The world has been deceived by numerous historical hoaxes that have left lasting impacts on society. From ancient giants to alien autopsies, these fabrications have captivated the public's imagination and sparked intense debate. In this list, we'll explore 30 of the most astonishing historical hoaxes that fooled the world, revealing the surprising stories behind each one and the individuals who perpetrated them.
1. The Digital Fortune Cookie: A Tech Hoax
In 2011, a company announced the release of a digital fortune cookie, which could be cracked open to reveal a random message. The announcement was a hoax, intended as a marketing stunt, but many people were fooled, thinking it was a real product.
2. The Piltdown Man: A Paleontological Forgery
In 1912, Charles Dawson discovered the Piltdown Man, a supposed early human ancestor in England. The find was hailed as a major discovery, but in 1953, it was exposed as a forgery, with the skull being a combination of human and orangutan bones. The identity of the forger remains a mystery to this day.
3. The Left-Handed Whopper: A Burger King Hoax
In 1998, Burger King announced the release of a left-handed Whopper, with the condiments and toppings rotated 180 degrees to accommodate left-handed customers. The announcement was a hoax, intended as an April Fool's Day joke, but many people were fooled, and the company received a large amount of feedback before revealing the joke.
4. The Banana LSD Hoax: A Counterculture Myth
In the 1960s, a rumor spread that bananas could be turned into a hallucinogenic substance similar to LSD. The claim gained traction with the release of Donovan's song "Mellow Yellow," coincidentally featuring lyrics about an "electrical banana."
Although bananas did contain some LSD-related ingredients, the amounts were too small for any effect, and the hoax persisted for years.
5. The War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast: A Panic-Inducing Hoax
In 1938, Orson Welles' radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" caused widespread panic, as listeners believed a real alien invasion was underway.
The show's format, which mimicked news bulletins, added to the confusion, and many people fled their homes in fear, thinking the end of the world was near.
6. The ZZXJOANW Entry: A Lexicographer's Hoax
Rupert Hughes, a lexicographer, included an unusual entry, ZZXJOANW, in the Music-Lovers Encyclopedia, claiming it was a Maori word pronounced 'Shaw,' meaning 'Drum' or 'Fife.'
Despite staying in the encyclopedia for 70 years, it was later realized that Maori lacks Z and X, and words end with a vowel, revealing the entry as a hoax.
7. The Google Nose Hoax: A Smell-O-Vision April Fool's Joke
In 2013, Google announced the release of "Google Nose," a fictional service that allowed users to search for smells. The announcement was an April Fool's Day hoax, but many people were fooled, and the company received a large amount of feedback before revealing the joke.
8. The Swiss Spaghetti Trees: A BBC April Fool's Hoax
In 1957, the BBC broadcast a segment showing peasants in Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from trees. The segment was presented as a serious news item, but was, in fact, an April Fool's Day hoax. Many viewers were fooled, and the segment has become a classic example of a light-hearted and playful hoax.
9. The Mechanical Turk: An 18th-Century Chess-Playing Deception
The Mechanical Turk, presented as an 18th-century chess-playing marvel, was a deception by Hungarian inventor Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen.
Unveiled in 1770, it claimed to defeat strong chess players, including encounters with Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin. In reality, it housed a concealed human chess player within a secret compartment, creating the illusion of an automated machine.
10. The Virtual Boy: A Gaming Console Hoax
In 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, a console that was marketed as a virtual reality device. However, the console was not actually capable of producing virtual reality effects, and was instead a simple 32-bit console. Many people were fooled by the marketing campaign, thinking it was a real virtual reality device.
11. The Plainfield Teachers College Football Hoax: A Test of Newspaper Credibility
In 1941, Morris Newburger and friends tested newspaper credibility by inventing a football team, Plainfield Teachers College.
They submitted fake scores, and the results were printed in multiple New York papers. Expanding the hoax, they created a fictional player, Johnny Chung, complete with press releases, a song, and even a dedicated phone line.
12. The Disumbration Hoax: A Scientific Satire
In 1979, a paper titled "The Disumbration of Matter" was published in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, a satirical scientific journal.
The paper described a fictional process by which matter could be made to disappear, and was presented in a serious and academic tone, fooling some readers into believing it was real.
13. The Paul McCartney Death Hoax: A Musical Urban Legend
In 1969, a rumor spread that Paul McCartney of the Beatles had died and been replaced by a lookalike. The rumor was fueled by supposed clues in the band's music and album artwork, but was eventually revealed to be a hoax, with McCartney himself appearing in public to debunk the rumor.
14. The Fiji Island Hoax: A Real Estate Scam
In the 2000s, a company began marketing plots of land on a fictional island in Fiji, claiming it was a real investment opportunity. Many people bought the land, thinking it was a genuine investment, but it was later revealed to be a scam.
15. The Pet Rock: A Novelty Item Hoax
In 1975, a company began marketing "Pet Rocks," which were simply rocks sold as pets. The rocks became a surprise hit, and many people bought them, thinking they were a real pet.
The Pet Rock was, in fact, a novelty item, but its success was fueled by a clever marketing campaign that presented it as a serious product.
In 1910, a group of pranksters, including writer Virginia Woolf, posed as a delegation of royalty from the fictional African kingdom of Zanzibar and were given a tour of the British warship HMS Dreadnought.
The group, dressed in ridiculous costumes, was treated to a full ceremonial welcome, and the hoax was only discovered after they had left the ship.
17. The Cardiff Giant: Hoaxing Ancient Giants
In 1869, a supposed ancient giant was discovered in Cardiff, New York, attracting crowds willing to pay to see it. The owner, William Newell, sold a majority stake for $30,000 to businessmen who took the Cardiff Giant on tour.
Experts soon declared it a statue, leading to suspicions that George Hull, Newell's cousin, had orchestrated the hoax to disprove religious beliefs about giants mentioned in the Bible.
18. The Jackalope: A Taxidermy Hoax
In the 1930s, a taxidermist created a fictional creature, the Jackalope, by attaching deer antlers to a rabbit's body. The creature was presented as a real species, and many people were fooled, thinking it was a genuine discovery.
19. The Taco Liberty Bell: A Fast Food Hoax
In 1996, the Taco Bell restaurant chain announced that it had purchased the Liberty Bell, a historic American landmark, and was renaming it the "Taco Liberty Bell."
The announcement was a hoax, intended as an April Fool's Day joke, but many people were fooled, and the company received a large amount of negative feedback before revealing the joke.
20. The Deconstructed Coffee Cup: A Satirical Art Hoax
In 2011, a coffee cup with a "deconstructed" design, featuring separate containers for coffee, cream, and sugar, was presented as a serious art piece, fooling some viewers into believing it was a real product. The design was, in fact, a satirical commentary on the excesses of modern design.
21. The Hitler Diaries: A Forged Historical Record
In 1983, a set of diaries purportedly written by Adolf Hitler was discovered, but they were later revealed to be forgeries created by Konrad Kujau. The diaries were sold to a German magazine for a large sum, and their authenticity was questioned by experts, but not before they had been widely publicized.
22. The I, Libertine Hoax: A Prank Turned Bestseller
In the mid-1950s, late-night DJ and writer Jean Shepherd orchestrated a memorable prank after a bookstore clerk denied the existence of a book because it wasn't on the best sellers list.
Outraged by this criterion, Shepherd fabricated a scandalous novel titled "I, Libertine" and encouraged listeners to request it at bookstores, confounding clerks and publishers.
23. The Fiji Mermaid: A Taxidermy Hoax
In the 19th century, a mermaid skeleton was exhibited in museums and sideshows, claimed to be a specimen from the Fiji Islands. However, it was later revealed to be a taxidermy creation, composed of a monkey's upper body and a fish's lower body, stitched together to create the illusion of a mermaid.
24. The War of the Worlds Museum: A Hoax Institution
In 2011, a website was created for a fictional museum dedicated to the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, featuring fake exhibits and artifacts. The website was presented in a serious and academic tone, fooling some viewers into believing it was a real museum.
25. The Balloon Boy Hoax: A Desperate Cry for Attention
In 2009, a parents' claim that their son was trapped in a runaway balloon sparked a massive rescue effort, but was later revealed to be a hoax. The parents had orchestrated the stunt to get attention and publicity, and were eventually charged with felony counts.
26. The Emperor Constantine's Donation: A Medieval Forgery
The eighth-century forgery known as Emperor Constantine's donation of Rome to Pope Sylvester I greatly impacted medieval politics, asserting papal authority over key cities.
According to the legend, Constantine became a Christian after Sylvester healed him of leprosy, giving him control over several churches. In 1440, Catholic priest Lorenzo Valla exposed the forgery by noting discrepancies in the Latin used.
27. The Alien Autopsy Footage: A Reconstruction of Reality
In 1995, Ray Santilli claimed to possess footage of an "alien autopsy" after the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Initially presented as authentic, he later revealed that only a few frames were real, and the rest was a reconstruction using dummy alien bodies and a constructed set in London, stirring controversy and questioning the film's authenticity.
28. The Great Moon Hoax: A Telescope Deception
In 1835, the New York Sun published The Great Moon Hoax, presenting a fictional science series as real accounts from astronomer Sir John Herschel's expedition to South Africa. The story exaggerated telescope capabilities, describing fantastical discoveries like half-bat humans and one-horned goats.
Despite being fiction, the public initially believed the hoax, prompting widespread confusion until the author revealed the story's fictitious nature.
29. The Sokal Affair: A Hoax Exposing Academic Jargon
In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal submitted a paper titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" to the journal Social Text.
The paper, which was a hoax, was filled with nonsense and academic jargon, but was accepted for publication, revealing the journal's lack of intellectual rigor and its willingness to publish anything that sounded fashionable.
30. The Doris Lessing Pseudonym: An Experiment in Literary Criticism
In 1983, British author Doris Lessing conducted an experiment under the pseudonym "Jane Somers" to highlight the challenges faced by new writers and defy critics who accused her of being one-dimensional.
Despite American publishers being aware of the experiment, their British counterparts rejected her two novels, and the books received little attention, selling fewer than 5,000 copies.
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Anne Kostick has been Editor-in-Chief since September 2007. Previously, Anne was a principal at Foxpath IND, a publishing, consulting and editorial services company specializing in the transition to and from traditional content publishing and online content management, development and publishing. Her clients included trade book publishers, technology and financial services Web sites, and arts and cultural institutions. Previously, she worked as Licensing and Product Development Director, Senior Acquisitions Editor and Director of Electronic Publishing for Workman Publishing, and as Senior Acquisitions Editor for Harry N. Abrams/Stewart, Tabori & Chang. In the online world she worked as Director of Content Development for Vitaminshoppe.com. Anne has a B.A. in Greek and Latin, with a minor in Theater, from Beloit College. She is the author of several books for children, as well as a definitive collection of jokes.