30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In

From Santa (sorry…) to Bigfoot, there are hoaxes, lies, and old stories that don’t seem to die off, despite most people not believing them. Maybe they are comforting, interesting or so ingrained that a small portion of the population still clings on to these beliefs.

Someone asked, “What is the biggest hoax that people still believe?” and people shared all the delusions they had encountered. So get ready to possibly have your worldview shattered, make sure you are comfortable as you read through and upvote your favorite examples. Comment your thoughts and arguments below.

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In All that detox health science bs. Your body already has a detox system. It's called your liver.

EnvironmentLow9075 , Angela Roma Report

Final score:

260points

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axisgaymtf 12 months ago

FACTS!!

42points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In The privatized American “healthcare” system.

It takes billions of American taxpayer money to “operate” while *also* charging Americans billions on insurance premiums and fees.

Americans should either pay taxes that cover universal healthcare *or* pay insurance premiums and/or fees, NOT BOTH.

racoon-fountain , Pixabay Report

Final score:

250points

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Joe Publique 12 months ago

Lol. How do you make 50% of Americans lose their minds? Prefix any word with 'social'.

111points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In The Wakefield Paper. A deliberate hoax commissioned by a crooked law firm seeing to profit from legal judgments based upon the entirely falsified “results” of the “study”. This single act of entirely knowing and intentional fraud precipitated the greatest public health catastrophe of the antibiotic era: the modern antivaxx movement.

OHRunAndFun , Ivan Radic Report

Final score:

232points

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Joe Publique 12 months ago

Personally, I love anti-vaxxers because they remind me that no matter how bad my day gets I’ll never be that selfish, stupid, or misinformed.

27points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In "Be loyal to your company and they'll reward you"

Bull f*****g s**t... Only thing they'll do is exploit you more.

RaptureRising , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

Final score:

230points

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John 12 months ago

Company loyalty is to itself first and last. You'll be cut as soon as they don't need you

53points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In That wealth trickles down

frenziedkoalabuddy , WoodysMedia Report

Final score:

192points

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Joe Publique 12 months ago

Yup. Let's try 'trickle-up' economics. Poor people spend their money. Wealthy people hoard it.

87points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In That cutting taxes for the rich is good for workers.

Pfffft.

Lutiskilea Report

Final score:

180points

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Michael Largey 12 months ago

Cutting taxes on the rich gives them cash to buy out their competition, merge the companies, and then lay workers off. We've only seen that happen a couple of thousand times.

11points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In “You can lose 25 pounds in three weeks and never feel hungry while eating all the delicious foods you want. Just call this 800 number…”

Gorf_the_Magnificent , Andres Ayrton Report

Final score:

170points

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Disappointed Optimist 12 months ago

Those scams 😩

32points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Homeopathy
>
Germany, the birthplace of this movement, still allows people to study ‘MD Homeopathy’ despite the EU largely being opposed to it. In India one can get certified as a “Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery”. Most countries, while not recognising homeopathy doctors as legitimate, still allow sale of their “remedies” because they don’t see the harm in what are essentially sugar tablets and diluted alcohol.

dscchn , Nataliya Vaitkevich Report

Final score:

147points

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Zaach 12 months ago

Recently, homeopathic eye drops have caused blindness so not so harmless

30points

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30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In I've met more than one person who turned down a raise because they thought they'd end up making less money because of taxes.

Nahhhh, son. Nah.

freestyle43 , Monstera Production Report

Final score:

144points

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Beth H 12 months ago

My brain refuses to believe this but my heart knows people are this stupid

47points

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#10

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In The stigma around MSG.

toastyavocadoes , Douglas Muth Report

Final score:

132points

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TheBlueBitterfly 12 months ago

I loves me some MSG!

41points

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#11

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In that blood is blue when inside your body. I remember getting into it with a gym teacher he insisted “blood is blue inside your body but turns red when it’s exposed to the oxygen in the air like when you get a cut” but bloods whole purpose is to carry oxygen INSIDE the body, therefore it’s always red, and not turned red because the oxygen in the air.

apparently i’m still heated about that lmao

Stupid-ForYou , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

129points

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Louise B 12 months ago (edited)

To be fair, gym teachers aren't exactly on the A squad when it comes to academics. (That wasn't fair, I'm still bitter about my experiences at school my PE teacher was a vicious cow - and she took waaaay to much interest in the red-heads showering 🤔)

42points

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#12

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Healing Crystals.

"Oh, if I put this inert rock next to my wrist, it'll help with my arthritis?"

sloopieone , Alina Vilchenko Report

Final score:

129points

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Nonna_SoF 12 months ago

Crystals are however an essential part of lasers, and lasers are cool.

87points

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#13

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Alkaline water is pseudoscience, any chemist or doctor will confirm this

secularJ , unknown Report

Final score:

126points

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Hphizzle 12 months ago

I always like to add a little lemon to my alkaline water. /s

150points

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#14

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In All you have to do is work hard and you’ll get rich.

WWDB , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

124points

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Enlee Jones 12 months ago

The reward for hard work is more work.

55points

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#15

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Humans only use 10% of their brain (well lately I guess some do)

DrummerBob10 , RF._.studio Report

Final score:

118points

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RosenCranzLives 12 months ago

You use about 83% of it just to go to the washroom.

23points

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#16

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Pyramid schemes.

Happy_Bullfrog_5379 , Luis Quintero Report

Final score:

117points

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Mav Mav 12 months ago

They only make the Pharaohs rich.

51points

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#17

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Im a police officer, and Ive had people tell me that ALL police officers MUST by law say they are cops if/when they are asked, including cops that are undercover. I tried to explain this would defeat the purpose of being undercover because the criminals would just simply ask "Are you a cop?" to everyone they were committing crimes with and invest is over. There is no such law but i can never win the argument.

actionjaxn411 , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

116points

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Fynne 12 months ago

I know nothing about this, but it sounds like this myth could’ve been started by police forces, so that idiot criminals will believe it

55points

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#18

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In The hysteria over GMO food. It is demonstrably fine. We have been genetically modifying food in an uncontrolled way since before the written word. The idea that it's *more* haphazard and dangerous when done with precision by scientists with advanced technology is completely absurd.

Also, trees and plants can't run away from predators, they have to protect themselves with chemistry. Pesticides are naturally occuring and omnipresent. In fact, food we consider inedible is mostly that due to the presence of said pesticides, compounds in them which make them unpalatable or dangerous for us to eat.

DeadFyre , David Prasad Report

Final score:

116points

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 12 months ago (edited)

People are mostly freaked out about TRANSGENIC food that has other genes from other species inserted. First the majority of GMO foods are simply bred that way. Gene insertion has also been rigorously tested by FDA and USDA. BTW, my degree is in FOOD SCIENCE. These modified foods allow us to grow hardier crops that need less pesticide and fungicide and keep people from STARVING TO DEATH.

71points

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#19

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In One big lie that some people still believe is that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis. It's been debunked, but it's amazing how many still believe it!

blandsiding , Eren Li Report

Final score:

103points

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axisgaymtf 12 months ago

its just air that has been built up is all,it dosnt harm you or anything

25points

Ranger Kanootsen 12 months ago

I still can't help but cringe when people do it though

12points

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don'tcensorstupidstuff 12 months ago

right... but for some reason when people do it bc their nervous, it makes me nervous cuz then u know that ur not the only one whos nervous so u might actually finally have a reason to worry

4points

Huddo's sister 12 months ago

It doesn't cause arthritis but there has been evidence that it can weaken your muscles if done regularly.

2points

ꪑꪖᦋᩏỉꫀ (ᡶꫝꫀꪗ/ᡶꫝꫀꪑ) 12 months ago

This comment has been deleted.

-1point

Bobby 12 months ago

My sister is one of these. I even showed her the scholarly articles that proved it. She still refused to accept it because she works for a chiropractor who says this is true. He's a "straight chiropractor" who thinks he can cure anything from ear infections to cancer...

5points

I'mNotARoboat 12 months ago (edited)

Apparently she hasn't put together that chiropractor is doing the exact thing to spines they claim will cause arthritis in fingers.

5points

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Sand Ers 12 months ago

Still irritating as hell to live with someone who does it constantly.

5points

Steve Hall 12 months ago

You know what cracking your knuckles does do, it irritates the people around you.

3points

Stefaan De Clerck 12 months ago

A lot of people don't like it, just like me. Then a story is quickly made up that it is not healthy. Every child hears from their parents that they are doing something that is not healthy, only to later have to conclude that your parents told you something that was (scientifically) incorrect. Just because they didn't like it. Human, but it can have serious consequences.

3points

Six sighs per hour 12 months ago

I did a 50 + year experiment with this, cracked left hand knuckles but not right hand, when my mother told me this. I have early depuytrens contracture in the right, uncracked hand and not the left. So does cracking knuckles prevent depuytrens? Too small a sample.

2points

Princess Jade 12 months ago

Never once cracked my knuckles, I have arthritis in my hands and feet.

2points

James Marciniak 10 months ago

As a Gen X'er we say it cause the noise is gawd awful. Listening to our teen pop all knuckles and neck at the most inappropriate times.

1point

Kar Red Roses 11 months ago

My ankles crack all the time. Just turning my foot in a circle they crack. It’s absurd how loud a pop they make.

0points

Rebecca McManus 12 months ago

Never cracked my knuckles, still have arthritis in my hands

0points

Ja R 12 months ago

sometimes feels so good

0points

B-b-bird 12 months ago

Rheumatoid arthritis is caused by autoimmune disease. More people would know about it, the more would understand how to medically control it (no treatment tho). Including some sh*ty “specialists” saying “you are old, what do you expect, go home take some rest” 😤😠😡🤬

0points

Seraph Blue 12 months ago

While there is no evidence that cracking knuckles gives you arthritis, there is at least some evidence that it may weaken your grip over time.

0points

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#20

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In The food pyramid.

Scurvy-Banana , Rachael Moore Report

Final score:

90points

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Sue Denham 12 months ago

Toblerone.

76points

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#21

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Shaving making hair grow in thicker.

WarpedMathematician , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

89points

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Fynne 12 months ago

It does in a way. The hair is thicker near the base, so when you cut the thin top and it grows a little, it will feel and look a little thicker.

26points

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#22

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In The common cold is caused by being cold.

BubbhaJebus , Andre Furtado Report

Final score:

89points

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Fynne 12 months ago

Being cold can, however weaken the immune system causing you to be more prone to colds

82points

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#23

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In I think the amount of people that continue to fall for hustle culture and the snake oil salesmen push it. There is huge emphasis in modern society on not only being rich but being rich young by the simplest/fast means necessary. Its honestly depressing how many people continue to purchase master classes/work shops that all filled with surface level near useless information.

reddit.com , Ron Lach Report

Final score:

87points

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Ace 12 months ago

If someone's peddling their 'get rich quick' scheme through books, classes or workshops you are actually a contributing part of their scheme. If they genuinely had all the answers they'd already be rich and wouldn't need or want to pass their secrets on to anyone else.

24points

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#24

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Chiropractic adjustments, getting your vertabrae popped and ground on a frequent basis is good for you.

mywifesoldestchild , Cojanu Alexandru Report

Final score:

82points

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TheBlueBitterfly 12 months ago

And now there's INFANT chiropractors!? No, just.. no.

53points

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#25

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Gluten being bad for you if you don’t have celiacs.

Joel22222 , Maurício Mascaro Report

Final score:

70points

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Sonja 12 months ago

The problem is the lack of education on food in general and not knowing about food safety in combination with companies cutting corners left and right with cheap mass production. Humans can't properly digest raw flour. If you try it, you'll get horrible stomach pains. From badly cooked yeast you'll get bloated and gassy. But companies nowaday bake cheap bread on roll through ovens. The flour and yeast doesn't cook completely through. So if you have problems after eating wheat bread, try toasting the bread before eating. If that helps, you have neither celiac disease nor gluten intolerance. Either change the brand of bread you buy or keep toasting it if you can't afford different bread. Now, I'm sure now some people will whine: BuT iF I EaT GlUtEn FrEe I dOn'T hAvE pRoBleMs... Yes, of course, that's because most gluten free alternatives either don't have wheat or the gluten is removed and you only eat the starch which means that the wheat was processed and often has no yeast.

15points

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#26

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Don’t go swimming after eating

FreshStartRetry , Dương Nhân Report

Final score:

62points

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Puppy Dancing! 12 months ago

This was invented by pool owners to reduce puke in the pool.

34points

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#27

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Carrots improve your eyesight. This was English propaganda during WW2. They didn't want Germany to know that they had radar which spotted their bombers. It was those sharp eyes of Brit's pilots.

om54 , Ron Lach Report

Final score:

61points

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Fakeus nameus 12 months ago

Cheerio mate, fancy a spot of carrots so we can spot them German jets? I’ll go right ahead and fetch them old chap.

19points

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#28

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In That going to sleep with or going out with wet hair causes a cold.

geordiesteve520 , Polina Kovaleva Report

Final score:

54points

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AtMostTheFabulist Premium 12 months ago

I used to walk to school with wet hair in the winter. Which would freeze. I would be brushing ice out of my hair for a half hour. Never got sick.

34points

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#29

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Milk for strong bones.

Dairy industry advertising campaign that isn't supported by evidence and in fact we have a good amount of evidence to the contrary.

Thatweasel , samer daboul Report

Final score:

44points

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Puppy Dancing! 12 months ago

Rickets is almost eliminated in countries with mIlk consumption.

45points

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#30

30 Biggest Hoaxes That Some People Still Believe In Recycling is saving the environment

hbsboak , Lisa Fotios Report

Final score:

23points

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SlightlyTarnished 12 months ago

I've never heard anyone say "recycling is saving the environment". Recycling makes sense, reduces some raw material requirements, and is beneficial to the environment, though "saving", nope.

101points

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