Please: NO DISCUSSIONS OF THE BIBLE! lol...And no, not political or government conspiracies, either. This ain't P&R ...

I'm talking about those straight-up hoaxes that fooled the public and/or people in power. Here's a list I found online...anyone think of some better hoaxes? (I think the crop circles were a bigger one than some of these):


The Surgeon's Photo of the Loch Ness Monster

Ancient Scottish legends spoke of a giant sea monster that lived in the waters of Loch Ness. In 1934, Colonel Robert Wilson, a highly respectable British surgeon, said that he noticed something moving in the water and took a picture of it. The resulting image showed the slender neck of a serpent rising out of the Loch. The photo came to be known simply as "The Surgeon's Photo" and for decades it was considered to be the best evidence of the monster.

It wasn't until 1994, when Christian Spurling, before his death at the age of 90, confessed his involvement in a plot, that included Wetherell and Colonel Wilson, to create the famous photo. Apparently Wetherell's motive was revenge, since he was humiliated years earlier when the supposed monster's footprints he found were nothing but dried hippo's footsteps.



Hitler's $6 million-dollar diary

On April 22, 1983 the German magazine Der Stern announced that it had made the greatest Nazi memorabilia find of all time: a diary kept by Adolf Hitler himself. And this was not just one thin journal.

The magazine had paid 10 million German marks ($6 million at that time) for the sixty small books as well as two "special issues" about Rudolf Hess' flight to the United Kingdom, covering the period from 1932 to 1945.

However, within two weeks, the Hitler Diaries were revealed as being "grotesquely plump fakes" made on modern paper using modern ink and full of historical inaccuracies, the most obvious of which might have been the fact that the monogram on the title page read 'FH' instead of 'AH' (for Adolf Hitler). The diaries were actually written by Konrad Kujau, a notorious Stuttgart forger of Hitler's works, who was sentenced to 42 months in prison.



The Jewish master plan to dominate the World

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a text purporting to describe a plan to achieve global domination by Jews. Following its first publication in 1903 in the Russian Empire, numerous independent investigations have demonstrated that the document is a hoax; notably, a series of articles printed in The Times of London in 1921 revealed that much of the material was directly plagiarized from earlier works of political satire unrelated to Jews.

In Russia, it helped to the idea that the Bolshevik movement was a Jewish conspiracy for world domination. On WWII, The Protocols became a part of the Nazi propaganda effort to justify persecution of the Jews. It was made required reading for German students.

Today, many Arab governments funded new printings of the Protocols, and taught them in their schools as historical fact. In Syria, The Protocols is currently a best-seller, and government-controlled television channels occasionally broadcast mini-series concerning the Protocols.



Idaho, the US state with a made-up name

Idaho it's perhaps the only state to be named as the result of a hoax. When a name was being selected for new territory, eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing suggested "Idaho," which he claimed was a Native American term meaning "gem of the mountains".

It was later revealed Willing had made up the name himself, and the original Idaho territory was re-named Colorado because of it. Eventually the controversy was forgotten, and modern-day Idaho was given the made-up name when the Idaho Territory was formally created in 1863.



The Alien Autopsy footage from Roswell UFO crash

On 5 May 1995, Ray Santilli, a London-based film producer, presented for the first time his alleged "Alien Autopsy" footage to media representatives and UFO researchers. The body was suggested to belong to one of the aliens picked from the supposed Roswell UFO crash site in 1947. The footage became world-known inmediatly.

he debate on whether the autopsied body is a very realistic mannequin, a girl with a genetic disorder (such as progeria or Turner's syndrome), or a real alien is still going on. Pathologists have also questioned the techniques being used in the supposed autopsy. Ironically, the best evidence against the film comes from one of the background details. On one wall of the autopsy room, there is a type of warning sign that was not produced until 1967, two decades after the alleged event.

Fox TV produced a programme debunking the video as a hoax a couple of years later and, in 2006, a British comedy movie called "Alien Autopsy" was released, on the subject of Santilli faking the autopsy footage, who was apparently involved in the movie's production, which if so would suggest that the autopsy footage was indeed faked.


The fossil that embarrassed British Paleontology

The so-called Piltdown Man was fragments of a skull and jaw bone found in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown in the English county of Sussex. The fragments were claimed by experts of the day to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early man.

From the British Museum's reconstruction of the skull, it was proposed that Piltdown man represented an evolutionary missing link between ape and man, since the combination of a human-like cranium with an ape-like jaw tended to support the notion then prevailing in England that human evolution was brain-led.

In 1953, 41 years later, the Piltdown man was finally exposed as a composite forgery: it consisted of a human skull of medieval age, the 500-year-old lower jaw of a Sarawak orangutan and chimpanzee fossil teeth. The identity of the Piltdown forger remains unknown.



The "Chess Machine" that fooled Napoleon

The Turk was a famous hoax which purported to be a chess-playing automaton first constructed and unveiled in 1769 by Wolfgang von Kempelen. He first exhibited the Turk at the court of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa in 1770, and later took it on a tour of Europe for several years during the 1780s. The Turk defeated prominent world-figures, such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin.

The cabinet had doors that opened to reveal internal clockwork mechanisms, and when activated the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent. However, the cabinet was a cleverly constructed illusion that allowed a chess master to hide inside and operate the mannequin. Consequently, it won most games.



The Martian invasion that frightened the World

The War of the Worlds, is a radio adaptation by Orson Welles based upon H. G. Wells' classic novel, was performed by Mercury Theatre on the Air as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938. The live broadcast reportedly frightened many listeners into believing that an actual Martian invasion was in progress. It has been called the "single greatest media hoax of all time", although it was not intended to be one.

Contemporary newspapers reported panic ensued, with people fleeing the area, and others thinking they could smell the poison gas or could see the flashes of the fighting in the distance. Several people reportedly rushed to the "scene" of the events in New Jersey to see if they could catch a glimpse of the unfolding events, including a few astronomers from Princeton University who went looking for the "meteorite" that had supposedly fallen near their school.

It is sometimes said that the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was first received in skepticism as a consequence of the radio performance. Amazingly enough, the drama has been rewritten to apply to other locations and rebroadcast, with similar results:

- A 1944 broadcast in Santiago, Chile caused panic, including mobilization of troops by the governor.

- A February 12, 1949 broadcast in Quito, Ecuador panicked tens of thousands. Some listeners, enraged at the deception, set fire to the radio station and the offices of El Comercio, the capital's leading newspaper, killing twenty people.


I also think this one deserves a mention:

The Cottingley Fairy Photos

One of the most elaborate hoaxes of the 20th century was the controversy over the Cottingley Fairy photographs. What made the ruse even more remarkable was that it involved Sherlock Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The story began in 1917 when two young English cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright told tales of playing with Fairies in a nearby glen. The girls repeatedly took photographs with Elsie's father's camera. The excuse for creating this hoax was allegedly the girls being angry at being lied to about the existence of Father Christmas. The girls repeatedly showed the photographs, which were taken on a single plate camera, to their parents and insisted that the fairies existed and this was the proof.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was now a Spiritualist, took a great interest in the photographs and urged the lecturer, Edward Gardner, to take them to the Kodak laboratory in London to be analyzed. Although two experts were unable to detect any evidence of doctoring in the photographs, a third found them to be "fake." Undeterred, Gardner gave the children another camera and they produced three more photographs of the fairies.

Doyle began publishing articles about the existence of fairies to a very skeptical public. Many people were surprised to see that the noted author could be so obviously duped. It was not very easy, however, to prove the photographs as lies. For one thing, no one was able to produce the photographs the girls allegedly superimposed on the prints. In addition, it was difficult to believe that two young girls would have the expertise to use a camera to devise such marvelous fakes.

Then, in 1983, the women admitted that the photographs were fake and that they withheld the truth until the death of Doyle and Gardner's son.

Still, no one understood what method the girls used to take the photographs. They promised to reveal their methods in books that they were writing about the phenomenon. Unfortunately, both of the women died before they finished the books and took their secrets with them to the grave.

Looking at the photographs today, it is difficult to believe how anyone would think they were real. Still, the idea of two young girls developing this elaborate hoax and using a camera which with they weren't familiar to incorporate the hoax seems fantastic. The Cottingley Fairies remain one of the greatest hoaxes of the 20th century as well as one of its greatest mysteries.

Steadwood said:

Mili Vanili

the us moon landing.

You can so clearly see that's a fake hand in the fairy shot.

Geraldo Rivera's "Al Capone's Vault" show. I can't believe I watched that entire mess.

angelcat said:

Perhaps you would then like to explain where the over 840 pounds of moon rock the astronauts brought back with them came from

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Hmmm just wondering have you seen, touched or studied it to know it's not a fake?

Imo there is more proof against the moon landing then for it. Also, why is it that no other astronauts have ever gone back..

U forgot one:..... The freed Negroe.

PanthaGirl said:

I have not personally touched or studied moon rocks, but it seems to be the general consensus of scientists and geologists worldwide that that the rocks are, in fact, the real deal. They are much older than the rocks found on earth, and they have no water trapped in the structure. They have been bombarded by meteoroids and exposed to cosmic rays, which is evident when examining them. As far as I know, there is no way possible to recreate such rocks on earth.
To my understanding, there are moon rocks on show at various museums, so you can go and check them out yourself

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Yah I'm aware of museums and such but have no interest in it for myself. Possibly because theoretically there are other explanations for the moon rocks. Perhaps they were found on Earth, it's more then a possibility that they hit the earths surface during a meteor shower. Who knows really and no one apart from the powers that be will ever really know the truth.

PanthaGirl said:

Between 1969 and 1972 12 different guys landed on the moon thats a lot of people in on the con

kpowers said:

endymion said:

endymion said:

Allegedly.

PanthaGirl said:

You're certainly entitled to your own opinion, but are you serious?



I always get a kick out of hearing people that think these things are some big conspiracy plot.

PanthaGirl said:

you can actually go and speak to these people as well as the ground crew involved in these missions

Now i am a cynical old git myself but why should we deny one of humanities greatest achievements

endymion said:

Yah I understand that you can speak to astronauts etc but I need something more solid then just that.

PanthaGirl said:

Those big space ship things are pretty solid as is the science behind the whole project

however as i didn't go there myself i can't really argue this point to your satisfaction anymore

PanthaGirl said:

Other than going there yourself what could you possibly be shown that would erase your doubts? lol...

Byron said:

hokie said:

well, I mean a dozen astronauts, dozens of high ranking NASA officials, hundreds of ground crewmen and control center personnel, videotape footage, rocks from other planets, and scientists and geologists from around the globe confirming the legitimacy of their claims would be enough to make me say "Ok, maybe they really did go there" lol

Byron said:

Don't have to explain it to me. I agree 100%. That's why you got the

hokie said:

I know, I was just reiterating lol

Byron said:

I know. Now I'm reiterating what you already reiterated.

Wait...what?

If man evolved from apes, how come there's still apes left on this planet? Two different DNA patterns, and have you ever heard of DNA shifting like that? One of the biggest hoax on the face of this earth. EVOLUTION.

Byron said:

succinct

nothing wrong with a little healthy debate!

now what about the JFK 'lone gunman' thing?