I have no doubt it is real. I killed one of a group of 3 gobblers many years ago on public land, a 2 year old, and when I stood up to retrieve the bird, the other two would did not run away. After walking up on them, they finally walked across the open field into the timber, but never did run or really act scared. If it had been legal, or if I had had companions with me, I've no doubt we could have picked off all 3 one by one.
Another time, again on public land, my hunting buddy got to messing with a single 2 year old by just seeing if he could run him off. We had no decoy out, and were scouting before the season opened. He got to "playing" songs on his mouth call. The turkey did, eventually, leave, but only after we got to laughing so hard we couldn't sit still. He, too, never ran, just finally figured out there was nothing there for him and went on about his business.