Lemmings | The Bizarre Story of the Term's Definition -

Lemmings | The Bizarre Story of the Term's Definition

"Ever heard the phrase “don’t be a lemming”?
It means, basically, “don’t just go where others are going.”
You might have known that.
But did you know it’s a total fabrication resulting from a fake documentary?
I’m referring to that time in 1958 when the Walt Disney Company staged a mass lemming suicide in an Academy Award-nominated documentary film.

• ...How Disney Faked Mass Lemming Suicide in a Nature Documentary

Now Disney didn’t create the myth that lemmings jump off cliffs to commit mass suicide — there are references to the concept dating as far back as this 1918 National Geographic Magazine — but Disney is widely credited with popularizing the idea with its 1958 nature documentary White Wilderness.
Here’s the full scene in all its grainy vintage glory:...Read/view all!