The necessity of embellishment

Adding an untrue detail to a story seems dishonest. We certainly don't tolerate politicians or newspapers when they are caught doing this. But have you ever been in a conversation where the other party recounts an exciting and interesting event from the past and, at the end, both parties find the story disappointing. The disclosing party sighs and says: "Actually, you had to be there".

Is this fair to the receiving party? Just because they were not present at the time of the event, they are not allowed to enjoy the story and experience its magic? Most events, especially magical ones, cannot be distilled into words. Words alone will never do it justice.

Sometimes, adding a harmless detail can balance the scales in favor of how it must really have felt when it happened. It can allow anyone to experience the event in its full glory. Historical fiction and movies based on real events do exactly this. They take something known to have happened and embellish the crap out if it in the hope that people will experience it at the appropriate level.