#1 Quasimodo
Quasimodo is the bell-ringer from the Disney film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In the movie, he hides in the cathedral because of his different look that many consider to be ugly and scary. Recently, research has shown that there was a Quasimodo in real life, however, that wasn’t his name. In the 19th century, a man named Henry Sibson stated that there was a stonemason who worked at the Notre Dame cathedral. He said that the man was a loner and that he had a hunchback. To make the story even more real, a skeleton of a hunchback was discovered in Paris from around the same time.
#2 Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is one of the most popular cartoons on Disney Channel. The show is about two brothers who always get caught up in crazy adventures. Their sister, Candace is always trying to get her brothers in trouble but it never works because her mother never believes her. Over the last few years, there have been plenty of stories about Phineas and Ferb being based on real people. According to the story, there is a real girl named Candace who suffers from schizophrenia. Due to her disease, she often imagines wild adventures that her brothers are part of. Because she is sick, her mother doesn’t believe her. This story sounds a whole lot like the Disney cartoon.
#3 The Little Mermaid
One of the most loved Disney movies is The Little Mermaid and Ariel is one of the most popular of the Disney princesses. In the movie, it is clear that mermaids are real. In real life, however, the topic is very controversial. There are many scientists who believe that mermaids exist and there has even been evidence that they might exist. Two tourists in Israel saw what they thought was a seal on a rock. When the zoomed the camera closer, they saw a mermaid. The creature turned its head quickly and went into the water. In the UK, two men fishing on a boat when a mermaid, or what looked like one, jumped out of the water and glared at the camera. Some people say that these photos were staged so that the photographer could get attention. Others believe that mermaids actually do exist. It is a mystery that we may never get the true answer to.
#4 Christopher Robin
The Winnie the Pooh stories are about a bear named Pooh and his friends, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, her baby Roo, Piglet, and Eeyore who live in the Hundred Acre Wood. All the characters in the story are taken care of by a boy named Christopher Robin. What you may not know is that Christopher Robin is the name of a real boy. The author of the story, A.A. Milne based Christopher Robin on his son. A.A. Milne gave his son a teddy bear on his first birthday named Edward. It was the bear that gave Milne the inspiration for his stories. When Christopher grew up, he didn’t like being a character in his father’s stories. As he got older, his friends teased him for being part of a story for little kids.
#5 Pocahontas
Pocahontas is a Disney movie about an Indian girl named Pocahontas who saved an English man named John Smith from being killed by her father and the two fall in love. There was a real Pocahontas and some of the incidents that happened to the Indian girl are similar to those in the movie. In the cartoon and in real life, she was a Virginia Indian woman who was born in Matoaka. In real life and in the Disney version, Pocahontas saved John Smith from being killed by her father. The difference is that when this happened, she was 11 years old and John Smith was 28. The two never had a romantic relationship. After she got married, Pocahontas was known as Rebecca Rolfe.
#6 Marry Poppins
Mary Poppins is a lovable nanny who uses song and magic to entertain the children in her charge. What you may not know is that Mary Poppins was based on a real woman. She may not have been able to use magic, but she did love being a nanny. Her name was Brenda Ashford and she was a nanny for 62 years. During that time, she took care of over 100 children. She was so serious about making being a nanny a career that she went to nanny school when she was 18 years old. She even went on to write a book about her experience and love of being a nanny called Tuppence for Paper and String. The book became a hit and at 92 years old, she was dubbed the real Mary Poppins.
#7 Timon and Pumba
Of the 7 Disney characters who really exist in real life, Timon and Pumba are the most adorable and unexpected. Two of the funniest and most lovable characters in the Disney movie, The Lion King are Timon and Pumba. Timon is a meerkat and Pumba is a warthog. These are two animals that don’t spend time together in real life. In the middle of the African savanna, a photographer managed to get a shot of a real life meerkat and a real life warthog walking down a path together. Maybe they heard about the movie and found out that they were supposed to be friends.
