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You can't believe everything that you read. Or hear. Or see. Or taste? No, I take that
back. You can believe what you taste. (lick tape) What I'm saying is question everything!
Because sometimes people will lie to you on purpose just to mess with the world and get
famous. And sometimes, it works. People believe them. Ha, stupid trustworthy people.
The Cottingley Fairies. In 1917 five photographs were released to the world showing two young
English girls posing with real life fairies. Do we have a picture of that? No, not that
one. Yeah that one. The photos eventually found their way to Sherlock Holmes creator
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote an article about their authenticity. He was a believer,
as were many others. However, it wasn't until 1978 that these pictures were debunked. Really?
1978? People still believed these were real in 1978? The girls finally confessed in 1981
saying they were paper cutouts. Yeah. No crap. I'm actually a little disappointed in Arthur
Conan Doyle.
Fiji Mermaid. The Fiji Mermaid was the first mermaid displayed in public. To be more specific,
it was a, whatchamacallit? Oh yeah. The mummified remains of a mermaid. PT Barnum toured the
United States in 1842 showing off his archeological wonder, and people loved it. It was the talk
of the town. However, it was straight up fake. It was actually the top half of a baby monkey
sewn onto the lower part of a fish. Gross. People believed anything back then. Maybe
that's how John Tyler got elected president. Bam! Take that Tyler. Ya prick.
The Cardiff Giant. One of the most famous hoaxes in American history, the Cardiff Giant
was a 10-foot tall stone man found buried in Cardiff, New York. People came from miles
to take a look at what they thought was a biblical giant mentioned in Genesis. Well,
it wasn't. It was a gypsum statue created by a local tobacconist who stained it to appear
old and buried it. Then, he hired some guys to dig a well and, what do ya know, they found
a giant! He started charging people to see it and eventually sold the fake giant to a
man named David Hannum. Out of jealousy P.T. Barnum created his own fake giant. When people
paid to see PT's giant, Hannum was quoted as saying "there's a sucker born every minute."
Boom, you've just been fun facted.
And you know there are more hoaxes out there ya'll. The Turk was an 18th century hoax where
a futuristic chess-playing robot turned out to have a human chess expert hiding inside.
The Piltdown Man was a skull of an ancient man that was actually the jawbone of an orangutan
attached to the skull of a regular dude. Sports Illustrated did a cover story on Sid Finch,
an unknown pitcher who could throw a 168 mph fastball, the article was published on Aprils
1st, 1985. Oh. And in 1957 a BBC news program did a segment about a Swiss town that grew
spaghetti in trees. The television report came out on April fools and in fact, fooled
a lot of people. A lot of dumb, dumb people.
To watch an episode on unbelievable things that actually turned out to be true watch
our video on amazing survival stories.
Or if you're in the mood for more hoaxes, check out real celebrity names. Don't forget
to subscribe and tell your friends. I just hope they believe you.