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A Neglected Anniversary
Type: Journalistic Hoax. Summary: Text of an article detailing a false history of the bathtub. What follows is the complete text of Henry L. Mencken’s article “A Neglected Anniversary,” published in the New York Evening Mail on December 28, 1917. The article presents a false history of the bathtub. Details…
Cerne Abbas Giant
Type: Historical controversy. Summary: A famous chalk figure carved into the side of a hill in Dorchester, England may be an enormous seventeenth-century hoax. The Cerne Abbas Giant Deep in the heart of Dorchester stands the Cerne Abbas Giant. He’s a naked chalk figure carved into the side of a…
De Situ Brittaniae
Type: Historical Forgery. Summary: A fake map of Roman Britain fooled historians for over one hundred years. De Situ Brittaniae (click for larger version.) In 1747 word of a major new historical discovery reached England. Charles Bertram (1723-65), a 24-year-old English teacher in Denmark, had found an ancient manuscript and…
History of the Bathtub
Type: Hoax. Summary: A widely circulated tale claimed that Americans were initially reluctant to use bathtubs when they were introduced during the mid-nineteenth century. On December 28, 1917 the journalist Henry L. Mencken published an article in the New York Evening Mail titled “A Neglected Anniversary.” It described the curious…
Hitler Diaries
Type: Forgery. Summary: A fake set of diaries, supposedly written by Adolf Hitler, became one of the most costly forgeries in history. Gerd Heidemann (right) and Wolf Hess (left), son of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess, pose with a volume of the Hitler diaries. April, 1983. Table of Contents The Beginning:…
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,…
Melancholy Reflections
Type: Exposé of a journalistic hoax. Summary: Text of an article in which H.L. Mencken admitted inventing a false history of the bathtub. What follows is the complete text of Henry L. Mencken’s article “Melancholy Reflections,” published in the Chicago Tribune on May 23, 1926. In the article, Mencken admits…
Voynich Manuscript
A sample of untranslatable text from the Voynich manuscript The Voynich manuscript dates back at least to the seventeenth century, though it is possibly much older. It is approximately 240 pages long, and its pages are filled with hand-written text and crudely drawn illustrations. The illustrations depict plants, astrological diagrams,…
Vrain Lucas
Type: Forgery. Summary: The counterfeits of a successful forger strained credulity. Few accounts of forgery are as strange as the case of Vrain Lucas. Lucas’s career as a forger began in 1851 when he met the esteemed French mathematician Michel Chasles. Lucas showed the mathematician a few letters he claimed…
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Articles in category "Historical":
There are 9 articles for this category
A Neglected Anniversary
Type: Journalistic Hoax. Summary: Text of an article detailing a false history of the bathtub. What follows is the complete text of Henry L. Mencken’s article “A Neglected Anniversary,” published in the New York Evening Mail on December 28, 1917. The article presents a false history of the bathtub. Details…
Cerne Abbas Giant
Type: Historical controversy. Summary: A famous chalk figure carved into the side of a hill in Dorchester, England may be an enormous seventeenth-century hoax. The Cerne Abbas Giant Deep in the heart of Dorchester stands the Cerne Abbas Giant. He’s a naked chalk figure carved into the side of a…
De Situ Brittaniae
Type: Historical Forgery. Summary: A fake map of Roman Britain fooled historians for over one hundred years. De Situ Brittaniae (click for larger version.) In 1747 word of a major new historical discovery reached England. Charles Bertram (1723-65), a 24-year-old English teacher in Denmark, had found an ancient manuscript and…
History of the Bathtub
Type: Hoax. Summary: A widely circulated tale claimed that Americans were initially reluctant to use bathtubs when they were introduced during the mid-nineteenth century. On December 28, 1917 the journalist Henry L. Mencken published an article in the New York Evening Mail titled “A Neglected Anniversary.” It described the curious…
Hitler Diaries
Type: Forgery. Summary: A fake set of diaries, supposedly written by Adolf Hitler, became one of the most costly forgeries in history. Gerd Heidemann (right) and Wolf Hess (left), son of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess, pose with a volume of the Hitler diaries. April, 1983. Table of Contents The Beginning:…
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,…
Melancholy Reflections
Type: Exposé of a journalistic hoax. Summary: Text of an article in which H.L. Mencken admitted inventing a false history of the bathtub. What follows is the complete text of Henry L. Mencken’s article “Melancholy Reflections,” published in the Chicago Tribune on May 23, 1926. In the article, Mencken admits…
Voynich Manuscript
A sample of untranslatable text from the Voynich manuscript The Voynich manuscript dates back at least to the seventeenth century, though it is possibly much older. It is approximately 240 pages long, and its pages are filled with hand-written text and crudely drawn illustrations. The illustrations depict plants, astrological diagrams,…
Vrain Lucas
Type: Forgery. Summary: The counterfeits of a successful forger strained credulity. Few accounts of forgery are as strange as the case of Vrain Lucas. Lucas’s career as a forger began in 1851 when he met the esteemed French mathematician Michel Chasles. Lucas showed the mathematician a few letters he claimed…