Hmmm ... That's subtly different from what you described in your opening post. (Or perhaps I read more into the opening post than you intended.) You wrote: Now it seems there IS evidence that still exists, but people are afraid to make it known. I like the first concept better, but I concede that it may be difficult to make it work in a book.
There are a lot of people on the planet (and some very smart ones). If it's realism you're looking for, I think it's much more likely this situation would cause factions of believers/non believers rather than a very tiny majority of people who are skeptical.
There is a film Yesterday. Not exactly the same as your idea, but big chunks of history disappear, except one person remembers it. The film doesn't work, the idea runs a bit thin and unbelievable. The filmmakers try to salvage the plot by selling it as a light-hearted comedy. Your idea is not uninteresting, but it looks as you have made the world a single place with a single government. In fact, there are 195 counties with a population of over 7.8 billion. It would be impossible to coordinate all the world government and brainwash that many people. But that would be the easy part. How would you explain such an event? If, as you suggest, you want the idea to believable it would not be possible. You would need to create a PK Dicks like word, that has no resemblance to the real one.
Yeah, the only way it would work is if it's set it a less than fully realistic setting. That used to be very prevalent—back in the 60's and 70's—even into the 80's— movies and shows didn't have to be gritty and realistic the way most of them are now (even the superhero movies and shows strive for as much realism as they can). It used to be people accepted the mythical and the fantastic and didn't criticize it just for being unrealistic, but the way mass media has gone makes it hard to get away with now. Of course it can be done, but it's much harder to make it work now. The only way I could see this idea working is if there's magic making everyone forget (except for a few of course). But then this is a world with Lovecraftian horrors, so magic is obviously a part of the setting.
I kind of assumed from this: that there had to be some sort of magic at work. Getting into people's hard drives, photo albums, and shorts pockets that ended up not getting washed after vacation and still had ticket stubs in them is a little beyond the scope of even the most eager of cleanup teams. Just ask any man who's had to explain a random matchbook in his trouser pocket to his wife who's wondering what sort of establishment PoleKatz is
Right, of course there's magic. My point was more that even with magic, these days you have to work out details pretty extensively to please audiences raised on the highly realist-based fare of the last couple of decades. Either that or weave such a fascinating tale that they don't care about explanations and physics. Ah, for the days of Twilight Zone and Star Trek (the original series)!
Was going to suggest exactly what @More does with the film Yesterday. Here the protagonist is the only one who remembers the Beatles. The film does some very clever easter egg drops, like Oasis as a band never existed and other subtle references. The Mandela effect is talked about often. Watch Star Wars, the first one a New Hope. The Droid C3-PO left shin is silver not gold. This small change and others George Lucas altered. Over time it just became accepted as the original. This doesn’t seem important until you relate it to your story... Time and presentation are the be all and end all. Richard III king of England will evoke images of a cruel hunch back who murdered his nephews in the tower of London to take the crown. That whole story comes from a playwright called Shakespeare and not an historian. Yet that’s the image you are left with... Throw enough mud and eventually something will stick. I’m shocked and horrified at the growing belief that the holocaust never happened. Some actually believe this. So how to make a Disney Land disappear...? The major hurdle in your story is TIME. In your OP it reads like this was a current and instant event. That’s a problem. The best way is just to deny and ignore everything. Do you remember when the first COVID vaccine was announced? August 11th 2020 Putin had his daughter injected with it. Is Russia currently clear of this virus? To deny Disney Land and its existence would require a blanket wide government policy. This backed up by a black ops media campaign denouncing it and ridiculing any people claiming to have worked there. This continued reinforcement after several years would make the average citizen believe Disney Land never existed... Sound familiar...? Look at UFO theories over the last fifty years... MartinM
What about family and friends pictures and videos taken at the park? Printed photos. How do you convince people that didn’t happen if they have the photos to prove it? But if you want to intimidate people into pretending that didn’t happen, have you seen The Man in the High Castle? If you haven’t, you should. I mean the TV series, not the book. It’s hard to brainwash a lot of people at the same time.
All evidence of the park has vanished. ALL of it, including photos, videos, receipts, tickets, souvenirs, EVERYTHING.
You wouldn't even have to try to hard to do this, even if the park was physically still in existence and on TV every day. That park is fake news. It's all fake news, all the pictures and paraphernalia you see. Fake, you know. All you people who think it's real, you're fake too. Fake people.
If you state a lie enough times it becomes true. Perhaps the government lost control so they had to make it go elsewhere and create a different set up for their aliens to feed...….
What is the role of the government in this? I mean, if I visit Disneyland, and then a few years later I get elected to some public office, I'm still going to be a guy that accepts that Disneyland exists, whether I'm the head of the FBI, a senator, or an education department expert. If it disappears, and all evidence is gone, I'll turn to my wife "honey, where are those pictures?" and she will say "That's weird, I can't find them either." As a regular human being who happens to be in government, I'll remember Disneyland just like you do, and the fact that my wife remembers it is only going to reinforce it. So even if I consider that maybe there is a mass delusion, I'll also have to consider the fact that I know for a fact that Disneyland is real just like I know that Amazon, Microsoft, Paris, Berlin, and my television are all real companies, places, and objects. And if I happen to think it's a mass delusion but my neighbor feels it was true, why wouldn't I accept that he disagrees with me? Why would I want to subject another person into therapy just because his reasonable theory is opposite of my own reasonable theory? Again, imagine if it really did happen tomorrow. Why would anyone force someone to accept their version of things? There are people who believe that DeSalvo was framed by the real strangler. There are disagreements on whether Mary Surratt was innocent or guilty in the Lincoln assassination plot. People disagree. They will certainly disagree about the reasons Disneyland seemingly vanished. That being said, I do love this idea. It's interesting and I enjoy the brainstorming here. I don't want you to get the impression that I hate it.
Perhaps there's powerful mind-influencing magic going on as well, which affects most people completely, also causing them to follow the herd instinct and ostracize/punish those who disbelieve. But maybe some people, for unknown reasons, are somewhat immune or partially immune to it?
That's not bad at all! It really boils down to what actually happened to the park and how you lay out your breadcrumbs for the MC to follow. If theropy and possibly even mental hospitals are included in the story, i suggest researching a little on them so your baseline accuracy is there. All in all you've potentially got a fantastic basis for a sci-fi mystery.
I take back everything I said. I'm reading "1984" and I thought of this thread. Bad news is... Orwell has already done it.
