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Commonly exhibited by characters who are either RightForTheWrongReasons or just EntertaininglyWrong. Expect NotWhatItLooksLike and a possible case of InsaneTrollLogic to be involved. Sometimes ends with some kind of RealAfterAll moment. Compare TheCuckoolanderWasRight.

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Commonly exhibited by characters who are either RightForTheWrongReasons or just EntertaininglyWrong. Expect NotWhatItLooksLike and a possible case of InsaneTrollLogic to be involved. Sometimes ends with some kind of RealAfterAll moment. Compare TheCuckoolanderWasRight.
TheCuckoolanderWasRight. This plot will often (especially if PlayedForLaughs) end with a SurprisinglyMundaneReason behind several of the events.


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** In "Elementary, My Dear Stacey", this trope is zig-zagged. Candace attempts to use Sherlock Holmes' method to bust her brothers. She comes up with numerous leads on what the boys could be doing based on what they're collecting (various plumbing supplies and dozens of rubber tires), and solves it when she discovers the boys built a massive water slide. The only two items she couldn't figure out were [[NoodleImplements the pineapple and the stick of butter]]. That leads to this moment:
--> '''Candace''': I can see what [the pipes and tires] were for but what was with the pineapple?
--> '''Phineas''': Oh, that was for Ferb. [[SurprisinglyMundaneReason He was hungry]].
--> '''Candace''': (dismissively) Oh, and the butter, too, huh?
--> '''Phineas''': Oh, no. He's using that for speed!
--> (Cut to Ferb coating himself in butter, putting on goggles, and shooting down the water slide faster than anyone else).
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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** In "Sue Ellen Moves In", a new girl named Sue Ellen moves to town with her family. When the lights in their house go on and off unexpectedly, their house is full of strange items, and Sue Ellen doesn't know what snow is, Buster thinks she's an alien. In the end, it turns out they're just a regular family who travels a lot.
** "Mr. Ratburn's Secret Identity" has Arthur, Buster, and Ladonna thinking Mr. Ratburn is a superhero. They overhear him answering the phone and excusing himself, saying "duty calls," thinking he's a crime-fighting superhero. This only gets reinforced when they catch him striking a pose and singing about appearing to fight danger, when he was really quoting part of an opera. Later, they catch him covered in algae and think he's a swamp monster hero: he just tripped over a prop for his puppet show. In the end, they find out everything he did was just part of a play he was preparing for.
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* ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' features [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] invoking this on purpose just to screw with Batman's head. Throughout the first half of the run, the colors red and black keep popping up everywhere. The Joker repeatedly uses this color scheme, from using a special toxin released by combining red and black roses to painting his nails red and black. Batman agonizes over the significance of the colors, from symbolism to a potential bigger scheme that the Joker's trying to employ through them. The Joker later admits that there was no big scheme and name-drops apophenia. He knew that Batman would obsess over the colors because Batman obsesses over ''everything'' that the Joker does, trying to find deeper meaning behind his actions. While usually he ''does'' have some nefarious reason behind the most insignificant aspects of his criminal schemes, this time his only reason was to {{gaslight|ing}} Batman into believing there was one.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' story ''The Perplexing Puzzle of the Springfield Puma'', the Springfield school puma statue gets stolen while Principal Skinner is on a business trip. The investigation gets increasingly bizarre, [[EveryoneIsASuspect with nearly everyone having weird motives to steal the statue]] (from a teacher whose aunt was mauled by a puma to a student who believes that the statue is a jewel-encrusted treasure repainted to look like plaster, obviously parodying the genre clichés of noir stories like ''Literature/TheMalteseFalcon''). Eventually it is revealed that Skinner took the statue himself to keep it safe.

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* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' features [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] invoking this on purpose just to screw with Batman's head. Throughout the first half of the run, the colors red and black keep popping up everywhere. The Joker repeatedly uses this color scheme, from using a special toxin released by combining red and black roses to painting his nails red and black. Batman agonizes over the significance of the colors, from symbolism to a potential bigger scheme that the Joker's trying to employ through them. The Joker later admits that there was no big scheme and name-drops apophenia. He knew that Batman would obsess over the colors because Batman obsesses over ''everything'' that the Joker does, trying to find deeper meaning behind his actions. While usually he ''does'' have some nefarious reason behind the most insignificant aspects of his criminal schemes, this time his only reason was to {{gaslight|ing}} Batman into believing there was one.
* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'': In ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' the story ''The Perplexing Puzzle of the Springfield Puma'', the Springfield school puma statue gets stolen while Principal Skinner is on a business trip. The investigation gets increasingly bizarre, [[EveryoneIsASuspect with nearly everyone having weird motives to steal the statue]] (from a teacher whose aunt was mauled by a puma to a student who believes that the statue is a jewel-encrusted treasure repainted to look like plaster, obviously parodying the genre clichés of noir stories like ''Literature/TheMalteseFalcon''). Eventually it is revealed that Skinner took the statue himself to keep it safe.
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* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' episode "[[Recap/ArcherS2E5DoubleDeuce Double Deuce]]", Woodhouse reveals that he and the fellow members of his flying squadron set up a {{tontine}} during World War I, and due to compound interest, it's now worth at least a million dollars. So, when the last survivors begin dying off in mysterious circumstances, Woodhouse believes that the squadron's villainous second-in-command, Lieutenant Scripes, is trying to cash in on the money, driving Woodhouse to hole up in Archer's apartment with the only other survivor in an attempt to prepare for the worst. [[spoiler:However, Scripes himself reveals that the "mysterious circumstances" were just [[IfItBleedsItLeads exaggerated by the newspapers to drum up publicity]]; in reality, two of the victims died in their sleep of natural causes, one of them fell off a roof while trying to fix an antenna, and the other accidentally throttled himself to death in an EroticAsphyxiation incident.]]

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* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' episode "[[Recap/ArcherS2E5DoubleDeuce Double Deuce]]", Woodhouse reveals that he and the fellow members of his flying squadron set up a {{tontine}} during World War I, and due to compound interest, it's now worth at least a million dollars. So, when the last survivors begin dying off in mysterious circumstances, Woodhouse believes that a member of the squadron's villainous second-in-command, Lieutenant Scripes, squad is trying to cash in on killing the money, driving Woodhouse to hole up in Archer's apartment others off. [[spoiler:When they make contact with the only other survivor in an attempt to prepare for the worst. [[spoiler:However, Scripes himself reveals surviving squad member, he points out that men in their 80s dying is hardly unexpected, and the claims of "mysterious circumstances" were just [[IfItBleedsItLeads exaggerated by media exaggerations to make the newspapers to drum up publicity]]; stories more marketable]]; in reality, two of the victims died in their sleep of natural causes, one of them fell off a roof while trying to fix an antenna, and the other accidentally throttled himself to death in an EroticAsphyxiation incident.]]
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Corrected Simpsons example


* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E3HomeSweetHomediddlyDumDoodily Home Sweet Homediddily-Dum-Doodily]]", Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are mistaken for being neglected and abused when the child workers walk in after a variety of unrelated circumstances (Grampa is left in charge of the kids, Lisa's shoes are taken away by bullies, Bart has head lice from playing with a monkey, there's a bunch of old newspapers on the table intended for the recycling plant). They're sent to live with their next-door neighbors the Flanders, as Homer and Marge are made to take a parenting class. Eventually, they pass and are able to get their kids back.

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* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E3HomeSweetHomediddlyDumDoodily Home Sweet Homediddily-Dum-Doodily]]", Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are mistaken for being neglected and abused when the child workers walk in after a variety of unrelated circumstances (Grampa is left in charge of the kids, Lisa's shoes are taken away by bullies, Bart has head lice from playing with a monkey, there's a bunch of old newspapers on the table intended for the recycling plant).because Lisa's doing a research project, etc.). They're sent to live with their next-door neighbors the Flanders, as Homer and Marge are made to take a parenting class. Eventually, they pass and are able to get their kids back.
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* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen "Listen"]] has the Doctor trying to track down the "Perfect Hider", a creature that the episode [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane never quite says]] ''doesn't'' exist, but which is heavily implied to just be the Doctor wildly connecting random details and events with other explanations together and coming up with a monster in order to rationalise his childhood fear of the dark.
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* PlayedWith in ''Film/TheStupids'': the protagonists invent a bizarre conspiracy theory from everyday details, involving a villain who plans to steal all the mail and garbage from America. However, while they attempt to thwart the "sinister plot", they inadvertently uncover a very real sinister plot involving terrorists and contraband weaponry.
* {{Subverted}} in ''Film/UnderTheSilverLake'': initially it looks like the main character, who is a [[TheSlacker slacker]] obsessed with conspiracy theories, is inventing the "mystery" to keep himself amused. He makes bizarre connections between the disappearance of a local girl, the death of a millionaire, creepy urban legends of Los Angeles, video games, drawings on cereal boxes, etc. However, eventually he ''does'' discover a conspiracy... either that or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness he eventually goes off his rails]].

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* PlayedWith Played with in ''Film/TheStupids'': the [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheStupids'': the protagonists invent a bizarre conspiracy theory from everyday details, involving a villain who plans to steal all the mail and garbage from America. However, while they attempt to thwart the "sinister plot", they inadvertently uncover a very real sinister plot involving terrorists and contraband weaponry.
* {{Subverted}} {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Film/UnderTheSilverLake'': initially initially, it looks like the main character, who is a [[TheSlacker slacker]] obsessed with conspiracy theories, is inventing the "mystery" to keep himself amused. He makes bizarre connections between the disappearance of a local girl, the death of a millionaire, creepy urban legends of Los Angeles, video games, drawings on cereal boxes, etc. However, eventually he ''does'' discover a conspiracy... either that or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness he eventually goes off his rails]].



* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In [[Recap/BobsBurgersS4E16IGetPsychicOutOfYou "I Get Psy-chic Out Of You"]], a series of coincidences leads Linda to think [[PhonyPsychic she's developed psychic powers]].
* PlayedWith in a number of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episodes ("Headless Cabbie", "Freeze Frame", "Haunted Train", etc.) that center around some paranormal urban legends or detective stories. As the main characters investigate, they find more and more evidence for it, but at the end of each episode, it turns out that all the "evidence" was just a string of everyday coincidences. However, at the ''very'' end it's implied that the story is actually true.

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* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In [[Recap/BobsBurgersS4E16IGetPsychicOutOfYou "I "[[Recap/BobsBurgersS4E16IGetPsychicOutOfYou I Get Psy-chic Out Of You"]], of You]]", a series of coincidences leads Linda to think [[PhonyPsychic she's developed psychic powers]].
* PlayedWith Played with in a number of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episodes ("Headless Cabbie", "Freeze Frame", "Haunted Train", etc.) that center around some paranormal urban legends or detective stories. As the main characters investigate, they find more and more evidence for it, but at the end of each episode, it turns out that all the "evidence" was just a string of everyday coincidences. However, at the ''very'' end it's implied that the story is actually true.



* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E3HomeSweetHomediddlyDumDoodily Home Sweet Homediddily-Dum-Doodily]]", Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are mistaken for being neglected and abused when the child workers walk in after a variety of unrelated circumstances (Grampa is left in charge of the kids, Lisa's shoes are taken away by bullies, Bart has head lice from playing with a monkey, there's a bunch of old newspapers on the table intended for the recycling plant). They're sent to live with their next-door neighbors the Flanders, as Homer and Marge are made to take a parenting class. Eventually, they pass and are able to get their kids back.

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* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E3HomeSweetHomediddlyDumDoodily Home Sweet Homediddily-Dum-Doodily]]", Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are mistaken for being neglected and abused when the child workers walk in after a variety of unrelated circumstances (Grampa is left in charge of the kids, Lisa's shoes are taken away by bullies, Bart has head lice from playing with a monkey, there's a bunch of old newspapers on the table intended for the recycling plant). They're sent to live with their next-door neighbors the Flanders, as Homer and Marge are made to take a parenting class. Eventually, they pass and are able to get their kids back.
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* The second episode of ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' featured an Alpha whose DisabilitySuperpower is apophenia that enables him to set up complicated RubeGoldbergDevice-like sequences. The problem is that he literally cannot grasp the concept of coincidence - his powers manifested at a young age, and he believes everyone sees things as he does -and attributes every bad thing that happens to him to malice, and uses his ability to murder those he believes slighted him.

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* The second episode of ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' featured features an Alpha whose DisabilitySuperpower is apophenia that enables him to set up complicated RubeGoldbergDevice-like sequences. The problem is that he literally cannot grasp the concept of coincidence - -- his powers manifested at a young age, and so he believes everyone sees things as he does -and and attributes every bad thing that happens to him to malice, and uses using his ability to murder those he believes slighted him.



* The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Competitive Ecology" has [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Chang]] create a laughably small ConspiracyWall with only a couple pieces of "evidence" linked by a single piece of yarn while investigating an imagined conspiracy. Despite this, the yarn proves to be a fire hazard and the evidence board as well as part of the school cafeteria burns down.

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* The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Competitive Ecology" "[[Recap/CommunityS3E03CompetitiveEcology Competitive Ecology]]" has [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Chang]] create a laughably small ConspiracyWall [[StringTheory conspiracy wall]] with only a couple pieces of "evidence" linked by a single piece of yarn while investigating an imagined conspiracy. Despite this, the yarn proves to be a fire hazard and the evidence board as well as part of the school cafeteria burns down.
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* In ''Series/Forever2014'', Henry tends towards this where Adam is concerned, falsely blaming him for everything from causing a subway crash just to prove Henry is immortal, to being the original Jack the Ripper and working with Nazis. It doesn't help matters when Adam actually does engage in a complex BatmanGambit [[spoiler: which ends in successfully tricking Henry into killing a mortal for the first time]] in "Skinny Dipper." Eventually Henry accuses Adam of [[spoiler: killing his beloved Abigail. This turns out to be more complicated; Adam had discovered Abigail knew of the existence of another immortal and kidnapped her to try to force her to lead him to Henry, and Abigail killed herself to avoid betraying Henry's location. Adam actually tried to save her life, reviving her with CPR, but she killed herself more thoroughly right afterwards and there was nothing he could do to save her that time.]]
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-->--''Music/TheyMightBeGiants'', "Apophenia"

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-->--''Music/TheyMightBeGiants'', -->-- Music/TheyMightBeGiants, "Apophenia"
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[[quoteright:493:[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apophenia.jpg]]]]

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[[quoteright:493:[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apophenia.jpg]]]]

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* ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' features [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] invoking this on purpose just to screw with Batman's head. Throughout the first half of the run, the colors red and black keep popping up everywhere. The Joker repeatedly uses this color scheme, from using a special toxin released by combining red and black roses to painting his nails red and black. Batman agonizes over the significance of the colors, from symbolism to a potential bigger scheme that the Joker's trying to employ through them. The Joker later admits that there was no big scheme and name-drops apophenia. He knew that Batman would obsess over the colors because Batman obsesses over ''everything'' that the Joker does, trying to find deeper meaning behind his actions. While usually he ''does'' have some nefarious reason behind the most insignificant aspects of his criminal schemes, this time his only reason was to {{gaslight|ing}} Batman into believing there was one.



* ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' features [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] invoking this on purpose just to screw with Batman's head. Throughout the first half of the run, the colors red and black keep popping up everywhere. The Joker repeatedly uses this color scheme, from using a special toxin released by combining red and black roses to painting his nails red and black. Batman agonizes over the significance of the colors, from symbolism to a potential bigger scheme that the Joker's trying to employ through them. The Joker later admits that there was no big scheme and name-drops apophenia. He knew that Batman would obsess over the colors because Batman obsesses over ''everything'' that the Joker does, trying to find deeper meaning behind his actions. While usually he ''does'' have some nefarious reason behind the most insignificant aspects of his criminal schemes, this time his only reason was to {{gaslight|ing}} Batman into believing there was one.



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[[folder:Films [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]



* ''Literature/TheCryingOfLot49'' is about a woman who ''may'' have stumbled on an AncientConspiracy, ''may'' have spotted some patterns where there are none, or ''may'' have been lead on a wild goose chase as a posthumous prank by her dead ex. The novel ends seconds before she finds out for sure.



* ''Literature/TheCryingOfLot49'' is about a woman who ''may'' have stumbled on an AncientConspiracy, ''may'' have spotted some patterns where there are none, or ''may'' have been lead on a wild goose chase as a posthumous prank by her dead ex. The novel ends seconds before she finds out for sure.



** One episode features a ConspiracyTheorist who believes a local university has ties to the Illuminati and are secretly controlling the world, and aren't afraid to kill people who get too close to the truth. He is right that they kill people (he ends up among their victims), but it's for far more mundane reasons than world domination: the school actually depends on its alumni getting cushy diplomatic jobs in foreign countries, smuggling art and precious statues back to Britain via diplomatic channels, and then the school uses the art to keep funding itself.

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** One episode features a ConspiracyTheorist who believes a local university boarding school has ties to the Illuminati and are secretly controlling the world, and aren't afraid to kill people who get too close to the truth. He is right that they kill people (he ends up among their victims), but it's for far more mundane reasons than world domination: the school actually depends on its alumni getting cushy diplomatic jobs in foreign countries, smuggling art and precious statues back to Britain via diplomatic channels, and then the school uses the art to keep funding itself.



* In Creator/ScottMcCloud's webcomic ''The Right Number'', a man calling his girlfriend for a date night accidentally types her phone number one digit off, and ends up calling a woman who looks almost exactly like her who was also expecting a date (who never showed up.) The new woman laughs it off as a funny coincidence, but the man becomes obsessed with this, believing he's discovered some kind of grand unifying formula for determining people's traits based on their phone number.

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* In Creator/ScottMcCloud's webcomic ''The Right Number'', ''Webcomic/TheRightNumber'', a man calling his girlfriend for a date night accidentally types her phone number one digit off, and ends up calling a woman who looks almost exactly like her who was also expecting a date (who never showed up.) The new woman laughs it off as a funny coincidence, but the man becomes obsessed with this, believing he's discovered some kind of grand unifying formula for determining people's traits based on their phone number.
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* The film ''Film/{{Homicide}}'' (not to be confused with ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'') is about a Jewish homicide detective who investigates the murder of an old woman who in her younger days was involved with Zionist gun-running and is drawn into involvement with Mossad and violent attacks on neo-Nazis. The final revelation is that the murder was probably coincidental, as were all the elements that made him think it was related to politics and the old woman's past.

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* The film ''Film/{{Homicide}}'' ''Film/{{Homicide|1991}}'' (not to be confused with ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'') is about a Jewish homicide detective who investigates the murder of an old woman who in her younger days was involved with Zionist gun-running and is drawn into involvement with Mossad and violent attacks on neo-Nazis. The final revelation is that the murder was probably coincidental, as were all the elements that made him think it was related to politics and the old woman's past.
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Formatting.


* ''VideoGame/YIIKAPostmodernRPG'': After Semi Pak's disappearance an elevator, the protagonist Alex falsely assumes that the following plot points are related to it. [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] by [[spoiler: The Essentia 2000 when she pretends to be Semi from another reality]].

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* ''VideoGame/YIIKAPostmodernRPG'': ''VideoGame/YIIKAPostModernRPG'': After Semi Pak's disappearance an elevator, the protagonist Alex falsely assumes that the following plot points are related to it. [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] by [[spoiler: The Essentia 2000 when she pretends to be Semi from another reality]].
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* ''VideoGame/YIIKAPostmodernRPG'': After Semi Pak's disappearance an elevator, the protagonist Alex falsely assumes that the following plot points are related to it. [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] by [[spoiler: The Essentia 2000 when she pretends to be Semi from another reality]].

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