# So...anyone else ever mistakenly think fictional characters were real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988 "2013-12-23T02:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/41 "2013-12-23T20:54:43Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > I work in a library and we frequently get people who want more information about Miss Jane Pittman. She had an autobiography and everything, after all!! ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/42 "2013-12-23T21:13:51Z")
I get Ron Swanson and Nick Offerman mixed up. I don’t know who is real and who is fictional. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/43 "2013-12-23T21:18:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ed Guin, I think it was, used the skin from his victims to make a variety of items. Both Guin and Jeffrey Dahmer were real-life cannibals. **Gein** , not Guin. Apropos of nothing in particular, I’ve been in a room where Ed Gein lived for an extended time, and in the room where Jeffrey Dahmer died. Apropos this thread, I thought **Wolfman Jack** was a cartoon character for a time. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/44 "2013-12-23T21:20:50Z")
I thought Super Dave Osbourne was real. I mean, I knew he wasn’t really a stuntman. I thought he was a comedian named Dave Osbourne. I didn’t find out until long after Super Dave became an unknown has-been that he never really was. ---
**Author:** ![Marlonius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/45 "2013-12-23T21:23:07Z")
> [@Tante\_Dillie](#): > > Marlonius, could your dad have been thinking of the Hollywood actress Anne Shirley?[Anne Shirley - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0794297/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) Interesting, but no. It was definitely the character from Montgomery’s novels that he thought was real. You’d probably have to be a Canadian to have heard of them/her, but she’s a staple character in Prince Edward Island. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/46 "2013-12-23T21:24:40Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > I’ve encountered a surprising number of people who thought that Cyrano de Bergerac was fictional. Surprising number of people + 1. Whoa. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/47 "2013-12-23T21:31:51Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > . . . I’ve been in a room where Ed Gein lived for an extended time, and in the room where Jeffrey Dahmer died. I assume they were hospital rooms in both cases. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/48 "2013-12-23T21:45:38Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I thought Super Dave Osbourne was real. I mean, I knew he wasn’t really a stuntman. I thought he was a comedian named Dave Osbourne. Similarly: I thought the comedian who pretended to be a bad comedian was actually named “Neil Hamburger.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/49 "2013-12-23T21:49:23Z")
If memory serves, wasn’t Dahmer killed in the prison showers? And I think it was Ted Bundy who used the “arm in a cast” bit. ---
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/50 "2013-12-23T21:53:18Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > Interesting, but no. It was definitely the character from Montgomery’s novels that he thought was real. You’d probably have to be a Canadian to have heard of them/her, but she’s a staple character in Prince Edward Island. Oh no, even we unlettered Americans know the feisty, red-haired Anne Shirley who lived on PEI and was adopted by Marilla and her brother who lived at Green gables. I loved those books when I was a girl. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/51 "2013-12-23T21:59:37Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > I’ve encountered a surprising number of people who thought that Cyrano de Bergerac was fictional. The story sure plays out in a very fictional way. I thought the Scarlet Pimpernel was a real person. _You lied to me, Blackadder!_\* \*All the other significant encounters in the Black Adder series were with genuine historical figures. Well, sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/52 "2013-12-23T22:00:51Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > If memory serves, wasn’t Dahmer killed in the prison showers? The prison exercise room. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/53 "2013-12-23T22:04:27Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > **Gein** , not Guin. > Apropos of nothing in particular, I’ve been in a room where Ed Gein lived for an extended time, and in the room where Jeffrey Dahmer died. > > Apropos this thread, I thought **Wolfman Jack** was a cartoon character for a time. [And, for a time, he was.](http://www.80scartoons.net/toons/wolfrocktv.html) ---
**Author:** ![Marlonius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/54 "2013-12-23T22:51:12Z")
> [@Tante\_Dillie](#): > > Oh no, even we unlettered Americans know the feisty, red-haired Anne Shirley who lived on PEI and was adopted by Marilla and her brother who lived at Green gables. I loved those books when I was a girl. Oh cool. I was unsure of how far-reaching the stories were. If you go to PEI, there is a tourist attraction replica of the farm, built to the descriptions in the book, including the adjoining woods and the names of the walking paths therein. It was years after visiting there that the horrible truth finally became known to my father. On one hand, it’s a pretty thorough and plausible farm replica. On the other hand, there is lots of information about the novels and the life of their author there too. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/55 "2013-12-23T23:19:30Z")
While I knew the cartoon wasn’t real, I thought Springfield from the Simpsons was the same as Springfield, Illinois. I was really disappointed when we went there and there wasn’t a giant Springfield sign. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/56 "2013-12-23T23:59:57Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > The prison exercise room. According to Wikipedia he was attacked in prison but died in a hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/57 "2013-12-24T00:27:39Z")
In the 1970’s I learned in elementary school music sessions about Johnny Appleseed and John Henry. I had always assumed they were just well-known folktale characters but were no more real than Peter Cottontail or Santa Claus (yeah, take that to another thr–Oh! You did already!) and, like them, had some fun children’s songs made up about them. Turns out they were real – and legends among their peers. —G! When John Henry was a little baby Sittin’ on his poor mama’s knee She took one look at her son Raised him up upon her hand Said “My boy’ll be a steel drivin’ man” …_The Ballad of John Henry_ …American Folk Song …[Bruce Springsteen does a great rendition of this one.] ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/58 "2013-12-24T00:30:17Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > According to Wikipedia he was attacked in prison but died in a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital. But he was gone well before then, according to my sources. I wasn’t there at the time so I don’t know for sure, but my sources were. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/59 "2013-12-24T00:34:06Z")
For an embarrassingly long time I thought Xena was “real”, in the same sense that Hercules was “real” (ie she was based off actual Greek myths). :o Nope, totally fictional. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988/60 "2013-12-24T00:35:44Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > I work in a library and we frequently get people who want more information about Miss Jane Pittman. Yeah, that caused me quite a bit of trauma as a kid. I guess it would have helped if I’d learned what “fiction” or “any similarity to persons dead or alive is purely coincidental” meant before I started reading grown-up books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anyone-else-ever-mistakenly-think-fictional-characters-were-real/676988.md?page=4)