc that ends the first season [[spoiler: no one believes that Daniel Jackson had gone to an alternate reality despite the fact that he had evidence in the form of a staff weapon blast on his shoulder and had disappeared for several hours with no other explanation.]] Later, and more (though not entirely) excusably, [[spoiler: he has a hard time convincing people to take his theory about Teal'c's sickness seriously after he apparently develops and then recovers from schizophrenia.]] The latter is also a massive case of HollywoodPsych.
--->'''Daniel''': Why does everyone think I'm crazy!? ''[{{Beat}}]'' Probably because I'm acting like it, aren't I?

* Oddly enough, it happened constantly on ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Someone would claim to see some kind of anomaly in their quarters, have been abducted, been contacted telepathically, or whatever. Yet, the crew would always look at the person as if they were insane, [[ArbitrarySkepticism even though that kind of stuff happened every single week.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', on the other hand, played this straight to start with, then tended to avert it once [[GrowingTheBeard the beard filled in]] and [[CharacterDevelopment the main characters learned to trust each other]], generally responding to outlandish claims with a sensor sweep or system diagnostic - which, naturally, rarely turns up anything at first - before suggesting a sleeping pill and a nice lie down. (It still does go straight occasionally, but there's always a valid reason given for why.)
** A good example is "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe Remember Me]]", in which the crew are disappearing one by one, with no one but Doctor Crusher remembering that the disappeared ever existed. Nevertheless, those who are left believe her implicitly and investigate her claims diligently. The first to really question her is Captain Picard when ''he and Crusher are the only ones left,'' and even there it's more gentle than dismissive.

* A similar event happens in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E20BeforeAndAfter Before and After]]". [[WeAreAsMayflies Dying of old age as a nine-year old grandmother]], Kes starts jumping back through her own timeline. At first she has difficulty convincing people as they (as with Picard) think it's dementia, but becomes more convincing as she gets younger and gathers more information...until she jumps back to her childhood on the Ocampan homeworld, where she's unable to convince her father she's not playing some kind of kid's game.

* Dr. Bashir plays this trope straight in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E18Inquisition Inquisition]]" while trying to convince the bridge officers that he's not a traitor. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed that the officers are in fact holograms programmed to vilify him. The fact that his TrueCompanions won't consider his side of the story is one of the things that tips Bashir off.]]
* ''Series/StrangerThings'':
** Averted when Nancy and Jonathan reveal the details of the conspiracy to Murray and he says nobody will ever believe it, so they water it down by taking the most damming evidence and leaving out the paranormal parts.
** Joyce falls victim to this trope a bit, seeing as she has both naturally rather prone to anxiety and nervous tension and has been the victim of a campaign of discrediting/gaslighting by an abusive spouse even before her son went missing and gave her very good reason for hysterics, meaning that very few people are inclined to believe her when she insists that her missing son is somehow both alive despite all evidence [[spoiler: including a body]] and yet invisibly haunting the electrics of her home. She is self-aware enough to know both that she lacks credibility and her story is fantastic, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating for her to deal with. In Season 3, her demeanor is similar in regards to the magnetism.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''

* Happens so, so, ''so'' many times in ''Series/TheTimeTunnel''. The two protagonists ''always'' jump straight to "We're from the future," never bothering to come up with some more plausible explanation for how they know what they do, no matter how many times it doesn't work. Though it is nicely subverted in one episode where Doug confesses everything while being affected by a truth serum, which just causes his captors to think he's been conditioned to resist the serum and consider this proof that he's a professional spy.
* This is Tru's default state in ''Series/TruCalling''. When subtler methods of informing people of their own impending death fail or are sabotaged, she always falls back on this line. Not only does it ''never'' help, it was likely similar antics from Tru's mother (who had Tru's powers) that got Davis' wife killed, so Tru should really know better.
* The main character in the famous ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E123NightmareAt20000Feet Nightmare at 20,000 Feet]]" spends most of the episode gradually slipping into a major anxiety attack after seeing a gremlin on the wing of the plane he's riding on, which vanishes whenever anyone else looks at it, and trying to convince everyone that he isn't going insane. Their concern is admittedly justified, because until recently he'd been a patient in an asylum after suffering a nervous breakdown on a plane, and because he's played by [[Creator/WilliamShatner William Shatner]], ''completely'' [[LargeHam hamming it up]].

* Interesting case on ''Series/WireInTheBlood'': after the police crack the M.O. of a serial killer, it becomes vitally important to alert his latest prospective victim (who is already waiting to meet him) to the danger, without spooking her into hanging up or dismissing the call as a prank. Psychologist Tony Hill immediately demands that he be given the phone; he then adopts exactly the right inflection so that she not only listens to him, but believes him, gives the police her location, and agrees to lock herself into a bathroom stall until he will arrive, using his name as a pass word. This is an inversion in that it is the police convincing a citizen of a sinister plot and not vice versa, and an aversion in how professionally the task is handled. However, while Hill is a brilliant ''theoretical'' analyzer of criminals, he is also shown as very socially inept and in fact often more of a liability when interviewing friends and relatives of victims. For him to be ''that'' convincing is actually out of character, which might count as a hyper-aversion.
* Mulder of ''Series/TheXFiles'' has a bad habit of this; when trying to enlist outside aid in dealing with a case (local police, FBI higher-ups, etc.) he makes sure to tell them ''exactly'' what he thinks is going on, no matter how insane, as opposed to sticking to the parts they're likely to believe. He usually doesn't rant and rave, but the fact that he talks about these things like they're perfectly reasonable and the person he's talking to is just a close-minded idiot doesn't help his credibility.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' shortly after the Gatewatch arrives on Amonkhet they see a person fleeing the guards and shouting to onlookers that everything they believe is a lie. Later on, after the narration switches to her perspective, Samut is kicking herself for thinking yelling in the street would accomplish anything. Although she has trouble convincing even her closest friend rationally - the lie they live is too immense to be easily put aside.

* In ''Theatre/AVeryPotterSequel'', when Harry asks the guard how to get to platform nine and three quarters, the guard insists that it doesn't exist. Harry uses the trope nearly by name, and starts talking about his Hogwarts letter. When the guard starts to walk off, he yells, "Sir! Listen, please! A bird gave it to me!"

* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'''s (in)famous X-Files quest ends this (as well as ItWasHereISwear) way: when you try to expose the conspiracy, you realize your proof was just, let's say, stolen. For added trauma, when you return to the secret facility where you found it, there's nothing, not even a brick. There are even a number of relatively obscure minor characters (along with a major one) to whom you can present your evidence, but they all either end up dead, have the files stolen from them, or are actually working for the conspiracy.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the Council is generally considered TooDumbToLive for ignoring your warnings about the Reapers. But then again, Commander Shepard probably could've come up with some much better arguments. [[spoiler: Subverted in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' DLC ''The Citadel'', where Shepard can find a recording that indicates that the Council arguably knew about the Reapers, but played dumb to prevent panic and because they honestly didn't have a clue about how to address a threat of that magnitude.]]

* Twisted and reversed in [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2 Metal Gear Solid 2]]. At the game's climax, Raiden is contacted by Rose (secretly the Patriots' AI in her form) who claims, as the subtitles spell, "You have to beLIEve me!"

* ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'': One of the supporting cast doesn't believe in Lara's crazy theory that a Japanese demigoddess is controlling the weather on the island. Even though they witnessed storms that have literally formed in ten seconds to take down a massive, E.M.P.-shielded aircraft in one strike. And then an entire cruiser. IN HALF. Eventually, Lara realizes that she doesn't need the acting captain to believe her - just trust her, and her judgment in "going to the center of the island and killing whoever is sniping off people who try to leave the island with super-powerful technology". Since the acting captain has trusted her since the beginning, she agrees.
* In the second episode of the ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' the player can get one of these. [[spoiler: When everybody is about to chow down to some nice human meat you have four choices, one of which is [[Film/SoylentGreen IT'S PEOPLE]], to which the reply is "yes Lee, we're all people in here."]]

* In ''VideoGame/KathyRain'', the titular PlayerCharacter is caught red-handed by the local Sheriff after she has broken into [[spoiler:Father Isaac]]'s office and is rooting through his private stuff. The player can choose to have Kathy rattle off a frantic explanation about how she is actually trying to prove that [[spoiler:Isaac]] is behind [[spoiler:the kidnapping of Kathy's friend, Eileen]]. Alternatively, the player can outright {{Subvert|ed Trope}} the trope by choosing a somewhat more savvy response:
-->'''Kathy:''' ...Fuck it, just take me to jail.

* In ''VideoGame/SilentHillDownpour'', Sanchez appears to attack a woman from Murphy's viewpoint. Given that both Murphy and Sanchez are fellow prisoners who don't exactly get along with each other, it's not surprising that Murphy treats Sanchez's claim that he was fending off a monster with skeptism and tries to hold him back. [[spoiler:Murphy does believe Sanchez soon enough -- after said female-looking figure, which turns out to be a monster, [[SlashedThroat slashes Sanchez's throat and kills him]] before turning its attention on Murphy and attacking him, that is.]]

* Riley, TheBigGuy of the hero team in ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'', falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Alice, but thinks he'll have to leave her to continue the quest. The he learns that she's one of the [[MacGuffinSuperPerson heirs]] the team's supposed to find and keep safe from the villains, so he frantically rushes to tell her that. Alice takes being told that pirates are out to steal her soul as the weirdest pick-up line she's heard in her life.

* Lampshaded in ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy'' when Mary [[http://galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=95 calls 911]] to say that {{Satan}} was kidnapped by a [[EnemyMime mime assassin]] and [[MistakenForPrankCall gets hung up on]].

* Averted and Lampshaded in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' when Agatha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070516 tries to convince Von Mekkhan]] that she is the Hetrodyne heir. Von Mekkhan has seen stranger things than talking cats, and while he has seen a lot of pretenders come by, he is willing to give Agatha the opportunity to make her case.
* Mulder's propensity for this is parodied in ''Webcomic/MonsterOfTheWeek'', for instance when his ranting to a judge about a killer with mind-control powers is followed by him saying to Scully that the killer mind-controlled the judge into throwing out the case, and Scully snarking that that is definitely what happened.
* Used as a RunningGag in ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'', whenever Art calls the police to resolve the current bizarre crisis. Naturally, [[PoliceAreUseless they always hang up]]. The next trouble happens, and he [[AesopAmnesia does it again]].

* One regular feature on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' was ''Chicken Boo'', about a giant chicken (rooster?) who [[PaperThinDisguise puts on human clothes]] [[HughMann and tries to blend in]]. Since HumansAreMorons, everyone is always completely fooled until his DramaticUnmask, save for one ProperlyParanoid guy [[OnlySaneMan raving throughout the short]]:

* Early in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', XANA targets the local nuclear plant and the group ultimately decides to send Yumi to tell the adults what's going on. They don't believe her. In fact, pretty much ''any'' time the kids try to tell the adults about XANA's actions, they're dismissed outright. This also happens with their peers a lot. Of course considering how ridiculous their claim is ("The rogue AI we fight in a video game world is attacking the real world,") it's not really a surprise that no one is willing to listen.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', Ma Beagle's latest scheme involves pretending to be married to Scrooge [=McDuck=]. Scrooge's attempts to deny being her husband fall under this trope, especially when she demands a "divorce" (meaning that she would get half his fortune), and he blurts out that he'd rather "stay married," which of course the judge interprets as meaning they already ''are'' married...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

** In "The Inhuman Torch," Bender has what is [[WorldOfWeirdness by]] ''[[WorldOfWeirdness Futurama]]'' [[WorldOfWeirdness standards]] a perfectly plausible explanation for why he isn't to blame for a string of fires that broke out in his wake, but manages to convince Fry—who has discovered evidence in his favor and ''already'' believes in his innocence—that he's guilty [[NotHelpingYourCase by phrasing his explanation like a next-level]] lame excuse while also playing up his own self-perceived heroism, [[EngineeredHeroics which was exactly what was believed to have been his motivation]].
--->'''Bender:''' It was a psychotic flame creature from the sun who set those fires!

* Dib from ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is one of the only two people on Earth who knows that Zim is an alien, and vehemently and relentlessly tries to convince everyone else around him that they're in terrible danger; his sister Gaz is the second person who knows, but Zim's plots never worry her because she knows that he's such a HarmlessVillain that he'll always wind up sabotaging his own schemes.
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Supergirl has vivid recurring nightmares about killing people. She goes to Green Arrow who is naturally skeptical. Then [[ConspiracyTheorist The Question]] overhears her and is so certain that it's part of a deep government plot that even Supergirl becomes skeptical. He is eventually [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight proven right.]]

* The protagonist in WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes' "WesternAnimation/OneFroggyEvening" follows this trope to a T when he utterly fails to convince anyone (talent agent, theater full of patrons, a policeman) that he is in possession of a singing, dancing frog.
** The "Horror Vacation" trilogy (''WesternAnimation/ScaredyCat'', ''WesternAnimation/ClawsForAlarm'', and ''WesternAnimation/JumpinJupiter'') starring ''WesternAnimation/PorkyPig'' and Sylvester the Cat is built around this trope, with Sylvester constantly being terrorized by either malevolent mice or sinister aliens and repeatedly trying to convince his owner Porky that the threats are real, with Porky constantly and snarkily denying it all. Porky even accuses Sylvester several times of being mentally unbalanced.

* On ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' this is how [[TheCassandra Candace]] behaves OncePerEpisode when she witnesses her little brothers' shenanigans and [[CassandraTruth tries in vain to inform their mother]].
* Adora takes a turn in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' when everyone is stuck in a LotusEaterMachine and she starts getting memories from her real life breaking through. The only person who doesn't think she's ''entirely'' nuts is Scorpia, and that's because she manages to get Scorpia's real memories firing too. It doesn't help that part of the effect is that she stops picking up on the offscreen passage of time, meaning she looks like she's forgetting entire days at a time.

* On ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', UsefulNotes/AlGore uses the variant "I'm super-duper cereal [serious]!" during his ongoing [[WindmillCrusader crusade]] to defeat the seemingly imaginary monster [=ManBearPig=]. In keeping with the show's dismissive attitude toward environmentalism at the time that [=ManBearPig=] was first introduced, the monster started out as an obvious WindmillPolitical designed to mock Gore's real campaign against GlobalWarming. Then in a much later season, [=ManBearPig=] turned out to be NoMereWindmill, likely reflecting how public opinion has changed about the unavoidable reality of climate change.
* On the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Hooky", Mr. Krabs tries to warn people about the fishing hooks just outside of town, but they just ignore his ravings. One even tells him [[YouNeedABreathMint to take a breath mint]].
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/StarchaserTheLegendOfOrin'', when Orin is trying to convince the others of the existence of the outside world and gets interrupted by [[BigBad Zygon]].

* In the WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck wartime short "WesternAnimation/TheVanishingPrivate", Donald is knocked into a barrel of [[InvisibilityInk invisible paint]] by Sergeant Pete, and he spends the second half of the cartoon trolling him in revenge. Pete, having already made a fool of himself in front of the General in his attempt to reveal Donald's location, slowly loses his marbles until he is throwing live hand grenades around to blow Donald up. As the General tries to talk him down, Pete sees Donald's footprints behind his superior, but the General is convinced he's just hallucinating from sunstroke and doesn't notice Donald steal his sword and stab Pete in the backside with it, causing him to drop the grenades and trigger a massive explosion.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' when Maurice raves to the dismissive townsfolk about the beast who imprisoned his daughter Belle. It doesn't help that he's already known as a kooky BunglingInventor in an anti-intellectual community with little regard for anyone who deviates from the norm. Gaston eventually exploits this by [[spoiler:demanding that Belle marry him or else he'll have Maurice committed to an insane asylum]].

* In Creator/HGWells' ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' the standard for appearing mad was much lower than in more recent works. Having a bare head would do it:
-->"He met a wagoner and tried to make him understand, but the tale he told and his appearance were so wild--his hat had fallen off in the pit--that the man simply drove on."

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheCastleOfTheUnderseaDevil'' have Doraemon and gang going on an adventure under the Atlantic, and Nobita ends up repeatedly seeing underwater hazards before his friends, such as the tentacles of a giant squid and a giant laser-breathing robot fish, that precisely ''nobody'' believes despite his claims.

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' when Maurice raves to the dismissive townsfolk about the beast who imprisoned his daughter Belle. It doesn't help that he's already known as a kooky BunglingInventor in an anti-intellectual community with little regard for anyone who deviates from the norm. Gaston eventually exploits this by [[spoiler:demanding that Belle marry him or else he'll have Maurice committed to an insane asylum]].

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* An episode of Season 2 of ''Series/AmazingStories'' is actually titled "You Gotta Believe Me". It involves a man [Creator/CharlesDurning] who has a horrific dream of a plane crashing into his house in the middle of the night. As he walks among the wreckage, he sees ghosts of some of the passengers and the ghost of the pilot talking about having to attempt take off too early due to something being on the runway. He wakes up and, while still in pajamas and robe, heads to the airport. While there, he sees the things that were part of the wreckage in his dream (including a girl's Teddy Ruxpin toy) and some of the ghosts. Convinced his dream was a prophecy, he keeps trying to convince the passengers, crew, security and so on that the plane's going to crash and gets more and more frustrated by people not taking him seriously. In the climax, he's on the tarmac and sees a single-engine plane with a drunk pilot taxiing onto the runway, heading into the path of the airliner. He rams the plane with a forklift, saving the passengers. Security grabs him and he says: "They were going to crash! You gotta believe me!" At which point, they finally do.
* In the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' episode "Blind Spot", Laurel's insistence that the only reason she's been arrested for possession of illegal prescription medicine is because Brother Blood knows she's onto him and wants her out of the way sounds increasingly paranoid and crazy. It doesn't help that she has to acknowledge that, actually, she ''has'' been illegally self-medicating.

-->'''Sam''': Because I came here. Have I ever come to you for help before, for anything?

* In the first season of ''Series/TheListener'' Toby is unable to explain how he can read minds and thus simply insists others have to trust him on things like knowing when a crime is to be committed or a secret someone has. When he meets police detective Michelle in the season season, Toby decides the only way to avoid all this is to tell her the truth and then reads her mind, answering her questions verbally until Michelle believes him.
* This is the title character's usual tactic in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''. He never has any proof, because obviously AWizardDidIt, and so it never works. You'd think he'd learn after a few tries. Or alternatively, you'd think the other characters would learn that no matter how insane Merlin's initial claims may seem (or however badly he goes about explaining it), he's always -- ''always'' -- proven to be right by the end of the episode.

* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "The Special One", a father asks the board of education if they provide tutors as part of the enrichment program. When he's told that they don't, he reveals that a man posing as a tutor has been visiting his son. And then he reveals that the man isn't human, is from outer space ([[FunctionalGenreSavvy which he couldn't possibly know]]), disappears and materializes, and then starts talking about climate control machines.
* Subverted in ''{{Series/PeepShow}}'': When Mark's girlfriend Sophie receives a phone call from a mentally ill woman that Mark has been unfaithful, Mark's pleas to convince her that she has been institutionalized are initially met with disbelief. However, Mark, rather surprisingly, gives a calm and rational statement: "No Soph, look at me; honestly, she's in hospital. I can you give you her reference number.". This actually convinces Sophie, although it is unfortunately hinted that she may have already had her revenge.

* Played with in ''Series/QuatermassII''. Professor Quatermass is trying to get a committee of {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s to authorise an inspection of a well-guarded synthetic food factory, which has some connection with strange hollow meteorites landing in the area. A politician who also wants to get to the bottom of the matter agrees to help him, and starts pitching to the committee the idea that the factory might be in danger from these meteorites crashing down on top of it. Rather than realising what he's up to, Quatermass keeps interrupting to 'correct' the politician's supposed scientific error.
* Intentionally invoked by Frank in ''Series/SevenDays''. When a journalist is about to expose the government's time-travel experiments, he [[SarcasticConfession confirms her story on national television]]. He then [[RefugeInAudacity goes on]] to say that he is the only man that can time travel, which is why the CIA let him out of the psych ward so he can pilot the ship that [[ETGaveUsWiFi runs off of alien technology]] found at [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell]] and designed by a sexy Russian that totally digs him. He (and the journalist) are laughed off the show.

** A good example is [[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe}} Remember Me]], in which the crew are disappearing one by one, with no one but Doctor Crusher remembering that the disappeared ever existed. Nevertheless, those who are left believe her implicitly and investigate her claims diligently. The first to really question her is Captain Picard when ''he and Crusher are the only ones left,'' and even there it's more gentle than dismissive.
** Another is "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E2RealmOfFear}} Realm of Fear]]", in which minor character Barclay, who has a well-deserved reputation as a twitchy, paranoid hypochondriac, spontaneously develops a fear of the transporters, insisting that he's been bitten by something living '''inside''' the beam. Picard gives him a long, hard look... then tells Data and Geordi to tear the transporter apart looking for the problem, because he knows that Barclay is fully aware of his reputation, and wouldn't risk the humiliation of reporting to him directly unless he were ''absolutely positive''.
** Another episode, " [[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E12TheWounded}} The Wounded]]", features a starship captain who is convinced the Cardassians are rearming in preparation to break the peace treaty with the Federation. He's right, but unfortunately, instead of amassing evidence and going to his superiors, he proceeds to just start blowing Cardassian ships away left and right and then rants like a lunatic about how "they're all the same" and "I can smell their deceit" when Picard calls him out on it.

** In [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E20WhatIsAndWhatShouldNeverBe "What Is And What Should Never Be" (S02, Ep20)]], Dean has to convince the Sam of the Wishverse that he needs to hunt the djinn, but Sam thinks he had a psychotic break. Subverted earlier in the episode when Sam catches Dean stealing a silver knife; as he's a loser in this particular reality, Dean simply says that he owes money to a loan shark.
** Subverted in [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E20TheRapture "The Rapture" (S04,20)]]. Jimmy Novak, Castiel's vessel, tells his wife that he was in a psych ward during the time he was possessed by Castiel. This backfires while he later begs his wife to believe him that his best friend is possessed by a demon and threatening their daughter; naturally she thinks he's had a psychotic relapse.
** In "Road Trip" Crowley enters Sam's MentalWorld [[spoiler: to warn him that he is possessed by Gadreel. Sam doesn't believe him until Crowley shoots him and nothing happens.]]
** Averted in "First Blood". The Winchester brothers have been arrested for attempting to assassinate the President of the United States and since no-one would believe that [[PresidentEvil POTUS has been possessed by Lucifer himself]], they just maintain an absolute silence.

* The main character in the famous ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" spends most of the episode gradually slipping into a major anxiety attack after seeing a gremlin on the wing of the plane he's riding on, which vanishes whenever anyone else looks at it, and trying to convince everyone that he isn't going insane. Their concern is admittedly justified, because until recently he'd been a patient in an asylum after suffering a nervous breakdown on a plane, and because he's played by [[Creator/WilliamShatner William Shatner's]] ''completely'' [[LargeHam hamming it up]].
-->'''Bob:''' (wild-eyed and drenched in sweat) ''Do I...'' look... ''insane!?''

--->[[Wrestling/JesseVentura "I don't see why anyone would find anything odd about our appearance."]]
** In the episode "Synchrony", an elderly man (who's actually from the future) approaches two guys and starts a rant about how one of them will die in a traffic accident while crossing the street that evening, and how '''this must not happen'''. Of course, they don't believe him. If he'd calmly started a conversation with them and held them up for just a few minutes, he'd have easily succeeded.
* In ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk'' episode "The Quiet Room", David Banner is committed to a mental health ward when he learns that one of the doctors there is performing illegal experiments on people's brains. His attempt to explain such to another doctor makes him sound even more delusional and paranoid, mainly due to the doctor he's trying to expose being ''right there'' and also questioning him, so he's trying to be evasive.
---> David: "Dr. Hill, you have to get the tape. It explains everything. The tape is very important. Now listen to me..."

* The 1977 ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'' ends with King Louis subjected to the same fate he inflicted on his identical twin, locked up in a cell in the iron mask and shouting that he's the real king.

** {{Lampshaded}} by the Earth King when the Gaang says this regarding his TreacherousAdvisor.

* Intentionally invoked by Frank in ''Series/SevenDays''. When a journalist is about to expose the government's time-travel experiments, he [[SarcasticConfession confirms her story on national television]]. He then [[RefugeInAudacity goes on]] to say that he is the only man that can time travel, which is why the CIA let him out of the psych ward so he can pilot the ship that [[ETGaveUsWiFi runs off of alien technology]] found at [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell]] and designed by a [[HotScientist sexy Russian]] that totally digs him. He (and the journalist) are laughed off the show.

* A review of ''Film/EvanAlmighty'' posed the question that never seems to be answered in those kinds of movies -- so Steve Carell tells his wife he's been chosen by God to recreate the Noah story and that's why all this weird stuff is happening. She doesn't believe him. Why doesn't he take her into the bathroom and show her how his beard grows back immediately when he shaves it, and so on? (Of course, [[IdiotPlot the movie as it is depends on characters assuming]] that everything that happens to Evan is some kind of misguided attempt at humor he's engineered and is now refusing to let go, no matter how miserable it clearly makes him and how much he insists that it's not his fault.)

** In "The Inhuman Torch," Bender has what is [[WorldOfWeirdness by]] ''[[WorldOfWeirdness Futurama]]'' [[WorldOfWeirdness standards]] a perfectly plausible explanation for why he isn't to blame for a string of fires that broke out in his wake, but manages to convince Fry—who has discovered evidence in his favor and ''already'' believes in his innocence—that he's guilty [[NotHelpingYourCase by phrasing his explanation like a next-level]] lame excuse while also playing up his own self-perceived heroism, [[HeroismAddict which was exactly what was believed to have been his motivation]].

* In ''Film/GhostbustersII'', the Ghostbusters are institutionalized when they [[CassandraTruth try to inform everyone that the subways are filling up with malevolent slime and that a painting in the Metropolitan Art Museum is coming to life at midnight on New Year's Eve.]] In a minor subversion, Peter is smart enough to realize that acting crazy and hysterical, as per the trope, isn't going to do anyone any good; unfortunately, the others aren't:
-->'''Ray:''' As I explained before, we think the spirit of a 17th century Moldavian tyrant is alive and well in a painting at the Manhattan Museum of Art.\\

** Lampshaded in the first film, when Winston asks if they are ''seriously'' going to tell a judge that an ancient god is going to destroy the city.

** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'': Andy's toys (sans Woody) accidentally get thrown out on the curb on trash day, and think Andy threw them away. As such, they decide to donate themselves to Sunnyside Daycare, despite Woody's insistence that Any was trying to put them in the attic. Since Woody was the only one of the toys not to be in that trash bag, they refuse to believe him.

--->"Goddammit, David, ''please'' believe me! You'll kill and make others like me! I'm not having a nice time here."

** In [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E20TheRapture "The Rapture" (S04,20)]], Jimmy Novak, Castiel's vessel, begs his wife to believe him that his best friend is possessed by a demon and threatening their daughter. Subverted earlier when Jimmy tells his wife, who thought him mentally ill, that he was in a psych ward during the time he was possessed by Castiel.

* In the first few minutes of the 1982 version of ''Film/TheThing1982'', some Norwegians land their helicopter near the American base and start shooting at (what looks like) a Siberian Husky. When some of the Americans come out to see what all the fuss is about (including the security guy with his revolver), instead of dropping their guns and deescalating things, the Norwegians keep excitedly shouting (in their native tongue) and shooting at the dog. The security guy pops them both before they can tell the Americans about the dog-thing.

* In ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk'' episode "The Quiet Room", David Banner is committed to a mental health ward when he learns that one of the doctors there is performing illegal experiments on people's brains. His attempt to explain such to another doctor (with the doctor he's trying to expose standing ''right there'' and also asking him questions, so he has to be evasive) makes him sound even more delusional and paranoid.

** The "Terror at 5 1/2 Feet" segment in "Treehouse of Horror IV," per its [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E123Nightmareat20000Feet source material]]. Bart fails to convince his fellow passengers of the gremlin dismantling the school bus but ''does'' succeed in freaking them all out to the point where after he's been proven right, they stick him in an insane asylum anyway.

* ''Series/{{iCarly}}: