25 Hoaxes That Had Us Fooled

did you know you can't say the word gullible without touching the top of your mouth with your tongue it's true and you just tried to do it didn't you it's funny how easily duped we can all be even when things are technically true so although hindsight is 20/20 and you might know that all these hoaxes are proven false don't get too high and mighty we're all susceptible to being fooled I'm Michael this 25 and from Jackalopes two alien autopsies here are 25 hoaxes that had us fooled [Music] 25 the balloon boy on October 15 2009 Richard Mau mahine launched a helium-filled balloon to float the atmosphere and claim that their son Falcon was inside it the media reported that the balloon shaped like a silver flying saucer was traveling at altitudes of 7,000 feet after a further investigation authorities discovered that Falcon was hiding in their attic the whole time 24 the Fiji mermaid mermaids have always haunted the imagination of humans so in 1842 PT Barnum decided to exploit this curiosity and exhibited the remains of a creature believed to be half mammal half fish many people bought the story but in reality the mermaid was nothing but the head and torso of a baby monkey sewn to the tail of a fish and covered in paper mache 23 the Jackalope tall tales spoke of a species of killer rabbits with deer antlers known as the Jackalope many people claimed and believed that the female Jackalope could be milk lost sleep and then it's milk could be used for medicinal purposes Jackalopes were believed to efficiently mimic any sound including the human voice it's been established however that no such creature exists and that stories of Jackalopes may have been inspired by rabbits infected with the show papilloma virus which causes antler like tumors in various parts of the rabbits body 22 the Mars hoax an email circulated in 2003 claiming Mars will appear as large as the full moon to the naked eye on August 27 2003 it didn't happen The Hulk circulated again in 2005 up until 2012 the 2003 hoax stem from a misinterpretation of data stating the earth was only about fifty five million seven hundred fifty eight thousand kilometers away from Mars the closest distance between the two planets since September 24th fifty-seven thousand 617 BCE 21 the Microsoft hoax in 1994 it was reported that IT company Microsoft had acquired the Catholic Church rumors started going around that people would be able to take communion through their computer silly yes but let's not forget that this happened in 1994 back when people were none the wiser about how the internet works the Microsoft hoax owns the title as the first hoaxes that reached the masses through the Internet 20 Pacific Northwest tree octopus given the Latin name octopus packs or bolus the Pacific Northwest tree octopus was rumored to be an endangered species of cephalopod living both on land and in water it fooled many until it was proven that the tree octopus was an Internet hoax created by Lyle zapato in 1998 I want to see the tree octopus fight the drop bear that's what I want 19 the pickled dragon in December 2003 David Hart claimed he found a jar with a reptile like winged creature immersed in formaldehyde he then showed it to his friend Alistair Mitchell who runs a marketing firm in Oxford together they told the press that the jar and its contents came with documents stating it was submitted by German scientists to the Natural History Museum in the late 19th century it turned out that the whole thing was a hoax purported by Mitchell to promote his upcoming novel 18 the Piltdown man stories about bone fragments of the fossilized remains of an unidentified early human began circulating in 1915 the fragments were said to have been found in Piltdown East Sussex and were subsequently named Piltdown man the hoax was exposed when it was that remains were a fabricated combination of the lower jawbone of an orangutan and the skull of a fully developed modern human 17 the Cottingley fairies in 1917 Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths took photos and claimed they had shots of some real fairies Elsie's father Arthur never believed the photos were real at that time famous writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote an article for the standard magazine which vouch for the authenticity of the photographs in the 1980s the girls admitted the four photos were fake however Francis insisted that the fifth and final picture was real and maintained this claim up until the time of her death 16 psychic surgery in a nutshell psychic surgery is a supposed surgical procedure involving the use of their hands it's believed the pathological matter causing the disease is removed without the aid of medical equipment and that the incision spontaneously heals the US Federal Trade Commission has thankfully dismissed psychic surgery as a form of medical fraud 15 the left-handed whopper in 1998 Burger King published a full-page ad in USA Today publicizing the launch of a brand-new item the left-handed whopper especially created for the 32 million left-handed Americans the new edition comprised just the same ingredients as the original whopper but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers people actually got very excited about the new item but several day later Burger King confirmed that it was nothing more than a playful hoax 14 the rabbit mother in 1726 Mary Toth became the subject of controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she gave birth to rabbits following skepticism from the medical world Toph was brought to London where she became the subject of an extensive study later Toft confessed to the hoax and was sent to jail for fraud 13 the tourist guy shortly after the 9/11 attacks a photo of a guy on top of the World Trade Center became an Internet sation the photo was supposedly taken a few seconds before the plane hit the tower it was later discovered that the picture was edited and was in fact taken in 1997 12 the alien autopsy a man named Ray Santilli claimed that he was able to obtain footage from the US military and it was supposedly linked to the Roswell UFO incident in 1947 the story convinced numerous people until 2006 when Santilli confessed that the alien was a mere sculpture and that animal parts were used to make the autopsy appear authentic 11 the Hitler Diaries in April 1983 German magazine dare Stern paid 10 million German marks to acquire what was believed to be Adolf Hitler's diary the hoax was uncovered within two weeks when they found out that the diaries were written using modern ink and paper the culprit Konrad Kuja was a forger of Hitler's works he was subsequently sentenced to 42 months in prison 10 lonely girl 15 lonely girl 15 was a massive YouTube sensation back in 2006 the videos featured a girl named Bree who was going through teen drama perpetuated by obsessive parents and a cocky boyfriend soon viewers noticed the professional editing touches of the videos and gave rise to doubts about lonely girls authenticity as a real-life video blog it was later revealed that Bree was 19 year-old American New Zealand actress Jessica Rose lonely girl 15 was created by filmmakers mesh Flinders Miles Beckett and Greg good freed 9 blond extinction in 2002 through 2006 reports that natural blondes would become extinct by 2200 began circulating this was reported as fact by credible media such as the BBC and a Sunday Times the World Health Organization later issued a statement saying that no such study about the extinction of the blonde gene has been conducted reducing the reports to nothing but a hoax aid Nibiru many claimed a planet called Nibiru would collide with earth in 2012 causing widespread action NASA debunked this claim saying it had no factual basis Nibiru and other stories about other planets colliding with earth are nothing but Internet hoaxes seven balled for Beaver fans of Justin Bieber shaved their heads in support of the palm star after false reports claimed he was diagnosed with cancer the lengths crazy fans would go to show their love six Facebook shutting down last March remember started spreading the Facebook was shutting down supposedly because founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted his old life back millions of users around the globe started a panic and began saving their photos and other relevant information like crazy the rumor was later debunked by a facebook spokesperson and we all heaved a collective sigh of relief five find Kara in 2012 a 16 year old girl tweeted that there was someone in her house a few moments after her last tweet she disappeared 34,000 people retweeted her and the hashtag help find Kara trended worldwide police officers soon reported that the girls staged her own kidnapping understandably many people felt disgusted by this seemingly cheap call for attention for Raelians a cult known as the Raelians claimed that they had created the first human clone the girl named Eve according to the group's leader Rael their ultimate goal was to achieve immortality the claim was confirmed to be a hoax when the group failed to show proof of the cloned child 3 crop circles crop formations have been long associated with alien sightings and are believed to be phenomena plaguing the Earth's farmers for centuries contrary to popular belief crop formations actually date back about 30 years their existence remained a mystery until September 1991 when Doug Bower and Dave Chorley came forward and confessed to creating the crop circles as a ploy to make people believe that aliens are about to invade the earth to Idaho the US state with a made-up name possibly the only state named to a hoax lobbyist George Will suggested the name Idaho for the new territory claiming it meant gem of the mountains in a Native American language it was eventually discovered that he had made up the term but the name stuck one The Amityville Horror in 1974 the family in Amityville New York was murdered by the youngest son butch DeFeo after a year George and Kathy Lutz together with her three children moved in and soon reported that they experienced demonic attacks they later collaborated with Jay Anson a novelist who peppered their story with embellishments the novel was subsequently made into a movie several years later defeos lawyer confessed that he and the Lutz's fabricated the entire story so what's your favorite hoax let us know in the comments below or tweet your answer to us at least 25 enjoying our lists be sure to click that subscribe button on the bottom right and the notification bell so you don't miss out on new ones every Monday through Friday share them with friends and help us consistently conciliate curiosity and if you want even more lists check out these videos here or just head to our website at lists 25 calm [Music]

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Keywords: List25, list 25, top 10, top 25, Hoaxes That Had Us Fooled, hoaxes, hoax, scary hoaxes, famous hoaxes, TV hoaxes, balloon boy hoax, fiji mermaid hoax, jackalope hoax, mars hoax, microsoft hoax, pickled dragon hoax, piltdown man hoax, amityville horror hoax, crop circle hoax, find kara hoax, bald for bieber hoax, nibiru hoax, blonde extinction hoax, joke, pranks, best pranks, biggest pranks, biggest rumors, internet rumors

Id: rS2OGpT0fag

Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 04 2018