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 accompanying map, titled De Situ Brittaniae, that detailed the layout of roads and settlements in Roman Britain.

The material caused a buzz of excitement amongst antiquarians because it revealed numerous Roman landmarks whose existence had not been previously known and suggested the existence of an entire unknown Roman province. But in fact, the map and manuscript turned out to be one of the greatest forgeries of the century. More→

In 1781 the Reverend Samuel Peters published a book titled A General History of Connecticut. The book included sensational details about "blue laws" that had supposedly once existed in Connecticut. In fact, there was no evidence such laws had ever existed. More→

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