People have been making stuff up for as long as anyone can imagine, perhaps even longer. The human mind is capable of incredible feats of creativity and artistic talent, though this is not usually applied to something as critical as a person’s memories. Yet, if you examine the witnesses, you’ll notice a few things that are amiss. Their sworn statements, their testimony while under cross-examination, and what they said years after the fact can all differ drastically, with details being altered, deleted, or added seemingly at random. Things can get even more confusing for people who have undergone counseling or treatment due to some form of psychological trauma, because there are usually even more alterations.
This is not because they’re making this up as they go, of course. At least, they may not be doing it consciously. The state of their mental health is not entirely fractured either, as even the sanest and most normal people can have memories that are altered drastically with each retelling of it. Certainly, people with certain mental health issues might have more false memories than others, but that doesn’t mean that their minds are the only...