20 Infamous Hoaxes That Shook the World

Top 20 Infamous Hoaxes in History

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most dastardly lies and deliberate distortions that fooled people throughout history.

#20: Napoleon Is Dead (1814)

On the morning of February 21, 1814, during the Great French War, one Colonel Du Bourg arrived in Dover, England, to tell everyone that a victory for the Allies was inevitable because Napoleon had been killed. News quickly spread to London, leading the stock market to boom. Three men in particular profited more than others. Lord Thomas Cochrane, Cochrane Johnstone, and Richard G. Butt had purchased thousands of pounds in stocks just two days before. However, the news of Napoleon’s death was false, and the London Stock Exchange crashed. De Bourg himself was also a fabrication. He was actually a Prussian aristocrat named Charles Random de Berenger, who planned this fraud with Cochrane, Johnstone, and Butt.

#19: “Go Ask Alice” (1971)

At the end of the psychedelic era, when long-term effects of recreational drugs were coming to light, this book claimed to be the real diary from an anonymous teenager’s descent into sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. It immediately became a best-seller. Tapping into the public’s fears of rebellious youth culture, “Go Ask Alice” seemed like the perfect cautionary tale for the time. But it wasn’t a real account. The book was actually written by Beatrice Sparks, a Mormon youth counselor. Sparks eventually admitted some parts were fabricated, but she insisted the majority of the book was from the diary of a teenager she met at a conference. Yet nowadays, although it’s officially classified as fiction, many educators still assign the book as nonfiction.

#18: Live Megalodons (2013)

Known for their documentaries, the Discovery Channel seems like a reliable source. But during Shark Week 2013, they ran a mockumentary called “Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives” without explicitly disclosing the false nature of the program. Instead of a pre-show disclaimer, they opted to say that some events were dramatized and that debate about the existence of giant sharks is up for debate. While the megalodon was a real creature, it’s been extinct for at least three million years. Viewers were understandably irritated that a previously serious science education network stooped to pranks during its most popular week of programming.

#17: Raëlian Clones (2002)

According to Raëlism, a new religious movement founded in 1974, human immortality is possible through cloning. So proving that human clones are possible would help their credibility, right? Raëlians therefore claimed that the first human clone was born on December 27, 2002. The news was widely covered and sparked wide moral outrage. But when it came time for Clonaid, the scientific company run by Raëlism, to prove the achievement, they refused. Clonaid and Raeëlians still insist their clone was real, and that more have been born, but without proof, they’ve been written off as hoaxes.

#16: Tasaday Tribe (1971-86)

Manuel Elizalde, the head of a Philippine government agency claimed he discovered a tribe of indigenous people secluded in a forest. The supposed discovery garnered immense interest, with National Geographic and the Associated Press reporting on it. Elizalde was known to work closely with the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who kept the area under martial law. That was pretty suspicious to start with. Evidence began to pile up that the Tasaday were part of a hoax when their tools, population growth, and food sources were examined. And then journalist Oswald Iten paid them an unexpected visit in 1986, discovering modern clothing and tools. Some people even admitted to pretending to be Tasaday.

#15: The Great Moon Hoax (1835)

A New York newspaper, “The Sun,” published a series of six articles about the discovery of life and civilization on the moon. Starting on August 25, 1835, these articles claimed the well-known astronomer Sir John Herschel spotted fantastical creatures such as unicorns and bipedal beavers. Herschel was amused by it all at first, though it soon became a bother for him to tell people that the reports were false. The paper didn’t skimp on details, making this ruse all the more believable. The writers specified the measurements of the telescope, where it came from, and how it was accidentally destroyed in a fire. The hoax was believed for several weeks, during which “The Sun” gained a wide readership.

#14: Manti Te’o's Girlfriend (2012)

The term “catfishing” first became popular after a film about the common internet scam was released in 2010. But it really blew up in 2012, when it was revealed that college footballer Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend Lennay Kekua wasn’t actually dead . . . or real. As it turned out, Te’o had been tricked into having a deeply emotional online relationship with a person named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Even though he was the victim of the con, Te’o sadly became the butt of countless jokes after the truth of the scam came out. Ten years after the hoax, in August 2022, Netflix released a documentary on the subject.

#13: William H. Mumler’s Ghostly Photographs (1860s)

Spiritualism, or the belief that the living can communicate with the dead, was all the rage in the U.S. after the Civil War. Photographer William H. Mumler took full advantage of this craze and shot pictures of clients with the ghosts of their deceased loved ones in the background. In reality, Mumler superimposed old negatives of lookalikes onto photographs of clients, leading them to believe that their dearly dead were visiting. Mumler avoided being revealed by saying that the ghosts come and go without explanation. However, he got into hot water when some “ghosts” turned out to still be alive. The awkward aftermath led to a trial for fraud, though Mumler was acquitted. We now know the photos were faked, but they’re still eerie.

#12: Poyais (1820-23)

After years in high-ranking military positions under Simón Bolívar, Scotsman Gregor MacGregor ended his stay in Venezuela and headed for Nicaragua. In 1820, in an effort to start a colony, he went to England to advertise the beautiful land of Poyais, of which he was the prince. Over 200 eager settlers made the long journey from Europe to Central America to try their luck. Even national banks invested in Poyais. But the location was actually an uninhabitable, mosquito-ridden swamp, and more than half the settlers died. A less deadly scam involved George Psalmanazar scandalizing much of Europe with lurid, gripping — and totally fictionalized — tales of his supposed homeland of Formosa in the early 18th century.

#11: Cottingley Fairies (1917-20)

Between 1917 and 1920, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths took a series of photographs in a garden in Cottingley, Yorkshire, England, which appeared to show themselves with fairies. These pictures were just a charming game to their families, until Wright’s mother Polly exhibited them at a lecture on fairies at the Theosophical Society. They caused an uproar, especially because no photographers would confirm or deny the authenticity. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, believed the photographs to be evidence of fairies. Public interest generally faded for a few decades, but in 1983, Elsie Wright confessed to having cut and pasted drawings into the photographs. Griffiths, however, never owned up to the lie.

#10: Milli Vanilli (1989)

R&B duo Milli Vanilli exploded on the dance-pop scene in the late ‘80s, only to crash soon afterward. In ten months, their debut album reached six-times platinum in the U.S. Producer Frank Farian catapulted them into fame and they had very little, if any, creative input under his watch in the studio. Then came the public lip-syncing. On July 21, 1989, while performing in front of 80,000 people, their hit song “Girl You Know It’s True” glitched and repeated the same line over and over. Milli Vanilli won Best New Artist that year, but it was later revoked. But who was really to blame for the whole deception?

#9: Piltdown Man (1912)

After the publication of Charles Darwin’s seminal work, scientists searched for more fossil links of human ancestors. In 1912, archeologist Charles Dawson claimed to have found one in Piltdown, East Sussex, England. He discovered a skull fragment, which attracted the attention of the British Museum and spawned further searches. After uncovering more pieces, including bits of jaw and some teeth, Dawson reconstructed the skull and declared it legitimate. However, other scientists were skeptical, especially because they couldn’t find more bones in the area. Eventually, the Piltdown finds were found to be 50,000 years old, not 500,000. And they were from both humans and apes. In November 1953, “Time” magazine published an expose on the fraud, effectively ending the hoax decades after it began.

#8: Mary Toft’s Offspring (1726)

Way before ultrasounds were possible, a woman was believed to have given birth to rabbits. This happened in Godalming, Surrey, England, in 1726, and it tricked medical professionals and laypeople alike. After local doctor John Howard attested to the unusual births, the news spread and Toft became something of a celebrity. Even the British Royal Family got involved. Toft herself was soon transported to London for more thorough examination. After a couple months of fame and great confusion, Toft was pressured to admit that her husband had purchased small animals in order to fake birthing scenes.

#7: Balloon Boy (2009)

On October 15, 2009, Colorado couple Richard and Mayumi Heene released a large balloon, only to quickly call the police in a panic, saying their son Falcon was trapped in it. Local police, worldwide news agencies, and National Guard helicopters followed the balloon for more than 50 miles until it landed. However, Falcon was not inside. Reports that something had fallen out sparked a longer search, but the boy was eventually found in his parents’ attic. In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Falcon accidentally revealed that his parents told him it was a game to hide in the attic. Richard and Mayumi ended up facing jail time, probation, community service, and fines.

#6: The Cardiff Giant (1869)

While digging a well on William Newell’s farm in Cardiff, New York in 1869, Gideon Emmons and Henry Nichols claimed to have found a massive petrified human body. Weighing 3,000 pounds and measuring ten feet, this giant immediately caused a stir. Most scientists agreed that it was a fraud, but most theologians and preachers testified to its authenticity, citing a verse in the Bible about giants. Despite the divide, the find was a sensation and Newell began charging admission to see it. After showman P.T. Barnum unsuccessfully tried to buy the attraction, he made his own giant, leading both cadavers to be revealed as fakes.

#5: The Amityville Horror (1975)

On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr killed six family members in his house in Amityville, New York. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the same house . . . only to flee 28 days later. They said they were terrorized by supernatural forces. This curious chain of events inspired author Jay Anson to write a book titled “The Amityville Horror,” which led to a series of horror movies starting in 1979. However, DeFeo’s lawyer later admitted to making up all the horror with the Lutz family for financial gain. But the Lutzes have never acknowledged their lie.

#4: Bower and Chorley’s Crop Circles (1978-91)

Crop circles definitely aren’t new phenomena, but there has been a sharp uptick in cases since the 1970s, becoming somewhat of a global trend. Part of this increase is definitely due to Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, two men who deliberately created plenty of crop circles in England from around 1978 through the next decade or so. They later confessed to doing it all as a prank, but the appearance of crop circles still makes the rounds as a popular conspiracy theory. There’s a name for people who believe to varying degrees that crop circles are signs, wonders, or prophecies — they are referred to as “croppies.”

#3: Hitler’s Diaries (1983)

West German magazine “Stern” thought they had gotten their hands on a miraculous discovery in 1983: sixty volumes of journals written by Adolf Hitler. After paying a huge amount for the rights, the magazine published excerpts of the diaries and sold serialization rights of the material to the British newspaper “The Sunday Times” and the American paper “Newsweek.” However, the authenticity of the discovered documents was immediately questioned. After testing showed that the ink, glue, and papers were too modern for wartime Germany, the forger was revealed to be con man Konrad Kujau. Two editors for “Stern '' and others eventually lost their jobs for spreading misinformation.

#2: Roswell Autopsy Footage (1995-2006)

July 8, 1947, put Roswell, New Mexico, on the map for conspiracy theorists. Alien enthusiasts have kept up with the site of the purported UFO crash for decades. They were rewarded for their patience in 1995, when British entrepreneur Ray Santilli released footage supposedly showing an autopsy on aliens in 1947. The 17 minutes of film aired to mass audiences on TV networks across the world. But many viewers and experts remained skeptical, citing inconsistent injuries on the alien and inaccurate autopsy methods. In 2006, Santilli admitted the footage was in fact faked, though he also insisted that it’s a reconstruction and restoration of real film and still frames.

#1: “The War of the Worlds” Radio Broadcast (1938)

An infamous Halloween radio broadcast aired in the U.S. on October 30, 1938. Orson Welles directed and narrated a radio drama of H.G. Wells’s classic sci-fi novel “The War of the Worlds,” portraying the events of a Martian invasion. Although the program started at eight o’clock with an announcement declaring it fiction, not everyone tuned in on time, leading some people to believe that aliens had actually landed in New Jersey and were quickly conquering the United States. Local police departments were flooded with phone calls asking for verification and protection. Although the ensuing panic has been exaggerated over time, the fact is that people were ready to believe in an alien apocalypse.

Have you fallen for anything that was later proven to be a hoax? Let us know in the comments!