75 Items Tagged

Hoaxes

Salida, Colorado

Salida Fur-Bearing Trout

The trout that grew a winter coat is mounted in its Colorado hometown.

Camp Century trench construction in 1960. Caption reads "Metal arch forms being emplaced over undercut trench."

Wonder Is Everywhere: Viking Hoaxes, a Secret Nuclear Ice Base, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.

April White November 22, 2023

Hebron, North Dakota

Fort Sauerkraut

A replica of a fort built from a frontier town's mass hysteria in the face of false reports of impending Native American violence.

A giant <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em> stands alongside the interstate outside of Cave City, Kentucky, letting passersby know that Dinosaur World is not far.

The Best of Our Listeners' Magical Summer Memories

From dinosaur parks to a mysterious stone giant.

The Podcast Team July 7, 2023

Sepp Kipfstuhl of the East Greenland Ice-Core Project examines a sample taken from where fast-moving and slow-moving ice meet in the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Wonder Is Everywhere: The New Tornado Alley, the Coolest Library in the World, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.

April White June 23, 2023

Podcast: Moose Boulder

How far would you go to find the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the United States?

The Podcast Team April 27, 2023

Podcast: Magical Summer Memories - The Cardiff Giant

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

The Podcast Team June 21, 2022

A (much later) recreation of the <em>BBC</em> spaghetti-tree prank.

The Greatest Food Hoaxes of All Time

People have fallen for all kinds of culinary cons.

Anne Ewbank April 4, 2022

Podcast: The Real Alchemist of Castle Frankenstein

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

The Podcast Team October 25, 2021

Podcast: Magical Summer Memories, Vol. 3 - The Cardiff Giant

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

The Podcast Team September 23, 2021

Trumansburg, New York

Taughannock Giant

A reproduction of a giant humanoid "fossil," a hoax buried locally for construction crews to find and gain national attention.

View of the main castle

Alcorcón, Spain

Castles of Valderas

A historic castle that served as a backdrop to part of an elaborate extraterrestrial hoax.

The chance to see Silver Lake's sea serpent brought the small town of Perry a much-needed boost in tourism back in the mid-19th century.

The Many Lives and Fiery Deaths of the Silver Lake Sea Serpent

A small town in western New York loves its lake monster despite a shady past.

Nicole Hebdon March 15, 2021

The first English edition, published in 1975, with illustrations by Dutch cartoonist Joost Swarte.

The Hoax Book That Became an Anarchist and Hippie Bible

'The Papalagi'—supposedly written by a Samoan chief in 1920—offered a societal critique, but carried on a problematic racial trope.

Jordan Todorov September 8, 2020

The Intrepid Mother and Son Who Unraveled a Geographic Hoax

Atlas Obscura had a page for something called Moose Boulder, until fan Roger Dickey called us on it.

Matthew Taub April 27, 2023

Fort Norumbega

Weston, Massachusetts

Norumbega Tower

This tower pays homage to a legendary Viking fort established in Massachusetts that never really existed.

Somewhere within the halls of the Strasbourg Zoological Museum, you might stumble upon a hoax.

natural history museums

Zoology’s Favorite Hoax Was an Island Rat That Hopped on Its Nose

Harald Strümpke didn’t just create a lost archipelago, he created a sensation.

Sabrina Imbler September 3, 2019

Was Katharina Schraderin, “the baker witch," killed for her gingerbread recipe?

How a Literary Prank Convinced Germany That 'Hansel and Gretel' Was Real

A 1963 book purported to prove that the siblings were murderous bakers.

Jordan Todorov July 3, 2019