Article Era -> 1700-1799
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Death of Titan Leeds
Type: Hoax. Summary: A (fake) astrologer predicted the death of his rival. Poor Richard’s Almanac. Poor Richard’s Almanac was a yearly almanac written by a hen-pecked, poverty-stricken scholar named Richard Saunders. It first appeared in 1733, offering a collection of wit, poetry, as well as some prophecies. In its first…
Duckbilled Platypus
Type: Real creature suspected of being fake. Summary: When western naturalists first discovered the duckbilled platypus, they suspected it was a hoax. HOAX HAIKUThe bizarre creaureIn the river must be miffed,‘Cause he isn’t real(by J) Egg-laying mammal With duck-bill that doesn’t quack (Man that is so wack!) (by SP)Submit a…
Eighteenth-Century Literary Hoaxes
Type: Literary Hoaxes. Summary: The eighteenth century is regarded as the great age of literary forgery. During the eighteenth century literary fakes poured forth from the pens of writers. A number of factors contributed to this. First, this was the period during which print culture became ascendant over oral culture.…
Grahams Celestial Bed
Type: Medical Quackery. Summary: During the eighteenth century, James Graham advertised an “electric bed” as a cure-all. A practitioner of Electric Medicine at work. From Johann Gottlieb Schaeffer, Die electrische Medicin (Regensburg, 1766).James Graham was one of the most notorious quacks of the 18th century. He was also extremely popular,…
Great Chess Automaton
Type: Technology Hoax. Summary: Centuries before IBM built Deep Blue, Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen built what he claimed was a “thinking machine” that could play chess against human opponents. A woodcut of the Turk that accompanied Poe’s 1836 article. According to Poe it was a ‘tolerable representation’ of the automaton.…
James Macpherson and the Ossianic Controversy
Type: Literary hoax. Summary: An eighteenth-century schoolmaster claimed to have found poems written by a third-century Scottish bard. The poems were actually written by the schoolmaster himself. James MacphersonIn 1760 a young Edinburgh schoolmaster named James Macpherson (1736-1796) published a translation of ancient Scottish verse titled Fragments of Ancient Poetry,…
Jonathan Swift
Type: Satirist. Summary: Jonathan Swift penned some of the most famous satires (and satirical hoaxes) of the eighteenth century. Jonathan SwiftThe relationship between satire and hoaxing is complex. Satire is defined as the use of wit to expose stupidity or vice, whereas a hoax is a sensational act of deception.…
Madagascar or Robert Drurys Journal
Type: Undetermined. Probably not a hoax. Summary: There has been continuing debate about whether a popular tale describing survival in eighteenth-century Madagascar was truth or fiction. Ask your average eighteenth-century Englishman about the faraway land of Madagascar, and all you’d get was a blank stare. For the English, Madagascar was…
Patagonian Giants
Type: Rumor. Summary: A rumor that circulated in England in the eighteenth century suggested that Commodore Byron had discovered a race of giants in South America. “A sailor giving a Patagonian woman a piece of bread for her baby.”—Detail from the frontispiece to A Voyage round the World, in his…
Predictions of Isaac Bickerstaff
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoax. Summary: An astrologer learns that he has died. Insists it isn’t so. AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database The Almanac of Isaac Bickerstaff. Sometime in February, 1708 an almanac went on sale in London titled Predictions for the…
Silence Dogood
Type: False Identity. Summary: Sixteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin pretended to be a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood. View the Discussion Page for this topic. In 1722 a series of letters appeared in the New-England Courant written by a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood. The letters poked fun at various aspects of…
Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle
Type: Media Hoax. Summary: A false tale of brutal British military tactics circulated during the American Revolution. In 1782 a shocking letter was printed in the Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle. It alleged that Indian warriors were sending hundreds of American scalps as war trophies to British royalty and…
Thomas Chatterton
Type: Literary forgery. Summary: A young man in eighteenth-century England claimed to have found poetry by a fifteenth-century priest. The Death of Chatterton, Oil Painting by Henry Wallis, 1856As a young boy growing up in Bristol, Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) spent a great deal of time with his uncle, the sexton…
Trial of Polly Baker
Type: Literary Hoax. Summary: The story of a woman tried for giving birth to five children out of wedlock provoked widespread popular outrage during the eighteenth century. In 1747 the text of a speech delivered by a woman, Polly Baker, accused by British magistrates in a court in Colonial America…
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Articles in category "Era -> 1700-1799 ":
There are 14 articles for this category
Death of Titan Leeds
Type: Hoax. Summary: A (fake) astrologer predicted the death of his rival. Poor Richard’s Almanac. Poor Richard’s Almanac was a yearly almanac written by a hen-pecked, poverty-stricken scholar named Richard Saunders. It first appeared in 1733, offering a collection of wit, poetry, as well as some prophecies. In its first…
Duckbilled Platypus
Type: Real creature suspected of being fake. Summary: When western naturalists first discovered the duckbilled platypus, they suspected it was a hoax. HOAX HAIKUThe bizarre creaureIn the river must be miffed,‘Cause he isn’t real(by J) Egg-laying mammal With duck-bill that doesn’t quack (Man that is so wack!) (by SP)Submit a…
Eighteenth-Century Literary Hoaxes
Type: Literary Hoaxes. Summary: The eighteenth century is regarded as the great age of literary forgery. During the eighteenth century literary fakes poured forth from the pens of writers. A number of factors contributed to this. First, this was the period during which print culture became ascendant over oral culture.…
Grahams Celestial Bed
Type: Medical Quackery. Summary: During the eighteenth century, James Graham advertised an “electric bed” as a cure-all. A practitioner of Electric Medicine at work. From Johann Gottlieb Schaeffer, Die electrische Medicin (Regensburg, 1766).James Graham was one of the most notorious quacks of the 18th century. He was also extremely popular,…
Great Chess Automaton
Type: Technology Hoax. Summary: Centuries before IBM built Deep Blue, Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen built what he claimed was a “thinking machine” that could play chess against human opponents. A woodcut of the Turk that accompanied Poe’s 1836 article. According to Poe it was a ‘tolerable representation’ of the automaton.…
James Macpherson and the Ossianic Controversy
Type: Literary hoax. Summary: An eighteenth-century schoolmaster claimed to have found poems written by a third-century Scottish bard. The poems were actually written by the schoolmaster himself. James MacphersonIn 1760 a young Edinburgh schoolmaster named James Macpherson (1736-1796) published a translation of ancient Scottish verse titled Fragments of Ancient Poetry,…
Jonathan Swift
Type: Satirist. Summary: Jonathan Swift penned some of the most famous satires (and satirical hoaxes) of the eighteenth century. Jonathan SwiftThe relationship between satire and hoaxing is complex. Satire is defined as the use of wit to expose stupidity or vice, whereas a hoax is a sensational act of deception.…
Madagascar or Robert Drurys Journal
Type: Undetermined. Probably not a hoax. Summary: There has been continuing debate about whether a popular tale describing survival in eighteenth-century Madagascar was truth or fiction. Ask your average eighteenth-century Englishman about the faraway land of Madagascar, and all you’d get was a blank stare. For the English, Madagascar was…
Patagonian Giants
Type: Rumor. Summary: A rumor that circulated in England in the eighteenth century suggested that Commodore Byron had discovered a race of giants in South America. “A sailor giving a Patagonian woman a piece of bread for her baby.”—Detail from the frontispiece to A Voyage round the World, in his…
Predictions of Isaac Bickerstaff
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoax. Summary: An astrologer learns that he has died. Insists it isn’t so. AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database The Almanac of Isaac Bickerstaff. Sometime in February, 1708 an almanac went on sale in London titled Predictions for the…
Silence Dogood
Type: False Identity. Summary: Sixteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin pretended to be a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood. View the Discussion Page for this topic. In 1722 a series of letters appeared in the New-England Courant written by a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood. The letters poked fun at various aspects of…
Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle
Type: Media Hoax. Summary: A false tale of brutal British military tactics circulated during the American Revolution. In 1782 a shocking letter was printed in the Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle. It alleged that Indian warriors were sending hundreds of American scalps as war trophies to British royalty and…
Thomas Chatterton
Type: Literary forgery. Summary: A young man in eighteenth-century England claimed to have found poetry by a fifteenth-century priest. The Death of Chatterton, Oil Painting by Henry Wallis, 1856As a young boy growing up in Bristol, Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) spent a great deal of time with his uncle, the sexton…
Trial of Polly Baker
Type: Literary Hoax. Summary: The story of a woman tried for giving birth to five children out of wedlock provoked widespread popular outrage during the eighteenth century. In 1747 the text of a speech delivered by a woman, Polly Baker, accused by British magistrates in a court in Colonial America…
