Buzz
Since the dawn of human exploration and discovery, some individuals have taken to fabricating stories. Whether seeking fame, avoiding the embarrassment of being wrong, or simply enjoying the art of deception, these hoaxers have misled many throughout history.
Luckily, most hoaxes are not sophisticated enough to fool professionals. Researchers, historians, and scientists are typically quick to identify frauds, forgeries, and pranks. Yet, some hoaxes were so well-executed that they successfully duped experts and the public for many years.
10. Japanese Paleolithic Findings
Amateur archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura from Japan had a remarkable ability to uncover ancient relics. He was said to possess almost mystical powers, earning him the nickname “God’s Hands.” For two decades, his finds shed light on Japan’s prehistoric past.
Fujimura, a self-taught archaeologist, had explored over 150 archaeological sites across Japan. He unearthed signs of ancient shelters, intricate stone tools, and a trove of colored stones that were 700,000 years old. His discoveries hinted at a much more advanced early human species in Japan than previously believed, challenging the existing narrative of human evolution.
Any skepticism surrounding Fujimura’s findings was quickly shut down. A journalist caught wind of the doubts and secretly filmed him planting tools at a site, pressing the earth down with his foot. When confronted, Fujimura admitted to fabricating two discoveries. Upon further scrutiny of his major finds, Fujimura confessed to faking everything in 2000.
9. The Venus of the Turnip Patch
In 1937, a French farmer was plowing his field when his plow struck something unusually hard. Digging deeper, he uncovered a stunningly detailed marble statue. He immediately reported the discovery, and soon people began flocking to his farm to witness the find.
Upon hearing of the discovery, France’s minister of fine arts appointed a team of experts to examine the statue. Their research confirmed that the sculpture belonged to the neo-Attican period, a style of Roman art produced between 200 BC and AD 200. The statue was officially recognized as an ancient treasure, and the French government declared it a national monument.
Two years later, a local artist named Francesco Cremonese claimed to have been the creator of the statue, asserting that he had buried it himself. Cremonese believed his art was as valuable—if not more so—than anything displayed in museums, and he was frustrated that his work wasn’t receiving the recognition it deserved.
Most people dismissed Cremonese’s claim, but he invited his skeptics to his studio, where he showed them fragments of the statue that he had broken off before burying it. Experts carefully examined the pieces and confirmed that they matched the damaged sections of the statue perfectly.
8. The Description Of Britain
In 1747, English teacher Charles Bertram wrote to the renowned English antiquarian William Stukeley, detailing a 'curious manuscript history of Roman Britain by Richard of Westminster' that he had come across at a friend's house.
Stukeley sought a copy of the manuscript, and its contents greatly impressed him. The author had access to several lost original sources and demonstrated remarkable geographical knowledge, even crafting a detailed map of the British Isles during the Roman Empire. Bertram later published the manuscript, and historians and antiquarians hailed it as a groundbreaking work, The Description of Britain, revealing fresh insights into Roman Britain, including a previously unknown province, new place names, and additional details about early Christian martyrs in England.
For the next century, the text was regarded as a reliable and authoritative source on Roman Britain. However, in the mid-19th century, scholars began to notice that the document was written in poor Latin and referenced a modern book. The manuscript’s author is believed to have been Bertram, although the reasons for his forgery remain unclear.
7. Calaveras Skull
On February 25, 1866, a miner unearthed a human skull buried 40 meters (130 ft) deep. The skull was encased in volcanic deposits millions of years old, making it the oldest known human remains discovered in North America.
Josiah Whitney, the state geologist of California, affirmed the validity of the discovery. He estimated the skull to be between five and 25 million years old and argued that it provided evidence that humans, mastodons, and elephants had once coexisted in North America.
However, some scientists questioned the skull's age. The Calaveras Skull was fully modern in appearance and showed no signs of human evolution. If the skull were authentic, it would contradict the prevailing evolutionary theory of human origins.
Later, a miner admitted to having taken the skull from a Native American burial site and hidden it as a prank. Despite this, a portion of the public still clung to the belief that the skull was ancient. In 1907, a scientific test revealed that the skull was only 1,000 years old.
6. Walam Olum
In 1836, Constantine Rafinesque introduced the Walam Olum, also known as the Red Record, which recounted the history of the Lenape Native American people. The narrative begins with their creation myth and describes how the Lenape made their way into the New World, defeated a Midwestern mound-building society, and proceeded eastward. The tale concludes with the arrival of the first white men aboard ships.
Rafinesque asserted that his source was a set of wooden plaques adorned with Lenape symbols. He claimed these plaques had been given to him by a doctor, who had received them as a payment from a Lenape patient. However, after translating the plaques, Rafinesque lost them, leaving no physical evidence of their existence.
For many years, historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists accepted the book as an authentic account. In the 20th century, however, skepticism began to emerge regarding its authenticity. A scholar named David Oestricher embarked on a study of the document, interviewing elderly Lenape, who revealed that they had only recently heard about the book from anthropologists and archaeologists.
Oestricher then examined the manuscript itself and discovered that Rafinesque had consistently struck out Lenape words, substituting them with terms that more closely resembled his English "translation." This revealed that Rafinesque had originally composed the Walam Olum in English before attempting to translate it into Lenape.
5. Modigliani Sculptures
In 1909, Amedo Modigliani departed his hometown of Livorno after facing negative reviews from critics. Legend has it that before leaving, Modigliani threw several sculptures into a canal after his friends mocked his work.
In 1984, an exhibition of Modigliani’s works was organized to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. The exhibition’s organizer, along with the city council, decided to fund a search for the renowned missing sculptures.
After eight days of excavation, a carved bust was uncovered at the bottom of the canal. Within hours, two more were also unearthed. All three statues bore Modigliani’s signature style. Many historians and art experts believed these sculptures were genuine. However, one art historian argued that the sculptures were so rudimentary that, even if authentic, Modigliani had been right to discard them.
Later, three students came forward and admitted to creating one of the heads as a prank. A local artist confessed to crafting the other two, intending to mock art critics.
4. Drake’s Plate Of Brass
According to legend, Francis Drake placed a brass plaque after landing in California in 1579. In the early 1930s, Herbert Bolton, a renowned professor of California history, was eager to find the plate. He encouraged his students to search for it, but it remained elusive.
Four of Bolton’s friends, along with some fellow historians, decided to pull a prank on him. They created a design based on a detailed account of Drake’s voyage and engraved the text onto a brass plaque. They then concealed the plate near the supposed location of Drake’s landing.
A man came across the plate, stored it in his car, and later discarded it by the roadside. Three years later, the plate was rediscovered, and the finder presented it to Bolton. Bolton was convinced the piece was authentic "beyond all reasonable doubt," and he submitted it to the California Historical Society. The society was thrilled by the discovery, and they donated $3,500 to purchase the plate for the university’s library.
The plate soon became a prized museum artifact. It was showcased at the Smithsonian and toured globally, with reproductions presented to Lady Bird Johnson and Queen Elizabeth II, and it was even mentioned in textbooks.
The hoax remained undiscovered for over 40 years. In 1977, scientists revealed that it was a modern creation after it failed both physical and chemical tests.
3. Piltdown Man
In 1912, Charles Dawson, an amateur fossil hunter, sent a letter to Arthur Smith Woodward, the keeper of geology at the British Museum. Dawson informed him that he had discovered a piece of a human skull that could "rival" the German fossil jaw of Homo heidelbergensis, the first early human species to adapt to colder climates.
Dawson and Woodward excavated the site where the skull had been found. They uncovered several fragments of a human-like skull, an apelike jawbone, worn molar teeth, stone tools, and fossilized animals. They estimated that the individual lived approximately 500,000 years ago.
Dawson and Woodward shared their findings with the Geological Society of London, claiming that they had discovered the "missing link" between apes and humans, naming their discovery Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson’s dawn man).
The UK’s evolutionary research community warmly welcomed the discovery, as it placed the UK at the forefront of human evolution studies. The Piltdown Man was celebrated as a key missing link in human ancestry.
As the decades passed, more hominin fossils were uncovered, diminishing the importance of the Piltdown Man as the sole missing link. In 1953, the introduction of fluorine dating revealed that the bones of the Piltdown Man were not of uniform age and none were older than 720 years. Further investigation disclosed that the bones were a carefully constructed blend of human and ape bones, some of which had been deliberately altered and stained.
In 2016, experts revisited the Piltdown Man case and concluded that the hoax was likely the work of a single individual—Charles Dawson. Dawson, known for his occasional forgeries, sought recognition and acceptance within the scientific community in the UK. His ultimate ambition was to be elected to the Royal Society, though he had never been nominated—until the announcement of his Piltdown discovery.
2. The Charlton Brimstone Butterfly
In 1702, butterfly collector William Charlton sent a specimen to the well-known entomologist James Petiver. Petiver was overjoyed by the specimen, having never encountered a butterfly quite like it. He observed that it closely resembled the English Brimstone Butterfly, save for the distinct black spots and apparent blue moons on the lower wings.
In 1763, the naturalist Carl Linnaeus observed a butterfly and classified it as a new species. He named it Papilio ecclipsis, and it was featured in the 12th edition of his work, Centuria Insectorum.
Three decades later, entomologist John Christian Fabricius examined the butterfly and discovered it was a forgery. The black spots on its wings had been painted; what was thought to be a rare specimen turned out to be a common Brimstone.
Upon learning the butterfly was a fake, the curator in charge of the national curiosities at the British Museum, where the specimen was kept, was outraged and destroyed the specimen by stamping it to pieces.
1. Etruscan Terra-Cotta Warriors
John Marshall, an English archaeologist, was responsible for acquiring artifacts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Between 1915 and 1921, he purchased three terra-cotta warriors for the museum, praising them and declaring, “I can find nothing approaching it in importance.”
The statues were initially believed to have been crafted by the Etruscans around the fifth century BC. To verify their authenticity, the museum enlisted America's top ceramic expert. Neither the expert nor the museum’s classical art curators found any issues with the sculptures, and the works were accepted as genuine.
Displayed in 1933, the terra-cotta statues were celebrated as extraordinary examples of Etruscan art. Although a few scholars questioned their authenticity, and an Italian art dealer spread rumors about their possible forgery, the museum dismissed these concerns and rumors.
By 1960, the museum could no longer disregard the growing suspicions. Chemical analysis revealed the statues contained manganese, an element unknown to the Etruscans. Additional tests indicated that the statues had been broken before firing, explaining the fragments.
The statues were definitively proven to be forgeries the following year when Alfredo Fioravanti admitted his role in creating them. He even revealed that he had kept one of the statue's left thumbs as a souvenir.
