Top 10 Photo Mysteries Explained
#10: Cottingley Fairies
Back in 1917, two young cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright took the first of a series of photos that seemingly depicted small, winged fairies, with Griffiths posing alongside them in most. The initial response to the images is said to have been mixed. Some were enthusiastic, including Wright’s mother plus the Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle. Others, like Wright’s father, quickly dismissed them as a hoax... and they were the ones that were right. In 1983 - nearly seventy years after the first picture was taken - the cousins admitted that the “fairies” were nothing but cardboard reproductions of images from a children’s book, modified with homemade wings. Although Griffiths did maintain the legitimacy of one photograph. But, dear viewer, is that enough for you to still believe in fairies?
#9: The Time-Traveling Hipster
The Mystery of Bigfoot Explained
In 2010, the Bralorne Pioneer Museum uploaded a collection of old photos online… with one particularly catching public attention. Taken in 1941, it ostensibly shows a time-traveling hipster with modern fashion preferences standing among more traditionally dressed people. Three items in particular seemed too anachronistic for the 1940s - his logoed t-shirt, sunglasses, and tiny camera. However, all of these items have plausible explanations. Logoed t-shirts were indeed around in the ‘40s, and his bears the logo of the then-recently folded NHL team, the Montreal Maroons. Both his sunglasses and camera were also of the time. Instead of a time traveler, this man was simply a fashion-forward individual in an age when everyone else was still wearing their Sunday best.
#8: Giant Human Skeleton
Did Scientists Just Discover Giant Supermountains? | Unveiled
Though perhaps a little dubious from the outset, this one still took the Internet by storm. Back in the mid 2000s, a photo came to light apparently displaying the upper half of a massive human skeleton. A man can be seen digging beside it, but the entire width of his body only covers about half of the skull. Accompanied with the photo was only a brief explanation. Purportedly, the skeleton belonged to an ancient race of giants known as the “people of Aad” who were smote by God after turning against Him. But no. This was actually just a photoshopped image that had at one time been entered into a contest, before someone else reposted it and added a made-up history. Just one giant hoax.
#7: Brown Lady of Raynham Hall
Cyntoia Brown Case: Top 5 Facts You Need to Know
One of the most famous ghost photos in British history, the “Brown Lady of Raynham Hall” depicts a wispy figure descending a staircase. The story goes that photographers for “Country Life” magazine were visiting Raynham Hall for an article when one of them saw a spectral being. They quickly snapped a picture, and the ghost was seemingly captured on film. Reports of ghosts in Raynham Hall do go back hundreds of years, so could this picture confirm the stories? Well, it’s more than likely that the “Brown Lady” is actually nothing more than a case of superimposition or double exposure. While the photo has not been officially debunked, this ghost is all but busted.
#6: Giant Watermelon
Did Scientists Just Discover a Giant Planet That Shouldn't Exist? | Unveiled
Watermelons can get pretty big, but not so big they require eight arms to carry them. This bizarre picture taken by one Alfred Stanley Johnson shows four girls holding a massive slice of watermelon, with other children gathered around the melon itself. The picture is fun, but it’s simply an old postcard. More specifically, it’s an example of exaggeration postcards, which were popular in the United States in the early 1900s. The real photo required a big piece of wood resembling the shape of a watermelon slice, and Johnson performed some primitive photoshop to turn it into a watermelon. It was never meant to be taken seriously, but it still tricked some people.
#5: Alien Autopsy
Alien Corpses REVEALED In Mexico: What Is Really Happening?
Anyone with even a slight interest in aliens has probably seen this next picture. An apparent alien with large black eyes and a bulbous head lays on a table next to surgical equipment. Another photo from the same series seems to depict someone in protective clothing inspecting the body. These stills are taken from a mid-90s, short video called “Alien Autopsy” that was allegedly given to distributor Ray Santilli by a former member of the US military. In 2006, though, Santilli admitted that the footage was faked. However, he also claimed that it was a “reconstruction” of a real alien autopsy film that had since deteriorated, and therefore not a hoax. In any case, when we gonna see them aliens, already?
#4: Bigfoot
Top 10 Unbelievable Bigfoot Sightings Caught on Camera
The Patterson-Gimlin film is arguably the most famous piece of footage in the history of cryptozoology. It famously shows what’s purported to be Bigfoot stumbling around in the woods and briefly turning towards the camera. While the film hasn’t been officially debunked, numerous hoax theories exist. For example, a costume-maker named Philip Morris claims that he sold a modified gorilla suit to the filmmaker Roger Patterson back in 1967 - and that that suit is what’s seen in the clip. One Bob Heironimus also claims to be the one wearing the suit in the film, further revealing during interviews that he was afraid to admit the truth afterwards owing to fears of legal retaliation. It seems, then, that it doesn’t always take the Scooby Gang to uncover a man in a mask.
#3: Lunch atop a Skyscraper
Here we have one of the most famous photographs in American history. It shows eleven incredibly brave men sitting on a narrow crossbeam that’s hanging hundreds of feet in the air. And it’s enough to give you vertigo. But it’s also kind of fake. These are real ironworkers, and it is a real beam used in the construction of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. However, the photo was actually staged by Rockefeller Center itself, and is really one of many posed photos taken that day, all to promote the opening of the building just a few months later. It’s also thought that a completed section of the skyscraper was actually located just below the borders of the photo, to catch the men were they to fall. The job itself was certainly dangerous, but this image perhaps not quite so much.
#2: The Loch Ness Monster
The Mystery of the Loch Ness Monster Explained
Alongside the Patterson-Gimlin film, the so-called “surgeon’s photograph” of the Loch Ness Monster is another of the most famous images in cryptozoology. This iconic photo shows an elongated, dinosaur-like neck rising out of Scotland’s Loch Ness. It was published in the “Daily Mail” in the UK, in 1934, and caused a media sensation. But, while it remained popular for decades afterwards, it’s now known to be a hoax. In reality, it was all manufactured by a man named Marmaduke Wetherell, who had worked for the “Daily Mail.” Reportedly, Wetherell sought revenge on his employers after he was mocked by them, and so he made the Nessie in the image out of a toy submarine and wood putty. The famous picture was then taken by his son and published in the “Mail” under the pretense of a legitimate sighting.
#1: Abraham Lincoln’s Ghost
Many feel that our loved ones are always with us, and perhaps that’s why this last photo has remained so popular. Taken after President Abraham Lincoln’s death, it shows what looks like Lincoln’s ghost holding the shoulders of his widow Mary. It’s maybe comforting, but it’s also fake. This is a prominent example of spirit photography, which boomed in popularity following the American Civil War and the advent of spiritualism. The Lincoln image was created by the notable fraud William H. Mumler, who’s remembered in history for taking advantage of grieving families. He reportedly stole pictures of their relatives to use in his “photography”, and all it really amounts to is a simple case of double exposure... but one that fooled millions. Turns out this Abe isn’t so honest.
1
0
report