Hoax Museum Blog: History

Antebellum Island — antebellum islandThe Onion has a good parody of the Reality TV genre: Antebellum Island. It's a new 'alternate reality' show, supposedly being aired by CBS, set on an island on which the South won the Civil War. The show's motto is 'Secede, Suppress, Survive.'
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003.   Comments (0)
Princess Caraboo — BBC Legacies, the BBC's new website for exploring local history, is doing a feature this month on Local Legends, and has put up an article about one of Bristol's local legends, Princess Caraboo (though perhaps legends is the wrong word to describe the Princess, since she was quite real, though not a real Princess). It's a good article, and they were nice enough to link back to the Museum of Hoaxes in a sidebar.
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003.   Comments (0)
Vinland Map — According to a new study, the Vinland Map (that map of North America drawn by ancient Vikings) may be genuine.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2003.   Comments (0)
Hitler Hoaxes — Mixing together some content that had been on the site before, with a little stuff from my book, I just created a small gallery of hoaxes involving Adolf Hitler. He was a strange man, and he inspired some strange hoaxes.
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003.   Comments (0)
Hi-Brazil — When I was writing up the book version of The Museum of Hoaxes, there were quite a few hoaxes that, for one reason or another, I had to leave out. I went so far as to write up descriptions of many hoaxes that I later had to cut from the book, in order to keep the book's length manageable. All these discarded hoaxes have been sitting on my hard drive for over a year now, but I've decided to put them all up here on the website. I should have done it sooner, but laziness got in the way. So over the next few weeks I'll be adding these hoaxes to the site. For the first hoax I'm going all the way back to the 1600s to the legend of the magical island of Hi-Brazil, and the man who claimed that he had actually found the island.
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003.   Comments (0)
Cardiff Giant — At the Farmer's Museum in upstate New York this weekend they're celebrating the Cardiff Giant's 134th birthday with a birthday cake contest. It seems to me they're celebrating his birthday a little early. I thought he was discovered on October 16, 1869. But I'm not one to split hairs over something like that. I just wish I was there.
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003.   Comments (0)
A Fake at the Smithsonian — 19th century gold bar on display at the Smithsonian turns out to be a fake.
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
San Diego Faux History — Being a San Diegan I appreciated this hoax history of San Diego from the San Diego Hysterical Society.
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003.   Comments (0)
Happy Birthday, P.T. Barnum! — America's greatest showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum, born July 5, 1810, celebrates his 193rd birthday today. Happy Birthday, Barnum! In his autobiography Barnum had this to say about his birthday:
My first appearance upon this stage was on the 5th day of July, Anno Domini 1810. Independence Day had gone by, the cannons had ceased to thunder forth their remembrances of our National Anniversary, the smoke had all cleared away, the drums had finished their rattle, and when peace and quiet were restored, I made my debut. This propensity of keeping out of harm's way has always stuck by me.
Barnum was responsible for many hoaxes. Among his more famous ones were Joice Heth (billed as the oldest woman in the world) and the Feejee Mermaid. But he's probably best remembered for the circus he established later in his career, following his stint as a museum proprietor.
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003.   Comments (0)
The Taughannock Giant — July 4, 1879 a giant stone man (weight: 800 pounds; height: seven feet) was unearthed near Ithaca, New York (suspiciously close to Cardiff, New York). He was soon dubbed the Taughannock Giant. The stone man was described by a commentator as "a human figure lying on its back, arms nearly straight and the legs crossed at the ankle... well proportioned with the exception of the feet, which appear more like those of an ape." Scientists pronounced it an authentic fossilized man. In reality, it was the handiwork of one Ira Dean who had carved it in his basement. For the complete story, check out the Taughannock Stone Man Web Page created by Dan Dickinson, Jeff Dennis, and Ben Land.
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2003.   Comments (0)
The Hitler Diaries — An interesting comment from a visitor about the Hitler Diaries:
Dear Alex, The most tell-tale and overlooked detail about the Hitler Diaries being fake you do not mention in your article, although it makes the complete affair all the more funny:
On the front cover were two metal letters, supposedly the initials "A H" for
Adolf Hitler, in an old German Gothic lettering. The funny part being that
ridiculously neither Gerd Heidemann nor any other from the *Stern* staff nor
the experts they consulted saw that the "A" was actually an "F".
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
Hoaxes from the Philippines — Here's an interesting discussion of some historical hoaxes from the Philippines, specifically those perpetrated in the early twentieth century by Jose E. Marco, a philatelic forger.
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003.   Comments (7)
Utah town celebrates Viking origin — Come next April (2004) the town of Cedar City, Utah will be celebrating the Festival Royale of Himmelsk, a four-day event to honor the group of Vikings who founded the town in 956 AD. The entire story of this strange festival is told here. (Thanks to Lansin Carmean for forwarding this story to me).
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
Princess Caraboo Parking Lot — I've just learned from a resident of Bristol that the gravesite of Princess Caraboo is soon going to be paved over and turned into a parking lot. It seems a poor way for Bristol to treat one of its most famous historical figures. I found one page protesting the planned parking lot.
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003.   Comments (1)
Great Wall of China Hoax — This day in hoax history. June 25, 1899: The Great Wall of China Hoax.
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003.   Comments (0)
Mein Kampf Sequel — It turns out that Hitler wrote a sequel to Mein Kampf, and unlike the infamous Hitler Diaries, it's not a hoax. It's soon going to be published in an English translation. This NY Times article about it also contains a good summary of the Hitler Diaries hoax.
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003.   Comments (0)
Brother of Jesus — The box that some people claim once contained the remains of the brother of Jesus has been determined to be a fake.
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003.   Comments (0)
Yehoash Tablet — The "Yehoash Tablet" found in Israel last year turns out to be a fake.
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003.   Comments (0)
Laramie Kid Hoax — More about the Laramie Kid Hoax. I just received an email from the Long Riders guild alerting me to the great series of articles they have on their website, fully debunking the claims of Frank Hopkins (aka the Laramie Kid). Hopkins claimed to have been one of the great horse riders of all time, including among his accomplishments winning a 3000 mile horse race across Arabia on a mustang called 'Hidalgo.' In October 2003 Disney will be releasing a film based on this supposed event, starring Viggo Mortensen as Hopkins. It is claiming the movie is 'based on the true story of Frank Hopkins.' But as the Long Riders Guild demonstrates, none of Hopkins' claims were true. There's no evidence that he won ANY races at all. It's not clear he even rode horses. Other sources have also been picking up on the Laramie Kid Hoax, including the Billings Gazette (which I linked to previously).
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
Electric Kite Hoax — MAJOR HOAX NEWS: Historian Tom Tucker argues in a recent book that Benjamin Franklin's story about flying a kite in a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was a form of electricity was actually a hoax. Franklin never did the experiment. I'm going to order a copy of Tucker's book (which will be released in a week or so) to read the full argument for myself, but if true, then I guess I can add the 'electric kite hoax' to the list of Franklin's other hoaxes.
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
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