“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” “Love conquers all.” “Truth is stranger than fiction.” For years, these are three sayings we have taken as fact. But, in the spirit of skeptical inquiry, I have decided to test the third claim, and have found that fiction is often much, much stranger than truth.
The study involved five thousand volunteers at Tulane University in New Orleans. One hundred true statements were paired with a hundred fictional counterparts. These were randomly distributed to volunteers, who were asked which of the statements was stranger. The results show that in nearly every case the fiction was stranger than the truth.
Some examples of statements:
“Hummingbirds, when deprived of water or plant nectar, turn into Snickers candy bars.” (Fiction)
“Hummingbirds, when deprived of water or plant nectar, die.” (Truth)
“If you wear a green hat on a Tuesday and think of elephants, you can travel through time.” (Fiction)
“No known hat enables time travel.” (Truth)
“Every other day at 2:00 pm, the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial stands up and performs an elaborate breakdancing routine that lasts for nearly twelve minutes.” (Fiction)
“The statue does no such thing.” (Truth)
The results, independently verified by a dozen top researchers, all indicate the strong possibility that truth is, in fact, far less stranger than fiction. Several theories have been proposed for the reasons behind this. One of the researchers posits, “For truth, one is limited to the realm of what actually happens. However, in fiction, these limitations are not there, and thus allow fiction a broader opportunity for strangeness.”
It is unknown at this time if studies into Beauty or Love will be forthcoming.
