Lists about the true stories that inspired books, films, TV, and other stories you think you know. 

What Really Happened

Horror Movies and TV

The Conjuring, directed by James Wan, is one of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-horror-films-ever-made" target="_blank">best&nbsp;horror films</a> of the 21st century. It looks amazing, it plays on the audience&rsquo;s worst fears, and it is based on a true story. But how true is it? There are a lot of films that say they are based on a true story just to get in an extra scare, but those claims rarely add up to anything more than a disclaimer on a movie poster. 

Throughout the &#39;70s, the Perron family claimed to have lived The Conjuring. The family members were thrown out of their beds, ghosts kissed them in the middle of the night, and they were preyed upon by the&nbsp;spirit of a witch named Bathsheba Thayer. 

Was The Conjuring a true story? The Perron family certainly believes that they were haunted by something while they lived in a farmhouse in Rhode Island. They even got in touch with <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/strange-ed-and-lorraine-warren-cases/patrick-thornton" target="_blank">Ed and Lorraine Warren</a>,&nbsp;the paranormal investigators who helped turn <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-truth-of-what-actually-happened-at-amityville/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">the </a><a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-truth-of-what-actually-happened-at-amityville/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">Amityville Haunting</a> into a household name.

Regardless of whether the haunting occurred&nbsp;the way that it was portrayed in the film, something very real seems to have happened&nbsp;to the Perron family, and like the photos that inspired&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-photos-that-inspired-exorcism-of-emily-rose/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">The Exorcism of Emily Rose</a>, their terror went on to help craft one of the scariest movies of the 2000s.

The True Story Behind 'The Conjuring' Is Even Creepier Than The Movie

General

The True Story Behind The Conjuring Is Even Creepier Than The Movie

Jacob Shelton

Lists about Belle, the Beast, Gaston, and all the singing, dancing appliances and furniture in Disney's beloved musical Beauty and the Beast—both the animated and live action versions.

Tale as Old as Time

The original versions and real stories behind the fairy tales we've been whispering to sleepy children.

Once Upon a Time

Debunking

It’s a tale as old as time – or, at least as old as the 1500s. But the real couple that inspired Beauty and the Beast lived a tragic life. The real life Beauty and the Beast were Catherine and Petrus Gonsalvus, and they were treated like freaks&nbsp;of nature by Europe’s kings and queens. Although the tale of Petrus and Catherine Gonsalvus isn't the single inspiration of the tale – it has <a href="http://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/beauty-and-the-beast-history/" target="_blank">much deeper folkloric roots</a> than that – its optics match those of the fictional couple.Just like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/human-attractions-pt-barnum-freak-show/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">P.T. Barnum collected freaks</a>, in the 16th century, Europe’s royal courts competed to find the strangest human for their amusement. Petrus Gonsalvus, the &quot;beast,&quot;&nbsp;was born with a condition that covered his face in hair. The French royal court kept Petrus for years to amuse the nobility by reciting Latin, and they even decided to arrange a marriage for Petrus as a joke.There are definitely <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/beauty-and-the-beast-is-messed-up/shanell-mouland" target="_blank">some messed up things in the fictional story of&nbsp;Beauty and the Beast</a>&nbsp;– especially if you start to wonder <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/beauty-and-the-beast-aftermath/hannah-collins" target="_blank">what happened after the movie ended</a>. But nothing in the fairy tale version compares with the torments suffered by the Petrus Gonsalvus family tree. When he was just 10 years old, Petrus Gonsalvus was locked in a cage and treated like an animal. Lady Catherine Gonsalvus was tricked by an evil Queen into marrying a wild man that she didn’t even meet until their wedding day. And what Europe’s royalty did to the Gonsalvus children is even worse. In the tragic story of Catherine and Petrus Gonsalvus, there are no fairy tale endings.

The Real Couple That Inspired 'Beauty And The Beast' Led Remarkably Tragic Lives

The Real 'Beauty & The Beast' Couple Is More Tragic Than Any Disney Story

Genevieve Carlton

When The Sound of Music debuted on Broadway in 1959, many critics considered it to be too clean and sweet, and the 1965 movie earned similar reviews. The real story behind The Sound of Music, however, is nowhere near as pleasant. Possibly because the movie was based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which was based on a German film, which was inspired by a family biography written by Maria von Trapp, The Sound of Music true story underwent an odd version of the &quot;telephone&quot; game to become the beloved film.

Although the movie tweaked The Sound of Music real-life story by changing the number of von Trapp children from 10 to seven, and gave them all different names and ages, it left out&nbsp;more significant true plot elements. Some of these changes were made to give the film tension, drama, and conflict, but The Sound of Music real story has&nbsp;plenty of drama and conflict itself.

Just because The Sound of Music&nbsp;is based on a real story, don&#39;t believe everything you see on screen. Although the von Trapp family did form a famous singing group, flee from occupied Austria, and travel to America (where they still run a Vermont ski lodge), the filmmakers invented many things depicted in the movie. Having earned praise for West Side Story, director Robert Wise used Julie Andrews&#39;s&nbsp;Mary Poppins stardom and sweet likability to create a sentimental version of the family&#39;s life, even if it wasn&#39;t completely true. Although the movie won numerous Oscars, Wise hurt many members of the von Trapp family, as well as any viewers expecting to see the family&#39;s real story on screen. How close is The Sound of Music to the real story? Not very.

The Real Story Behind ‘The Sound of Music’ Is Far More Depressing Than The Film

‘The Sound Of Music’: The True Story Is Far More Depressing Than The Movie 

Erin McCann

Lists about American living and culture before the modern era.

Early Days in the USA

History

For many in the United States, the colonial period is murky and&nbsp;full of half-remembered stories from school. We may recall some important tidbits like the Mayflower, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Declaration of Independence, but the stuff in between can be a blur. Didn&#39;t Thomas Jefferson own slaves? Wasn&#39;t there a mystery about&nbsp;Roanoke&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/legends-theories-croatoan-roanoke-disappearance/lyra-radford" target="_blank">Croatoan</a>?

The fact is there are many <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/common-myths-about-american-history/jason-f-collins" target="_blank">misconceptions about this period of history</a>, from&nbsp;simple yet slightly off aspects of daily life to major historical moments that are nothing like you thought.&nbsp;You may not know quite as much about colonial America as you think you do. This period -&nbsp;and particularly during the American Revolution -&nbsp;has become so heavily mythologized the truth may elude you. For the storytellers who discuss this period, it&#39;s much easier to recount only the thrilling story of heroes who fought for freedom than delve into the complicated politics surrounding the revolution and the brilliant but flawed <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-founding-fathers/amylindorff" target="_blank">Founding Fathers</a>.

Myths About Colonial America, Debunked

Colonial America Myths Debunked

Quinn Armstrong

US History

A fair bit of American history is wholly inaccurate, yet <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/biggest-us-historical-events-not-taught-in-school/alby-thompson" target="_blank">these myths persist</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;US&nbsp;history classes, popular anecdotes, and even textbooks. This is how several American history lies have become&nbsp;facts to many people.

Many popular American misconceptions are easy to disprove, but difficult to accept. What follows is the factually correct American history all Americans deserve to know. Vote up the truths&nbsp;that genuinely surprise you.

12 Lies About American History Even History Buffs Are Guilty Of Believing

Lies About American History Even History Buffs Believe

Jason F. Collins

Lists about customs, rituals, and daily life in Ancient Rome and the Roman Republic, which ruled the Mediterranean from 8th Century BC until its spectacular collapse in 476 AD.

Rome If You Want To

Ancient History

Popular culture can inform our beliefs about many things. Historic events, people, and even entire civilizations are often over-simplified, stereotyped, or just plain reshaped to provide entertainment, action, or comedic relief. Often, this&nbsp;comes at the expense of the truth - or common sense. As a result, depictions of a historically accurate Rome can be difficult to find in movies, on television, and in video games - leading to an incredibly misinformed view of the ancient world.

Granted, many details about ancient Rome are lost to the ages, but sometimes popular culture presents some really egregious errors.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historical-errors-in-gladiator/setareh-janda" target="_blank">Gladiator</a> was full of mistakes and misrepresentations, and while that film is certainly included on this list of less-than-accurate pop-culture tropes about ancient Rome,&nbsp;it&#39;s hardly alone. Which one of the cliches below are just plain bad Roman history?

15 Of The Dumbest Things Pop Culture Has Us Believe About Ancient Rome

The Dumbest Things About Ancient Rome Pop Culture Has Us Believe

Melissa Sartore

Samurai are pervasive in popular culture, represented in film, television, and video games alike. Comic books and manga incorporate samurai culture, images, and themes into their stories, while anime has embraced numerous samurai tropes and crafted some of the best-known samurai archetypes of all time.

As warriors in feudal Japan, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-was-life-like-for-samurai/megan-summers" target="_blank">samurai served </a>as military combatants, swore devotion to their lords, and aspired to live honorable lives. By the early 17th century, the duties and obligations of samurai shifted, transitioning them to more administrative and political roles. While samurai remained esteemed in Japanese society - and around the world - the realities of samurai life became much less heroic.&nbsp;

What popular culture has done for the interest in all-things samurai, however, has resulted in misunderstandings about the lives and activities of samurai. Even the most historically accurate samurai movies contain stereotypes or partial truths, muddying up what viewers do and don&#39;t believe about samurai. Which one of the notions below do you find to be the most ridiculous?&nbsp;Or, better yet, which one did you believe - until now?&nbsp;

11 Of The Dumbest Things Pop Culture Has Us Believe About Samurai

Dumbest Things About Samurai Pop Culture Has Us Believe

All the evidence scholars have found that the stories and people in world religious texts are based on reality.

Proof of Faith

Lists about Jesus of Nazareth, the first-century Jewish carpenter, preacher, and religious leader who Christians believe is the incarnation of God and the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

The Lamb of God

In the hunt for <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/physical-evidence-of-noah-s-ark/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">physical evidence of Noah's Ark</a> and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/evidence-for-moses-parting-the-red-sea/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">proof that Moses parted the Red Sea</a>, scholars have shown that science can support Biblical stories. But what about proof of Jesus? Is there physical evidence that Jesus, the alleged son of God and savior of mankind,&nbsp;was a real person?Scholars and Christians have debated the reality of Jesus for centuries, searching for proof that Jesus walked the earth two thousand years ago. Some argue that Jesus is a myth, or an invention, rather than a real person.&nbsp;From images, to texts, to archaeological&nbsp;evidence and other physical proof, there is a great deal of evidence that Jesus was real. However, some of this evidence is problematic. At the end of the day, what does the physical evidence show?The 1968&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/stone-box-holds-only-trace-of-crucifixion/kellie-kreiss" target="_blank">discovery of crucifixion evidence</a>&nbsp;shows that it is possible to find physical proof of Jesus's existence.&nbsp;In the search for proof of Jesus in history, there are hundreds of physical objects in Christian churches that have been linked to Christ, from fragments of the cross to the crown of thorns. Many medieval churches even claimed to have found the circumcised foreskin of Jesus. But is this evidence reliable?Skeptics point to the changing&nbsp;stories about Jesus in the last 2,000 years, including the shocking history of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-jesus-became-white/elle-tharp" target="_blank">how Jesus became white</a>. They dismissively claim that the only proof that Jesus is real comes from his own followers, who could have invented the story. But is there evidence of Jesus outside the Bible? It turns out that the answer is definitely yes.&nbsp;

Here Is All The Physical Evidence That Jesus Christ Was A Real Person

Organized Crime

Casino, Martin Scorsese&rsquo;s 1995 epic underworld story is the spiritual successor to Goodfellas in many ways. Not only did it see the director once again team&nbsp;up with <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/deer-hunter-behind-the-scenes-stories/skyler-hanrath?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Robert De Niro</a> and Joe Pesci, but he&nbsp;worked with the author who wrote the source material for both&nbsp;Goodfellas and&nbsp;Casino, Nicholas Pileggi. Pileggi&rsquo;s non-fiction book&nbsp;Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas&nbsp;covers the heyday of mafia-controlled Vegas,&nbsp;focusing&nbsp;specifically on the real-life inspirations for Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro,&nbsp;Frank &ldquo;Lefty&rdquo; Rosenthal and Anthony Spilotro, respectively.&nbsp;

Through these two real-life gangsters, Pileggi provided a way for Scorsese to tell an intriguing story of greed and humanity&rsquo;s hunger for power. For a big-budget <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/all-mafia-movies-or-list-of-mafia-films" target="_blank">mafia movie</a>, Casino is shockingly accurate, and many of the details that have been changed aren&rsquo;t that far away from the real story. The biggest differences between reality and the onscreen version of events are usually questions of location rather than the validity of the event itself.&nbsp;Scorsese&rsquo;s film is intense&nbsp;and filled with psychotic characters;&nbsp;luckily, he barely had to change the&nbsp;real-life narrative to put this story on screen.&nbsp;

'Casino’ Is Surprisingly, Gruesomely Accurate

Casino's True Story: The Movie Is Suprisingly Accurate

Lists about the economic depression that began when the Wall Street stock market collapsed on "Black Tuesday," October 29, 1929, and caused devastation around the world for more than a decade.

The Great Depression

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression">Great Depression</a> was the worst economic downturn in American history. Countless books and historical explorations have focused on the era, but, somehow, myths about the Great Depression abound.&nbsp;While most recessions are over in a few years, the Great Depression&nbsp;lasted for over a decade and saw massive unemployment and the destruction of wealth. It shaped a generation who grew up with fewer material possessions and an&nbsp;understanding of&nbsp;poverty and what it means to struggle. It's one of the reasons Franklin Delano Roosevelt&nbsp;is considered one of the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-u-s-presidents-from-best-to-worst">greatest US&nbsp;Presidents of all time</a>.&nbsp;However, it also spawned a multitude of popular legends about the causes of and solutions for this dark period in American history.&nbsp;There are many misconceptions about the Great Depression that endure today. A variety of interested parties have made it a point to craft the narrative of the Depression to support their political agendas in the time since it took place. Fortunately, there still are serious historians who have looked at the Depression from many angles and seek to uncover the truth of the matter.

12 Things Everyone Thinks About The Great Depression That Are Totally Wrong

12 Myths About The Great Depression People Still Believe

Christopher Myers

Villains

It&#39;s impossible for a movie based on historical events to be 100% <a href="/list/least-accurate-biopics-ever/setareh-janda" target="_blank">accurate</a>. If it were, that would make for a boring movie. Still, it&#39;s one thing for a&nbsp;movie about medieval&nbsp;England&nbsp;to have&nbsp;the wrong candlesticks; it&#39;s another thing entirely for a movie to completely misrepresent real people for the sake of a better story. And just as&nbsp;historical movies can make people like Scottish knight&nbsp;<a href="/list/life-of-robert-the-bruce/genevieve-carlton?ref=search" target="_blank">William Wallace</a> much more heroic than he was in real life, they can also make someone much more villainous than they actually were.&nbsp;

Earlier historical figures lived so long ago that it&#39;s impossible for modern historians to know exactly what they were like. Often, everything known about a distant historical figure comes from later historians who had a vested interest in portraying them negatively. In those cases, a movie might just be continuing&nbsp;a longstanding tradition of trashing someone&#39;s reputation. But with more recent historical figures, about whom we have plenty of information, it&#39;s clear that certain movies&nbsp;have&nbsp;turned&nbsp;them into villains for the sake of entertainment. Stories do need conflict,&nbsp;after all.&nbsp;

Here are some&nbsp;historical figures&nbsp;who were much less villainous than movies would have you believe.

Movies That Unnecessarily Made Real People Into Villains

Person

Jim Rowley

Entertainment

Imagine surfacing from an ocean dive only to discover your boat is gone and you're completely alone. This scary situation actually happened to Tom and Eileen Lonergan&nbsp;on January 25,&nbsp;1998. Tom and Eileen Lonergan were experienced divers on a trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef when their dive boat crew left them behind. Two days passed before anyone realized they were missing, and rescue teams searched for the married couple unsuccessfully for days. The two were never seen again, their bodies assumed to be <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/lost-at-sea-movies/ranker-film" target="_blank">lost at sea</a>.&nbsp;Like other nightmarish experiences, Tom and Eileen Lonergan's dreadful&nbsp;fate turned into a film, Open Water.&nbsp;The 2003 film was a critical darling and depicted the couple meeting their end being circled by sharks. The <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-movies-based-on-true-stories/ranker-film" target="_blank">true story</a> behind the&nbsp;Open Water movie, however, is much scarier simply because no one knows what really happened to Tom and Eileen Lonergan.

The True Story Behind 'Open Water' Is A Dark Mystery That Goes Way Beyond The Horror Of The Film

The True Story Behind 'Open Water' Is Far More Unnerving Than The Movie

Step right up! Lists about the strange, fascinating, and horrifying history of circuses and carnivals in America and around the world.

The Greatest Show on Earth

True Stories

Is The Greatest Showman a true story? The movie musical is many things -&nbsp;but historically accurate isn’t exactly one of them. It’s necessary to look beyond the film in order to get to know <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-pt-barnum/nicky-benson" target="_blank">the real P.T. Barnum</a> and the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/behind-the-scenes-circus-abuses/nicky-benson" target="_blank">circus</a> he created.The musical claims to tell the story of Phineas Taylor Barnum’s rise from rags to riches in antebellum America. According to the film, Barnum was an orphaned child whose head was full of dreams. As an adult, he married his childhood sweetheart and did all that he could to give her the life he thought she deserved. After losing a boring, uninspiring office job, Barnum decides to take the plunge and pursue an extraordinary career: he purchases a museum and recruits outcasts&nbsp;to be a part of his show. It becomes wildly popular, and he fulfills his dream of living a life of success, wonder, and entertainment.&nbsp;To be fair, it gets some basic details correct. Barnum was born in Connecticut in 1810, and he spent much of his life chasing down the American dream. In his case, that meant establishing an entertainment network through his American Museum -&nbsp;which included a so-called “<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/human-attractions-pt-barnum-freak-show/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">freak show</a>” that exhibited actual human beings as objects of curiosity, oddity, and terror -&nbsp;and, eventually, his famous circus. By the time he died in 1891 at the age of 80, he had been many things: promoter, entertainer, businessman, politician, abolitionist, teetotaler, and writer.But Barnum’s larger-than-life story, in all its complex glory, doesn’t completely make it into the film. The&nbsp;Greatest Showman's accuracy is mediocre at best, and the film ignores his sins, manipulates his relationships, and simplifies the long trajectory of his rich&nbsp;life. Among the many errors is the film's depiction of the relationship between P.T. Barnum and Jenny Lind and its unwillingness to engage with the undeniable racism in Barnum's past. The film may be good entertainment, but it’s also bad history.

The Real Story Is Darker Than You Can Imagine

Here's Everything The Greatest Showman Got Completely Wrong About The Real Barnum & Bailey Circus

Setareh Janda

1910s

There&#39;s no denying that the movie <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/jaws-behind-the-scenes-every-attack/megan-summers" target="_blank">Jaws definitely made some beach-goers</a>&nbsp;scared to go into the water. However,&nbsp;the story that inspired Jaws was what really had people scared to have a day at the beach. The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 were so unexpected,&nbsp;sudden, and violent that they stuck in the public&#39;s mind even up to the point that the movie hit theaters. The &quot;Matawan man-eater,&quot; as the shark was called, took down at least three people, likely four before the killings finally stopped, and it forever changed the public&#39;s view of sharks.

To be clear,&nbsp;great&nbsp;white&nbsp;shark&nbsp;attacks&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;US are not very common. People are more likely to be killed by bees <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/reasons-sharks-are-awesome/nida-sea" target="_blank">than they are by sharks</a>, and most shark attacks that do happen do not result in death. What happens in the movie Jaws is not typical of shark attacks at all, and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-to-survive-a-shark-attack/nathan-gibson" target="_blank">how one survives a real shark attack</a> is quite a different story.

For those wondering whether&nbsp;Jaws&nbsp;is&nbsp;based on a true story, the Matawan&nbsp;man-eater&nbsp;wasn&#39;t the initial inspiration for the 1975 Spielberg film, but the 1916 events did play a part in shaping the tale. The details aren&#39;t exactly&nbsp;the same, but there was once a killer shark, and he terrorized the public for nearly two weeks.

'Jaws' Was Inspired By The Matawan Man-Eater, And The True Story Is Even Scarier Than The Movie

Is 'Jaws' A True Story? Meet The Matawan Man-Eater

Laura Allan

Historical Figures

It shouldn&#39;t be surprising to learn that TV shows&nbsp;based on history are never 100% accurate. That&#39;s because these shows are dramatizations of events, and not documentaries.&nbsp;Real people are often reduced to &quot;hero&quot; or &quot;villain&quot; archetypes that ignore any nuance. Scenes or even whole characters might be invented to get the point across.

Audiences understand this, and show creators&nbsp;are often&nbsp;up front about it. American Crime Story&nbsp;creator Ryan Murphy has often <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a14781936/versace-family-statement-american-crime-story/" target="_blank">said</a> that the show&#39;s second season,&nbsp;The Assassination of Gianni Versace, was&nbsp;based on Maureen Orth&#39;s &quot;heavily researched and authenticated&quot; nonfiction book Vulgar Favors. But he&#39;s also <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a11923089/american-crime-story-2-assassination-gianni-versace-date-cast/" target="_blank">admitted</a>&nbsp;that &quot;there&#39;s always certain things you take liberty with, in wanting to move towards something more emotional.&quot;&nbsp;Some shows, like Hulu&#39;s&nbsp;Mrs. America, will even go one step further and issue a disclaimer&nbsp;reminding viewers that even though the show is based on real events, some of it is still fictional.

Even so, many people still don&#39;t like how they&#39;re portrayed on these shows. Some have called the show about them a complete lie, like&nbsp;Escape at&nbsp;Dannemora&nbsp;subject Tilly Mitchell.&nbsp;Others have gotten so angry they sued, like&nbsp;Hollywood legend <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/06/olivia-de-havilland-feud-fx-lawsuit" target="_blank">Olivia de Havilland</a>. And many of them have just refused to watch, which is how most of the <a href="https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a29892270/what-does-the-royal-family-think-of-the-crown-netfix/" target="_blank">British royal family</a>&nbsp;has reacted to&nbsp;The Crown.&nbsp;

Here are some&nbsp;people who really didn&#39;t like how Hollywood handled their life stories.

Historical TV Shows That Pissed Off The People They Portrayed

Historical Figures Who Hated Their TV Portrayals

Exploring the real people, historical events, and behind the scenes of Netflix's series that follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II and her family.

The Crown

Streaming

Netflix&rsquo;s The Crown is an addictive blend of pulp and prestige that charts&nbsp;<a href="/list/weird-queen-of-england-facts/carly-silver" target="_blank">Queen Elizabeth II</a>&#39;s time on the throne. But how much of it is accurate? Yes, The Crown gets many <a href="/list/british-royal-family-scandals/cleo-egnal" target="_blank">scandalous</a> things right about Queen Elizabeth&rsquo;s life and the <a href="/list/whoa-british-royal-family-facts/alby-thompson" target="_blank">British Royal Family</a>, like <a href="/list/life-of-princess-margaret/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Princess Margaret</a>, <a href="/list/queen-elizabeth-ii-affair/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Porchie</a>,&nbsp;and <a href="/list/how-louis-mountbatten-angled-for-the-british-throne/rachel-souerbry" target="_blank">Louis Mountbatten</a>. But, because of those historical accuracies and the jaw-dropping&nbsp;production value, audiences may wrongly assume that the show is a reliable&nbsp;history lesson.

The lavish series&nbsp;spares no expense in its&nbsp;dramatization of&nbsp;Queen Elizabeth&rsquo;s reign. Indeed, critics, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-crown-cast-vs-real-people/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">The Crown cast</a>, and historians alike point out that The Crown really does take history seriously -&nbsp;the creators and writers have clearly done their research. But, every now and then, inaccuracies in The Crown rear their head. Just as often as it faithfully portrays actual events as they happened, such as the <a href="/list/aberfan-disaster/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Aberfan Disaster</a>, the show also bends the truth and relies on rumors to flesh out storylines and characterizations. <a href="/list/what-to-watch-if-you-love-the-crown/watchworthy" target="_blank">Shows like&nbsp;The Crown</a>&nbsp;revel&nbsp;in the murky, hearsay-saturated space between fact and fiction, where&nbsp;it can turn gossip into&nbsp;entire plots. Sure, there&rsquo;s plenty of fun and drama in that, but not much verifiable, evidence-based&nbsp;history.

Now in its <a href="/list/best-the-crown-seasons/ranker-tv" target="_blank">third season</a>, the show continues to have a rocky relationship with the past. As in the previous seasons, Season 3 inaccuracies mount up, suggesting&nbsp;the show still prioritizes rumor over fact.&nbsp;

What does the queen think of The Crown? Though <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-does-the-royal-family-think-about-the-crown/setareh-janda" target="_blank">she reportedly enjoyed the first season</a>, chances are her opinion will go downhill if she ever gets around to watching the second one -&nbsp;the show does her husband no favors. The series embellishes plenty of events for its narratives, and often those embellishments come at the expense of Prince Philip&rsquo;s character. The fictionalized Duke of Edinburgh is portrayed as a petulant, vain, and downright obnoxious character who makes Queen Elizabeth&rsquo;s life unfairly difficult.

Completely accurate or not, The Crown makes history look glamorous as it re-creates and straight-up creates events from Elizabeth&rsquo;s life and the United Kingdom&rsquo;s past.&nbsp;

Here's Everything 'The Crown' Just Got Straight-Up Wrong About History

25 Things The Crown Got Completely Wrong About History

Debunking lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories