History Main / GasLeakCoverUp

[[quoteright:350:[[GhostBusters http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Stay-puft-marshmallow-man_5560.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[BlatantLies Swamp Gas.]]]]

* Three hours after her birth, the hospital [[SCPFoundation SCP-239]] (AKA "The Witch Child") was born in was destroyed by an explosion. The press was informed that the explosion was due to a gas leak.

<<|WeirdnessIsolationTropes|>>

Are you a government official or similar authority who needs a quick, mundane excuse for a large number of mysterious, possibly supernatural deaths? Gas leaks are the way to go. They're accidental (no need to find a scapegoat!) and provide a good reason to keep people away from the site of the disaster (there might be lingering traces of gas there, after all!). You can even say that the gas was hallucinogenic, so that if any survivors or bystanders saw anything weird, well, [[SharedMassHallucination that's why]].

Worried that anyone with half a brain will see that this explanation doesn't quite add up? Don't be. The general populace will always swallow this one hook, line and sinker, no matter how many times you use it or how implausible it is (maybe it's just that they're more comfortable believing in gas leaks than in demon attacks or the like). Watch out for nosy teenage detectives, though. Those are a bit harder to fool.

* The trope is exaggerated and played for laughs in the first ''Film/MenInBlack'' movie; the typical cover story for UFO sightings given by MIB agents (quoted at the top of the page) mentions multiple elements from every standard, individual variant of the trope (swamp gas, weather balloons, Venus) and combines them into a single cover story. Though the MIB do put more effort into it (using flamethrowers to scorch some of the nearby terrain) and they have the added benefit of [[LaserGuidedAmnesia a memory-erasing device]].

* In ''{{Fables}}'', the first time Brair Rose falls asleep in the series, the Fables cover it up as a gas leak.

* The government is fond of using explanations similar to this one in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', but the only time the "gas leak" excuse is used, it's done by the heroes.
* In an early season one episode of ''{{Supernatural}}'', Dean attempts to use this to get a family out of their house, but the father doesn't buy it. Lampshaded in the next-to-last episode of the same season, when the boys are trying to figure out how to get another family out of their house:

* In the first season of ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'', when Dr. Ferragamo's office is torched to cover up the evidence against Keith Palmer, the police initially report the possible cause of the fire as a suspected broken gas line.

* In the third episode of ''{{Sherlock}}'', the "gas leak" excuse is used to cover up a series of bombings.

* When [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] comes home from school after running out of his class, he tries to claim that the school let all of the children go home early because there was a gas leak and everyone was evacuated. His mother isn't fooled, and calls the school.

* In WhiteWolf's ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'', coincidental magic involved coming up with a plausible explanation for magic effects to avoid Paradox. One example given was justifying a fireball/explosion by saying it was a "natural gas explosion". This was a common tactic most of the supernatural conspiracies in the WorldOfDarkness relied upon to uphold TheMasquerade.

* In the ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' episode "Tabula Rasa," Noah uses a carbon monoxide leak as a cover-up for Jeremy Greer who [[spoiler:accidentally killed his parents with his power]].

* The trope is exaggerated and played for laughs in the first ''Film/MenInBlack'' movie; the typical cover story mentions multiple elements from every standard, individual variant of the trope (swamp gas, weather balloons, Venus) and combines them into a single cover-up story. Though the MIB do put more effort into it (using flamethrowers to scorch some of the nearby terrain) and they have the added benefit of [[LaserGuidedAmnesia a memory-erasing device]].

* The swamp gas example is played for laughs in the first ''Film/MenInBlack'' movie.
** Though the MIB do put more effort into it (using flamethrowers to scorch some of the nearby terrain) and they have the added benefit of [[LaserGuidedAmnesia a memory-erasing device]].

* The swamp gas example is played for laughs in the first ''MenInBlack'' movie.

--> ''"No other object has been misidentified more often than '''[[LargeHam the planet Venus]]'''."''

->''"The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. It was swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. "''

->''"The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. "''

->''"Ah, some of my best work! Though I have been using that weather balloon excuse a lot. I think I'll blame swamp gas next time."''
-->--'''[[{{MIB}} Edward Verres]]''', ''ElGoonishShive''

* Subverted in {{Fringe}} where a gas explosion ''was'' the event, however it was what ''caused'' said explosion that needed to be investigated.

* Mundane variation: In an episode of ''{{Criminal Minds}}'', the heroes tell a civilian that her neighbor's house, which contains samples of arsenic he was planning on releasing as a gas, has asbestos.

[[caption-width-right:350:Swamp Gas.]]

* In the ''AlexRider'' book ''Eagle Strike'', this is the explanation put out for the murder attempt on Edward Pleasure's life.

* In WhiteWolf's ''MageTheAscension'', coincidental magic involved coming up with a plausible explanation for magic effects to avoid Paradox. One example given was justifying a fireball/explosion by saying it was a "natural gas explosion". This was a common tactic most of the supernatural conspiracies in the WorldOfDarkness relied upon to uphold TheMasquerade.

Please note that this trope applies to using gas leaks to cover up for ''other things,'' not covering up for gas leaks. If ''that's'' what you were looking for, we recommend [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean blaming the dog.]] For cover-up excuses that don't involve gas leaks, but are just as flimsy, see ExtraStrengthMasquerade. Compare with FieryCoverup.

* In the first episode of the second series of ''Series/BeingHuman'', [[spoiler: the villains use a gas leak excuse to clear out a whole neighbourhood so they can use a psychic to find out what house the heroes- one of who is a ghost- live in]].

* In the first episode of the second series of {{Being Human}}, [[spoiler: the villains use a gas leak excuse to clear out a whole neighbourhood so they can use a psychic to find out what house the heroes- one of who is a ghost- live in]].

* Lila on ''{{Dexter}}'' gets particularly excited about setting things on fire. Toward the end of season two, she discovers that a) Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher and b) all the evidence to incriminate him is in the cabin. [[spoiler: To help him, she blows it to Kingdom Come using the excuse of a gas leak. It actually does help him, in far more ways than she initially realizes]].

* ''FateStayNight'' has a series of such "accidents".

* Used in ''Film/{{Transformers}} 2: Rise of the Fallen''.
** Sort of. Here, it's used in the same ways as in ''Close Encounters'', right down to the excuse:

* In ''TheLivingDaylights'', assassin Necros uses this to cover up his attack on the Blayden safehouse, but then [[JustifiedTrope justifies his own example]] by throwing tear gas grenades hidden in milk bottles.

* ShinMegamiTensei games seem to love this trope a lot:

* A while into ''{{Dead Space 2}}'', Isaac will learn from Ellie that the Necromorph outbreak on the [=USG=] Ishimura was covered up as a terrorist attack. He tries to clarify what actually happened, but they get interrupted and has to go into the Ishimura.
* MassEffect: That giant [[EldritchAbomination Dreadnaught-dwarfing monstrosity shaped like a cuttlefish]] that [[CurbStompBattle tore apart the Citadel defense flotilla]]? It's a Geth ship.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Inverted in ''TheSimpsons'', in the episode "Praiseland": people visiting a statue in Ned's Christian theme park see miraculous visions of heaven, but Ned later learns that he has a gas leak that probably caused a SharedMassHallucination.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Sometimes UFO sightings are "explained" with references to swamp gas. Even in places nowhere near a swamp.
** That's because the explanation refers to the will-o-the-wisp phenomenon which isn't necessarily limited to actual swamps.
* The British Government explanation for V-2 impacts was the explosions were accidental ones caused by leaking Gas Mains.
** Inverted in that gas explosions and the like were used in a misinformation campaign to lead the Germans to believe the V-2 rockets were landing short of their intended targets.
[[/folder]]

[[GhostBusters http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Stay-puft-marshmallow-man_5560.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350:Swamp Gas.]]