Texas sharpshooter fallacy

[1] This fallacy is the philosophical or rhetorical application of the multiple comparisons problem (in statistics) and apophenia (in cognitive psychology).

It is related to the clustering illusion, which is the tendency in human cognition to interpret patterns where none actually exist.

The name comes from a metaphor about a person from Texas who fires a gun at the side of a barn, then paints a shooting target centered on the tightest cluster of shots and claims to be a sharpshooter.

[6] The researchers surveyed people living within 300 metres of high-voltage power lines over 25 years and looked for statistically significant increases in rates of over 800 ailments.

The study found that the incidence of childhood leukemia was four times higher among those who lived closest to the power lines, which spurred calls to action by the Swedish government.