The seventh couplet in the poem reads: “Four little Indian boys going out to sea a red herring swallowed one and then there were three.”Īt that point in the story, one of the four remaining guests goes missing. One by one, the ten guests begin to die in ways that match the deaths described in the poem. When they get to the island, they find a copy of the poem “Ten Little Indians,” which describes ten gruesome deaths. If you haven’t read these books, watch out-there are spoilers ahead! Red Herring Example in And Then There Were None by Agatha ChristieĪgatha Christie’s famous novel And Then There Were None (1939) follows ten people who are invited by an unknown host to stay at a remote island. Let’s look at some red herring examples in classic mystery novels. The best way to understand what red herrings are is to see them in action. It’s a way to divert attention from what really matters, and it’s considered to be a logical fallacy because it's ultimately irrelevant to the main issue at hand. In logic, a red herring is a fallacy of distraction: bringing up another point to redirect the argument. For example, an earring next to the body matches a suspect’s earrings, but it later turns out to be a common earring worn by several people. A false clue appears to incriminate a suspect.An innocent character had the means to commit the murder-perhaps they were nearby, have no alibi, or were scheduled to meet the victim around the time of death.An innocent character had a strong motive to kill the victim, such as jealousy, blackmail, or an unpaid debt.Here are some examples of red herrings that you might see in mystery stories: The red herring also distracts the reader from figuring out the real culprit and may lead them to draw a false conclusion about someone innocent instead. In detective stories, a red herring is a misleading clue that directs the sleuth away from the true villain. Thus, the term red herring now refers to anything that distracts a reader from the true target. The etymology of this term is unclear, but some say the term dates back to an 1807 news story by journalist William Cobbett.Ĭobbett claimed that he could train hunting dogs by using red herrings-bony fish that were salted and smoked until they turned reddish-brown-to lay a false trail and distract dogs from the scents of the targets they were supposed to be chasing. In other words, red herrings draw the reader’s attention away from what’s really important, like a false clue that leads a detective away from the true culprit. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a red herring is defined as “something that distracts attention from the real issue.”

Red herring fallacy in everyday life