Social media is currently abuzz with videos claiming that the Mandrake or Mandragora plants make a fatal crying sound when uprooted. One video in particular features a little girl pulling out a plant resembling a Mandrake from a pot, which subsequently emits crying noises. This article aims to fact-check this claim.
Claim: Mandrake plants cry and produce a fatal sound when uprooted.
Fact: There is no scientific evidence to support that Mandrake plants emit a fatal crying sound when uprooted. The video in question stems from a Harry Potter-themed exhibition in Russia, depicting a fictional scene from the popular series. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
Our research on the topic led us to credible sources such as Oxford Speaks and America’s National Library of Medicine (here and here).
Both sources acknowledge that Mandrake plants have historically been recognized for their medicinal value, and they are often linked with many myths and magical properties. However, neither of these sources validates the claim that Mandrake plants cry when uprooted. The host in the Oxford Speaks video even uproots a baby Mandrake from the ground but it does not make any crying noise as being claimed.
This misconception appears to have originated from the film ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ where Mandrakes are depicted as crying when uprooted. It’s important to note that this is fictional and created for the purpose of the movie.
The video displaying a child uprooting a crying ‘Mandrake’ is sourced from a Harry Potter-themed exhibition in Yekaterinburg, Russia. This exhibition simulates (here and here) the aforementioned scene from the Harry Potter film; the ‘Mandrake’ is not a real plant.
We arrived at this conclusion after investigating the Instagram profile of the user who posted the video, Vladislava Lova, a blogger. She uploaded various photos and videos from her visit to the Harry Potter exhibition at the Greenwich Shopping Centre in Yekaterinburg, Russia, demonstrating that the viral video had been recorded there.
To sum up, the viral claim that Mandrake plants produce a fatal crying sound when uprooted is entirely false. The viral video is a simulation from a Harry Potter-themed exhibition, not a portrayal of reality.
