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Declaration of a Peaceful Revolution
A Gay Girl In Damascus
About
Debunk
About
The identity was presented as a Syrian-American blogger, who identified as gay and blogged in support of increased civil and political freedom for Syrians. During the 2011 Syrian uprising, a blog posting allegedly by “Amina’s” cousin claimed that Amina had been kidnapped on June 6, 2011. This sparked strong protests from the LGBT community and was widely covered in the mainstream media.
Debunk
In the wake of the abduction reports, questions have been raised about the possibility that not only the abduction but also Ali al-Omari was a widespread hoax.
Bananadine
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About
It was a short piece in March 1967 where a method describes preparing banana peels for smoking by scraping off the white pulp and drying it in an oven. Before being wrapped in it a joint. The recent practice of smoking dried banana peels to get a “psychedelic experience” led authors to investigate the hallucinogenic properties of Banana Peel OR “Mellow Yellow”. They conclude that the “Active Ingredient” in bananas is the psychological suggestion of the consumer in the proper setting.
Debunk
Bananadine is a fictional psychoactive substance allegedly extracted from banana peels. A banana peel extract recipe was originally published as a hoax in the March 1967 Berkeley Barb.
Bathtub hoax
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On December 28, 1917, an article by H. L. Mencken titled “A Neglected Anniversary” appeared in the New York Evening Mail. Menkin claimed that the actual anniversary of the first American bathtub, the alleged 75th, had gone unnoticed last week. This assumption was even though Washington, D.C.’s Public Health Service had made preparations for the events months in advance, which were eventually canceled by the city’s interventionist prohibition law.
Debunk
The bathtub hoax was a well-known hoax perpetrated by American journalist H.L. Mencken that involved the publication of a fictitious history of the bathtub.
Berners Street hoax
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About
Once Hook made a bet with his friend Samuel Beazley that he could turn any house in London into the most talked-about address in a week, which he got by sending thousands of letters to Mrs. Tottenham, who 54 lived in Burners. Street, delivery requests, visitors, and support.
Debunk
Now let’s get back to the joke. It is said to have taken place on 27 or 28 November 1809 or 1810, the year seems rather obscure, but the first public account of it did not come out until 28 November 1810 in the Morning Post, which states that it. Bedford Street has had more than it has for a few months now.
Bishop Sycamore High School
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The Bishop Sycamore Centurions is an American Football Team Based in Columbus, Ohio. They plan to be Bishop Sycamore High School’s high school football team. High school was publicized as an athletic sports training academy. However, following a loss to IMG Academy that was televised on ESPN on August 29, 2021, the school’s existence increased under scrutiny and investigation. The investigation involved exposing the identity and credentials of the team’s management.
Debunk
A former Ohio High School Athletic Association executive came forward and said that after three years of investigating the school, he was convinced it was a “scam”. In December 2021, the Ohio Department of Education A published a report that concluded that the school was operating as a scam.
Blue waffle
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About
An Internet hoax that began in 2010 purports to show an unknown sexually transmitted disease that affects only women, causing severe vaginal infections and blue discoloration.
Debunk
The disease has been confirmed to be false. Cathy McBride, a New Jersey Councilwoman in the city of Trenton, referred to it at a 2013 city council meeting, not realizing it was a hoax.
Budget Plan
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About
Budget Plan
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C. W. Blubberhouse
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In 1994 the Sunday Times attacked the Times Literary Supplement for publishing a letter from Blubberhouse and sent a Reporter to the correspondent’s address to look over. He claimed that Blubberhouse was “too good to be true”, calling it a hoax. In March 1999, at the funeral of Oxford bookseller Rupert Cook, it was revealed that he was partly responsible for the Blubberhouse letters. (It was later revealed that Roger Dobson was his co-conspirator.) Russell appeared on John Peel’s Home Truths program on Radio 4 in 2001 to tell the whole story.
Debunk
A reporter in a follow-up comment on Home Truths used the adjective “blurb-housed” to suggest that someone had been hoaxed.
Calaveras Skull
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On 18 July 1866, Josiah Whitney presented a paper to the California Academy of Natural Sciences describing a skull recently found near Angels Camp in Calaveras County. Whitney, head of the state Geological Survey, described that it came from a mine shaft at a depth of 130 feet, containing gold-plated cottage rocks that were later buried under million-year-old volcanic deposits. . “Therefore, the skull is not only an early pioneer of this state, but the oldest known human,” Reported the San Francisco Alta the next day. “It is hardly necessary to say that Professor Whitney’s announcement and remarks created a deep sensation in the Academy.”
Debunk
This Long-Running Hoax continues even though carbon dates in 1992 suggested the cranium was perhaps 1,000 years old, supporting Holmes’ conclusion more than a century earlier. In 1866 this practical joke fooled Dr. Jones and Josiah Whitney. Since then, it has been embraced by different groups who appear to hold skulls in search of evidence to support their views.
Cedric Allingham
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About
Allingham stated that while on holiday near Lossiemouth on 18 February 1954, he encountered a flying saucer and communicated with its pilot through hand signals and telepathy. The astronaut indicated that he had come from Mars, and had also visited Venus and the Moon. Allingham took several blurry photographs of the saucer and one of its occupants, photographed from behind. He also claimed that a fisherman named James Duncan witnessed the event from a nearby hill, giving a signed statement that was reproduced in the book.
Debunk
The mystery was finally revealed in 1986 as a result of research by Christopher Allen and Steuart Campbell. Members of the then-popular Flying Saucer Club attempted to interview Allingham, but he and James Duncan proved remarkably elusive.
CERN ritual
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The CERN Ritual Hoax is a found footage video depicting a supposed secret ritual taking place on the grounds of CERN, a European particle Physics Research Organization. In the video, several people dressed in black cloaks can be seen surrounding a statue of the Hindu god Shiva and offering a human sacrifice to a woman. The video ends with the man who was filmed running away screaming.
Debunk
The video went viral in August 2016, inspiring many current conspiracy theories about CERN. CERN later said in its FAQ that the video was “fiction” and that the actions violated its professional guidelines.
Cornelis Poortman
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About
The Life is Poortman is mentioned by Mangaraja Onggang Parlindungan in his work Tuanko Rao. He mentions that Portman studied Indology in Delft and was later posted to the Netherlands Indies as an administrative cadet and was assigned to Tapaktuan in North Sumatra. In 1904 he was appointed Controleur at Sipirok, then Resident at Jambi, and finally Acting Adviser in the Local Affairs Department at Batavia. In 1914-1918 Portman studied Chinese and in 1928 managed to gain access to Chinese-language documents at the Sampo Kong Temple, Semarang.
Debunk
He retired in 1930. In the period 1930-1940, he conducted his research in the Netherlands, particularly in the field of Batak history, and had documents in Amsterdam that he brought back to Voorburg. He died in 1951 in Holland.
Crop circles
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A crop circle is a pattern made by flattening a crop, usually grain. The term was first coined by Colin Andrews in the early 1980s. The number of reports of crop circles has increased significantly since the 1970s. They have received little scientific study. In the UK, circles are not randomly distributed across the landscape but appear near roads, medium to densely populated areas, and cultural heritage monuments such as Stonehenge or Avebury. In 1991, two hoaxers, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley took credit for creating many rings across England after one of their rings was declared impossible for humans by an investigator.
Debunk
The scientific consensus about crop circles is that they are created by humans as hoaxes, advertisements, or art. Sceptics of the paranormal suggest that all the features of crop circles are entirely consistent with being created by hoaxers.
Dahu
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The Dahu is a mythical creature that resembles a mountain goat and is popular in France and Switzerland and the Francophone regions of Italy, including the Aosta Valley. The Dahu, a quadrupedal mammal, may have been inspired by the chamois, a small, horned antelope once abundant in the European highlands, and also closely resembling the ibex.
Debunk
Dahu is an important part of 20th-century French popular culture, known in Lorraine, in the mountainous regions of eastern France, and as a joke among locals in French-speaking Switzerland and to fool young children known as a hoax to make its popularity began to grow towards the end of the 19th century.
Document 12-571-3570
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Document 12-571-3570 also titled NASA Number 12 571-3570 is a forged document originally posted on the Usenet newsgroup alt. sex on November 28, 1989. This document according to, astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-75 performed several sexual acts to determine which position was most effective in zero gravity. Six of the 10 positions tested required the use of a belt and an inflatable tunnel, while four were available for hanging, the document states. The document also discusses video recordings of 10 one-hour sessions in the shuttle’s lower deck and notes that the topics added their footnotes to help the scientists.
Debunk
The original STS-75 mission took place in 1996, 7 years after the text was published, clearly indicating that the document was a hoax. However, many people were fooled by the document.
Donation of Constantine
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The Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. It was probably used in the 8th century, especially in the 13th century, to support claims to political authority by the Pope. In many extant manuscripts, including the oldest, the document is titled (Constitutum Domini Constantini imperatoris). Constantine’s donation was included in the 9th-century collection of Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals.
Debunk
Among the clues to the donation’s forgery are its language and the fact that, while the text uses some imperial-era formulas, some of the Latin in the document could not have been written in the fourth century. anachronistic terms such as “fief” were used there.
Drake's Plate of Brass
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The so-called Drake’s Plate of Brass is a forgery purporting to be a brass plaque posted by Francis Drake when he landed in Northern California in 1579. Despite initial scepticism, the hoax was successful for 40 years. After the plate came to public attraction in 1936, historians raised questions regarding the plate’s wording, spelling, and preparation. The perpetrators of the hoax tried to mislead the plate finders about its origin. Many believed the plate to be authentic after preliminary metallurgical studies showed it to be genuine.
Debunk
The plate’s cover story was that it was a prank on Bolton that got out of hand. While it is likely that the Plate Hacks were designed as a ploy to hinder the Northwest Coast Landing theory, the hoaxers’ primary motivation may have been to enlighten the public with historical artifacts, to burnish reputations, and gain reputation, students, and funding support for their universities and specific projects.
Drop bear
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Drop bear is a hoax in contemporary Australian folklore depicting a predatory, carnivorous version of the koala. This imaginary animal is usually talked about in tall tales designed to scare tourists. Although koalas are generally docile herbivores (and bears are not), drop bears have been described as unusually large and ferocious marsupials that live in treetops and attack unsuspecting people (or other prey) attack them from above by dropping them on their heads and walking under them.
Debunk
Stories about drop bears are often used as a joke, planned to frighten and confuse outsiders while amusing the locals, similar to the jackalope and other North American formidable critters.
Edward Owens
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The Edward Owens Hoax was a historical hoax produced by students at George Mason University in 2008 as a “Lying About the Past” class project. Students created a website and a fictional entry on English Wikipedia about Edward Owens, a Virginia oyster fisherman who became a pirate born in 1853. Some media outlets reported the hoax as accurate.
Debunk
After some media outlets and academics reported the hoax as fact, the class exposed the hoax.
Emulex hoax
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Jakob, a former employee of (Press Release) distribution service InternetWire, suffered a loss of nearly $100,000 as a result of short-selling stock in Emulex Corporation, a maker of fiber optic equipment. To cover his losses, Jacob wrote a fake release stating that the CEO of Emulex had resigned and that the company was changing its quarterly earnings from a profit to a loss. Then Jakob sent it to Internet Wire posing as Emulex publicity.
Debunk
The Emulex hoax, an example of securities fraud, was committed by 23-year-old Mark Jakob on August 24, 2000. Once the release was completely over, trading on Amulex resumed and the share price almost immediately recovered to close at $105.75.
Ern Malley
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This hoax also known as the Ern Malley Affair is Australia’s most famous literary hoax. It is named after Ernest Lalor “Ern” Mele, a fictional poet whose biography and body of work were created in 1943 by conservative writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart in One Day to spoof Angry Penguins, a centrepiece of a modern art and literary movement around a journal of the same name, in collaboration with poet Max Harris and Art Patron John Reed, Heide, Melbourne.
Debunk
Elliot Perlman tells the story of the Ern Malley hoax in his 2003 novel Seven Types of Ambiguity. In 2005, The Black Swan of Trespass, a realistic drama about the real life of the fictional Ern Mele by Lily Katz and Chris Cohen, premiered at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre. In the advanced years of the 21st century, artist Gary Shead produced a series of well-received paintings fi the Ern Mele hoax.
Eva and Franco Mattes
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About
Eva and Franco Mattes are an artist duo based in New York City. Operating under the pseudonym 0100101110101101.org, they are one of the pioneers of the Net Art movement and are known for their deconstruction of public media. Create inclusive art. They are based in Brooklyn, New York, but travel frequently in Europe and the United States.
Debunk
They have manipulated Video Games, Internet Technologies, and Street Advertising to reveal truths hidden by contemporary society. Their media faces shame from governments, and the public and the art world were reliable enough to demonstrate action.
Fiji mermaid
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The Fiji Mermaid also spelled as Feejee Mar was a hoax promoted by P.T. Barnum during the 1840s. It was well-known for the many fake mermaids exhibited during the 19th century. Feejee Mermaid has been exhibited in New York, Boston, and London. Its whereabouts after 1859 are undetermined.
Debunk
The Feejee Mermaid and other hoax mermaids had the upper bodies of monkeys sewn together with fish tails, according to John Bondson, “The FeeJee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History” (Cornell, 1999). The Feejee Mermaid was probably created from an orangutan and a salmon.
Frank Scully
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Scully publicized the Aztec, New Mexico UFO hoax when, in 1949, he wrote two columns in Variety claiming that dead extra-terrestrials had been recovered from a flying saucer crash. Sculley’s 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers spread on the themes of flying saucer crashes and dead extra-terrestrials, with Sculley citing one of his sources as “more degrees than a thermometer”.
Debunk
In 1952 and 1956, True magazine published content by San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Philip intended to expose Scully’s sources as con artists who had defrauded Scully. Scully’s 1963 book In Armour Bright also allegedly included material about UFO crashes and dead extra-terrestrials.
Franz Bibfeldt
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About
Since then most of the Bibfeldt writings and talks have arisen from the University of Chicago, where the tradition of the Donnelley Stool of Bibfeldt Studies resides. Bibfeldt’s material targets include conservative theologians who manage the historical consistency of their causes, the neo-orthodox, those who gravitate toward donors or cultural aspirations, compromisers lacking a moral backbone, and American Evangelicalism.Over the centuries, theologians have grappled with many profound questions, such as Does God exist? What is the purpose of life? And why do the innocent suffer? A layman might assume that theology, the study of God, is so serious that theologians never crack a smile. However, the mention of Franz Bibfeld can melt seriousness not only among theologians, but also among clergymen, students of religion, and even atheists. As one reviewer wrote, ?The world needs some more Bibfeldt?.
Debunk
When the plot was uncovered, Marty’s study abroad fellowship was revoked, and he instead enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he spent the rest of his Academic Career.
Furry trout
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The fur-bearing trout is a mythical creature allegedly found in American folklore and Icelandic folklore. According to folklore, the trout has developed a thick coat of fur to maintain its body heat. Stories of cute fish date back to the 17th century and later to the Icelandic “shaggy trout”. The earliest known American Publication is the 1929 Montana Wildlife Magazine by J.H. Hicken A taxidermy Furry Trout by Ross C. Jobe is a specimen in the Royal Museums of Scotland. It is a trout with white rabbit fur “cunningly” attached.
Debunk
Canadian Fur-Bearing trout is another example of a furry trout scam. The fish buyer came to know of the HOAX after presenting it to the Royal Museum of Scotland.
Geostationary Banana Over Texas
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By 2010, S?ez had approved the funds and left Canada without generating any tangible results for two years of repayment. However, the project was still listed as an “ongoing project” on the artist’s website as of April 21, 2010. The website is no longer present. The project collected at least $148,000 Canadian.
Debunk
Cesar Saez, an Argentinian public artist currently living in Quebec, Canada, initially said he planned to build the project using Canadian Taxpayer Funds. But S?ez later said, “One thing I like is the truth-or-Hoax issue, and I like ambiguity.”
Gorgeous Guy
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About
In May 2001, Dan Baca, a 29-year-old computer network engineer, noticed people staring at him as he waited for his bus. Some people started talking to him and then some people started taking pictures of him. They seemed familiar with his routine, what clothes he wore, and the color of his bag. He was eventually told that his photo had been posted on Craigslist, an Internet message board, on May 11, and numerous comments had been made about it.
Debunk
On 11 July 2001, Baca revealed that the whole affair was a hoax. He is said to have made more than 50 posts on Craigslist using different email addresses, pretending to be other people. He also stated that he made up most of the stories about people who recognized him on the street. Baca had no intention of cheating, claiming he was just “playing around”.
Gosford Glyphs
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The Gosford Glyphs, also called the Kariong Hieroglyphs, are a group of around 300 Egyptian-style hieroglyphs located in Kariong (New South Wales) Australia. They are found within the Brisbane Waters National Park, between Gosford and Woy Wye, in an area famous for its ancestral petroglyphs.
Debunk
The glyphs were despite as a hoax by authorities and academics after their discovery in the 1970s, but efforts are still being made to substantiate the belief that they were created by the Egyptians around forty-five thousand years ago. There were clippings.
Great Moon Hoax
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The Great Moon Hoax was a series of 6 articles published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, starting on August 25, 1835, in which the lives of the supposed discovery and even civilization on the Moon were wrongly attributed to Sir John Herschel, one of the most famous astronomers of the time.
Debunk
The first in a series of six was published four days later on 2 August. Herschel was initially amused by the deception, noting that his real conclusion could never be so exciting. He later became angry when he had to answer questions from people who thought the HOAX was serious.
Hanxin
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About
In early 2006, an anonymous user posted content on the Chinese Internet forum Tianya Club with very detailed references to counterfeiting this DSP chip. Various Chinese media, including the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao, later claimed that various ministries of the Chinese government were investigating Hanxin and that Chen had copied the Freescale DSP from the West. The government decided to withdraw all funding allocated to Hanxin Research, permanently banning Chen from any Government-Funded Research and ordering him to return the investment. He may also face a Criminal Investigation.
Debunk
On May 12, 2006, (China News Service) reported that Chen’s research was FAKED and that the Hanxin Project had been cancelled.
Histoire de l'Inquisition en France
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Histoire de l’Inquisition en France is a book about the Witch Trials in the early modern period, published in 1829 by Etienne-L?on de Lamothe-Langon (1786?1864), supposedly in the church archives in Toulouse. Based on the unprecedented access of By Bishop Antoine Pascal Hyacinth Cermet. It is now considered a forgery. Before creating Histoire, Lamothe-Langone had been a writer of gothic horror novels.
Debunk
In the early 1970s, historians Norman Cohn and Richard Kieckhefer independently determined that the Histoire was a fabrication Lamothe-Langon’s archive did not exist, he did not have the expertise to read the books of the period, many of the major events he describes could not have happened, and his book is full of inconsistencies.
Hunting for Bambi
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The Hunt for Bambi is a series of spoof videos from the summer of 2003 centered on a fictional contest to hunt semi-naked women with paintball guns in the deserts of Las Vegas.
Debunk
The videos, done in the style of a reality show, were completely staged: both the hunt and the paintball hit were attentively planned, and the Hunters were hired by Burdick.Created by Florida resident (Michael Burdick), Hunting for Bambi attracted significant controversy and media coverage, both due to its perceived misogyny and Burdick’s repeated public statements that it was not a hoax after he retracted these statements when faced with the possibility of prosecution.
Hurricane Shark
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For more than a decade starting with Hurricane Irene in 2011, all media outlets purporting to document such claims ? most notably the image of a shark swimming on a flooded freeway were fabricated. It was declared. However, during Hurricane Ian in 2022, the Associated Press confirmed a video taken by Dominic Camerata of a shark or other large fish swimming in flooded Fort Myers, Florida. One consulting expert concluded that the fish was “a Juvenile Shark” while another was unable to recognize whether it was a shark.
Debunk
Hurricane Shark has taken on a life of its own in social media and the press as a hoax. Both the re-emergence of post-hurricane fraud and the eventual appearance of a potential claim has been the subject of commentary and amusement. Daniel Victor of The New York Times described the findings to the Associated Press as “like discovering Bigfoot is real”.
I Libertine
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About
I, Libertine is a literary spoof novel that began as a practical joke by Late-night Radio raconteur Jene Shepherd intended to illuminate the process of determining best-selling books. After generating enough attention for a novel that didn’t exist, Shepherd essentially approved the 1956 edition of the book by Theodore Sturgeon?a bona fide best-seller. Gaya, with all profits donated to charity.
Debunk
On September 13, 1956, (Ballantine Books) published I, Libertine in simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions featuring Shepherd as Ewing, with the author’s image on the back cover looking as disjointed as possible. The proceeds from the sale of the books were donated to charities. A few weeks before publication, the Wall Street Journal officially “exposed” the hoax, already an open secret.
Installment Plan
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About
Installment Plan
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iOS 7 water resistance online hoax
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The new look, which includes flatter icons, a new slide-to-unlock function, and new animations, was Introduced by Ive. The new design was determined throughout the Operating System, adding the Notification Center, which was updated with 3 tabs giving different ways of information. Notifications visible on the lock screen A redesigned Siri voice assistant that offers visual cues. and a control center that offers easy access to commonly used features. iOS 7 also launched AirDrop, a wireless sharing technology. CarPlay, phone and car integration and Automatic App Updates in the App Store.
Debunk
During the release of iOS 7, fake ads claimed that the update would make devices waterproof and that AirDrop was a mechanism to protect the device’s screen from falling. The hoax provoked an angry and scolding reaction from users who destroyed their phones while checking whether the statements were true or accurate.
iOS 8 "Apple Wave" microwave charging online hoax
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A piece of clamming and fake news that iOS 8 buyers can charge their iPhones by placing them in a microwave has gone viral, duping Apple fans into the phenomena. Mimicking the look of Apple’s ad, the hoax praises so-called “Wave” technology, which it asserts is the tech giant’s “Latest and Biggest addition to iOS8” and supposedly microwaves allow wireless charging of devices regardless of frequency.
Debunk
The scam pop up to have been created by customers of the online bulletin board 4chan. The hoax went viral when tricksters spammed Social Media with their FAKE ad for the Apple View interface.
Johann Beringer's Lying Stones
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In the early 18th century, Johann Bartholomew Adam Beringer (chair of natural history at the University of W?rzburg and chief physician to the Prince-Bishop of W?rzburg) enthusiastically participated in the discussion about the origin of fossils. Were they traces of Real Plants and Animals, indicating that the earth was older, some other natural process, or part of the biblical creation? Single-minded and with a high opinion of his intellectual abilities, Beringer was open to simple but devastating deception.
Debunk
The authors told that Beringer himself may have been responsible for the fraud. Barringer spent years recovering copies of his book. His book was reprinted in 1767, after his death, and was translated into English (1963).
Joice Heth
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Joice Heth was an African-American woman featured in P.T. Barnum with the false claim that she was George Washington’s 161-year-old nursing mummy. Her exposure under these claims, and her public autopsy, attained considerable notoriety. To satisfy public interest, Barnum instituted a public autopsy. Barnum hired a surgeon (Dr. David L. Rogers), who performed the autopsy on February 25, 1836, in front of fifteen hundred spectators at the City Saloon in New York, Barnum charging US$0.50.
Debunk
Rogers declared the age claim a hoax, and Barnum insisted that the autopsy victim was another man and that Heth was alive, on a tour to Europe. Barnum later admitted the hoax.
Jussie Smollett hoax
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On January 29, 2019, American actor Jussie Smollett contacted the Chicago Police Department and reported a hate crime he had committed in the early hours of the morning.
Debunk
He planned the hate crime with two Nigerians. Along with the brothers, who worked as extras on the set of the television drama Empire, in which Smollett was a cast member. Observers have compared the alleged incident to other racial hoaxes.
Kryakutnoy
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Kryakutnoy or Furtzel was a fictional Russian inventor of the early 18th century, who supposedly invented the hot air balloon fifty years before the Montgolfier brothers. In the 1820s or 1830s, Alexander Sulakadzev, a collector and noted forger claimed to have discovered a piece that belonged to a Ryazan police officer.
Debunk
Photographs of the Jo-Jo between 1884 and 1885 suggest that the Jo-Jo was altered. However, Bigfoot researcher claims that Jo-Jo was not Jacko, as Jo-Jo could speak many languages ??and write his name, according to an article in The New York Times, October 13, 1884.
Lenin Was a Mushroom
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It was a highly influential televised spoof by Soviet composer Sergey Kuryukhin and reporter Sergey Sholokhov. It was the first transmission on Leningrad Television on January 17, 1991. The deception took the form of an interview on the Television Program (Pyatoe Koleso). In the interview, Koryukhin, impersonating a historian, described his findings that Vladimir Lenin consumed large amounts of psychedelic mushrooms and finally became a mushroom himself.
Debunk
Although this story is now considered a hoax by historians, it is still occasionally mentioned in legends and popular writings on aeronautics.
Llandegley International Airport
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Llandegley International Airport is a comic landmark centered on the village of Llandegley near Llandrindod Wells in mid-Wales. The original sign was removed in November 2009 but was replaced in 2010 after public outcry. It was replaced again in April 2012. A version of the sign seen on a Google Street View image captured in April 2021 reads “For Airport Cafe, follow signs to Terminal 1”, and a fly posts the notices “No. 2 Runway 2”. The sign has attracted press and television coverage and was mentioned in the UK Parliament in 2003 by Roger Williams, Member for Brecon and Radnorshire.
Debunk
In November 2022, the owner decided to end his association with the sign, stating that it had cost him a total of over ?25,000 so far. He expressed the hope that the Welsh Government’s heritage body, Cadw, might be interested in funding it as a cultural landmark in the future.
Lucy Lightfoot
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It is the name of a fictional girl who mysteriously disappeared from the Isle of Wight in 1831. The story was concocted by James Evans, vicar of St Olave?s Church, Gatcombe, in the early 1960s, as he admitted.
Debunk
If you’ve ever thought, “They couldn’t make it,” you’re about to be proven very wrong. They made it! But don’t let that put you off. This Isle of Wight spoof has medieval romance, time travel, and solar eclipses: all the excitement of a parish newsletter, plus cocktails and a cameo from Michael Legge.
Maggie Murphy hoax
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The hoax started in Loveland, Colorado. W. L. Thorndyke, Editor-In-Chief of a local newspaper, wanted to promote an upcoming street fair. Thorndyke was attracted to farmer Joseph B. Swan and wanted to help bring in customers. Swann was known to grow more than 70 different varieties of potatoes and had previously been featured in several news stories for success with his crop.
Debunk
When Ripley Believe it or not! Adapted into a television series, the image was used in the opening sequence. In 2012, Colorado playwright Rick Padden adapted the story of the hoax into a two-act play, titled The Great Lowland Potato Hoax.
Maine Penny
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A resident and Amateur Archaeologist (Guy Mellgren), said he found the coin on August 18, 1957, at the Goddard site. It was an extensive archaeological site at an old Native American settlement at Naskeag Point on Penobscot Bay in Brooklyn, Maine. A 1978 article in TIME identified the site as an ancient Indian rubbish dump near the coastal town of Blue Hill.
Debunk
Over a long period, a collection of 30,000 objects from the site were donated to the Maine State Museum. This coin was donated in 1974.
Maria Monk
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About
Maria Monk was a Canadian woman who claimed to have exposed the systematic sexual abuse of nuns and the resulting infanticide by Catholic priests at her convent in Montreal. This book has been regarded by scholars as an anti-Catholic hoax. Maria Monk’s story is a pathetic one. Although raised Protestant, the young Maria became interested in religious life through her experience as a student at a convent school. After completing her studies, she chose to become a nun and became a novice at the nearby Hotel Dieu. After Maria enters, Aala wastes no time dispelling her misconceptions about the nature of traditional life. Maria Monk describes the convent as more than a sanctuary for the use of local priests.
Debunk
It has been suggested, though not proven, that Monk was manipulated by his publisher or his ghostwriters into taking on the role for profit. This book has been regarded by scholars as an anti-Catholic hoax.
Mars hoax
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About
The Mars hoax was an email hoax that began in 2003, claiming that Mars would appear as large as the full moon to the naked eye on August 27, 2003. Since then, the hoax has been revealed every time before Mars arrived closest to Earth, every 22 months. It started with a misinterpretation and exaggeration of a sentence in an email message that reported a close approach between Mars and Earth in August 2003.
Debunk
This hoax has appeared several times since 2003, often showing an altered image of the twin moons over the Nilov monastery and may pursue to do so, always announcing the closest approach of Mars to Earth.
Michael Shrimpton
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About
Hammond and Ludington forwarded the reports to the Olympic security team. Although the authorities found Shrimpton unreliable and doubted his claims, they were bound to take these reports seriously. When his fraud was confirmed, However, Shrimpton was arrested on April 20 from his home in Wendover on charges of uttering false information. During police questioning, he stated that his arrest is a “huge cock-up” and he demanded “compensation and a nice lunch with MI5”.
Debunk
On April 23, Shrimpton wrote to Buckingham Palace, the Ministry of Defense, the Kremlin, and the NSA to inform them that the Queen was no longer in danger, but that the bomb had been moved to Ground Zero in New York City.
Monster of Lake Fagua
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About
The Lake Fagua Monster is a mythical creature, which was claimed to have been found in Santa Fe, Peru. An article about the creature was written in France’s Courier de L’Europe in 1784, stating that it had been captured and was to be exhibited in Europe. The creature is described as 20 feet tall with a human face, horns like an ox, big ears like a donkey, teeth like a lion, wings like a bat, and the lower body of a dragon with two long pointed tails. Just like used to sting and attack enemies. He also used his rings, or chaussures, to catch his prey.
Debunk
It was called a nocturnal animal and its diet consisted of livestock, such as cattle and pigs. The creature was a hoax.
Naked Came the Stranger
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About
McGrady intended to write a book that was deliberately gruesome and contained many descriptions of sex, to illustrate the point that popular American literary culture had become absurdly vulgar. The book met the expectations of the authors and became a bestseller in 1969. He revealed the hoax later that year, further fuelling the book’s popularity.
Debunk
It is not clear how much of the book’s success was due to its content and how much was publicity about its unusual origins. As of May 2012, the book’s publisher reported that 400,000 copies of the book had been sold. In 1970, McGrady published Stranger Than Naked, or How to Write Dirty Books for Fun and Profit, which recounted the story of the hoax.
Nibiru cataclysm
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About
The idea was proposed in 1995 by Nancy Lieder, founder of the website ZetaTalk. Lieder claims to be able to communicate with the Zeta Reticuli star system via an implant in her brain with the ability to receive messages from extra-terrestrials. She explains that she was chosen to warn mankind that the object would enter the inner solar system in May 2003 (although that date was later postponed), causing Earth to become a is undergoing a polar shift that will destroy most of humanity.
Debunk
The idea that a planet-sized object will collide with or pass close to Earth shortly is not supported by any scientific evidence and has been dismissed by astronomers and planetary scientists as pseudoscience and an internet hoax.
Ompax spatuloides
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About
Ompax spatuloides was a fraudulent fish “discovered” in Australia in August 1872. Called poisonous, it appeared on some Australian fish lists until the 1930s. The fish was a joke played by people at Queensland’s Gayndah Station, who fashioned it from the body of a molly, the tail of an eel, and the head of a platypus or needlefish. They cooked it and presented it to Carl Theodor Steger, director of the Brisbane Museum, who sent a sketch and description of the fake to the expert Francis de Laporte de Castellana, who described the supposed “species” in 1879.
Debunk
The last animal, the Australian lungfish, was an unusual fish whose existence had only been discovered by European researchers a few years earlier. The addition of a platypus bill, apparently shown in profile to the figure next to Castelnaud, also reveals a hoax in this letter.
Our First Time
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About
Our First Time (OFT) was one of the first massively popular Internet scams. Eighteen-year-olds “Mike” and “Diane” make a public announcement announcing their intention to lose their virginity. The event will be streamed live on ourfirsttime.com, so visitors can share the “experience.”
Debunk
Over time, some began to suspect that it was a hoax. Mike and Diane were over 18 and appeared to be actors. “Mike” turns out to be Ty Taylor, an actor from Alabama, and “Diane” turns out to be Michelle Parma, a former cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys.
Our Race Will Rule Undisputed Over The World
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About
Our race will rule the world undisputed is a fabricated speech often quoted in anti-Semitic propaganda, supposedly given by Rabbi Emanuel Rabinovitch. However, both the speech and Rabbi Rabinovitch, like the “Israel Cohen” of the Racial Program for the Twentieth Century, were fictitious creations of Eustace Mullins.
Debunk
It later turned out to be an internet hoax. The diplomat then reportedly emigrated to the United States, where he eventually met Mullins and gave him the copy.
Paul is Dead (Paul McCartney death hoax)
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About
This process was the subject of analysis in the fields of sociology, psychology, and communication during the 1970s. McCartney parodied the HOAX with the tag and cover art of his 1993 live album, Paul Is Live. In 2009, the myth was ranked among the ten “world’s most enduring conspiracy theories” by Time magazine.
Debunk
On Halloween night 1969, WKBW in Buffalo, New York aired a program titled Paul McCartney Is Alive and Well ? Maybe, which analysed Beatles lyrics and other clues. The WKBW DJs concluded that the “Paul is dead” hoax was created by Lennon.
Pierre Brassau
About
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About
“Pierre Brassau” was Peter, a four-year-old Common Chimpanzee at Bor?s Djurpark Axelsson in Sweden who had persuaded Peter’s 17-year-old keeper to give the chimpanzee Brushes and Paint. After Peter made several paintings, Axelsen selected the best four and arranged for them to be exhibited at Gallerie Christina in Goteborg, Sweden. Pierre Brassau was a Swedish artist and chimpanzee who was the victim of a 1964 hoax perpetrated by ?ke “Dacke” Axelsson, a journalist for the Swedish tabloid G?teborgs-Tidningen. Axelsen came up with the idea of ??exhibiting a series of paintings by a non-human primate, under the pretense that they were the work of a previously unknown French artist named “Pierre Brassau”, to test whether critics could show the fluctuation.
Debunk
After the HOAX was revealed, Anderberg insisted that Peter’s work was “Still The Best Painting In The Exhibition”. A private collector bought the work for US$90.
Piltdown Man
About
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About
Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological hoax in which bone fragments were presented as fossils of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity from the beginning, the remains were still widely accepted for many years, and evidence of fraud was only revealed in 1953. An extensive scientific review in 2016 established that amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson was responsible for evidence of fraud.
Debunk
The Piltdown hoax is notable for two reasons: the attention it generated to the subject of human evolution, and the length of time, 41 years, from its alleged initial discovery to its eventual exposure as a comprehensive hoax.
Plainfield Teacher's College
About
Debunk
About
In 1941, stockbroker Morris Neuburger and radio sales executive Alexander “Bink” Danenbaum came up with the idea of ??a fictional college football team. Using the name Jerry Croyden, Newburge called the New York papers and Danenbaum called the Philadelphia papers to highlight Plainfield’s lopsided victories over several (equal) schools beginning in late October. For the first two weeks, the New York and Philadelphia papers did not match scores and opponents, but by the third week, they were better organized.
Debunk
The Tribune, while reporting on the hoax, took it humorously. Columnist Franklin Pierce Adams even wrote a song for Plainfield to the tune of Cornell’s “Far Above Cayuga’s Waters”: “Far above the marshy plains of New Jersey / Plainfield teachers’ spiers! / A fake, Mark the haunted college.!?
Platinum Weird
About
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About
It is a musical collaboration formed in 2004 between Dave Stewart and Kara DeGuardi. It is also the subject of an extensive hoax impersonating the band in 1974, including a half-hour satire produced for the television network VH1 and a series of bogus World Wide Web fan sites and related false documents for the ‘Lost’ groups.
Debunk
On July 5, 2006, the day Rock Legends: Platinum Weird aired on VH1, Platinum Weird admitted to HOAX in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Stewart noted that the film was “80% true”, mixing actual biographical information into the backstory.
Pompey Stone
About
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About
The Pompeii Stone was a stone carved as a hoax near Pompeii, New York, around 1820. After its discovery that year, the stone was immediately accepted as authentic, dating to around 1520, and was extensively analyzed by historians of the day. Significance as an early record of European presence in the region. It was generally thought to mark the grave of a Spaniard, who was suggested to have been an explorer, missionary, or captive of a Native American tribe.
Debunk
Later that year engineer John Edson Sweet publicly admitted that his relatives had carved the stone in the 19th century. The stone has since been on display as an example of a hoax and was owned by the Pompey Historical Society’s museum until 2018.
Prepay Plan
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Debunk
About
Prepay Plan
Debunk
Princess Caraboo
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About
On April 3, 1817, a cobbler in Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, England, encountered a seemingly distraught young woman dressed in foreign clothing and speaking an incomprehensible language. The cobbler’s wife took the stranger to the overseer of the poor, who handed him over to the local county magistrate, Samuel Worrall, who lived in Knoll Park on the estate where the Tower House is located. Worrall and his American-born wife Elizabeth couldn’t understand it either. What they determined was that she called herself Karabo and that she was interested in Chinese imagery.
Debunk
They sent him to a local inn, where he pointed to a picture of a pineapple with the word ‘nanas’, meaning pineapple in Indonesian, and insisted on sleeping on the floor. Samuel Worrall declared that she was a beggar and should be taken to Bristol and tried for vagrancy.
Progesterex
About
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About
Progesterex is a fictitious date-rape drug that will allegedly cause sterilization. This is part of a hoax that began circulating on the Internet in 1999 via e-mail. There is no actual drug under this name or with these properties, and no such occurrence has ever been documented or confirmed. The most high-profile victim of fraud was British MP Lynne Fetherstone, who questioned the fake drug in Parliament.
Debunk
There is no “sterilization pill” by any name to sterilize horses. Male horses are surgically castrated, while mares are usually left unchanged.
Prophecy of the Popes
About
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About
The Prophecy of the Popes is a series of one hundred and twelve short, cryptic phrases in Latin intended to predict future Catholic popes, beginning with Celestine II. It was first published in 1595 by the Benedictine monk Arnold Wion, who attributed the prophecy to the St. Malachy 12th-century Archbishop of Armagh.
Debunk
He even contributed a complete system of geography and wrote about the true conditions of Formosa, clearly criticizing the HOAX he had committed.
Psychic surgery
About
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About
It is a pseudoscientific medical fraud in which practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands and use hands, fake blood, and animal parts to convince patients that diseased lesions have been removed and the incision has healed spontaneously.
Debunk
The US Federal Trade Commission has described psychiatric surgery as a “TOTAL HOAX?. Psychological surgery can cause unnecessary death by depriving the sick of life-saving medical care.
Robert Mueller
About
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About
The Mueller Report officially titled the Report on the Investigation of Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, is an official report detailing the findings of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Document the results. Allegations of collusion or collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, and obstruction of justice.
Debunk
It was known as, “No collusion, no obstruction.” I’m having a good day. Well, it never was, and never will be. And we have to get to the bottom of these things, I would say. This must never happen again to another president, this HOAX.
Rosie Ruiz
About
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About
Rosie M. Vivas was declared the winner in the female category for the 84th Boston Marathon in 1980, stripped of her title just eight days after the race when it was discovered she had not run the entire course. He is believed to have jumped trailers about a mile and a half before the finish. As of 2000, he still maintains that he ran the entire 1980 Boston Marathon.
Debunk
However, an acquaintance, Steve Marek, said that she declared to him a few months after the race that she had cheated, recalling that “she jumped through the crowd, not knowing that the first woman had just finished. “When she first came in, she was as surprised as anyone.”
Seriously McDonald
About
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About
It is the name under which a viral photo was circulated in June 2011. The photo shows a sign, which is a hoax, claiming that McDonald’s has implemented a new policy to charge African-Americans more, as “an insurance measure.? Despite having been around for some time, the image spread across the internet, particularly on Twitter, in June 2011, by people who were either offended or amused by the image. McDonald’s quickly acted to deny the mark’s legality, but it continued to trend on Twitter for a few days under the hashtags “#SeriouslyMcDonalds” and “#seriouslymcdonalds”. The company’s response to the fraud has been praised by journalists and public relations professionals.
Debunk
McDonald’s responded to the hoax on June 11 by tweeting “This photo is a senseless and ignorant hoax. McD’s values ??all our customers.
Sidd Finch
About
Debunk
About
In early 1985, Sports Illustrated managing editor Mark Mulvoy noticed that April 1 would be the cover date for that year. He asked George Plimpton to remind him with an article on April Fool’s Day jokes in sports. When Plimpton found himself not able to find enough examples to produce the article, Mulvoy allowed Plimpton to create his HOAX. The story was let out in late March 1985.
Debunk
Mets fans were overexcited at their luck in having such a player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. Many fell for this prank.
Sir Edmund Backhouse
About
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About
He was a gay Englishman who in the late 1800s used his connections to the Chinese imperial palace to enter the House of Chaste Pleasures, an exclusive male chamber in Peking. His reputation took a beating in Hugh Trevor-Roper’s 1970 biography, The Hermit of Peking, which dismissed Backhouse’s work on China as “an obscene novelette”. Meanwhile, Backhouse’s original memoir, Decadence Mandchoue, sat in obscurity in Oxford University’s Bodleian Library. The story it tells, and how editor-in-chief Derek Sandhaus-Earnshaw Books brought it to life, is a remarkable one.
Debunk
This book does not solve many of the mysteries surrounding the Bakehouse. However, it allows readers to judge for themselves the story of a remarkable man and his times.
Songs of Bilitis
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About
The poems are in the style of Sappho The introduction to the collection claims that they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, and written by an ancient Greek woman known as Blytis a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho. Louis devoted a small section of the book to life upon publication, the volume deceived even expert scholars.
Debunk
Louis claimed that the 143 prose poems, except for 3 fables, were entirely the work of the ancient poet?a place where he lived from childhood innocence in Pamphylia to the loneliness and sorrow of his later years, put both his most intimate thoughts and his most public actions.
Southern Television broadcast
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About
The Southern Television blackout was a broadcast signal interference that occurred on 26 November 1977 in parts of southern England in the United Kingdom. The audio of the Southern Television broadcast was changed by a voice claiming to represent the ‘Ashtar Galactic Command’, instructing humanity to lay down its weapons to participate in the ‘future awakening’. coins and ‘could attain a higher state of evolution. After six minutes, the broadcast backed to its scheduled program.
Debunk
The event caused some local alarm, with hundreds of worried viewers flooding Southern Television with telephone calls after the interference. In the following day’s Sunday papers, the IBA announced that the broadcast was a hoax, confirming that it was the first such hoax broadcast.
Space Cadets
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About
It is a British television program produced by Zeppotron for Channel 4. The series was a spoof at the expense of its contestants, who were told they were being trained as astronauts at a military base in Russia. A five-day trip into low Earth orbit. The entire series was filmed in Suffolk, and the contestants never left the land. The behind-the-scenes sister show Space Cadets accompanied the series.
Debunk
The series explained itself as the most elaborate spoof in television history. The title is a reference to the slang term space cadet, which means someone away from reality.
Spectra
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About
Spectra was only intended as a joke. At first, even the publisher was fooled by the book, but it was put to the joke before it went to the press. The writers assumed the absurdity of the work would shine through, but it was accepted as a legitimate poetic movement for two years. In 1918, Byner declared in a public speech that he had co-authored the book and explained the hoax.
Debunk
Both authors admit that HOAX has backfired to a certain extent, as it has overshadowed their more serious work. However, Ficke said he learned much about composition while writing as Knish, adding that it influenced his later work.
Tania Head (Alicia Esteve Head)
About
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About
Alicia Esteve Head is a Spanish woman who claimed to have survived the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center under the name Tania Head. She first joined the World Trade Center Survivors Network support group and then later became its president. Her name appeared regularly in media reports of these attacks.
Debunk
In 2007, it was revealed that Head’s story was a hoax. She was not in New York City on September 11, 2001, but was attending classes in her hometown of Barcelona.
The Alien Autopsy
About
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About
Alien Autopsy is a 17-minute black-and-white film purportedly depicting a secret medical examination or autopsy of an alien by the United States Military. It is released in 1995 by London-Based Entrepreneur Ray Santilli. He demonstrated it as an original autopsy on the body of an alien recovered from a 1947 “flying disc” crash near Roswell, New Mexico. The film footage was reportedly provided to him by a retired military cameraman who wished to remain anonymous.
Debunk
In 2006, Santilli admitted that the film was not authentic but a staged reconstruction of footage he claimed to have seen in 1992, but which had been damaged and unreadable by the time the film was made. It was used.
The Archko Volume
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About
The Archko Volume is a 19th-century volume containing a series of reports from Jewish and pagan sources contemporary with Jesus relating to biblical texts describing his life. The work went through several versions and has been in print ever since. The texts are otherwise unknown, and the author was convicted of forgery and plagiarism by an ecclesiastical court.
Debunk
An English translation of the story in 1842 claimed that it was taken from an older Latin manuscript. Mahan’s contribution was clearly to the creation of the correspondence in which he was identified as the discoverer of the manuscript.
The balloon boy hoax
About
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About
A homemade helium-filled gas balloon resembling a silver flying saucer was released into the atmosphere above Fort Collins, Colorado by Richard and Mayumi Heene. Then they declared their six-year-old son Falcon was trapped inside. Officials confirmed that the balloon reached 7,000 feet during its 90-minute flight. The event engage worldwide attention, and the falcon was dubbed “Balloon Boy” in the media.
Debunk
The affidavit alleges that the couple planned the hoax about two weeks before releasing the balloon on Oct. 15 and directed their three children to report the hoax to the authorities as well as the media lie for Future media interests.
The Balloon-Hoax
About
Debunk
About
It was written by the water-loving Edgar Allan Poe himself, who had just moved to New York City and catapulted himself onto the journalistic scene by spreading a beautifully imagined and beautifully written hoax about Mr. Mason Monk’s epic balloon voyage. While Monk Mason was indeed a real person who flew a balloon from London to Germany in 1836, he did not fly a balloon across the Atlantic Ocean, and he certainly did not do it in three days. It wasn’t until 1919 that a dirigible successfully crossed the Atlantic, and it took about five days.
Debunk
It was first published in 1844 in The Sun newspaper of New York. Originally presented as a true story, it details a European monk-mason’s journey across the Atlantic Ocean in just three days in a gas balloon. It was later revealed to be a hoax and the story was retracted two days later.
The Big Donor Show
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About
Bart DeGraff, the founder of BNN who died in May 2002 (about 5 years before the show aired), received a donor kidney in 1997. The studio from which the show was aired contained photos of them, as seen in the accompanying photo. De Graaf suffered kidney failure as a result of a car accident in his youth.
Debunk
It has been claimed that DeGraf was BNN’s source for the show, along with the show’s host, Ludgers, in a post-broadcast press release.
The Cardiff Giant
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Debunk
About
The Cardiff Giant was one of the most well-known archaeological hoaxes in American history. It was a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m), 3,000-pound “Petrified Man” that was uncovered on October 16, 1869, by workmen digging a well behind William C. “Stub” Newell’s barn in Cardiff, New York. He covered up the giant with a tent & it became an attraction. Both this and an unauthorized copy made by P. T. Barnum are still on display. PT Barnum’s advertised at Marvin’s Marvellous Mechanical Museum, MI. Marvin’s wonderful mechanical museum.
Debunk
On December 10, 1869, Hull revealed everything to the press, and on February 2, 1870, the two giants were found to be fakes in court. The judge also ruled that Barnum could not be prosecuted for passing off the fake giant as a forgery.
The Cottingley Fairies
About
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About
In 1917, two young cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, while playing with a camera in Cottingley, near Bradford, made a series of photographs of a garden with fairies. Elsie’s mother was the first to believe Snapes’ authenticity – but she wasn’t the last. The images were recognized by experts as genuine and the ‘Cottingley Fairs quickly became known around the world.
Debunk
It wasn’t until the 1980s that the cousins ??admitted their hoax – the fairies were Elsie’s drawings, secured in the ground with a hat pin – but they still claimed that one of the pictures was real.
The Dreadnought hoax
About
Debunk
About
The Dreadnought Hoax was a prank drawn by Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. Cole tricked the Royal Navy into showing his flagship, HMS Dreadnought, to a fake delegation from the Abyssinian royal family. The hoax drew awareness to the emergence of the Bloomsbury Group in Britain, which included some of Cole’s associates. The hoax was a repeat of a similar impersonation set up by Cole and Adrian Stephen when they were students at Cambridge in 1905.
Debunk
In a speech given in 1940, Wolfe described how, in 1910, young naval officers enjoyed playing practical jokes on each other.
The English Mercurie
About
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About
The English Mercurie is a literary spoof purporting to be the first English Newspaper. It is ostensibly an account of the English battle with the Spanish Armada of 1588 but was written in the 18th century by Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, as a literary game with some friends. Mercurie concludes the size of the Spanish fleet at 150 ships and gives information on the number of ships captured by the English fleet. The second part is dated Ostend, July 27, with a report of the organization of the Spanish invasion force which was to follow the armada with “3000 foot and 1800 horse.” The Newsbook then closes with a third report, dated London, July 23, describing how Queen Elizabeth I held an audience with dignitaries from the City of London, including “the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council, and Lieutenancie”.
Debunk
Although the hoax was exposed in 1839, the Mercury copies are still mistakenly called factual accounts in modern times.
The Hitler Diaries
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Debunk
About
The Hitler Diaries were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by writer Adolf Hitler but forged by Konrad Kujaw between (1981-1983). The diaries were bought by the West German news magazine Stern in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks, which were sold. Serialization rights to several news organizations. One British newspaper was the Sunday Times, whose independent Director, historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, identified them as genuine. Trevor-Roper and several other academics were misled by Stern journalists who misled them about the extent of chemical testing on the document, as well as its East German origin, in an attempt to hide the discovery from other publications.
Debunk
Finally, at a Press Conference to announce the Publication, Trevor-Roper announced that he had changed his mind, and other historians questioned his veracity. Rigorous Forensic Analysis, which had not been done before, quickly confirmed that the diaries were FAKE.
The Horn Papers
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Debunk
About
Horn Papers were a genealogical hoax containing falsified historical records relating to the Northeastern United States from (1765 to 1795). They were published between 1933 and 1936 by William Franklin Horne (1870?1956) of Topeka, Kansas, and presented as Documents of his great-grandfather Jacob Horne and other members of the Horne family. The apparent find raised the confidence of members of the Greene County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, who sponsored the reissue of the papers in Book Form. In 1945 these papers were published as a three-volume set entitled The Horn Papers.
Debunk
A year later, a Report by a committee of representatives from the region’s historical societies appeared in the William & Mary Quarterly concluding that the first two volumes were substantially HOAXES.
The Jackalope
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About
Two young boys were making this joke, this hoax of a jackalope in Wyoming, at about the same moment Shope was working on horned rabbits in his lab at the Rockefeller Institute (for Medical Research) in Princeton, New Jersey. The jackalope, an animal with the body of a jackrabbit and the antlers of a stag or deer, is a cultural icon of the American West. The creature’s image is sold in the region on all kinds of knickknacks, from postcards to shot glasses.
Debunk
Although no such hybrid animal lives, there is an element of truth to the legend, says Michael Branch, professor of literature and ecology at the University of Nevada, Reno, and author of “On The Trail Of The Jackalope: How A Legend Was Captured.” said Helped us imagine the world and cure cancer.
The Jacko hoax
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About
It was a Canadian Newspaper Story (Daily Colonist) about a gorilla capture near Yale, British Columbia on July 4, 1884. The original newspaper article described “Jacco” as a gorilla, not a sasquatch. The “Jacko” story has been used by Bigfoot proponents as proof of the Sasquatch’s existence. Many books about Bigfoot and cryptids have advertised this event and referenced the original newspaper article. In 2008, Michael Cremo discussed this story as possible evidence for the existence of sasquatches.
Debunk
Loren Coleman and John Greene continued to dig and eventually found two key articles that shed light on the whole affair. Greene described Jacko’s story as a possible piece of journalistic fiction in Pursuit in 1975.” But by then the story had taken on a life of its own. Countering this, writer Joe Nickell cited the Mainland Guardian’s dismissal of the case as a hoax.
The Lady Hope Story
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About
Elizabeth Reed Cotton, who became Lady Hope after her marriage to Sir James in 1877, was a British evangelical active in the Temperance Movement. In 1915, she declared to have visited the British naturalist Charles Darwin shortly before his death in 1882. During this interview, Hope said that Darwin had second thoughts about generalizing his theory of natural selection. The Hope that Darwin’s visit is possibly valid, although denied by Darwin’s family, is unlikely to be his interpretation of what Darwin said in the interview.
Debunk
The Lady Hope Story claims that Charles Darwin rejected evolution before his death is debunked.
The Ligma-Johnson hoax
About
Debunk
About
Rahul Legma is a fictional fired Twitter employee, a role played by one of a pair of amateur improvisational actors who joked on October 28, 2022, to several major media outlets. On the same day, a sudden and deliberate transparent fraud was revealed. The Rahul Legma character next appeared in early November as a recently unemployed FTX employee in the Bahamas.
Debunk
Later that month, incoming Twitter CEO Elon Musk offered Legma and his compatriot their (fictional) old jobs back. Even then, three notable media outlets were still oblivious to the ongoing prank and reported the two firings and rehirings as real news.
The Masked Marauders
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About
In its October 18, 1969 issue, Rolling Stone gave a verbal review of a non-existent album that captured a “super session” of the era’s leading rock and roll musicians, including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, George Harrison. , John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. The review claimed that none of the artists could be listed on the jacket cover due to contracts with their recording companies. The editors involved decided to up the ante by hiring a relatively obscure band to record an actual album and then sign a deal with Warner Bros.[3] As an indication of how many people The prank caught on, The Masked Marauders peaked at No. 114 on Billboard’s album chart.
Debunk
The Masked Marauders is a record album released in the fall of 1969 on the Warner Bros. Reprise/Date label that was part of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by Rolling Stone magazine.
The Microsoft acquisition hoax
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About
It is considered the first internet hoax to reach a mass audience. The hoax is part of a cycle of “Microsoft jokes” that portray Microsoft Corporation as a rich but evil monopoly built on bloated or unreliable desktop software, obsolete product plans, corporate takeovers, and litigation of once-innovative rivals. Although numerous books have been devoted to the subject, jokes commonly circulate online as Internet memes.
Debunk
Many of the claims in the press release were unrealistic, suggesting that Catholics would soon be able to take Holy Communion via their computers and claim that conversion to Catholicism was an “up Grade”. Despite these warning signs, several readers of the false press release contacted Microsoft to confirm the fraudulent claims, and on December 16, 1994, Microsoft officially denied the claims.
The Miscovich emeralds hoax
About
Debunk
About
The Miscovich emeralds hoax was an attempt by American Businessman and diver Jay Miscovich to pass off emerald gems purchased from a modern store after the treasure was recovered from the wreck of a 16th-century Spanish galleon. Miscovich’s fraud – which involved him planting, rediscovering, and then recovering the emerald – fastly attracted the attention of investors and the marine salvage industry, with entities claiming ownership of the emerald.
Debunk
Following these revelations, Inc. And Azalp, Motivation, LLC filed suit against JTR Enterprises and Young Conaway, claiming both entities committed fraud against investors by withholding information that would have revealed the emeralds were fake.
The Momo Challenge hoax
About
Debunk
About
It was a hoax and Internet urban legend that was rumoured to have spread through social media and other outlets. It was reported that a user named Momo had committed violent attacks on children and teenagers. Despite claims that the phenomenon had reached the entire world in July 2018, the number of actual complaints was relatively low. There was little and no law enforcement agencies confirmed that anyone was harmed as a direct result.
Debunk
Commenting on the several suicide rumours surrounding the Momo challenge, web security experts and folklorists who study urban legends have suggested that the incident is likely a case of moral panic: a sensational hoax based on unverified media reports.
The Pacific Northwest tree octopus
About
Debunk
About
This hypothetical endangered species of cephalopod was able to live in both land and water and is said to live in the Olympic National Forest and nearby rivers, where its eggs are laid, spawning in the water. Its main predator was called the Sasquatch. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website is among several sites that are commonly used in internet literacy classes in schools, although it was not designed for this purpose.
Debunk
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by Lyle Zapato.
The Perpetual Motion
About
Debunk
About
Perpetual motion power sources are a HOAX because the initial energy in a system is finite, be it gravity, magnetism, electricity, or whatever the data contradicts. When you use a power outlet to consume energy, it decreases until it reaches zero. If you don’t use energy, the system can stay in motion for a long time, but then it’s a toy, not useful.
Debunk
Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an undisturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do infinite work without an external energy source. This type of machine is impossible because it would violate the first or second law of thermodynamics or both.
The Persian Princess
About
Debunk
About
This mummy was found on October 19, 2000. While investigating the murder, Pakistani authorities were made aware of a videotape recorded by Ali Akbar, in which he claimed to be a mummy for sale. When questioned by the police, Akbar told them where the mummy was located. At the home of tribal leader Wali Muhammad Riki in Kharan, Balochistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Riki claimed that he had received the mummy from an Iranian named Sharif Shahbakhi, who said he had gotten it after an earthquake near Quetta. The mummy was put up for sale on the black antiquities market for 600 million rupees, equivalent to $11 million.
Debunk
Riki and Akbar were charged with violating the country’s Antiquities Act, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.
The Poppy Fields
About
Debunk
About
The Poppy Fields was a fictional teenage group, created by the Welsh rock band The Alarm. The Poppy Fields scored a hit with the release of “45 RPM”, which would become The Alarm’s first hit in over a decade. Mike Peters revealed the truth on live radio as Radio 1 broadcast his current chart countdown to 2004. The story was picked up by international news outlets and made several headlines worldwide.
Debunk
Shortly after the hoax was uncovered, the music video for “45 RPM” was replaced with an edited version featuring members of The Alarm alongside hyped members of The Poppy Fields.
The Priory of Sion
About
Debunk
About
The Prieur? de Sion, translated as Priory of Sion, was a fraternal organization founded in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard in an unsuccessful attempt to create a dignified neo-chivalric order. In the 1960s, Plantard began to claim that his self-styled order was the latest front for a secret society founded in 1099 by the crusading knight Godfrey of Bouillon in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Debunk
Surviving letters from the 1960s, written by Plantard, de Charizi, and de Sade to each other, confirm that the three were involved in out-and-out HOAX
The Skvader
About
Debunk
About
The Skvader is a type of winged rabbit native to Sweden. According to legend, this unusual animal was first discovered in 1874 by a hunter named H?kan Dahlmark. A stuffed specimen of the creature was eventually put on display at the Sandswall Historical Preservation Society where it remains to this day. The Skvader belongs to the same family of tall creatures as the jackalope and the wilperdinger.
Debunk
Visitors say the animal looks like a cross between a rabbit and a woodcock. A statue of Skvader was also erected in 1994 in a small park in Sandsvall. Although the skvader is much loved in Sweden, the term is often used colloquially to mean “a bad deal.”
The Works of Ossian
About
Debunk
About
It is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally published as Fingal (1761) and Temora (1763), and later gathered under the title of the poems of the Ossian. Macpherson claimed to have collected textual material in Scottish Gaelic, from ancient sources, and that this work was his translation of this material. Ossian is based on Ois?n, son of Fionn mac Cumhaill, a legendary bard in Irish mythology.
Debunk
Macpherson’s fame was fortunate by his burial among literary giants in Westminster Abbey. The WP Ker Cambridge History of English Literature, observes that “all Macpherson’s art as a philological hypocrite would be nothing without his literary skill.”
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