When Animal Planet Made Up a Bunch of Stuff | Billiam

[@fall9459]

I want a mermaid documentary where it slowly becomes obvious that they're actually talking about manatees

[@Claws_robotics]

i did not know i needed this until now.

[@clintmcbride7830]

The scientific documentary version of beer goggles wearing off

[@orangeismyfavoritecolor]

I was thinking the same exact thing

[@nathanmiller9918]

Columbus- "Mermaids are not what I expected." Peasant- "Did you...um...." Columbus- "Of course, but they were not what I expected."

[@extrasupercoolbeans]

I will make that one day mark my word

[@cooliodudeio9748]

our school had an entire assembly where they showed us dragons: a fantasy made real but with literally no context the whole thing was to teach us about how people can make stuff up and it can be very believable nobody got that message and it just made everyone think dragons were real for about a week

[@D-Vinko]

Imagine a school failing to teach students something. Surprising! Just kidding, your school did just as good as any other school at ruining kids education.

[@nikitaivachtchenko6375]

@@D-Vinko Nah, kids are just dumb, LOL.

[@littleleah310]

@@nikitaivachtchenko6375 well im a kid and i dont beileve this

[@hughmann5188]

@@D-Vinko at least they tried

[@Chocobonnie]

Technically, they are right. Everyone believed something that was real

[@bcraner6082]

My science teacher played the dragon documentary for our class in 6th grade without telling us before it was a "mockumentary". She told us after that it was fiction, and that she did it to teach us not to believe everything we watch or hear just because they provide some form of scientific fact.

[@enricomeirelles2304]

Big brain teacher, teaching about fake news before it became a cotastrophical problem as it stands today

[@yami_the_witch]

geez buddy, you might wanna listen to some big brain teachers more often with word garbage like "cotastrophical" coming out of your mouth

[@enricomeirelles2304]

@@yami_the_witch English is not really my thing dude

[@AWlpsSHOW36]

Wow. That's pretty clever and cool. Really good lesson to teach to kids at a hool that people often forget is important. Your teacher is awesome!

[@cooperkellis2659]

Reminds me of in a computer class in elementary school they had us spend a whole class researching "tree octopi", a fictional octopus that lives in pine trees in oregon, and then told us at the end of the class period that the whole thing was a hoax and not to believe everything you read on the internet.

[@Bukkataro]

As a kid I always though the mermaid documentary was real, but upon rewatch years later with my Dad I sat through the credits where it CLEARLY stated that all of it was fake, and the both of us wondered how we’d never seen it before.

[@michaelkaminski1166]

Probably because nobody sits through all of the credits.

[@FidoZip1988]

That happen to me with the McPherson abduction.

[@MagiEye369]

That's because i really believe they never claimed it wasn't fake until X amount of time later. Reason is because I remember watching it on TV when it first came on and thinking to myself "no way, this has to be a joke!" So I did as much research as I could on the guide info and watching all the credits that I could and never once saw where it was stated that it wasn't real.

[@possumpaints6852]

i was completely unconvinced by the mermaid doc but my grandpa seemed to believe it, until my dad pointed out that the supposed 2003 phone camera footage had a zoom in it and my dad was like "yeah thats fake they couldn't zoom like that back then"

[@theartingskorpio1524]

same but with the dragon one. years later I was like "I can't believe I feel for that"

[@tonymacaroni7020]

8 year old me: " who would lie in a documentary?why would they do that, just get on TV and lie?? no.. no."

[@dinolover]

yep, fuck I was stupid lol Mockumentary? That doesnt exist, all the science is real!

[@korrafey1044]

I was the same gullible child

[@juliagoetia]

Same, although to my shame I was 14 ... I believed a lot of weird stuff back then.

[@boogityhoo7452]

Dont be hard on yourselves. No matter how many of us will admit it, 90% of us were very guillable as children especially the way our parents would openly lie to us just to try n keep us in line and prevent us from discovering the truth about alot of things in life and rebelling because if we rebelled and had all that knowledge we would be unstoppable lil shitheads.

[@spartythespart]

@@boogityhoo7452 y'all are still gullible. You believe nasa and the mainstream news. A lot of people still believe money is backed by the gold in fort knox. Y'all think a paper mask you never wash will stop you from getting the flu- err, the super flu. People in general are very gullible that's why communism and socialism and other evil people gain power so often and it's so hard to get rid of, even if some people figure out, the masses are still sitting there fooled.

[@JackBread]

I hate the dragon documentary, I was so convinced by it as a kid I did a school project on it and tried to convince my classmates dragons were real. I was called 'dragon boy' for a few weeks.

[@mollietenpenny4093]

Bless your heart! 😢❤

[@thepants1450]

F

[@tigerdiamond2486]

F

[@mateogonzalez5678]

Its funny cuz I had discussions with friends ib elementary school and we both agreed it was real- Maybe we were stupid...

[@mwep415]

Yeah man, me too. I would tell people that dragons were real because of this too

[@Man_Emperor_of_Mankind]

When I was a teenager I got in trouble for arguing with my aunt about the mermaid show. She was almost 35 years older than me, but while I eventually caught on to the show being fake, she found it to be a life changing revelation and was very uspet that a kid told her that she was fooled by a joke documentary.

[@ashleykaylam4775]

When the mermaid “documentary” came out I was ten and me and my brother were actually freaked out about it. Those found footage clips and the mermaid putting its hand on the glass terrified me.

[@juanemartinez1114]

Saaaaame I actually never watched it because the previews were too scary 😭😭

[@kingofspades1785]

Dude I fucking remember that scared the shit out of me

[@marieporter9488]

That scene STILL gets me as a jump scare

[@jitterbuggs]

omg i remember that!! it literally terrified me as a kid, i think it was late at night when i saw it too, thanks for reawakening that memory from deep within my psyche

[@franticpoizen1809]

The fucking clip of the mermaid jumpscareing the dude on the beach scared the absolute shit out of me as a child, I couldn't sleep for a day

[@wrazzberrie1197]

I think why the dragons mockumentary worked so well is because at it's core it was an exercise in speculative evolution. Much more grounded than man after man, or all tomorrows, but still held the same spirit.

[@armadillofriend]

god, all tomorrows is fucking fantastic

[@pmester228]

While I appreciate the effort, the explanation still fails. To keep it short, hydrogen can't lighten a dragon significantly.

[@milescox1792]

@@pmester228 That's the tough thing about this type of doc; there's no way to explain it rationally because it isn't real. You still have to have suspension of belief, but it's weighed with actual science. You can't make an 100% accurate mockumentary because it's all bull, and the limit of suspension of belief is different for everyone, so it depends entirely up on if you're interested in the subject, like all entertainment, really

[@pmester228]

@@milescox1792 You can still speculate about functional designs for dragons. Not in a mockumentary style, because that kind of eliminates more outlandish ideas, like the ones I have about how they are cyborgs.

[@PirateJohnson]

@@gibbcharron3469... No. Don't make this InTo another SCP kind of thing, please.

[@kirani111]

You don’t understand how much the dragon documentary affected me as a child. It didn’t matter what any adult told me, IT WAS REAL.

[@crazysilly2914]

OMG I saw this back in the day at my Grandma’s house, and I actually thought it was real because it had ‘legit face-shadowed people for their privacy’, so I thought it _Had_ to be real… Animal Planet is so scummy for misleading people into thinking it actually was real...

[@kirani111]

@@crazysilly2914 I saw it at my grandma’s house too! And you know what was worse? I’m from Mexico and I didn’t know english, so the documentary being in english with spanish subs made it harder to realize they were doing a mockumentary AND made it sound more official, hahaha!

[@BearWith_You]

Considering I was flipping through channels as a kid and saw the word dragon in the guide I stayed on the channel. I never saw the beginning that said it is fake so I took it as fact for several years

[@alexandria3583]

SAME

[@jayjaygolden5123]

I had these dragonology books as a kid and they made me 100% sure dragons were real I still wonder why so many regions came up with the idea of dragons around the same time despite not having much contact.

[@shaquille.oatmeal9934]

OK but legitimately the mermaid one as a kid convinced me for a while that they truly existed and I refused to swim in the ocean when we went. Mermaids were a true fear of mine for like 3 years.

[@slotzoffuntrue]

How does Billiam pull off the bright, high energy, camp counselor vibe while simultaneously looking more dead inside than any real person ever has

[@Rainbowkittenism]

Obsessed with the implication that Billiam isn't a real person.

[@riddell26]

Weird all my friends say the same thing about me.

[@fugyfruit]

He's a ghost haunting KZbin

[@heavenly2k]

@@solchapeau6343 chill.

[@heavenly2k]

Imagine how billiam would feel coming across this comment. He just looks like a dude guy, anyway. Chill lol

[@Kinkajou420]

My biology teacher actually thought the mermaid doc was real and I think that's when I first realized that adults could perssue a knowledgeable life and still be a little dumb.

[@hopefulmayhem5744]

Teachers are just kinda dumb. They spend 5 years in college for 1 of the lowest paying government jobs. Also teaching itself is increasingly low skill.

[@sophief6330]

@@hopefulmayhem5744 maybe in you country but in mine it's really well paid ans require a lot of passion and resilience, handling students isn't that easy...

[@Mngalahad]

I think its more like how you can still get a job while underqualified. Send your resume even if it asks for 5 years of experience and you have none.

[@hopefulmayhem5744]

@ferret teaching in the US is quite literally showing power points and giving opinions (usually wrong and poorly informed).

[@bethanydavis9023]

@@hopefulmayhem5744 the US education system has been purposefully failing for a long time.

[@jacobjonesofmagna]

Can we talk about the sheer number of people affected by this mermaid documentary series in this comment section alone? I didn't know this was a generational crisis man Edit: I see this video's surfing the algo, since I'm getting all these random replies again

[@Ninjaned]

Good to know across all borders we share this trauma.. 😂

[@bigload6]

@@Ninjaned I remember making a facebook post on it, shit got me good!

[@toakovika]

My dad is an uber-religious man, and believes sirens are real and were the cause of something that happened in the book of Enoch.

[@jacoblowe8183]

I remember thinking it was real, especially after I saw the sequel a few years later

[@BurningheartofSILVER]

✋🏽 Same. I was shook when this aired in middle school. At least I have the excuse of having been a kid at the time, but my mom also believed it as well, so there’s that.

[@mini8995]

Dude, those documentaries were the staple of my childhood. Real or not, those shows were awesome

[@BlueScreenCorp]

Fun fact River Monsters ended because Jeremy had caught and released all of the lake monsters and they ran out of places to go

[@planescaped]

It was a great show in the first 4 seasons, after that it started veering too much into demon bat and mountain monsters territory. Though, even then you still had the occasional gem of an episode. But I much preferred the less sensationalized early seasons.

[@h1rhs33]

Mans actually completed that side quest we all keep putting off

[@rurihime4965]

He is going for the 100% completions

[@rikubrown8109]

I love River Monsters, ine of my favorite shows to watch after school

[@crizmeow8394]

He needs that hat that says “women want me, fish fear me”

[@liv4777]

10 yr old me was devastated that my parents didnt let me watch the mermaid documentary because they knew that i would grasp it and refuse to believe anything else is real

[@CaptainEffort]

I was the same age when I watched it... and totally bought it. Luckily it only took a year to figure out it was fake. And I’m not an anti-vaxxer!

[@jordainereboe3917]

You have good parents.

[@WhyYouMadBoi]

I was young when the fucking dragon documentary came out. I had it prerecorded and told people it was real and when other kids my age and a bit older said I was stupid I would invite them over to watch a documentary. Because we're all retarded little kids and "animal planet is smart and nerdy and it's those sciency type things why would they lie!?" Only a year later with me leaving the school did I realize I was stupid

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

@@WhyYouMadBoi You weren't... that ableist slur. Kids are just more gullible and prone to looking up to authority figures because of less life experience and a still developing brain.

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

That mermaid mockumentary influenced my writing and art including mermaids a lot honestly. I saw it half asleep as we were staying over at a family friend's house, and had some pretty Funky Dreams tm

[@rainpuppies]

the mermaid documentary haunts me to this day bc my sister is super gullible and she believes this still and mentions it all the time and I’m like.. you do know that was fake right?? And she always counters saying “why would discovery channel make a fake documentary“ We’re both in our 20’s now EDIT: now why is there a whole debate going on in the replies to this comment

[@dwaynegee8435]

Lol I dont know there are a lot of mysteries about ocean we cant begin to understand. We know more about space than we know about the ocean. One thing I learned in my years is that its always some truth in a myth

[@buythegamesagain]

@Hunter Smith how would you know? I don’t believe in mermaids but I’m curious as to what your reasoning is for why they could only exist on the surface, if you don’t mind my asking, wouldn’t want to intrude

[@arcticdino1650]

@@buythegamesagain If mermaids are mammals, they would need to breath air. And this would need to rise to the surface. They also wouldn't have the lung capacity that many whales have so would need to surface much more often.

[@buythegamesagain]

@@arcticdino1650 we discovered a new whale just 4 years ago and over 20 new sea mammals in the last 2 decades, jsyk we don’t know everything that’s on the surface and are currently still unraveling the mysteries of our big blue marble

[@buythegamesagain]

@Hunter Smith there are hundreds of known sea mammals, with new ones being found all the time as well as other land primates, at least 30 have been found in the last 20 years. I agree with the notion that sea dwelling primates is an absurd concept, but I also have to admit that I have no concrete evidence to disprove their existence at this time, and as a wise man once said “the absence of evidence, is not the evidence of absence”

[@voilet-the-non-violet-vulpix]

I think the mermaid mockumentary permanently changed my psychology as a kid. Before that, I was very into mythology, dinosaurs, etc., & after that… well, I may have still been into all that, but I also became super into combining them with speculative fiction using varying amounts of edginess.

[@HartxStarr]

When the mermaid documentary came out, it was the hot topic in science class. I have vivid memories of my teacher sitting at his desk with his head in his hands pissed with Animal Planet for lying

[@CrazyFlyingMonk]

i watched that mermaid doc when i was younger and i belived it till my bro told me it was a lie. i haven't liked or trusted animal planet since

[@HartxStarr]

@@CrazyFlyingMonk I was in middle school at the time. In my subconscious, I knew it wasn’t real because I thought (the majority of) stuff on TV was fake; but I never gave it much thought to consciously say it was fake. When my teacher said it was fake, that’s when I thought “Oh yeah. Of course.”

[@crazysilly2914]

OMG I saw this back in the day at my Grandma’s house, and I actually thought it was real because it had ‘legit face-shadowed for privacy people’, so I thought it _Had_ to be real… Animal Planet is so scummy for misleading people into thinking it was real...

[@dseray9494]

This phenomenon was before my time, but my friend saw the dragon documentary a while after the fact, and thought it was real We were like eight then though so

[@thegreygoblin5165]

Damn

[@jordannewthomas3293]

River monsters was a great show Jeremy was such a solid host and willing to do almost anything to catch a fish.

[@sashascarah6533]

Was? It's still going as far as I'm aware (though covid kinda cut new episodes the past year). Has he retired? I was looking forward to new episodes once covid lockdown lifts in the world

[@TMW_DragonixX]

Lol

[@firmak2]

@@sashascarah6533 really? I remember him leaving after finding that huge fish with teeth saying it was the fish he wanted to catch the most.

[@Chimpey]

You mean a catfish

[@alpharius7216]

that show is genuinely entertaining to watch.

[@FlushedNoob]

I like how all the “main character” scientists are literally the same person

[@hazukichanx408]

"They thought he was crazy because he kept saying crazy shit with zero evidence... now, he's on a mission to prove them all wrong! Zaney McCryptids is... The Discredited Guy!"

[@crazysilly2914]

OMG I saw this back in the day at my Grandma’s house, and I actually thought it was real because it had ‘legit face-shadowed for privacy people’, so I thought it _Had_ to be real… Animal Planet is so scummy for misleading people into thinking it was real...

[@luislora8953]

@@crazysilly2914 yes gurr don't you hate that scummy animal planet for convincing you DRAGONS are real cause that is something that is definitely realistic and not at all fantasy

[@crazysilly2914]

@@luislora8953 the one about dragons was clearly labeled as fiction, my issue was with the mermaid one...

[@luislora8953]

@@crazysilly2914 once again mermaids are fictional and that should be incredibly obvious to anybody older than 5

[@kylaw2593]

As a child who didn’t know what a mockumentary was, I was pretty convinced that mermaids could exist

[@Xariah_Xelo]

I did too 😭😞

[@JPdraws_]

Yea it kinda made me believe too but it mostly scarred me bc the trailer for the documentary was too freaky for my 10 year old brain

[@da1zed]

I was like 13 and it fuckin got me! I was GOT, i didnt find out it was a purpiseful mockumentary for a few years,in part because like you id never heard of mockumentaries before

[@Funny_in_blue]

I did too and cried by the end of it because I was worried for their safety

[@BlazeDupree1525]

honestly same, I was super young at the time and thought everything on Animal planet was real

[@rpgkingx3629]

Mothman is like Absol, he appears as a warning for disasters, but its presence is blamed for those disasters. Such a tragic character the more you think about it

[@heeshantbeharee9229]

Notice how all cryptids are basically humans with different pokemon types. Mothman- Flying type human Mermaid- Water type human Bigfoot- Leaf type human

[@caesar5588]

@@heeshantbeharee9229 That’s it folks. It’s time to enslave some poke-man and put them in the fighting pit.

[@Xetan123]

@@heeshantbeharee9229 I'd watch an anime about cryptids.

[@nicholasweed3116]

Go mothman I choose you use explosion!

[@tylerwatson8067]

@@heeshantbeharee9229 LEAF type nigga??😒

[@ericakat6322]

In the mermaids one. I love that they blacked out the "eye witness" faces, as if they were afraid the mermaids would come after them for snitching

[@markl2322]

Now THAT would make a good "found footage" program. Mermaid hit squads coming to find people who revealed they were real....

[@KertaDrake]

@@markl2322 Whatever you do, don't take a bath! Stay out of the pools! Never flush! It might let them get you!!!

[@ericakat6322]

@@markl2322 theyll send ya to sleep with the fishes! wait .

[@BaronVonQuiply]

_"I'm a fishman hitman and I made a deal with a sea witch to come after you. Shouldn't have talked _*_racks pistol_*_ "_

[@Eshtian]

It's not the mermaids *IT'S THE GOVERNMENT*

[@MostLikelyMortal]

I think the lesson to be learned here is that River Monsters with Jeremy Wade was rad

[@LainVics]

Me and my family have a running joke that if you ever wanted something nautical captured, you must send Jeremy to do it. Fictional or otherwise, he will both hook it and capture it

[@brinicle5727]

Problem is, 90% of the fish caught were catfish. Great show, but gets a little boring after the 10th catfish in episode 3.

[@snowballsolis]

Random comment but I love your pfp. :)

[@snowrider6669]

I’m actually binging it right now on Hulu

[@LainVics]

@@snowrider6669 Good choice

[@therat1011]

In middle school, I had an english teacher that %100 believed the mermaid mockumentary, and I got into an argument in the middle of class with her trying to explain it was fake. Later that year she told the class about her dog that was possessed by a demon.

[@jonathangonzalez9394]

The hell 😂😂😂

[@rebeccawest3608]

She could have Schizophrenia, which actually kinda sad

[@flansillon4586]

@@rebeccawest3608 Nah people are dumb

[@victoriashevlin8587]

I don't think she was ok...

[@razzle8140]

Wow, that's completely backwards

[@cryptidcanid]

i actually own the dragon mocumentary on dvd (found it at a resale store) and used to watch it ALL the time when i was younger. i still admire how they interpreted dragons into the real world if they were actual beings and ADORED the scientific reasoning. still a great piece of nostalgia that i just might watch again for old time's sake.

[@kokobean5921]

I remember when I was 13 years old, I watch Mermaids The Body Found, and I was a firm believer. I was doing all kinds of research, sending emails to the discovery team, I even wanted to go out into the ocean and find the mermaids. For years I thought the mermaids were real until someone finally told me that it was only a mockumentary. I was totally devastated.

[@carrieeloff2220]

I was so pissed I cancelled my cable

[@kalypso4133]

fake

[@thaxasaurian]

Same here dude, but these mockumentaries gave me inspiration to create my series.

[@moogleydoot]

same here. i went around telling everyone about the "aquatic ape theory" and how it makes so much sense

[@nexyzu1876]

Same bit i was a bit more lazier (maybe because I was a bit younger) but I was remembered by that now and I got to know it was a mockumentary now

[@yamahrahda]

the mermaid documentary had such a grip on me i defended it with my life something my science-oriented parents did NOT appreciate 😭😭

[@chrystianaw8256]

😭😭😭

[@ItsNessaTho]

I made a whole presentation about it for school 🙃🤠

[@Gerald-of-Riviera]

I think the only reason my dad had me and my brothers watch it with him was to test out our intelligence for if it's real or not. We failed I think

[@punkbeluga5091]

I'd like to hear what conversation you had ahaha

[@geekgirl616]

I got got by it too it’s not your fault I’m assuming you were a kid when freaking ANIMAL PLANET makes/airs an entire documentary you take that as fact when you’re young and naive! It’s really sickening that they took the trust people had for their channel and completely butchered it for ratings!

[@mitchellharder7670]

DUDE WE WATCHED THE DRAGON ONE IN CLASS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIKE 20 YEARS AGO AND MY WHOLE CLASS DEADASS THOUGHT DRAGONS WERE REAL AND THE TEACHERS DIDN'T EVEN TELL US IT WAS FAKE I'M STILL MAD ABOUT IT

[@YouW00t]

I can imagine how magical it was until reality hit you in the face.

[@jaegercat6702]

Y’all got fuckin played

[@TheMasterBlaze]

Technecally dragons exist, but not as the mythology would like to depict them.

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Well, dinosaurs and by extension birds may as well be classed as real-life dragons. Look up Barosaurus for example.

[@screamingbanshee1282]

I'm convinced people thought dragons were real because of ptedarxly bones

[@killerkitten7534]

I actually loved the dragons one cause it went out of its way to show “yes these don’t exist, but what if” And I really think if they did this with cryptids too like looking into where it came from and how they might have operated if they were an actual biological life form.

[@НиколайПиманов-т1ь]

Ждите от меня лет через 10 художественный сериал...

[@jessicaclakley3691]

One of my favorite discovery shows was Mythology unleashed which took this approach and applied it to various mythological creatures including the Minotaur, dragons and giants (Cyclopes specifically if I’m remembering correctly)

[@idkaliciaa]

When Lost Tapes was airing my cousins and I made our own spoof of it fully edited in iMovie found footage style. We called it “Demon Cow”Literally my 10 year old cousin dressed in a cow costume getting tipped over and staring into the camcorder that fell on the ground saying “You tipped the wrong cow” then just shaky cam footage of him stalking us around our yard while we hid in the bushes lmfao

[@cherrrymaraschino]

The kids in my neighborhood and I used to act out our favorite episodes 😳

[@chloskyskies4399]

Please upload I’d pay to watch that

[@kateb6699]

that is incredible

[@JadeAkelaONeal]

That's fucking epic

[@conradoamano3446]

Demon Cow. Heh... and the only thing it fears is the Demonic Cowboy.

[@AxeMurderer2222]

11:06 "Something unknown has spooked the deer." Could the unknown include that gang of cameramen operating whizzing machinery and shining 6 spotlights at them?

[@natasha8007]

Honestly it would scare me too. And I work in film 😂

[@airysama8812]

@@natasha8007 It's good to see more deer getting jobs in the film industry.

[@natasha8007]

@@airysama8812 truly! We still have a long road ahead when it comes to quality representation thought.

[@carloshenriquezimmer7543]

@@natasha8007 Even worse if you consider that a Moose had only a cameo appereance in Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail, and that was back in 1975

[@chistinelane]

It's a deer. A mouse probably sneezed

[@Kaylart]

i was so shocked about the mermaids being real when i was a kid, only to find out a few years later it was fake.

[@daffers2345]

I had a friend who sat through the entire thing waiting for the "real footage," then got mad when it came up and was obviously CG. She was an adult when she watched it, though, so I guess that makes all the difference.

[@asandax6]

Bruh I also thought they were real Until I got older and into anime and tech. I remember hearing someone who also had just watched that episode and I re-watched it and was laughing the whole time.

[@SieMiezekatze]

My dad defend it as real proof the goverment doesn't want you to know, my 12 year old self knew it was fake like do you know animation????

[@ELtwistedJRP]

i dont think it was a fact but when they had the mermaid fight a megalodon i thought megalodons were 50x the size of a great white instead of 3x or 5x a great white

[@crelos3549]

I remember that when I was a kid I believed every single "real alien video" good times

[@kmay7134]

I distinctly remember the cannibal in the jungle thing from when I was a kid. I literally spent so long looking for it because I could not stop thinking about it and I finally found it like two weeks ago. It had such a grip on my brain. They went ham with that one.

[@andrewwestfall65]

I was over at a friend's place and we randomly had Animal Planet on for background noise when it was showing the mermaid thing. Our immediate joke was that bad CGI was a real creature. Not that mermaids were real, but that there were creatures out there that looked like bad CGI and scientists didn't believe them because they thought the pictures were shopped or something

[@troin3925]

Kind of reminds me of how in Grave Encounters 2, people acknowledge the bad CGI from the first movie without knowing that it was real in-universe which made me think “so are they saying that demonic ghost faces look similar to bad CGI?”

[@xtlsvideopodthelaststate1843]

I wanna see a Bigfoot show that ends with, like, five different Bigfoot show's crews all following each other through the woods, everyone thinking that everyone else is a Bigfoot.

[@landrylongacre6391]

You genius

[@giantminer5]

That would be amazing

[@historymarshal2704]

This would be a perfect comedy movie.

[@darthrevan5976]

Somebody give this guy a medal

[@landrylongacre6391]

@@darthrevan5976 the Medal of Honor for best idea ever

[@NoahMiller13579]

I saw the mermaid doc as a kid and had trouble accepting it was fake because up to that point the discovery channel and PBS was the main source of my science education. I was not prepared for feeling that kind of anger, betrayal and embarrassment at that young an age.

[@ShojoBakunyu]

#MeToo... I remember when I was like 10 years old and I told my Grandma to cancel my Discovery Magazine subscription because it got too dumbed down.

[@donnmeharg5192]

yeah At lest I don't feel so alone now

[@darkmario3321]

@@ShojoBakunyu the metoo # probably isnt the best use in this case

[@PiousMoltar]

@@darkmario3321 #metoo

[@lucianh9465]

for Christmas in the late 2000's/early 2010's, my aunt gave me a dvd pack. it had living with wolves, a baby panda is born, a movie about egypt and dragons a fantasy made real. i was six, and completely convinced dragons were real. it broke my heart and i cried when i was told it was a fake documentary. how could they do such a thing to me personally

[@bobjim3234]

I just love the implication from the bigfoot call segment, that bigfoot hunters are just perpetually being convinced that bigfoot exists because they are accidentally hunting other bigfoot hunters in the same forest as them, who in turn are hunting other bigfoot hunters.

[@elio9973]

Literally why did I never think about this... I feel so silly lol.

[@yabi333]

The pyramid scheme of Bigfoot hunting

[@RoryMajule]

Being a long time Billiam fan is like reading the diary of a long lost uncle from a Lovecraft story who slowly descended deeper and deeper into madness while studying forbidden tomes not meant to be viewed by mortal men

[@andrewb.8184]

Huh...yeah that about sums it up

[@redrix1787]

He read man after man, then it all went down hill...

[@gabrielmendez4161]

The Scooby Doo franchise is an elderich being

[@RadikAlice]

@@gabrielmendez4161 Scooby is a disguised Elder God

[@when7573]

@@RadikAlice isnt that canon to the Mystery Incorporated universe

[@natto4now]

When I was little I showed my mom the dragon documentary thinking it was the realest thing ever and she just sat there like"yeah okay great for you sweetie"

[@murdercloak7578]

What a great “moment” you have I wish I had great “moment” as well

[@Raggedstar]

Basically my mom's reaction too lol.

[@daniel_gallardo808]

It was the opposite for me. When I was a kid my mom told me to come watch a documentary about the evidence/discovery of mermaids with her. I looked at her and said something along the lines of "that doesn't look real."

[@shadowsonicsilver6]

I did the same to my science teacher.

[@roonkolos]

Ouch. that stings

[@GlitterGoddessGemini]

Hey billiam! Long time fan here. Fun fact the guy “expert” at 21:50 was actually my neighbor! We lived in a duplex in New York (not the city) and I often talk to him about his work on the network. I also talked to his wife, they are lovely people and I do have some interesting stories to share for sure!

[@padod7763]

"The world was built by underwater fish people who evolved from monkeys who swam good." - some crackhead Animal Planet hired, probably.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

That catchphrase indicates that Animal planet is indeed a shallow corporation made to cash in on factoids, which makes sense.

[@lelnel6242]

If I hear underwater fish people I think of One Piece

[@arianak9402]

😭😂

[@saisameer8771]

@@SlapstickGenius23 Discovery networks has been going downhill for a while now. I watched a Netflix documentary simply named Rats made by discovery Channel of course. It was one of the most batshit insane documentary I've ever watched. They legit try and fail to make rats seem like serial killers.

[@leehatton7183]

No but dolphins are early man who evolved to be more adapt because they fished up the shorelines and had to go further and further out

[@ninjadandy9166]

I was a dumb as shit kid, and we were shown animal planet and discovery channel programs in school all the time and I was told how educational they are, they were full of scientists and experts. So when I saw the mermaid show my world fell apart. I thought the world was gonna change forever because of the mermaids and I was having a existential crisis lol

[@Annafeliciano19]

Same

[@xxxmemelordxxx5038]

@Robin The God - Fake ASMR Is Being Stupid and stop trying to doxx people

[@alexsch2514]

You weren't dumb as shit. Animal planet was a con channel. Easy as that.

[@meaningfulmindfulness15]

@@alexsch2514 it wasn't always like that, Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin are what made that channel real for me. It taught me so many things and gave me my wildlife inspiration. My whole life shifted into a positive direction because of Animal Planet instead of mindless cartoons every weekend. Lol

[@alexsch2514]

@@meaningfulmindfulness15 me too, absolutely. I can understand that. But the mermaid "documentary" borders on fraud.

[@xxCrapNamexx]

Funniest thing about monster quest is when they accidently found a giant squid in one episode.

[@dragonking8085]

I mean if you think about they did find a kraken considering that a giant could probably drag down a small longship which could possibly be the origin of the myth and the myth just got bigger

[@andrewthomasprism9388]

@@dragonking8085 Humboldt Squid are a force two be reckoned with.

[@boogityhoo7452]

@@dragonking8085 and the fact the biggest ones live so far under water, they wouldn't see them all the time and have alot of time to actually see the details of it. They would just see the tentacles and maybe part of the head/body so that is most likely where the Kraken story came from. Also I wouldn't doubt back before all the chemicals n trash were in the ocean alot of ocean animals could possibly be alot bigger in size. Their wooden boats never stood a chance and thats another possible explanation is they witnessed their prized ships just get sunk and they would not know any better .

[@hambone4984]

There was a later episode where they went to a ranch in South America and found out that the monster was actually a type of bear that was very rare in the area

[@Wills4gottenbday]

Monster queef

[@theoriginalvideo-schmideoc905]

The particular fun of this episode of Billiam is watching him slowly get utterly wasted on the hard cider while declaring his unrequited love for "Mothman"...Well done, good sir. Well done! 👏👏👏

[@abigailkinghorn4707]

Love how the other paleontologists are supposed to be the bad guys for doubting their colleague's completely bonkers idea that a trex was killed by a literal f*cking dragon.

[@awseven1144]

Well yeah it sounds stupid when you say it like that…

[@senabecool7232]

As a kid i knew, dinosaurs real, dragon myth

[@calebbarnhouse496]

Are you gonna pretend that isn't a documented fact

[@unity7257]

They're the villains for sure

[@orangeismyfavoritecolor]

@@senabecool7232 But goddamn do I wish dragons were real anyways

[@DiegoAlvarezBeltran1993.]

Imagine going to college for however many years, becoming a paleontologist, devoting your entire adult life to the study and catalogue of various creatures but ultimately being known as the dragon man.

[@XwX1001]

Highest honor known to man, right there.

[@t84t748748t6]

hey is the flat earther of paleontologists

[@SPFLDAngler]

The way he acts and presents himself kinda shows that he’s not professional at all and doesn’t follow basic scientific methods.. he just tries to make any and all evidence support his theory and that’s not how science works. You work to find proof while also looking for other logical conclusions. He just dismisses everything else and says “it’s dragons!!”

[@cindersoul5412]

I’d say that’s a net win.

[@joemontondo9113]

as a child obsessed with dragons myself at the time, that dragon mockumentary was awesome in a "Man this is really cool to watch even if they still aren't real" sort of way.

[@CJCroen1393]

Despite being one of the few who realized it wasn't actually real, I _did_ kinda still fall into the trap myself by being all like "So this is _definitively_ what dragons would be like if they were real and I should absolutely accept _no_ substitutions! Awesome!" Still, it's a fun exercise in speculative biology!

[@seapicklefish]

Those cryptid documentaries used to be my mom’s guilty pleasure of sorts. She knew they were BS but like you said, at the end of the day its still interesting. She usually didnt let me watch them because she didnt want her 9 year old’s brain turning to jello but she did let me watch the mermaid one with her. Just that alone changed my 9 year old girl life, I was OBSESSED with the documentary even tho I thought the mermaids were scary.

[@dstinnettmusic]

“Something must have spooked the deer” Maybe the film crew spotting animals with lights....

[@LoisoPondohva]

Don't be silly. What is more likely - that deer was either spooked by some humans or a squach. Humans are not scary. Would you be afraid of some humans? I wouldn't. The answer is obvious, open your eyes.

[@Bruh-hq1hx]

@@LoisoPondohva we aren't scared of humans but deer are very scared of humans As a simple deer i would be very scared of the group of humans shining lights at me and making lots of noise

[@darknessbr3209]

@@Bruh-hq1hx it's called irony,got it?

[@CoiledMemes]

Don't forget the screaming , and banging the trees

[@beans5738]

My brother once sat down the whole family to watch the mermaid doc as if it was pure fact that would change the world forever and I'll never forget it

[@asdfg2560]

Has he lived it down yet?

[@beans5738]

@@asdfg2560 nope, he probably never will

[@brittanysmartcookieTM]

🤣🤣🤣

[@healerofthewaters6508]

I mean my dad believed it was true. So did my mom. And since they believed it I did, too.

[@spaghetto9836]

I watched the mermaid documentary only once, and it stuck with me until now. I was around 12-14, and it was past midnight in my living room alone. Since I trusted the channel to give concrete facts, I got chills & believed it lol. Even told some friends about it but today I found out it's false. And it seems so obvious now, what got into me? 🤣

[@Proto-Martyr]

I'm ashamed to admit that when I first watched this documentary, I actually 100% believed it. I was like nine years old and I stumbled upon it late at night. I was the only one awake and it scared me shitless.

[@ChefDeeRock]

Fax

[@PennylessPrime]

I remember watching the dragon documentary on tv when I was a kid and thinking to myself “it’s an Animal Planet documentary, so it must be real!” They made the archeology and made up anatomy seem so real, and it’s kind of wild how there wasn’t a huge disclaimer about how it wasn’t real at all.

[@levitator45]

How could this man sound so drunk yet so smart at the same time

[@irisjoosten8669]

The drunker I get, the more likely I'll start an impromptu science lecture with the nearest living person. My roommates can ascertain this.

[@jacobsvlog6293]

It’s a talent that only legends possess

[@topogigio7031]

or more likely you're a couple of Zoomers that can't comprehend that the extreme majority of videos are staged and Billiam uses a script because he's not a putz

[@stankyratman5685]

@@topogigio7031 no shit do you think we have no brain and only comprehend this as him doing this in real time?

[@infamousplayer8772]

If I got that drunk I would probably start a weird ramble about Pokemon and Steven Universe until my brain forced my body to pass out.

[@DismemberedHat]

I took an anthropology course in college and my professor said that he doesn't care if we never remember most of the class, as long as we take away two things: 1. Apes don't have tails 2. If you see Bigfoot, *run his ass over with your car,* put his corpse in your trunk, and bring it over to the nearest university anthropology department. It's the most concrete proof you can provide for his existence.

[@mollybennett3291]

Well after long amounts of consideration I’ve decided I definitely want to go into anthropology

[@vanomzero]

yeah I bet he'll also says to bring any giant skeletons you find to the Smithsonian's

[@DismemberedHat]

@@vanomzero idk I don't remember

[@shepherddog1199]

@@vanomzero they have, reportedly, covered them up.

[@derpmanfb]

@@DismemberedHat 🤣this was funnier than i expected

[@thatdinonerd720]

You absolutely need to cover the Discovery Channel next, and how a channel that once had stuff like When Dinosaurs Roamed America and How It's Made shifted towards stuff like Moonshiners and Amish Mafia

[@kungfuskull]

Yeah the educational channels ALL turning into like modernized 70s exploitation films is *bizarre*

[@Code7Unltd]

@@kungfuskull It's about as weird as soap operas becoming reality TV.

[@motherurck7542]

@@kungfuskull Doesn't help that most of them are owned by the same company

[@walrusArmageddon]

Oof, fuckin amish mafia, I remember that dreck

[@broodjebamibal]

I love trash like 90DF but remember what TLC used to be?

[@mycatateit284]

speculative biology is so unbelievably fascinating and im kinda disappointed they didn't just make a speculative biology series about cryptid/mythology creatures

[@VictorHernandez-nj2lo]

Fun fact: During filming of star wars return of the jedi's ewok planet scenes,chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew was surrounded my security guards in orange vests so hunters wouldn't mistake him for bigfoot

[@hazukichanx408]

Oh, how I wish I could believe that was overthinking things. How I wish...

[@hamsandvich8956]

Imagine an alternate reality where they just acquired a bigfoot to play chewwy. Like they just train him to follow the actors and feed him when he does a good job.

[@novaiscool1]

@@hamsandvich8956 they just hired Mr.Mayhew to stand in as an actor to keep up the secret.

[@hamsandvich8956]

@@novaiscool1 oh shit you’re right, lol

[@tanner201x8]

@@hazukichanx408 Bigfoot is real btw

[@professionalhimbo]

I still like the idea that the bigfoot footage is just someone in a fursuit that was just embarrassed about it and they've chosen to just never step forwards because it's gotten way outta hand.

[@SupaKoopaTroopa64]

There was a movie with a plot very similar to that that.

[@hydradriveemperor9371]

@@SupaKoopaTroopa64 What movie was it?

[@hazukichanx408]

"I created something real, Chaz! Something people will talk about for decades to come!" "Dude, you made me film you in a monkey suit and then lied about it." "It's real and significant!! D="

[@SupaKoopaTroopa64]

@@hydradriveemperor9371 It's called "Pottersville" I couldn't remember the name, but when I searched "movie with bigfoot and furries" it was the only thing that shows up. The protagonist finds out his wife is cheating on him with a furry, so he gets drunk, buys a monkey suit, and runs around in the woods screaming. Some people catch him on tape, thinking he is Bigfoot. This causes a huge boom in tourism, helping the struggling economy of the small town. There's also some furries that worship Bigfoot in the woods.

[@lerquian1970]

That reminds me of the guy who said he was visited by cat people aliens and he would have sex with them, I think there's more horniness involve into conspiracy theories than we thought

[@Senaneone]

I love how you can progressively see how drunk he gets throughout the video

[@trueplaytime]

Funny thing is: we all know he was already drunk in the beginning of the video. It just got worse.

[@alfonsoperezthreezerosix]

Just like the AVGN

[@kevinhernandez2594]

He has to drown his frustrations with T H E C L A W

[@randomtinypotatocried]

It's the only way to do it if you're going through some of the trash of Animal Planet

[@ethankennan212]

16:08 “And cue an angry panther attacking the crew because they’re sick of all that racket!” XD

[@lo.lo_marie]

I remember when the mermaid documentary came out. I couldn’t be bothered to do anything else but watch this extremely groundbreaking and educational PROOF of mermaids existing. The cgi spoke for itself at the time lol

[@kabobawsome]

We all know that The Mothman was there at the bridge collapse to save people with his powers of precognition that we all know he's always had. How dare Animal Planet smear The Mothman's good name.

[@babyyoda9407]

Yeah my boy moth man just wanted to help out

[@istvanbrooks5319]

Mothman is a hero!

[@Deinobi]

If it weren't for him, the survivors would all be dead!

[@troin3925]

Lost Tapes didn't portray it as evil nor a threat.

[@troin3925]

Billiam was being a moron who didn't bother to actually pay attention to the episode, because if he did then he would know that it's one of the only Lost Tapes episodes (the other one being BIgfoot), where the monster wasn't a villain.

[@Slysheen]

Wasn't Animal Planet but I remember there was a computer animated "what if" show that documented some probes exploring a hypothetical alien planet. Was pretty neat and creative iirc.

[@PunchCounterpunch_Lizzy]

It’s called Alien Planet, it’s based on a book called The Expedition by Wayne Barlowe, both the show and the book are fantastic

[@octodude8319]

I remember watching that when I was younger. Dumb me thought it was real.

[@dinohall2595]

What is "iirc?"

[@PunchCounterpunch_Lizzy]

@@dinohall2595 if I recall correctly

[@Slysheen]

@@dinohall2595 "If I Recall Correctly"

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

I finally realized the true goal of "no homo". It's so we can break free from monke and directly become crabs.

[@Bacony_Cakes]

Reject crab. Become Opabinia.

[@beybladesinmyheels1267]

Nice comment

[@beybladesinmyheels1267]

Aye it’uh da nice reply section ya gat’ere, I’d be’uh shame if someone were to’uh ga’guch your place.

[@turtleofpride4572]

B e c o m e C r ā b

[@splinter4161]

best comment.

[@Sageddegas]

I felt SO embarrassed after I excitedly told my parents all the stuff I learned about dragons for them to tell me it wasn’t real 💀 why did they make it seem so real

[@jessie6580]

The mermaid documentary traumatised me I would go to sleep terrified as a kid because I 100% believed it

[@Heybuddywelcome]

Same I don’t know what was wrong with me

[@lynn__1113]

I was in like 3rd grade and I thought it was entirely true. I thought this for years, Animal Planet took advantage of all the children who would believe

[@emerymorgan4389]

ME TOO I remember seeing that one chunk of “Found footage” they kept showing so vividly and i was TERRIFIED FOR DAYS

[@Phantom8941]

While the mermaid thing might have been fake, I'm still glad to have seen it for introducing me to the aquatic ape hypothesis which I fully believe holds some measure of truth in regards to how we developed as a species.

[@sophiaflynn3696]

oh my gosh, same. I never stopped thinking about it and till this day the image is just seared into my mind. It used to scare me a lot! Thankfully I've become a lot more rational....

[@Jack-sy8mr]

20:22 “Is he benevolent, or a monster?” J. Jonah Jameson: *“He’s a menace! Bring me pictures of Bigfoot!”*

[@jacobsvlog6293]

Peter Parker: but Mr Jameson what about Spider-Man

[@901Sherman]

Bigfoot: Threat or Menace

[@troin3925]

Here’s a response I made to Billiam. 20:19-20:33 The entire episode (and the entire show), debates on the existence of Bigfoot and other creatures (there’s even a disclaimer at the beginning of every episode that says “the following is based on the possibility that hidden creatures exist” they’re saying that the found footage segments are fake but are inspired by cryptids and other creatures that may or may not exist “the debate continues” as it also says), every episode except Chupacabra which was the first episode, the narrator ends with the tagline “And so we are left to wonder, do they live among us...” In that Bigfoot clip you showed, the narrator was being cheesy and overly dramatic like he does in every episode and in that same clip he says the “do they live among us” tagline immediately after but you conveniently left that out and talked over it. Combined with my other comment, it looks like you’re either taking certain quotes too literally or taking certain clips out of context to make them sound more ridiculous than they actually were (this seems to be a pattern with other commentary channels who talk about these kinds of shows just to make fun of them without caring about researching the topic or giving any respect and seriousness because “lol they believe in ghosts 😂,” even if they’re talking about shows that deserved to be lampooned like Ghost Adventures. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about shit like 3 AM Challenge videos, Deep Web Mystery Box videos, Spirit Box channels or certain top 10 channels, KZbin is a different beast altogether when it comes to this stuff).

[@BroomPusher2024]

CaN yOu PaY mE In AdVaNcE?

[@ao9688]

My cousin used to make fun of me because I believed the Dragon documentary was real but when the Mermaid doc came out she cited it as proof mermaids were real lmao

[@idnyftw]

I used to be into ESP and psychics when I was a teen and my mom chewed me out on it. These days my mom got hard into ancient aliens and... well... I chew her out on it.

[@FlushedNoob]

How the turn tables

[@IcestormTundra]

I'm ashamed to admit that 14 year old me was initially caught out too, though I did appreciate it more after thinking it over and realising the main take away was the damage sonar and underwater sound pollution can do to marine mammals.

[@bentramer682]

I was like eleven when i saw it and believed it all until the end and felt like I just watched Texas Chain Saw Massacre or something

[@kk-wh3hb]

I always believed the earth is flat but am not sure if it's flat enough.

[@landoakechi9406]

One of my favorite things one of my teachers did was show us this website about tree octopi, and presented is as if it were a real thing. She had a bunch of us convinced only to tell us it was fake. She did this to show how easy it was to fake scientific discoveries, so it was a good lesson on critical thinking

[@waddledeeart6019]

They could have done documentaries on the real-life inspirations behind these mythologies. I've always found that fascinating. People in the past weren't "stupid", they were just documenting things they saw and trying their best to explain it without the technology we have today. The half-fish half-human legends of the Flores islands aren't "mermaids" but old descriptions of dugongs. Naga and sea serpents are likely oarfish. There's a theory that the cyclops myths came from that giant hole elephant skulls have. I'd love to watch documentaries on stuff like this.

[@KitschHanthekin]

if i lived anytime before the seventies and i saw an oarfish i would just die of existential horror on the spot, ngl.

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Alas all we got was Ancient Aliens. This timeline stinks.

[@beabea5985]

Yep. Just like supposed "demons" are suspected to just be unfortunate people born with severe deformities or rare diseases that became socially isolated, or just as dragons were made up as people before our time came across dinosaur fossils and how certain waters were labeled as "cursed" due to large quantities of bioluminescent algae that glowed blue in the presence of movement or even noise. That was just how our ancestors coped with stuff they didn't understand.

[@philipgood5041]

don't forget protoceratops inspiring Griffin's.

[@OpossumOnTheMoon]

I thought mermaids came from people seeing manatees and freaking out

[@michoasalways6762]

Billiam getting progressively more drunk while rambling about criptids is an entire mood

[@CeeJayThe13th]

I've spent many a day exactly like that

[@nicholaslandry6367]

@@CeeJayThe13th we all have

[@RnDBMX]

@@CeeJayThe13th same

[@anonymousgoblin792]

Guarantee you Bob Gimlin would destroy him in an argument lmao

[@CommanderJohnSmith]

Yeah. You think he'd realize his stupidity.

[@errortryagainlater4240]

Confession: I absolutely loved folklore and mythology when I was a kid so I SHOULD have fallen for this, but I was actually *too dumb* to realise that it was supposed to be a documentary. I deadass thought these were movies about scientists looking for dragons 😭😂

[@katcorinne7632]

This is so funny to me

[@alexisventura7191]

I love folklore and mythology

[@NineteenInFrench]

I mean, you were right in a sense so good job

[@grouchygoat]

Task failed successfully

[@natasha8007]

@@grouchygoat came here to say that!

[@EdsLorraine]

I was convinced for all of three days that the documentary was real. I was a tween. I told my mom about it and she was like “That is NOT real.” 🤣 thanks mom.

[@FlameVulpin14]

You failed to mention the best episode of Lost Tapes where a pregnant woman fought off the Jersey Devil with a 2x4 to protect her kids.

[@sashascarah6533]

To be fair I've seen videos of women lifting cars to save their kids so that's not too far fetched XD

[@CJCroen1393]

I don't care what anyone says, that was badass. Also, I think it's a neat little nod to the Jersey Devil's origin story that it seemed so pissed at the sight of her.

[@masterseal0418]

That deserves a 10/10.

[@Mwothyman]

I FUCKING REMEMBER THAT EPISODE

[@Jashinist-follower]

Damn I’ve been out of the loop, all I remember was the Thunderbird, skinwalker, hellhound and chubacabra episodes

[@FerraticaTheBard]

The aquatic ape theory actually got mentioned in my intro to anthropology class in high school. Not as a legit 'this could be real' thing so much as a 'this was an alternate idea someone came up with, it doesn't make much sense but it's neat and a part of the tapestry of early anthropology, so we're gonna mention it.'

[@awesoomej1181]

The idea of hearing unknown things screaming in pain is genuinely terrifying to me.

[@zed8046]

You and me both

[@drakenn342]

Having come across such noises in the woods, can confirm. 0/10 would not recommend.

[@Cheezbuckets]

One time I heard screaming outside my window in the middle of the night as I was falling asleep and it took me a minute or so of freaking out to realize that it was just fighting cats, and even after I figured it out, the initial shock of mystery screams in the night still made it hard to sleep for a while. Can confirm, unknown creatures screaming is awful!

[@angelvu]

@@Cheezbuckets I usually forget that my neighbor takes care of stray cats so when I hear them fighting at 3am I get spooked too lol.

[@Yukiomustang]

I loved Lost Tapes when I was younger. My Dad didn’t pay for cable, so I was always on Animal Planet

[@supercereal1]

When the mermaid “doc” came out. I had a friend that unironically was convinced that mermaids were real. I hadn’t heard of it but they told me that animal planet was showing proof of mermaids so I was very interested and then I saw it and immediately felt stupid and realized this friend was quite gullible

[@micah2451]

when I was younger my best friend wouldn’t let me hang out with her unless I told her I believed in mermaids 🥲

[@ron05aa]

Same. Lol

[@CrazyFlyingMonk]

i watched that mermaid doc when i was younger and i belived it till my bro told me it was a lie. i haven't liked or trusted animal planet since

[@vicwolf717]

Same with one of my friends but with the dragon movie! didn't have the heart to tell them it was fake

[@bethanydavis9023]

I was on the fence when I saw it. If there were mermaids I felt that they probably definitely would be a bit different than what was depicted. And I had and still have no friends.

[@thing2874]

I as a child believed that mermaid movie was 100% real and even to this day knowing of course it was fake the one sound clip of the "mermaid call" still gives me the creeps.

[@Cosiek7]

I'm to scared to search but in my vague traumatised memories I remember there being a video of two french kids finding a barely living mermaid on a beach and when they were taking a video of it it jumped behind and screamed looking like a zombie. That shit should have scared me so much that I doubted that it happenned and to this day refused to search it up...

[@mollietenpenny4093]

My mom had to explain to me that mermaids weren't real too.😂😂 I remember seeing promos this mockumentary when my family and I were vacationing at the beach.

[@OmniiTheDeer]

I remember watching Mermaids when I was in the 7th grade on a Sunday and the next day I came to school only to discover my entire grade had watched the same documentary and half of us believed mermaids were real and the other half didn't. We even convinced our English teacher to allow us have this as our class topic for the debate section 😂😂😂😂😂

[@MicaylaRuby]

The same thing happened to me but I think I was still in elementary school. I so vividly remember turning on my tv on a sunny weekend morning and being so traumatized by it and going to school and seemingly everyone also saw it

[@drgnlady13]

Which side won?

[@OmniiTheDeer]

@@drgnlady13 None. It was mainly for laughs🤣🤣🤣

[@StoriedTreasures]

I am not gonna lie.... I'm a mite older and even I was taken in by that. It pissed me off royally to see 'Mockumentaries' on a channel that once prided itself on the 'Facts of nature' lol a LOT of people I know saw the doc as well and were taken in by it. Was well made for the time.

[@ComaToast712]

Ohhh, man, this is a trip down memory lane. I was obsessed with the mermaid stuff when I was a kid, it fascinated me. Of course, we were all stupid kids back then. This video also reminded me of that one Scooby-doo movie with the Loch Ness monster being the central theme. Anyone remember that one? Scared me as a kid, but in a really good way, especially for an easily manipulative kid.

[@hemlockolympic]

The Mermaid Mockumentary not only reinforced my intense phobia of the ocean but also gave me my first involuntary all nighter! I wouldn't even watch my Barbie movies with mermaids anymore, and I fucking LOVED Mermadia and the fuckin surfing one. Oh and I found the website for the dragon one as a kid too. Again, I was fucking terrified.

[@LainVics]

That deep ocean stuff always rattled my soul. Especially the single camera just peering off into the abyss, stuff makes my ape brain scared stiff for some reason

[@whitehuayra]

Look up where mermaids came from. Warning: it's gross

[@LainVics]

@@hemlockolympic Dude yeah, it just let's your imagination run wild and that's enough

[@LainVics]

@@hemlockolympic Primal fears of the darkness and that stuff

[@charliecroft5477]

omg i’ve found my people i couldn’t close my eyes in the shower or pool without being petrified and crying

[@kevtlee08]

“Maybe I got this from the scholastic book fair” We all know he didn’t. No one buys the book. We walk around wishing we had money to buy the books.

[@lukecremecheese597]

and buying all the cheap little erasers you can afford if you DID have money

[@TiddyTwyster]

Those book fairs were holidays honestly

[@Koichi-Kun]

I bought all the stuffed animals.

[@cephalonrose2621]

Same

[@cephalonrose2621]

@@TiddyTwyster Agreed

[@MackenzieChandlerDunnavant]

My dad legitimately believed that the Mermaids one was real. He said he could "see the truth in that man's eyes". He also believes in Ancient Aliens though.

[@TheSimpleMan454]

Harrel! Sup!

[@randomuser5443]

At least ancient aliens have some claims that are fun to speculate

[@hazukichanx408]

If only people could grasp the fact that someone else believing a thing is real, does not actually make it real. See also religion, valor, checks and balances etc.

[@cernanwinterfox85]

@@hazukichanx408 I know right. I know so many ppl who believe in valor because their good friend or someone was totally convinced they saw a red gym.

[@stardragon7893]

@@hazukichanx408 It is, in fact, possible for someone to be mistaken, even if they think they're right.

[@JYJnKumi]

I remember them advertising the Mermaid one as a mockumentary prior to it airing. I watched the premiere knowing it was fake, but it was really cool to watch and get immersed in. It wasnt until years later when i found out people thought it was real and i couldn't understand how. Hearing you explain the reasoning makes me understand the confusion. 😅

[@honeybeeami2654]

Lost Tapes was just me as a child memorizing random facts so I could be prepared in the case that I ever had to go toe to toe with a monster

[@andrewthomasprism9388]

Hell, I'll square up on Lizard Man. I'll whoop his scaly ass.

[@loonflam8910]

Bro I was over here being absolutely terrified that the Devil Monkey was going to travel across the US just to tear off my face I still have a problem with chimpanzees today

[@sweetiewolfgirl]

@@loonflam8910 that episode scarred me. I was flicking through channels one night and that exact part was on

[@Seezrm]

@@loonflam8910 I thought I was the only one

[@samuraijackoff5354]

@@andrewthomasprism9388 That scaly ass would be in ruins after a furry convention

[@LannasMissingLink]

When I was a kid there was a documentary about what WOULD happen if someone COULD go into the planet's core. And I fricking believed it was real footage of someone falling into the mantle of the earth and announced it in the middle of class... literally everyone, even the teacher, made fun of me

[@metazoxan2]

Reminds me of a time we were watching a dinosaur documentary in class and this one girl asked if the footage was real. We never let her live that moment down

[@Oscar4u69]

I think I remember that documentary, was it from discovery? I remember the guy entered from a volcano

[@LannasMissingLink]

@@Oscar4u69 oh my gosh I need to find this!! It probably was discovery. I still get embarrassed thinking about how dumb I was...

[@jigglie8077]

@@metazoxan2 i had some grown ass men telling me reptiles have feathers... sure some of the long scales are called that but... no. they are different thing lolol made sure to tell em every time i saw em for years

[@lizardlegend42]

@@jigglie8077 well I mean like, birds kinda count as reptiles-ish.

[@Leyhunter]

I was an unfortunate victim of the Dragons "documentary" as a kid, I genuinely thought it was real and proof that dragons existed and I felt so vindicated until a couple years later I watched the credits and realized it was fake. Lemme tell you, I was DEVASTATED. Thanks for that, Animal Planet.

[@LunamFlore]

Same man I was so crushed haha

[@sashascarah6533]

Honestly Same, deep down I'm still pissed off that dragons arnt real because they're freaking awesome. It's why I'm planning on getting red eyed crocodile skinks as they look like dragons

[@thedapperdolphin1590]

I remember that. I thought it was real for like the first half of it.

[@punks0ft552]

Same. I was obsessed with dragons as a kid

[@Bopperann]

Didn't a lot of ideas for mythical creatures come from humans finding prehistoric bones (such as dinosaurs) and trying to imagine what the creatures looked like alive?

[@AlphariusCLH]

Damn, you gave me memories back I never thought I still had. When I was a little kid I saw the dragon documentary and since it was transalted into german like a documentary I was convinced that it was real. And yes, the fight between the dragon and the T-Rex looked rwalistic af for me!

[@therealdutchplanderlinde2707]

Lost tapes scared me so bad as a kid. The vampire episode was the scariest for me. To this day I still have paranoia when I’m in a room with an attic connected to a closet.

[@keganbancroft3617]

the Wendigo episode was the one that freaked me out

[@lucky_ramen9803]

Dude that sea monster and giant komodo dragon episodes scared the hell outta me.

[@keganbancroft3617]

@Pandemic Special omg I forgot about the hell hound episode

[@therealdutchplanderlinde2707]

@@keganbancroft3617 ya, I think that was probably the second scariest for me.

[@therealdutchplanderlinde2707]

@Pandemic Special duuuuude! I forgot about that one! I remember being super sketched out any time I saw a black dog, or any dog at night. Damn, I’m going to have to go back and rewatch this show.

[@PoundTheAlrm]

Lost Tapes came out at a time where I was old enough to recognize it as fiction, but young enough to think "but, what if???"

[@klaatubaradanikto1490]

When I was a kid I totally believed the shit out of this. I even went around and had kids sign a notebook paper petition to stop the government from killing mermaids 😭😂 haunts me to this day. edit: thanks to the 1.3k people who enjoy my embarrassing childhood

[@magdafigueroa5729]

Those "documentaries" made me suuuuper enthusiastic in biology bruv. Like I would go around telling all this shit to adults like it was the gospel.

[@toast.786]

I’m sorry but I sorta got that second hand embarrassment reading this as if it was me reaction to my own childhood doings 😂

[@eyekandi]

I brought in a bigfoot presentation to my 2nd grade class. By presentation I mean 4 sentences with printed pictures at the bottom.

[@kaytee6895]

This is actually really sweet. Embarrassing but at least you were trying to make big changes

[@Goodenough_media]

Lmao third hand embarrassment here

[@Biscuits..]

I’m SO glad I wasn’t the only person traumatized and convinced by the mermaid documentary 😭

[@SladeCarnvival]

I like to imagine that all bigfoot calls are just Billiam when he's bored

[@SladeCarnvival]

@@elginscodex that's a good idea

[@bobcabbit6343]

I would die of laughter to watch an episode of finding bigfoot with Bobo doing his stupid bigfoot call, him getting a response and says "that was definatly a squatch." Then the camera pans over to a guy in a lab coat running away into the woods.

[@SladeCarnvival]

@@bobcabbit6343 YES

[@animalsarethebest6962]

Mermaids, Megalodon, and Cannibal in the jungle all tricked me as a kid. This is why I have trust issues.

[@Syenthros]

I know *so many* people who got tricked by the Megalodon one. It was apparently pretty well done.

[@evelyns7403]

@@Syenthros it WAS idk i haven’t seen it in a while but it looked pretty real at the time. I was also fooled by the mermaid documentary so maybe don’t listen to me though.

[@skeboopbawp5192]

I mean the tribes in the a few islands used the eat human , some still do.

[@cafe8681]

I was 15 when I told the docs operating on me that this documentary found a frozen dragon in the mountains. Then they told me to count to 10.

[@chelseaj6063]

I remember being 18 or 19 and telling a coworker about that one...ugh. He broke the news to me gently

[@imaghost2961]

I actually saw the mermaid and dragon documentary when I was a kid, and I was enraged when I found out it was all fake. I really wanted to believe dragons and mermaids were real.