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-at-82.html
Ghost of Iron Mountain by Phil Tinline
JFK (1991, O. Stone)
https://hvmag.com/life-style/a-history-of-iron-mountain-an-information-storage-facility-in-germantown-ny/
https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-many-lives-of-iron-mountain
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/iron-mountain-hoax-anti-vietnam-war-satire-conspiracy-theories

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-at-82.html Ghost of Iron Mountain by Phil Tinline JFK (1991, O. Stone) https://hvmag.com/life-style/a-history-of-iron-mountain-an-information-storage-facility-in-germantown-ny/ https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-many-lives-of-iron-mountain https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/iron-mountain-hoax-anti-vietnam-war-satire-conspiracy-theories

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!

Report from Iron Mountain

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/39b4f03d-da4d-4f33-bb23-b3800152d6d2/transcript

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 dire, she became one of the first online obsessions, paving the way for hundreds of hoaxes to come.

SOURCES
https://www.youtube.com/@lonelygirl15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-m-JXcppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5S2Kdb8Io4&t=3s
https://medium.com/@vocativ/the-strange-saga-of-lonelygirl15-an-oral-history-dd94687e9976
https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-creators-of-lonelygirl15-turned-web-series-into-a-multi-million-dollar-company-2010-7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnjZzDeepE8
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-video-blog-youtube
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-lonelygirl15-story.html
https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-the-secret-identity-of-lonelygirl15-was-found/
https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/154b603/how_did_people_of_the_2000s_fall_for_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 &nbsp;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 dire, she became one of the first online obsessions, paving the way for hundreds of hoaxes to come.
SOURCES https://www.youtube.com/@lonelygirl15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-m-JXcppo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5S2Kdb8Io4&amp;t=3s https://medium.com/@vocativ/the-strange-saga-of-lonelygirl15-an-oral-history-dd94687e9976 https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-creators-of-lonelygirl15-turned-web-series-into-a-multi-million-dollar-company-2010-7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnjZzDeepE8 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-video-blog-youtube https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-lonelygirl15-story.html https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-the-secret-identity-of-lonelygirl15-was-found/ https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/154b603/how_did_people_of_the_2000s_fall_for_lonelygirl15/

Lonelygirl15

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/a6e84946-ff7b-4dbe-a9cf-b3a901524bba/transcript

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 decide. 

Sources:
Special thanks to u/Naturalog on Reddit and Stephen Berkman
'The Apparitionists' by Peter Manseau
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/meet-mr-mumler-man-who-captured-lincolns-ghost-camera-180965090/ 
https://www.vox.com/22918581/mumler-victorian-spirit-ghost-photography
https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=sat2698811#page/33/mode/1up 
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/when-cameras-took-pictures-of-ghosts/281010/ 

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 decide.&nbsp;
Sources: Special thanks to u/Naturalog on Reddit and Stephen Berkman 'The Apparitionists' by Peter Manseau https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/meet-mr-mumler-man-who-captured-lincolns-ghost-camera-180965090/&nbsp; https://www.vox.com/22918581/mumler-victorian-spirit-ghost-photography https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=sat2698811#page/33/mode/1up&nbsp; https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/when-cameras-took-pictures-of-ghosts/281010/&nbsp;

Mumler Spirit Photography

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b4cd500f-3972-40d9-aa12-b3980151b377/transcript

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
https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/files/special/exhibns/month/aug2009.html
https://academic.oup.com/hwj/article/80/1/33/665070?login=false
https://academic.oup.com/past/article-abstract/238/1/43/4822513?redirectedFrom=fulltext
https://www.godalmingmuseum.co.uk/articles/mary-tofts

The court anatomist returned the King George I with astonishing news: a woman named Mary Toft has been giving birth.... to rabbits.&nbsp;
Sources:&nbsp; https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/07/05/an-extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbits/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mary-toft-gave-birth-to-rabbits https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/files/special/exhibns/month/aug2009.html https://academic.oup.com/hwj/article/80/1/33/665070?login=false https://academic.oup.com/past/article-abstract/238/1/43/4822513?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://www.godalmingmuseum.co.uk/articles/mary-tofts

The Impostress Rabbit

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e8fd4b3a-aabf-4a8b-92a0-b379017a5539/transcript

Report from Iron Mountain

Hoax!

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