Shocking news creates a vivid memory you'd swear is perfectly accurate

People who heard about the Kennedy assassination or watched the Challenger disaster often describe exactly where they were standing and who told them, with total confidence. Follow-up studies found those 'flashbulb memories' change just as much over the years as ordinary memories do, the only real difference being how certain people stay that they're right.

— Roger Brown & James Kulik, Flashbulb Memories — Cognition, 1977