Anastasia Romanov inspired a play, an Academy Award-winning movie, and a Dana-and-Lizzie-loving animated feature. But the legend of the missing princess is stranger and more involved than a movie with a talking bat might have led you to believe.

SOURCES:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-6/anastasia-arrives-in-the-united-states
https://phys.org/news/2018-07-fresh-dna-authenticate-bones-russia.html
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19600212&id=tuUlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EncDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7046,629353&hl=en
https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/24/archives/anastasia-grand-duchess-or-grand-hoax-the-last-act-in-the-drama-of.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20250331152750/http://www.readthehook.net/86004/cover-jack-amp-anna-remembering-czar-charlottesville-eccentricshttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68616
https://blog.newspapers.com/anna-anastasia-anderson/
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-anastasia-or-imposter-local-author-12950650.php

Anastasia Romanov inspired a play, an Academy Award-winning movie, and a Dana-and-Lizzie-loving animated feature. But the legend of the missing princess is stranger and more involved than a movie with a talking bat might have led you to believe.
SOURCES: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-6/anastasia-arrives-in-the-united-states https://phys.org/news/2018-07-fresh-dna-authenticate-bones-russia.html https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&amp;dat=19600212&amp;id=tuUlAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=EncDAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=7046,629353&amp;hl=en https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/24/archives/anastasia-grand-duchess-or-grand-hoax-the-last-act-in-the-drama-of.html https://web.archive.org/web/20250331152750/http://www.readthehook.net/86004/cover-jack-amp-anna-remembering-czar-charlottesville-eccentricshttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68616 https://blog.newspapers.com/anna-anastasia-anderson/ https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-anastasia-or-imposter-local-author-12950650.php

Why do so many people believe things that aren’t true? In an era when claims of “fake news” come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to “Balloon boy” in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we’ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood’s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we’ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.

 

**New episodes every other week**

Why do so many people believe things that aren&rsquo;t true? In an era when claims of &ldquo;fake news&rdquo; come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to&nbsp;&ldquo;Balloon boy&rdquo; in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we&rsquo;ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood&rsquo;s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we&rsquo;ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.
&nbsp;
**New episodes every other week**

Hoax!

Fake Anastasias

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2bc98721-31f3-44ec-b30c-b444013af1fb/transcript

In one of the most famous and widely-reported UFO sightings of all time, a Florida man witnessed, photographed and even interacted with alien beings from another planet several times over the course of many months, sparking a frenzy of speculation and excitement. Then again...a Florida man...
SOURCES:
War of the Words by Craig R Meyers
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/16/congress-uap-obama-aliens-real-podcast/88699039007/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-files-released-scientists-trump/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/10/ufo-hearing-video-hellfire-missile/86073340007/
Professor Andrew Fraknoi

In one of the most famous and widely-reported UFO sightings of all time, a Florida man witnessed, photographed and even interacted with alien beings from another planet several times over the course of many months, sparking a frenzy of speculation and excitement. Then again...a Florida man... SOURCES: War of the Words by Craig R Meyers https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/16/congress-uap-obama-aliens-real-podcast/88699039007/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-files-released-scientists-trump/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/10/ufo-hearing-video-hellfire-missile/86073340007/ Professor Andrew Fraknoi

The Gulf Breeze UFOtos

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1db63212-a8b7-4623-8138-b435014f40ff/transcript

A girl showed up at a town near Bristol in 1817 wearing a turban, and everyone went nuts. 

SOURCES:
"The Caraboo Hoax," Margaret Russell
John Matthew Gutch's narrative
English Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell
"Devonshire Characters and Strange Events"
"British Performances of Java," Matthew Isaac Cohen

A girl showed up at a town near Bristol in 1817 wearing a turban, and everyone went nuts.&nbsp;
SOURCES: "The Caraboo Hoax," Margaret Russell John Matthew Gutch's narrative English Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell "Devonshire Characters and Strange Events" "British Performances of Java," Matthew Isaac Cohen

The Bristol Princess

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/a4a1307a-ffcc-418d-ba37-b4250137577e/transcript

This episode of Hoax is no fun at all. April Fool's! For our (almost) April 1 episode, we explore the holiday's origins and some of the best pranks of the 20th and 21st centuries: Google's various exploits (Pokemon Go!), that time the BBC produced a piece on Spaghetti Trees, and the Curious Case of Sidd Finch, the Mets pitcher who could throw 168 MPH.

SOURCES:
https://www.rutgers.edu/news/how-did-april-fools-day-get-started
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/april-fools/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/01/king-kugel-an-april-fools-history-lesson/
https://frenchmoments.eu/april-fools-day-traditions-in-france-le-1er-avril/
https://bylines.scot/society/hunt-the-gowk-day/
https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/hunt-the-gowk-april-fools-scotland/
https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-celebrates-april-fools%E2%80%99-day/
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cancels-april-fools-day-pranks-coronavirus-2021-3
https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finch
https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/21/si-60-curious-case-sidd-finch-mark-mulvoy-myra-gelband
https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/sports/legendary-sidd-finch-finally-makes-it-to-mets-home-game-40-years-later/
https://niemanstoryboard.org/2014/04/01/whys-this-so-good-no-90-george-plimpton-and-sidd-finch/
https://www.milb.com/news/legend-of-sidd-finch-lives-on-in-brooklyn-145695984
https://sports.yahoo.com/still-curious-catching-those-brought-150800240.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/sports/baseball/an-old-baseball-april-fools-hoax.html
https://www.mlb.com/news/sidd-finch-hoax-recalled-at-sabr-convention/c-133074166
ESPN: Unhittable: Sidd Finch and the Tibetan Fastball
BBC: Spaghetti-Harvest in Ticino 
https://fox59.com/news/national-world/greatest-april-fools-prank-of-all-time-the-story-of-the-bbcs-spaghetti-trees/
https://retrospectjournal.com/2023/09/25/the-spaghetti-trees-of-ticino/
https://ericajurus.ca/2024/04/02/the-tradition-of-pranking-and-fooling/
http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/cucina/when-i-was-a-kid-i-learned-that-spaghetti-grew-on-trees

This episode of Hoax is no fun at all. April Fool's! For our (almost) April 1 episode, we explore the holiday's origins and some of the best pranks of the 20th and 21st centuries: Google's various exploits (Pokemon Go!), that time the BBC produced a piece on Spaghetti Trees, and the Curious Case of Sidd Finch, the Mets pitcher who could throw 168 MPH.
SOURCES: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/how-did-april-fools-day-get-started https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/april-fools/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/01/king-kugel-an-april-fools-history-lesson/ https://frenchmoments.eu/april-fools-day-traditions-in-france-le-1er-avril/ https://bylines.scot/society/hunt-the-gowk-day/ https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/hunt-the-gowk-april-fools-scotland/ https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-celebrates-april-fools%E2%80%99-day/ https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cancels-april-fools-day-pranks-coronavirus-2021-3 https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finch https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/21/si-60-curious-case-sidd-finch-mark-mulvoy-myra-gelband https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/sports/legendary-sidd-finch-finally-makes-it-to-mets-home-game-40-years-later/ https://niemanstoryboard.org/2014/04/01/whys-this-so-good-no-90-george-plimpton-and-sidd-finch/ https://www.milb.com/news/legend-of-sidd-finch-lives-on-in-brooklyn-145695984 https://sports.yahoo.com/still-curious-catching-those-brought-150800240.html https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/sports/baseball/an-old-baseball-april-fools-hoax.html https://www.mlb.com/news/sidd-finch-hoax-recalled-at-sabr-convention/c-133074166 ESPN: Unhittable: Sidd Finch and the Tibetan Fastball BBC: Spaghetti-Harvest in Ticino&nbsp; https://fox59.com/news/national-world/greatest-april-fools-prank-of-all-time-the-story-of-the-bbcs-spaghetti-trees/ https://retrospectjournal.com/2023/09/25/the-spaghetti-trees-of-ticino/ https://ericajurus.ca/2024/04/02/the-tradition-of-pranking-and-fooling/ http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/cucina/when-i-was-a-kid-i-learned-that-spaghetti-grew-on-trees

April Fool's Day: Google, Spaghetti Trees and Sidd Finch

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/ba9bf7d1-1fec-49e0-bee7-b418014409f3/transcript

Fake Anastasias

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