Top 10 Weird Things That Some People Believe
Everyone has their own beliefs and here at TopTenz we respect them. That said, we know there will be one person who reads the title and immediately scrolls down to comments “Religion LOL”; to that person, congratulations, you’ve won at comedy. For everyone else, here are ten weird things people genuinely thought or still think are true.
10. Milk and eggs come from plants.
In a survey of British youths earlier this year, it was found that a startling number of children and young adults didn’t know where animal products like bacon, eggs and milk came from. Just soak that in for a second. 40% of children failed to link the image of a dairy cow with milk, and if you want to feel really bad, 11% of children thought eggs and milk came from wheat. That’s what happens when we only feed kids McDonald’s guys, they just assume that animal products grow from the ground. There’s no joke I can make that makes those kids seems any stupider and that’s really depressing.
9. Coca-Cola is one of your five-a-day.
Over in the UK (sigh) again, we have some facts that show that my countrymen really don’t understand food at all. Over here we’re advised to eat five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day; it’s a good scheme. Or it would be if it wasn’t for the fact 10% of parents thought an orange flavored cake, Coca-Cola or fruit flavoured candy counted as a portion of fruit or veg instead of as a step towards an early grave. But here’s the really, really stupid part: 1 in 20 people didn’t know oranges counted as a portion of fruit. Oranges! They sell those in the fruit section. How did people not know that?
8. The moon landing was fake.
Oh you knew this was coming. The moon landing has so many conspiracy theories around it they get their own wikipedia page. The counter evidence however gets a full page spread in the National Geographic, so yeah, your move conspiracy theorists. Although it’s reported that a fairly reserved 6% of Americans doubt the legitimacy of the claims, once again my country trumps itself with a whopping 25% of British people quizzed doubting the event happened. Let’s just get down to it, thousands of people have spent millions of dollars trying to find any shred of evidence to the contrary and so far, they’ve come up with zilch; scientists on the other hand pointed a telescope at the moon and said, “see for yourself.“
7. You can see gravity.
Gravity is a universal constant, and it’s fairly common knowledge that although you can’t see it, you can see its effect, like in this totally relevant gif. But common knowledge is vastly different from universal knowledge and 18% of, you guessed it, UK adults have the incorrect belief that they could see gravity. What would that even look like? Just for a second, imagine you could see gravity, that you could see a force that’s constantly pulling you and everything around you towards the centre of the Earth. If you saw that you’d tear out your own eyes out of sheer fear after 10 minutes.
6. Lightsabers exist.
I promise that I’ll start picking on Americans soon, but this was too good to pass up. Another 20% of UK adults also believe that Lightsabers, those things from Star wars, are real. Laser technology does exist to the point that you could own something similar, as Cracked explains. But with what you’ve already read, do you think the people quizzed meant, the S3 Spyder Arctic, or that thing they saw on TV that one time?
5. America gained its independence from France.
I’m led to believe that once a year millions of Americans go outside to scream obscenities at the sky and eat meat. Apparently though, nearly a quarter of people partying and drinking don’t even know why, with 19% of people quizzed being unsure, but more hilariously, 2% of people being totally sure that independence was won from France. Just pop on Facebook and scroll down your friends list, chances are one in every 4 people doesn’t know jack about Independence Day save that it was a pretty dope film starring Will Smith. But then again, fireworks!
4. Obama wasn’t born in the US.
Depending on when you’re reading this, President or Ex-President Obama went through his entire term in office with thousands of people claiming he wasn’t a true US citizen, which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact he had an all year sun tan. What gets this example onto this list though is how much evidence was ignored by people who believed it. The actual long form birth certificate? Photoshop. The fact that the promise of millions of dollars couldn’t bring anyone forward? Easily explained. The fact that no official government source ever hinted that he was anything but kosher? They were in on it too. The actual number of people who believed the claim varies, but it’s surprisingly most prevalent in white people opposed to Obama’s chosen party. Who’d have thunk it, huh?
3. Witches exist.
Magic is usually confined to the realms of Skyrim, Harry Potter or in between the sheets of my bed. However, according to this Gallup poll, 75% of Americans quizzed believe in some sort of paranormal activity. A figure that’s remained pretty constant for several years. Now although people have pretty thoroughly debunked the existence of ghosts, people still believe, which is awesome and cool for them. There’s just something about witches that’s a little harder to take seriously, because come on, there’s only one Emma Watson.
2. The Earth is flat.
This next one was so insane that I refused to admit it was genuine, until I saw it reported by the BBC. And yes, there are people out there who fully believe that the Earth is flat. And that every single image and piece of scientific evidence to the contrary is part of “an international conspiracy to dupe the public for vast profit.” Apparently there is a lot of money to be made from the sale of globes? So what does the world look like then? Well according to a flat Earther himself “it is around 24,900 miles in diameter” and around “9000Km deep” although he stresses that it’s not “perfectly flat” thanks to hills and valleys. Because that would be crazy.
1. The Titanic wasn’t real.
2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, leading the event to get almost world wide media attention. However it seems that a number of younger people got really confused when they saw the news because they thought that Titanic was just a movie. Seriously. But that single fact isn’t what gets this the number one spot, it’s what it suggests. This fact means that the Titanic sunk so many years ago that it actually faded from the collective memory of the younger generation. Just think about that, in a few years, that could just as easily be WW1 that a bunch of kids on Twitter didn’t think was real and that’s a terrifying thought.
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#10 Seriously, attacking Mcdonalds? i think it was a joke, but you just had to sucker punch.
Karl Smallwood, did you have a popular surname in school?
I think Smallwood has already mentioned that in his earlier article. So you, Sir, are way too late to tease him, Mr. Fear-oh.
awesome list, about time we had someone british post on here 8)
as an American..i find this list to be too British oriented…..see how annoying that sounds? lol…i’m completely joking….but seriously…
Thanks, Jason. I needed that.
It is only annoying when it’s American oriented
That number one had a good message. Hopefully large scale world events like that are never forgotten.
This article is BS. Where are your references?
The sources are linked in the article.
Right. Nearly all corporate media sources with a smattering of satire, humor, and of course, some “official” sites for pseudo-legitimacy.
I always source my work, because knowledge is power.
Also because I wouldn’t get paid if I didn’t.
Yea, and most of your sources are garbage! I cant believe you actually get paid to write. If this is indicative of what this site qualifies as a list fit enough to post, then good bye top tenz
When you find yourself bashing the sources of a random list on the internet, you know your life has gone down the drain. I feel sorry for you.
You are really having a bad day. Probably best if you read this list, it is truly the worst list on the site. I wrote it and I didn’t give one single source. You can criticize it as much as you like. Release your venom!
http://www.toptenz.net/top-ten-hats.php
What about those that believe the Earth is hollow? Yep, they still exist and some of their beliefs involve aliens,race of lizard people.
Found ‘em – http://www.ourhollowearth.com/
I served in the US Army on tanks and a funny belief us tankers all had was if you eat apricots or even had apricots on your tank before gunnery or manuevers or battle then something would go wrong.
Really strange. I would understand it, if it were beans or onions.
i was completely surprised to see that people who believe the Holocaust never happened didn’t make the list…was glad to see the moon landing there and i thought that the 9/11 conspiracy needed a place but i get that it might be too soon for that…it was a great list and some of them are completely ridiculous.
I guess both is to grim for this more lighthearted list.
Only 2% of Americans thought we gained our independence from France? I’m very surprised. I would expected that to be much higher. In fact, I expect that at least 5% believe we gained our independence from Mars. BTW, going outside to scream obscenities at the sky and eat meat is not limited to one day a year. It’s actually a pretty common occurrence.
I’m not one of those people who think Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. but I can tell you as a citizen of the state of Alabama that is an extremely wide spread belief, the surprising thing is that some democrats in Alabama accept that as fact too.
About #3: Witches actually do exist. I’m not saying they have any supernatural powers, but Wiccan practitioners sometimes do call their higher ranking members witches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca
like moi
We have Wiccans, Wiccan Witches (who combine Wicca and Witchcraft) and Witches who just practice witchcraft.
Then god does exist, too. I know a man in an institution where I worked who thought he was god.
Nobody knows where Obama was born including him. I’m not saying he wasn’t born in Hawaii but I don’t know that for a fact and neither does the one who wrote this list. Another possibility is Indonesia where he grew up with the last name of Soetero.
Sigh. *face palm* I feel sorry for you my good man.
Tim, don’t feel sorry for me,buckshot-I’m a 71-year-old disabled veteran. I’m on my way out the door. Feel sorry for yourself and the country and the lunatics who voted this America- hating communist back into office. I doubt I’m around in 4 years and it’s just as well with me. I would hate to see the shambles my country is in 4 years from now with this clown still in office.Right now obama is back in Hawaii where his wife moochelle stayed–The bill for this yet another vacation is now over 5 million dollars. But you think he cares about you. Good luck my man.
C’mon, if we all wish hard enough, I think we can reduce that 4 years for the world’s sake.
Ahahaha as a Wiccan Witch, I probably believe in OTHER witches…
Love this list!
You’re a Wiccan Witch? I would maybe like to converse with you… about… things…
Not here, though.
Seriously, I remember a friend once trying to convince me that the moon landings were faked by the U.S government. I remember back then there was all this doctored footage of the moon landing where experts analysed the direction of the shadows, effects of gravity etc in the moon landing images and concluded that it’s a fake. I think they were eventually dis-proven.
Clip from an excellent episode of Mythbusters in which they debunked all kinds of moon landing hoax conspiracies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wym04J_3Ls0
Ha, ha .. MythBusters… ha, ha…
Some people actually brlieve Hillary Clinto had a concussion and a bllod clot.
…belief in the paranormal =/= belief that witches/wizards are real… also how exactly has the existence of ghosts been debunked??
What makes the belief in witches and wizards less believable than other paranormal things?
And: You don’t need to “debunk” the existence of ghosts. Proving that something doesn’t exist is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. For example: I claim that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were historical persons – you can’t prove that they weren’t. I would have to prove that they were by showing historical evidence.
Nobody ever presented any good evidence for the existence of ghosts or presented a theory how they could exist according to physics at all. Until someone does, it’s safe to say that there are no ghosts.
There are a lot of argues about witches here…
This is the most ridiculous list this site has ever put out. Milk and eggs come from plants and we gained our independence from France? I’m 71-years-old and I have never met anyone who believed this nonsense. As far as where Obama was born,you have no idea where he was born and neither do I and neither does he. We only know what our parents tell us. I do know I was in Hawaii in 1961 (US Navy) and I didn’t see any wise men following a star. Maybe I was down in the boiler room on watch when they went by on their camels.You need new list writers.