Every iteration of a Grand Theft Auto game garners some serious attention.

Since the Internet became more widely accessible, the rumour mill surrounding the Grand Theft Auto games has been working in overtime. In fact, until confirmation is given from the developer and publisher, many, both fans and critics alike take these rumours as gospel. Many of these rumours are driven predominantly by user-generated websites such as Reddit and NeoGAF. These communities play a massive role in informing the GTA fanbase of potential updates, no matter how plausible or implausible they are.

These TMZ-like communities spur the conversation and from there, it spreads like wildfire. Take for example Grand Theft Auto V. Four years after its initial release, rumours are still spreading like an unconstrained infection disease. As recently as last month, a NeoGAF member subtly tweeted the possibility of GTA V heading to Nintendo Switch. And of course, the next iteration in the series, Grand Theft Auto VI, is already in its own whirlpool of rumours. Some have stated with surprising confidence of next settings and the possibility of a female protagonist. This, despite not having an release date earlier than 2019.

For those who have been caught up in the rumour mill, whether they eventually were found true in the end, would have stumble across many, if not all of these at one point or another. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and relive the 20 biggest false facts about GTA that fooled us all.

20 Jurassic Grand Theft Auto

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Much like the chicken and egg debate, the question of what really killed the dinosaurs have withstood the test of time. In the Grand Theft Auto universe, it was a false rumour.

For the longest time, people thought that dino eggs were buried somewhere deep in the game’s code. Perhaps this was due to the rumor spreading about GTA being once a Jurassic Park game. It would stand to reason though that this rumour would gain traction. There are few things better than running down pedestrians or pulling off heists than doing them throughout GTA’s fictional universe. But imagine doing all these deviant activities on top of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Or letting loose a pack of velociraptors to create a spectacular panic. Since these rumours have started, there have been dinosaur mods created for the games. Rockstar decided to get in on the fun, including a particular purple dinosaur in GTA V.

19 Big Momma’s House

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While the ghost on top of Mount Mordo was eventually proven to be true, this one may never find its legs.

As anyone who’s played the game will remember, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas begins with CJ coming home after many years of being absent. Well, this was in fact, due to his mother. Beverly Johnson, passing away during his absence. Their relationship was never a strong one to begin with, which may have started the fuel to this ghost tale. The rumour states that Mama Johnson haunts the family home and nearby graveyard, creating a rather eeriness to a game already plagued with mysterious deaths and rumours. While no ghost exists within the game’s source code, the GTA fandom continued to spread the rumour like wildfire by Photoshopping an ethereal Beverly wandering throughout the Johnson home. Talk about a flare for the dramatic.

18 Bigfoot With Teeth

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For the uninitiated, a Chupacabra is best described as a crossbreed of a vampiric, furry lizard. Tales have emerged of this mysterious monster, complete with grainy photos and unreliable witness reports. One of the original reports spoke of this enigmatic monstrosity maiming and mutilating hundreds of farm animals in Puerto Rico in the ‘90s.

Well, the legendary monster eventually found his way into the GTA universe, inhabiting parts of San Andreas and locales in GTA IV & V. This rather vampiric Bigfoot has been said to attack players if they wander too close to their domain. Further, reports have been told of the Chupacabra attacking other wildlife. In GTA V, it’s located in Paleto Forest. In San Andreas, Bone County and Whetstone. The only problem? It’s completely false. There is no Chupacabra. It’s merely a figment of your imagination.

17 Lola The Lollipop Girl

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Lolllipop, lollipop, oh lolli, lolli, lolli, lollipo. Pop!”

The Chordettes may have popularized this catchy eponymously named song, but in the GTA, lollipop stands for only one thing; Lola del Rio. For most, Lola del Rio won’t ring a bell. That’s because she wasn’t a playable character. No, Lola was the lollipop girl from the cover of GTA IV. If you remember her now, its probably because her poster depicts her seductively licking a lollipop waiting for a willing John such as yourself.

Sadly, that’s all Lola del Rio was, a digitized fantasy. Many fans took to forums and message boards seeking assistance to find her location throughout the GTA map, but she never seemed unavailable. Probably because she’s non-existent. Rockstar may be to blame for this little rumour spreading. After all, Lola can be found hiding in the Liberty City Police database, complete with her usual hangouts.

16 Grand Theft Krueger

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The 1980s were a ripe time for jumpy slasher films. You had Halloween, Child’s Play, Friday the 13th, and of course, Nightmare on Elm Street, a film so terrifying during its time that it caused teens everywhere to sleep with a nightlight. The ‘80s slasher horror genre was the “House that Freddy built.”

With so many other pop culture reference populated throughout the GTA franchise, it would make sense that fans would expect some horror-themed easter eggs. After all, the Infinity Killer in GTA V reference’s Krueger’s poem: “One is done, Two was fun...” leading many to believe he was out there somewhere waiting to spring up from our bathtubs. Unfortunately, this nightmareish reality never came to fruition. Though he is available as a mod in GTA V, appearing in a Mount Chillad cabin. Enter at your own risk.

15 I’m Straight, Fool.

via: ru.gta.wikia.com

In GTA V, Lamar Davis appears as Franklin Clinton’s outspoken best friend. A substance dealing, multiple-ladies-at-once homie, Lamar was never one to mince his words, where as Franklin is more reserved and stoic. While he plays a somewhat prominent role throughout Franklin’s campaign, he doesn’t go beyond that. That is, until you dig into GTA V’s source code.

If you play through the game, you would have eventually come up to the final showdown which had three game-altering results. Option A & B would have resulted in Franklin killing either Michael or Trevor. Or the player could have opted for Option C, everyone gets to live. Well, players who dug through the game’s code discovered that Option C originally had Franklin getting killed and Lamar taking over as a fully-playable character. Sadly, this never came to be, and everyone went home happy.

14 Winners Go Home With The Prom Queen

Via: GTA Myths

While San Andreas is a fictional state set within GTA’s ever-expansive world, it is based on real-life California and Nevada. In fact, several Californian landmarks make their appearance in San Andreas. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco all respectively show up as Los Santos, Las Venturas, and San Fierro. All three counties have resemblances of popular landmarks, save for one. Alcatraz.

Alcatraz was a playable location in the San Andreas beta, but Rockstar removed it before its finalized version. What was left was a small non-descript island next to Gant Bridge. Further in-game interactions fueled the rumour of Alcatraz. Particularly Mike Toreno telling CJ that Sweet was arrested and “doing time upstate.” Considering there are no prisons in either San Fierro or Las Venturas, Alcatraz was the only logical place the prison could have sat. It’s never quite clear what prison Sweet’s inhabits, which remains a mystery to this day.

13 The Hip-Shaking Zombie Of GTA

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If there was ever a rockstar, Elvis Presley was it. A hip-shaking symbol, Elvis was a force of nature. He was a white southerner inspired by southern gospel music and sang blues laced with country. He was a teen idol, served in the military, appeared in movies, and was the role model for many generations. It would make sense that this bonafide rockstar would appear in a Rockstar game. Right?!

The in-game rumour started in GTA III and GTA: Vice City respectively. An article appearing in newspapers proclaimed “Zombie Elvis Found!” While it was a satirical examination of the pervasive real-life rumours of the ‘80s and ‘90s, players took it to heart, searching and documenting run-ins with the zombified king of rock and roll. But to add insult to injury, none of these run-ins ever featured the real Elvis, but rather, Las Venturas Elvis impersonators. Art imitating life perhaps.

12 The Internet’s Own Monster

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While originating as an Internet meme, the fictional monster Slender Man has had some real-life implications. In 2014, two Wisconsin 12-year-old girls lured 12-year-old Payton Leutner to a park. They then proceeded to hurt her in an attempt to please Slender Man.

Slender Man, a dark-suited nemesis was the creation of Eric ‘Victor Surge’ Knudsen. Originally started as an entry to a Photoshop competition on the Internet forum Something Awful, Slender Man has since taken a life on its own. Slender Man is the embodiment of online primal horror. Players of GTA has stated in the past that Slender Man could be found in GTA: Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA: V, despite the online myth being created 5 years after GTA: San Andreas’ release. Perhaps this is what makes the myth so believable. Since this myth surfaced online, players have photoshopped Slender Man in various GTA screenshots.

11 CJ Unchained

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When Django Unchained appeared in theatres, many viewers were surprised to see Jonah Hill appear briefly as the idiotic Klan member who ruins his pillowcase Klan mask by tearing the eye holes because he can’t see through it.

As a white supremacist group, it comes as no surprise to anyone that if the Klan were to appear in a GTA game, they would target a specific ethnic group. While the appearance of the Klan in San Andreas is only accessible by a game mod that replaces all police officers and other NPCs with the rather distinctive white uniformed hate group, the rumour spread nonetheless. In clips and screenshots of the game, players witnessed members of the digitized Klan acting hostile towards CJ and other African American NPCs. While this is only accessible through mods, in GTA Online, Neo-Nazis and neo-Confederate players continue to spread their hate mongering message.

10 Monster Mash

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Campfire stories often revolving around tales of horrid monsters. Particularly the perennial urban legend of Bigfoot.

Rumour has it that this simian-like creature has made a guest appearance in every GTA entry since GTA III. Even Rockstar has teased at this monstrosity’s existence, going so far to create a mission surrounding this mythical creature. In fact, in GTA V, if you take Franklin out on a walk through the Mount Chiliad forest he’ll encounter a hunter who swears by all that is holy that he’s found the legendary monster. Spoiler alert, the legendary monster is nothing but a man in a Bigfoot suit.

But let’s quash that rumour here and now. The tall tale of this legendary creature is simply that, a tall tale. Game glitches which resulted in distorted bodies and shadows have fanned the flames of this urban myth.

9 I’ve Got Blisters On Me Fingers

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Like Bigfoot, this false fact seems to generate traction with every new game release in the franchise. Perhaps it's the new generation of players joining the fray or the prevalent mention of it throughout online boards and forums, but fans keep making the case for suicidal pedestrians.

Fans of the series keep finding certain “proof” of these NPCs. There’s the tale of NPCs jumping off Bedford Point Expressway bridge in GTA III, and pedestrians jumping off of cliffs or jumping in front of moving cars when frightened, or the particular photographer NPC who walks into the ocean in GTA III, never to be seen again. But, upon closer inspection, these occurrences are all a result of a simple coding mistake: path glitches. Lucky thing too, considering how bleak life already appears in Liberty City and Los Santos, with madmen running around causing mayhem.

8 Ride On The Magic School Bus

via gta5-mods.com

In a world inhabited by chaos and mayhem and digitized rampage, it should come as no surprise to anyone that children do not exist within the GTA universe. Few things are more controversial in the video game industry than the complete destruction of children at the hands of, say, Trevor Philips.

But, that doesn’t stop fans of the franchise from speculating at the existence of children. According to some players, there are references scattered throughout every game of the GTA library that hints at the existence of children, with the exception of the “top-down” entries. The beta version of GTA III had children, complete with drivable school buses. 8-Ball’s compound shows wrecks of school buses, so does the Harwood Car Crusher. These continue to make appearances in Vice City, San Andreas, and Liberty City Stories. There are also abandoned baby strollers in GTA IV, hinting at the existence of babies.

7 The Deep South

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Atlantis is as much an urban legend as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. In the animated series Futurama, Atlantis is satirically portrayed as the drowned city, Atlanta. Disney has also portrayed this mythical city, as has the Stargate franchise.

As urban legends go, it would only seem plausible that Atlantis would circulate through the GTA rumour mill. Atlantis became a speculative locale in GTA V in a pre-release trailer of the game showcasing an underwater wreckage reflective of a mythical sunken city. While players immediately assumed the existence of this particular lost world, anyone who’s played the game and done some deep sea exploration knows that this underwater city is in fact, a freighter wreckage. Proving once and for all, this rumour won’t hold water.

6 The Devil’s Triangle

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The Bermuda Triangle is perhaps one of life’s greatest mysteries. Lore of the strange region includes such stories of missing planes, vanishing torpedo bombers, and even includes the mystery of the USS Cyclops, a naval warship famous of the largest “non-combat loss of life” in U.S. Navy history after it disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

The rumour is, if you venture as far as you can in the ocean in Vice City, San Andreas or GTA V, your plane or boat will crash. What’s more, once your vehicle crashes, you’ll be teleported back to land with a one-star Wanted Level. Conspiracy theory much? Well, the rumour started as most rumours do, on an online forum. But, there is no genuine evidence to prove the existence of the Bermuda Triangle in the expansive GTA universe.

5 The Ghost Of DLC Past

via: gta.wikia.com

If Johnny Klebitz is notable for anything, it's his role as the playable protagonist in The Lost and Damned DLC. And if The Lost and Damned is notable for anything, its the first portrayal of a dude being unclothed in the franchise.

Nevertheless, ol’ Johnny makes a guest appearance, appearing in the mission Friends Reunited thanks to his and his gang’s affiliation with Trevor Philips. Trevor in one of this rampages kills Johnny, stomping his head in, American History X style. The rumour is, after his untimely death, Johnny’s ghost can be seen in Stab City, with players claiming they’ve heard certain profanities emitting from Johnny’s ethereal form. The rumour is further expressed with a newspaper clipping of Johnny in the Blaine County Motel, a hotspot for ghost sighting. But really, the only ghost that Trevor’s seen is that of Michael De Santa.

4 Before You Die, You See

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Freddy Krueger isn’t the only horror pop culture reference found in the false rumour mill.

While the GTA franchise has plenty of genuine nightmare fuel circulating through its series, fans can’t help but speculate and spread false facts that wild fire. One of those just happens to be that of Samara, also known as Ring Girl, of Hollywood fame. The origins of this rumour started from a doctored YouTube clip showing CJ chilling in his family’s home when suddenly, a silhouette of a girl appears to emerge from the television. Anyone who’s ever seen the film, The Ring, would get the reference implied here. Unfortunately for fans of the horror flick, there’s no other proof of Samara’s existence in San Andreas or any other game for that matter save for that one particular YouTube video.

3 And I’m Gonna Be High As A Kite

gta v conspiracies jetpack fort zancudo
via gtaxscripting.blogspot.com
gta v conspiracies jetpack fort zancudo

Few utility tools make fans of GTA salivate like Pavlov’s dog as much as the Jet Pack does. This is the little accessory that could. While the jetpack is by no means a myth when discussing San Andreas, it is when GTA V is mentioned.

Perhaps one of the funniest misdirections Rockstar has ever attempted, fans of the elusive jetpack went in search of it through a ‘90s "remake" of The Rocketeer, starring Jake Steed. What’s the connection you ask? Well, the search for the elusive jetpack starts off with a sign printed on the side of Trevor’s hangar. It reads, “Jack Sheepe Servicing.” While Jack Sheepe is a parody of John Deere, it’s also a stage name for a particular ‘90s star. That’s right, it’s one of Jake Steed’s monikers. And the only film he’s ever used that stage name in? You guessed it, The Rocketeer adult remake.

2 Houston, We’ve Got A Problem

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Many Houstonians got their hopes up when a headline was published stating that a future GTA game would be set in the Bayou City.

Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed as quickly as their NBA championship dreams when they Houston Rockets lost to San Antonio in the Western Conference Semifinals. That’s because the so-called “article” was published on the KRBC News website, a fake news outlet not to be confused with the legitimate KRBC News. The article goes on to state that the fictional city “Magnolia City” would be a digitized replica of Houston, Texas. The article even goes so far to quote a “Rockstar designer.” Sadly, when a fake news site publishes ridiculous headlines, it must be taken with several grains of salt.

1 Slow Motion For Me

via: GTA-real.com

Since being announced, many fans have been chomping at the bit for further news on the ongoing development of GTA 6. While everything is currently speculative, many rumours have begun to circulate. Things like release dates, locations, and potential protagonists have continued to be fabricated.

The first salvo of rumours came in the form of actor Tim Neff updating his resume to include motion capture work for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 6. Neff has since quelled this rumour, stating he does not affiliate, nor have membership with the website that features his “updated resume” and that he’s being “trolled online really badly.” While Neff does have some connection with Rockstar, having done work for them for GTA V, Red Dead 2’s 2018 spring release makes the plausibility of this report very superficial.