Cinefable is an independent factual publication written and operated by Rehan Anjum.
My job is not merely to collect interesting claims. It is to establish what the available evidence allows me to say about them.
Research and Sources
The appropriate source depends on the subject.
Where available, I prefer original records, government agencies, scientific institutions, academic research, archives, museums, historical collections, original documentation and statements from people or organizations directly involved.
Credible secondary reporting and scholarship may also provide context or help establish details that cannot reasonably be obtained from a primary source.
A source being popular does not make it authoritative.
Likewise, a claim appearing on dozens of websites does not become independently confirmed when those websites are all repeating the same original account.
Fact, Interpretation and Uncertainty
I distinguish between what the available record establishes and what can reasonably be inferred from it.
When evidence is incomplete, disputed or genuinely unknown, I aim to make that limitation visible.
I do not convert possibility into certainty because certainty produces a cleaner sentence.
True Stories Stay True
I do not invent dialogue, thoughts, motives, emotions, dates, actions, chronology or outcomes that the available record does not establish.
Real events can already contain extraordinary sequences without additional assistance from the writer.
When later information changes the meaning of an earlier event, I preserve that chronology rather than pretending everyone involved knew the ending in advance.
Legends, Folklore and Haunted Places
Cinefable may examine haunted locations, legends, folklore, reported experiences and stories associated with historical places.
Their cultural or historical significance can be documented even when supernatural claims cannot.
Legends are therefore identified as legends. Reported experiences are attributed to the people or sources reporting them. Documented history remains separate from claims that cannot be independently established.
Science and Technology
Scientific and technical claims are presented according to the strength of the available evidence.
Preliminary findings are not described as settled science. Predictions are not described as outcomes. Statements made by companies or interested parties are not automatically treated as independent evidence.
Images and Media
Images should accurately represent the subject they accompany.
Archival, licensed, public-domain and appropriately credited material may be used where permitted. Illustrative material should not be presented in a way that causes readers to mistake it for historical evidence.
Headlines
A headline can create curiosity.
It should not create a false version of the article.
I do not intentionally manufacture mysteries, hide essential facts or make claims in a headline that the article itself cannot support.
Corrections
Accuracy matters more than preserving something simply because I published it first.
When I establish that a material factual statement is wrong, I correct it.