Sibling photoshops family photo tricking younger sibling into thinking for 14 years that they met "Harry Potter" when they were 6-years-old: '

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Nov 27, 2024 2:00 PM EST

Memories are a funny thing in that each memory is shaped and reformed every time you recall it, making them easily susceptible to suggestion. Essentially, every time you recall a memory, you destabilize it and partially "destroy" it with your brain, then completing a process called reconsolidation to again store the memory it with your current thoughts and emotions added to it. (As a brief tangent, this is one of the reasons why witness testimony is so problematic.)

This fluidity and fallibility of memory and ability to be changed by suggestion means that whatever memories you have from your younger years almost certainly didn't happen exactly as you remember them.

Now, my memory is terrible, so take this with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty certain that every early memory I have is based on or at least partially formed from old photographs I've been shown over the years from which my brain has recreated events based on the stories associated with them.

So, it makes sense that this younger brother would be subject to the same. Having his memories shaped by photos that were unfortunately photoshopped with the stories to go along with it. 

Unfortunately, this memory wasn't just any old memory and became a "core memory" of foundational importance to the brother's core identity. Having the rug pulled out from under you like this is sure to make you question your entire existence, especially when you've been telling everyone about something that happened to you as a kid that didn't actually happen. It's like learning you've been living in "The Matrix" your entire life, and everything you know isn't actually real.

Talk about diabolical things that only siblings are capable of doing to each other…

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    Cheezburger Image 10434309632
    via Dylan Michaud

    Image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Image is for illustration only and subjects are models.
    Image is for effect only and, yes, it is a joke. 

  • 02
    AITA for ruining my brother's childhood memory by admitting I photoshopped it 14 years ago? When my younger brother (20 now) was 6, he went through a huge Harry Potter phase. He loved the wizarding world and believed he might meet 'Harry Potter' (Daniel Radcliffe) or the other characters on a family trip to Scotland since Hogwarts was 'there.' No one promised him this,
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    but he convinced himself it could happen. Sadly, the trip was canceled after our grandpa passed away, and my brother was devastated for both reasons. To cheer him up, I decided to craft a 'souvenir'. I was 16 and had just discovered photoshop, so I edited a picture of my brother with Daniel Radcliffe to make it look like they'd met. I printed it, framed it, and gave it to him without telling him it was
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    fake. He loved it and fully believed he'd met Daniel. Soon, he had an entire story about the meeting; what they talked about, how Daniel hugged him, etc. It was so sweet, and none of us (my family and I) had the heart to tell him the truth.
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    Fast forward 14 years, and my brother still didn't know that the old, low quality picture of him meeting Daniel Radcliffe is fake. I never told him because his memory of the fake meeting felt so real to him that it became one of his proudest stories. Over time the memory became less. important and the framed picture had been packed away in some box, and my brother has long outgrown his Harry Potter obsession. Yesterday, however,
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    we were at our parents' home and we were bringing up old memories, you know how it goes. The story of meeting Daniel Radcliffe came up, and thinking it was harmless, I told him the truth. I thought he'd laugh but instead he got visibly upset. He didn't want to believe me at first, thinking I was messing with him. I told him the real story of how and why I did it. He told me that it feels like I robbed him of a real childhood memory that he really
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    cherished, and he feels embarrassed thinking about all the times he's told people about meeting Daniel Radcliffe in person, even recently. We ended our conversation on a semi-good note, though. I apologised for not telling him sooner, because I do feel bad that it meant so much to him even now. But I don't regret it. Back then, it made him so happy during a rough time, and I don't regret giving him that joy. I
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    just didn't realize how much it still meant to him. So I'm just wondering, am (or was) I the a- hole?
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    OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the ah le: 1. I photoshopped a picture of my younger brother with Daniel Radcliffe when he was a kid, let him believe it was real for years, and only told him the truth 14 years later 2. Revealing the truth now made him feel
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    embarrassed about cherishing a memory that wasn't real and sharing it with others, which could make me the a hole for not being honest sooner
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    • Miss_Judge_and_J... 22h ago. NTA. It's like Santa. You did it with good intentions and he never met him. He was 6, now he is 20. Maybe disappointing, but he's 20 years old.... It would be worse to continue the fantasy for an adult. I am sure no one ever thought at the time this would be the result 14 years later, sounds like he just never got the memo it wasn't real... much worse things that can happen as an adult.
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    WelfordNelferd 22h ago • . I'm a tad surprised that you could convince a six-year-old they'd met their idol when they hadn't, but you're still NTA. Did he even question it at the time??
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    Ciskakid 21h ago. • Just goes to show that false memories really can be planted so firmly they become real. Every time he told the story it was reinforced. Parents really should have said something by age 12 or 13.
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    SpaceAceCase • 19h ago. I don't get why people are comparing this to Santa... this feels so extreme that everyone kept up this lie for so long. Your almost 10 years older then him, why didn't you or anyone else tell him sooner? Your grandfather did, he was a child grieving, this false memory would have been so easy for a young kid to cling onto in the mist of all that.
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  • 15
    It seems so cruel to do this for years... ESH except your brother.
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    inquisitivemind79 20h ago YTA for not telling him sooner. This is not like Santa or the Easter bunny or unicorns or anything like that. This is something that could have actually happened and there was no way for him to know it didn't really happen.
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    There are better ways to cheer up a kid than lying to them. This is seriously insane that you allowed this to go on for so long. If my family had told me I met someone or had visited a specific country as a kid and had a photo that looked real I would absolutely believe it I don't have much of a memory at that age and anyone who says they actually do probably have false memories like your sibling.
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  • 18
    This is a horrible and weird thing to do to someone you care about.
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    DamnitGravity • 20h ago. Wow, you and your entire family gaslit him. For YEARS. For over a DECADE. Your parents should've stopped you from giving him that photo as a kid. Yeah, you meant well, but so what? Doesn't change the fact it's now having real-time consequences. "Meaning well" doesn't change the fact you all lied to him.
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    The biggest a h les are your parents for allowing and perpetuating this. You're slightly the a hole for going along with it. Not the a hole for finally telling him, even if you did break his heart a little, and now he's gonna question every single one of his memories, and what else you and your parents have lied to him about.
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    Roan_Psychometry 19h ago • • YTA. If you found out that one of your happiest and proudest memories as a child was completely fabricated AND covered up by your entire family, how you would you feel? I would feel betrayed at a minimum. Honestly, this going to be hard to recover from in my opinion. I hope your brother is a better person than me, but I might never talk to you again.
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    buttweave 20h ago YTA foe letting it go on for so long. Yeah, it may have been cute at first, but when you realized how seriously he took it you should have said something. I don't get the point in everyone letting him believe that, it's so weird to me
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    QueenQueerBen ⚫ 20h ago. NAH You did a sweet thing and 14 years later you admitted the truth without thinking it through. He obviously cherished the memory and feels like you ripped it away from him. Neither of you are at fault. Mistakes were made but there was no malice involved.
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    Responsible-Kale23... . 19h ago. Well you lied to him for 14 years and watched him make a fool of himself to countless people. Why would you think you might be TA?
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    dop... 17h ago Edited 17h ago. YTA. You lied to him and let him believe a fabricated memory for over a decade. Why didn't you tell him when he was a teenager?
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    Typical2sday • 18h ago. Part ipant [2] Yes, you were the AH. Sometimes being the AH doesn't require malicious intent. Allowing someone to believe and repeat a lie are the unintended consequences of a deceit. Just as your brother has to come to terms with the lie that he whole- heartedly believed, you have to come to terms with your misbehavior.
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family dynamics teens family drama stepmother aita Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe AITAH kids teenagers blended family siblings stepchild moms family feud parenting family reddit thread parent raising kids Parenting Fail parents children
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