Hoax!
11 clip(s) in playlist
Lonelygirl15
When YouTube was barely a year old, the the site's users were gripped by the slowly unfolding tale of Bree, the sheltered, beautiful 16 year old girl whose parents kept her locked in her bedroom with no one but the internet and her only friend, Daniel, for company. As Bree's situation grew more di…
1:02:49
Mumler Spirit Photography
It's the Civil War, and the nation is in deep mourning. William Mumler of Boston has something to help: "spirit photographs" of you and a deceased loved one. Is it a scam, or is technology now capable of traversing the thin line between life and death? Eventually, it will be up to the court to deci…
1:05:10
Report from Iron Mountain
At the height of the Cold War, a "leaked Top Secret Memo" from inside the government proposed a controversial and radical idea: the worst thing that could happen to humanity was worldwide ... peace. Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/30/us/l-c-lewin-writer-of-satire-of-government-plot-dies-a…
48:27
The Impostress Rabbit
The court anatomist returned the King George I with astonishing news: a woman named Mary Toft has been giving birth.... to rabbits. Sources: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/07/05/an-extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbits/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mary-toft-gave-birth-to-rabbits …
39:02
Salvator Mundi
A painting purportedly by Leonardo Da Vinci himself is discovered at a little-known auction house in New Orleans in 2005; a decade later, it fetches the highest price for a work of art ever sold at auction. Sources: The Lost Leonardo Savior For Sale https://therenaissanceworkshop.com/leonardo-da-v…
1:09:00
The Wild West in Palisade, Nevada
People traveling through the west by train in the 1800s expected shootouts and danger and cowboys. The citizens of Palisade gave it to them. Sources: "Westward Hoax: The Secret History of Palisade, Nevada," Very Special Episodes. Fakes, Frauds & Other Malarkey by Kathryn Lindskoog. "Mark Twain's …
34:47
Ern Malley Poetry
Two bored poets decide to prank their least favorite snobby magazine editor by submitting intentionally bad poetry to his literary journal and watching with mirth as he and his fellows delight in publishing it. Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m3bytB5ULw https://theconversation.com/the-g…
48:15
The Ireland Shakespeare Relics
Samuel Ireland was an avid collector, the type of man who boasted and tried to make himself look important. His son, William Henry, just wanted to make his dad proud of him. Sources: The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare, by Doug Stewart Shakespeare and Others by S. Schoenbaum 'The Poet's Hand,' Ada…
1:14:18
Balloon Boy
For a few tense hours in October 2009, the entire world watched as a homemade aircraft purportedly carrying a 6-year-old boy drifted in mid-air on live television. When the balloon landed, there was no boy inside. Sources: Wife Swap Season 5, Episode 1: “Heene/Martell” Wife Swap Season 5, Episode …
1:09:52
Cottingley Fairies
In 1917, two young cousins returned from the creek behind their house with thrilling news: they had photographed fairies! Their parents were skeptical, but soon the photos of the "Cottingley Fairies" were circulated, eventually finding a champion in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sources: ‘Fairies Ph…
59:42