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What is a 'Survival Myth' that people believe because of movies, but will actually get you killed in real life?

· 3 min read

Ever watched a dramatic survival film and thought, “Surely if I do this, I’ll survive!”? The silver screen loves to sprinkle a few handy “survival hacks” that, when taken out of context, could do you more harm than good. Let’s dissect the most lethal of these myths—no capes, just pure, unadulterated danger.

The myth:
Wearing black at night makes you invisible to predators, enemies, or even rescuers.
Reality:
Black is the absence of light. In low‑light conditions, it turns you into a silhouette, screaming “look at me!” to anyone with a flashlight or camera.

The comments (because Reddit loves to throw in a side‑story or two)​

This may be a myth in of itself but never wear black when trying to hide at night. It's something I learned in the military but it was recommended to use a darker grey or brown. Since black is the absence of light it would silhouette you in low light conditions like full moons.

So that’s why we’ve only ever seen ninjas in black, the ones in grey and brown are still out there hiding!

Just a fun fact about ninjas wearing black is that it's likely basically from theater. In kabuki (and other Japanese theater, like noh), stagehands would wear all black, just like today, to indicate that you shouldn't pay attention to them.

There's some sensational factoids that the image comes from these stagehands, called kuroko, cutting down actors and revealing themselves as ninja (and, to be fair, since that's rad and awesome I'm sure it happened a few times), but more than likely is just that kuroko were such a common visual shorthand for “you shouldn't notice this character” that ninja were depicted wearing stagehand uniforms.

In reality, ninja were not highly trained mystic warriors decked in all black from secret clans tasked with assassinating heads of samurai clans, but regular people and potentially otherwise normal samurai that just dressed like every day people to work as spies (with occasional assassination when convenient).

It's basically like how we just envision spies in suits and drinking cocktails, or decked out in tactical gear infiltrating enemy bases thanks to James Bond, but in reality are just trained people dressed like shlubs who do “boring” office jobs and report back intel.

Getting shipwrecked on an island then building a “boat” and leaving the island to find civilization. There are way too many things that will kill you in the water and you are so much harder for rescue personnel to see. Always stay on the island.

You’re better off to build a very large fire on the island. Satellites are looking for geothermal anomalies constantly. A heat source where there shouldn’t be one will get attention.

TL;DR​

  • Don’t wear black in the dark – it turns you into a walking billboard.
  • Skip the DIY boat – unless you’re auditioning for the next Castaway remake.
  • Light a huge fire – if you really want to attract satellites, just let the planet know you’re here.

Survival tips: stay off the black, stay on the island, and if you really want to be seen, blaze a trail that even GPS satellites will notice.