hoaxes

This story concerns an early draft document treasured as an authentic handwritten Galileo letter that is now demonstrated to be a modern forgery. FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/galileo-document-fake

Can anyone remember if FT ever published a story about a 'lost TV signal' hoax? The story goes that a programme (or test card) from a long-closed TV station re-appeared years later. Thanks.

Was reading in FT 385 about the new phenomenon of hoaxes where posters are put up warning of a deadly animal, like a snake, escaping and telling the public to look out for it. Seems most of these happen on the Continent (like in Germany), but may be happening elsewhere too (like in the UK)...

Bizarre flyers about 'screaming' noises and a 'beeping machine' coming from an 'illicit underground drug factory' have been posted all over Gloucestershire. The strange notice is titled 'please help' and has been stuck to lampposts and in some areas posted through people's doors. It has been...

Three strange emergency calls from a seemingly deserted house in a Texas town lead to a very strange case. The video is quite fair to all sides , both believers and skeptics.

Any takers? Exeter woman claims to have built time machine in her garage and is searching Gumtree for a travel companion A woman from a village near Exeter has claimed to have built a fully-functioning time machine in her garage – and is now looking for a partner to share the journey with. In...

http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/575070/Unseen-images-Roswell-alien-corpse-crashed-UFO-released-today

Scradje

Do you recognise this alien? According to a book I have by Jenny Randles, it's a German April Fool's hoax (ah, those wacky Germans), but it seems that she may have confused the photo with a similar one reproduced near the foot of that webpage. Now, I'm convinced that I've seen the 'monkeyman'...

"D'ya hear about the moon-bison?" How Twain and other writers pulled off elegant pranks against 19th century life science ... From 1835-1880, famous writers including Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe published dozens of hoaxes in American newspapers, many of them about discoveries in zoology...

"D'ya hear about the moon-bison?" How Twain and other writers pulled off elegant pranks against 19th century life science By Lynda Walsh [Published 2nd March 2007 03:10 PM GMT] It was September 1880, and the famous American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope was in Arizona, furiously digging...

Source Link is dead. The MIA article can be accessed at: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2005-04-25-0504220620-story.html I dunno - we go round and round discussing giant penguins here and elsewhere ... And I leave this hanging. Although in my defence it was covered back in the day...

Thought it worth having a general thread on this. Some more specific threads on potential fakes: Crystal skull: https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/crystal-skulls.394/ King Solomon's treasure: https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/king-solomons-treasure-is-fake.19581/ Jesus'...

This review was in the NEW YORK TIMES, book review section, 16 Jan 2005. You might be able to read an excerpt from the book if you go to www.nytimes.com (You have to register to get in, but its free.) Note: I'm not sure what they mean by "hairball." _________________________________ 'The...

time to confess about our australian "drop bears" According to legend, Drop Bears are dangerous creatures that hide in gum trees. You can tell if one of them is hiding in a tree by lying on your back beneath the tree and spitting upwards. If the Drop Bear is up there, it'll spit back...

Although it touches on other topics that come up here: Munchausen Syndrome Missing Persons (who aren't actually missing). It seems like a broader topic that might need its own thread. A report: requires (free) registration...

Cover article for FT181:30-36 and some news: http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_9513.shtml

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8569885%255E29677,00.html http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,2172,73211,00.html

There is a site about a C19th fake in New York State here: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NYCOOgiant.html

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/salvado.1272.html Quote "The fake El Salvador national football team fled the country Tuesday, three days before their scheduled departure, after they were sensationally exposed as impostors." They still managed a 0-0 tie, now they are off to Houston...

A recent book goes into the details of this trick and shows how it was actually made up to sell papers and span out of control from there. There is a great review in today's Guardian but they don't seem to put a lot of the weekend stuff online, however, I did find the earlier Obsever review...

It's amazing to think that a hoax deliberately started in the late sixties is still doing the rounds on the Internet. I'm of course referring to the notion that Paul McCartney in fact died in a car crash in 1967, to be replaced by a lookalike whilst a myriad of "clues" were hidden in subsequent...

Absolutely Hideous and Disturbing "Prank-Gone-Wrong" THREE CLEARED OVER 'JOKE' EMAIL TO KNIFE HORROR FATHER "Three workers have been cleared of forgery after sending joke emails about a fake business trip to a rival. The man later had a mental breakdown and stabbed his 12-year-old daughter to...

Does anyone remember a news report from the bbc about spaghetti trees, also on the first of April, it was in the days when spaghetti was considered rather exotic.

With April Fool's Day approaching, I've been wondering, what is the origin of this occasion. The French have something similar, don't they? What about other cultures? Carole

I always thought one of the strangest instances of Forteana was the case of the mysterious footprints appearing after a dense snowfall on February 7 and 8, 1855, in Devonshire, England. Then I see this occured in America a few years ago...

Anyone remember this? There was a very not-well-publicized thing a few years back about a collection of miniature, petrified elephants. They could fit in your hand. They have been Xrayed and have bones in them. I find this VERY intriguing, hoax or not, and I want one XD I remember...