Disney—the corporation, the man, and the way of life—has long been a flashpoint for misinformation and conspiracy theories. The corporation’s “have fun or we’ll break your arm” philosophy, the life of its enigmatic founder, and Disney’s ownership of our collective imagination in the form of Marvel, Star Wars, and more, make it seem like anything you hear about Disney could be true. When you factor in the unbelievable-but-verifiable facts about the company and the man, no one could be faulted for mistaking Disney fiction for Disney fact. Maybe Disneyland really was used for CIA mind control experimentation! You don’t know!

Disney is currently the boogeyman of cranks on the right side of the political spectrum, with extremists calling for boycotts of its parks and cruises over their “wokeness” and allegations that the corporation’s real purpose is not making money, but “grooming” children. But Disney used to be every bit as deeply distrusted by cranks on the left—not for grooming kids, but for its corporate malfeasance and cynical profiteering. The result: There are many flavors of misinformation to enjoy in the expanded Disney Conspiracy Universe. Below, I’ve compiled a collection of lies about Disney, along with an equal number of truths that are nearly as unbelievable. 

Lie: Disney’s head was cryogenically frozen

The granddaddy of all Disney conspiracy theories is the one about Walt Disney attempting to cheat death by freezing his head (or his whole body) so he could be thawed out and reanimated at some future date. This story originated as far back as 1967, when a reporter for a tabloid called The National Spotlite claimed he’d snuck into the hospital where Walt Disney died and saw his body had been frozen in liquid nitrogen. From there, it caught on and grew for no real reason beyond the fact that it seemed like something Walt Disney might do. Sadly, the rumors are not true: Disney was cremated and his ashes are interred in Glendale.

Truth: Disneyland still maintains an apartment for Walt Disney

Walt Disney spent so much time at Disneyland during its construction that he had an apartment built for himself above the firehouse on Main Street so he could avoid commuting to work. Sensible maybe, but why did Disneyland keep the rooms as he left them after he died? Why is there a light on in the window to this day? The park occasionally offers tours of the room (for a price, of course), but is it really a stretch to think the real reason they keep Walt’s apartment is because they’re hoping he’ll will return one day, with his thawed head attached to a new body, ready to start production on Song of the South 2? (Yes.)

Lie: Walt Disney was a Nazi

As far as we know, Walt Disney was not a Nazi—but it’s complicated. When Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl visited Hollywood in 1938, the industry gave her a cold shoulder—but not Walt Disney. Walt gave Riefenstahl a tour of his studios, but he refused to watch or endorse Olympia, Riefenstahl’s documentary about the 1936 Olympics. He also hired a lot of Jewish people who never reported any incidents of antisemitism. But the best evidence for Disney’s non-Nazism is an anti-Nazi cartoon Disney produced. “Der Fuehrer’s Face” stars Donald Duck and features music by Spike Jones, and it is such an effective takedown of Nazi Germany that it’s doubtful a Nazi would have approved it.

Truth: Walt Disney was a racist

Disney’s live action/animation feature Song of the South is racist, and not just when viewed through modern eyes. During its production, both the NAACP and the American Council on Race Relations basically told Disney, “Hey, your movie is really racist.” The Hays Office reviewed the script and demanded the removal of objectionable racial terms. Crew members quit the production over the film’s depiction of African Americans, and it was met with protests on its release. So Walt knew full well that his movie was racist, but he didn’t care, and made no move to make it less racist.

Lie: Disneyland is removing Donald Trump from its “Hall of President” display

This piece of outrage bait comes from the “satirical” website Mouse Trap News, an outlet that propagates many fake news stories designed to appeal to modern conservatives’ hatred of Disney. Donald Trump will remain in the Hall of Presidents, so bored visitors seeking an air conditioned place to sit can check out his animatronic likeness. (Also, for the record: Disneyland is not planning to serve human flesh in any of its restaurants or snack bars, Moana is not “the First Transgender Disney Princess,” and Mickey Mouse is not going to play a leading in The Mandalorian season 4.)

Truth: Richard Nixon loved Disneyland

Until recently, our most corrupt president (as far as we know) Richard Nixon was also a huge Disney fan. He visited Disneyland multiple times, oversaw the dedication of the Monorail when he was vice-president, and, when president, invited Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue to perform at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner. (I’m sure they delighted D.C.’s cynical political reporters.) But the best Disney/Nixon crossover of all is the fact that Nixon’s famous “I am not a crook” speech was delivered on the grounds of Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Florida.

Lie: Lemmings commit mass suicide

This isn’t a myth about Disney, but one that Disney helped spread. The mistaken belief that lemmings intentionally kill themselves when their population reaches a certain point existed before Disney’s 1958 “documentary” White Wilderness, but the film cemented the untruth in the popular imagination by showing footage of hundreds of lemmings leaping off a cliff to their deaths. Except the lemmings were actually pushed off the cliff to get the footage. To be fair: The Walt Disney Family Museum says that photographer and filmmaker James R. Simon Simon faked the footage without the approval of Walt Disney.

Half truth: Walt Disney’s last words were “Kurt Russell”

While he didn’t mutter “Kurt Russell” on his death bed (again, as far we know), the actor’s name was the last thing Walt Disney wrote before he was brought to the hospital, where he died due to complications of lung cancer. At the time of Disney’s death, Russell was a 15-year-old actor on the Disney lot shooting Now You See Him, Now You Don’t. Russell’s name appears in Walt’s hand on sheet of paper with the printed title “TV Projects In Production: Ready for Production or Possible for Escalation and Story.” No one knows exactly why. “I assume, as [does] everybody else, that he was talking about some movie that he was thinking about having me in…I don’t know what to make of it other than that,” Russell once told Barbara Walters.

Lie: No one is allowed to die at a Disney park

There is a widely believed rumor is that Disney is so protective of its parks’ image that they will transport dead or dying people off the property to ensure that no one will ever be declared dead at a Disney park. While Disney has never publicly disclosed its internal policy regarding guest deaths, people have indeed been declared dead at Disney parks at various times over the years.

Truth: The Beatles broke up at Disney World

While the end of The Beatles didn’t involve an ill-fated ride on the Matterhorn, it is true that the Beatles broke up while at a Disney resort. John Lennon signed the legal papers finalizing his exit from the band while he was on vacation at the Disney World Polynesian Resort. You can even stay in the “death of the Beatles” room if you want.

Lie: Walt Disney’s will contains a clause promising $10 million to the first man who gets pregnant

This is really strange rumor that spread through chain emails in the 2000s. There doesn’t seem to be a discernible reason to believe that this could be so—Disney never said or did anything in his life that suggests he had any interest in seeing this scenario play out—but there is something weirdly plausible about the theory. It just feels like something that’s true. But it’s not. From what we know about Disney’s will, he actually left 45% of his estate to his immediate family, 45% to the Disney Foundation, and 10% his sister, nieces, and nephews. 

Truth: Harlan Ellison was fired from Disney for imitating Disney characters having sex

Irascible science fiction writer Harlan Ellison once worked for Disney, and according to an autobiographical essay in his 1982 book Stalking the Nightmare, Ellison’s tenure ended after one day at lunch with his co-workers when he jokingly suggested Disney should make a porn movie starring his well-known creations. He then acted out the noises various Disney characters might make in said porn movie. What Ellison didn’t realize was that Roy Disney was at the next table and overheard the whole routine. Roy apparently didn’t find it amusing, and Ellison was terminated. 

Source: LifeHacker – What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: Disney Conspiracy Theories

In the smart home world, an automation is a routine (or series of commands) a smart hub app will execute on the user’s behalf. For instance, you could tell the app: At sunset, turn on the porch light; when the temperature sensor is over 80 degrees, turn on the fan. One of the most flexible hubs is Google Home, and you can set up these routines from the automations tab in the Google Home app. Here’s how. 

Google Home has a few automations already set up for you

Google assumes you’d enjoy some routines around getting up and going to sleep, so in the automations, you’ll see options for “Good morning” and “Good night.”  If you tap on them, the actions will be pre-populated, allowing you to tweak them, such as what sleep sounds to play (Google has an impressive array of sounds from white noise to ocean or forest sounds), which lights to switch off, or whether to list the day’s appointments. Using these premade automations is a helpful way to better understand how automations work. 

Figure out what you want to have happen, and why

Before you start, determine what action should take place and what should trigger it.  We’ve talked about IFTTT (“if this, then that”) on Lifehacker before, which is another automation platform. But the broader premise of IFTTT is really helpful in understanding automation. The name is literally “If this, then that”, as in “if _____ happens, do ______.” So start by filling in the blanks—a time, a condition, or a specific day. For the first automation, we’re going to focus on just specifying a time to trigger the automation, so consider something you want to happen every day. For instance: At sunrise, turn on the living room lights. The important thing is that whatever devices you want to affect must be connected to Google Home, either by a smart plug or the device itself.  

Start a new automation

Under the automation tab, click the blue button with the plus sign to start a new routine. Since we’re just setting something up to run at a specific time, let’s choose “personal” as opposed to “household.” The screen will refresh, showing a title you can edit and two panels, one for “starters” and one for “actions.” You may also see a panel that asks if you’d like to set up a daylong routine. For now, tap “no.” 

First, let’s call this routine something like “Lights on at sunrise.” Click on the gray pencil next to “Untitled” and enter what you’d like to call this routine. Call it something that concisely describes the routine so you can refer back to it easily. Click the checkmark in the upper right to save the name. 

Choose a starter

Now, click on “Add starter.” You’ll see all the options available to you: 

• When you say a specific phrase to Google, like, “Top of the morning, Google!” or “Living room lights on!” I use an exclamation mark because it’s almost impossible to not speak that way to Google, since you’re basically talking into the air. 

• A specific time of day.

• Sunrise or sunset, which you can offset. For instance, an hour before or after sunset. 

• When you arrive or leave a location, which uses your phone to determine your location. This is helpful with automations such as: Turn on the lights when I get home. 

For now, choose “At sunrise or sunset,” then choose “Sunrise.” Google will ask some questions, like, “Where the heck are you located?” Next, decide if you want to offset sunrise and which days of the weeks you want this routine to run. You can decide if you want to be notified each time the routine runs. I usually set it to notify me, just so I know it works, and then turn it off after a few days. Now save this trigger by clicking the blue button “Set trigger.”

Set your action

There are a ton of things that Google can execute for you. Here’s a list of what’s possible:

• “Get info and reminders,” like the weather, the time, reminders of what’s on your schedule for the day, what happened on this day in history, or the news from any source you’d like. 

• “Communicate and announce,” which means Google can send an SMS or an email, or make announcements across your devices. 

• “Adjust assistant volume,” which could be useful depending on what time of day it is. Set the volume for 10% overnight, perhaps. 

• “Adjust home devices” is the most likely and important feature here. This will allow you to control every single device connected to Google Home, and that’s what we’ll use for this sample routine. 

• “Adjust phone settings” means you can set your phone to “Do not disturb,” change the volume, or my favorite, turning off wifi when I leave the house and turning it back on when I get home. 

• “Get wellness info” works if you’ve attached a health device to Google like a watch. 

• “Play and control media” allows you to play videos, songs, or any other media on your phone to any device you want. Be aware that Google has favorite devices. It also prefers music from Spotify and videos from YouTube, and makes it hard to play any other services. 

• “Try adding your own” allows you to try spinning your own actions, which may or may not work. 

In this case, choose “Adjust home devices.” Find the lights you want to turn on, which should be arranged by room, and click on each. You’ll have options based on that device, which should include “Turn on and off,” but might also include dimming capabilities. Select the light you want, and set it to “On,” then save. You can add more than one action for each starter, so if you have a few lights, go back and add each in turn. 

Save and test your action

All that’s left is to save your new automation. Use the blue “Save” button to do so. Tomorrow at the set time, the action should run. To test the automation, go to the routine we just set up under automations, and press the play button next to the title. It will execute the automation. 

Expand on your basic automations

The same way you can have more than one action, you can have more than one way to trigger an automation. In particular, setting up vocal triggers is not only a fun way to access actions, but also the most accessible way. Go back into an automation, add another starter to your automation, and select “When I say to Google Assistant.” Now, imagine what you’ll say to trigger the automation, like, “Hey Google, turn on the living room lights.” Or maybe, “Hey Google, light up the room.” This is one you can have a lot of fun with. 

Because you can have many actions, try out a few complicated ones, like Good Morning or Good Night, where multiple different things happen at once. It’s a good way to explore what Google Assistant can do for you. 

Daylong routines allow you to turn things on and off throughout the day

Let’s say you have a humidifier and you want to kick it on for 30 minutes a few times a day. Instead of setting up an automation to turn it on and then another to turn it off, you can set one daylong routine. To do so, when you start a new automation, say yes to “Do you want to set up a daylong routine?” Now choose different start times and actions for each. It works just like the basic automation you set up, except you can set up many start times and actions. 

Set up a household routine for even more triggers

In Google Home, you can set up even more complicated triggers by using a household routine instead of a personal routine. Household routines can use devices as the trigger, for instance, when a smart thermostat goes over a certain temperature, turn on a window A/C, or send an SMS. 

Source: LifeHacker – How to Set up Your First Google Home Automation