🧩 BND Motif Index · M784
News of the weird
Oddities shared for the strangeness itself, a mayor named Hitler Mussolini, a cow on the roof, the world being stranger than anyone would make up.
- 12claims filed under it
- 2right shows it came up on
- 6claims retold online
- 3fact-checkers
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🪜 Its family
what it rests on, what rests on it, and the motifs that answer it
⤵️ under it: 🧩 Unusual entry
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up (0 left-leaning, 0 center, 2 right-leaning so far), colored by the show's lean; the bar is how many of its claims each one heard
- right-leaning
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
📰 In the news
the stories its claims were told about, the most told first (matched by our tools, so a link can be wrong)
- 📰 Pope Leo XIV votes in U.S. general election 2026-10-30 to 2026-11-02
- 📰 Federal officials identify 400 noncitizens registered to vote in Washington state 2026-10-27 to 2026-10-30
🗣️ In so many words
the words that carry it
💬 the tellers' own words: “(not making this up)” “a Sovereign Prince aka Pope as an American citizen, asking for his democratic right to vote. What is the the world coming to?” “Candidate named Hitler Mussolini elected mayor in Peru” “Google weird Peruvian names. It's a trip.” “how did no one lead with that insanity?” “I cannot honestly tell you I know where Ottumwa, Iowa is” “Idaho voting on a state gun is some GTA level nonsense” “it’s cool as fuck that the POPE is VOTING in our elections???? Wild and also awesome.” “Mind-Blowing Fact of the Day: The Pope has requested an Illinois absentee ballot...” “MOTHER ON DEATHBED SAYS 12-YEAR-OLD SON IS OFFSPRING OF HUMAN-CHIMPANZEE LOVE AFFAIR.” “No matter how flooded, it is not afraid.” “Seems weird for a head of state to vote in another country’s election.”
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, in our words, by who told it: newest first in each; a claim's dots are the shows it came up on, in their lean's color (point at them for their names)
Told on the left 0
claims heard on left-leaning shows, and no right-leaning one
🦗 No claim heard only on the left so far.
Told on the right 1
claims heard on right-leaning shows, and no left-leaning one
- 2026-11-02 “An Iowa city council opened a public meeting with a satanic invocation.” 2
Retold online 6
claims many people posted in their own words
- 2026-11-05 “The incoming Texas Attorney General was a composer for the English dub of Dragon Ball Z.”
- 2026-11-05 “Idaho is voting on which gun should be the official state gun.”
- 2026-11-02 “Pope Leo is an American citizen and has the right to vote in US elections.”
- 2026-11-01 “Pope Leo XIV is the first Pope in history to vote in a U.S. election.”
- 2026-10-30 “The Pope is a registered voter in Illinois and requested a mail-in ballot for the midterm elections.”
- 2026-10-10 “A Peruvian candidate named Hitler Mussolini Simeón Flores won a mayoral election with 229 votes.”
Fact-checked 5
claims a fact-checker examined: the verdict is theirs, behind the link
- 2026-11-12 “A deceased mother allegedly told her 12-year-old son he is the offspring of a human-chimpanzee love affair.” 🔎 Lead Stories
- 2026-10-24 “Viral social media posts show a person in a Pink Panther costume taking part in the current protests in France, including throwing a molotov cocktail, raising middle fingers, and running from a water cannon.” 🔎 Full Fact
- 2026-10-24 “The Pink Panther stole the whole spotlight in recent Paris riots!” 🔎 Lead Stories
- 2026-10-23 “Videos show houses being lifted by hydraulic stilts to avoid being washed away by floodwater.” 🔎 Lead Stories
- 2026-10-17 “Kmart used to sell pet monkeys in the 1960s.” 🔎 Snopes
M784 · first seen 2026-10-10 · last 2026-11-05 · what this is · how the index works