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Why Historians Are Reexamining the Case of the Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits

Mary Toft staged an elaborate hoax, but the pain was real.
Sabrina Imbler July 3, 2019
The "Roman" bath.
London, England

Strand Lane 'Roman Baths'

Victorian-era Londoners really wanted to believe this 17th-century cistern was actually an ancient artifact.
Original Dare Stone
Gainesville, Georgia

Dare Stones

A mysterious inscription may hold a clue about the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke.
The Bat Creek stone.
Cherokee, North Carolina

Bat Creek Stone

Cherokee alphabet, proof of ancient North American Jews, or just a hoax?
The paintings are located in one of the offices at Borås zoo.
Borås, Sweden

'Pierre Brassau' Paintings at Borås Zoo

The art critic claiming that "only an ape could have done this" was in fact right.
No one knows how to lie like a mom.
mythology

The Ultimate Guide to Bizarre Lies Your Mom Told You

Turns out mothers all over the world are telling a lot of the same outrageous fibs.
Eric Grundhauser May 11, 2018
This machine made music, not meat.
thomas edison

The Hoax That Claimed Thomas Edison Could Turn Dirt Into Food

Newspapers worldwide printed that he'd invented a miraculous machine.
Anne Ewbank March 28, 2018
Fr. Pat Noise plaque, O'Connell Bridge
Dublin, Ireland

Fr. Pat Noise Memorial Plaque

A mysterious plaque to the even more mysterious "Fr. Pat Noise," killed in "suspicious circumstances."
The atrium.
Tianjin, China

Tianjin Binhai Library

China’s breathtaking futuristic library is lined floor to ceiling with fake books.
The "Chamber Hodag" in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
Rhinelander, Wisconsin

The Hodag

The menacing creature had a tremendous influence on the local culture before being exposed as a hoax.
A typical Jenny Haniver.
mermaids

The Long, Strange Legacy of One of the World's Earliest Fake Mermaids

Jenny Hanivers date back to the 16th century, and are still collected today.
Eric Grundhauser February 9, 2018
The Norse coin found at the Goddard site.
vikings

The Mystery of Maine's Viking Penny

The coin is the real deal, but how did it get all the way from Norway?
Sarah Laskow December 21, 2017
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lenin

How Vladimir Lenin Became a Mushroom

The fake news that took the former Soviet Union by storm.
Eric Grundhauser December 5, 2017
She has proper form, but will her haggis survive the fall?
Gastro Obscura

Haggis Hurling

One of Scotland’s quirkier sports involves tossing stuffed sheep stomachs.
Piece of Spectra cover, 1916
hoaxes

The Hoax Poetry Movement That Accidentally Became Legitimate

How Spectra went mainstream.
Michael Waters June 28, 2017
Bielefeld
Bielefeld, Germany

Bielefeld Conspiracy

According to a satirical conspiracy theory that persists today, this German city of 300,000 is a hoax invented by the CIA.
Speed cop!
crime

Some Scotland Villagers Are Trying to Slow Speeding Cars With Hair Dryers

They DO look suspiciously like speed guns.
Eric Grundhauser February 24, 2017
Plaque commemorating the fake altercation.
Lowell, Massachusetts

Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs Fight Plaque

The two writers famously didn't come to blows over the Oxford comma.