Top 10 Famous People Who Didn’t Actually
Exist 10. Masal Bugoluv It seems that every few years, rumors arise
about mysterious athletes in obscure countries whose talents are guaranteed to change the
future of sports. One of the most recent examples concerned
Masal Bugoluv, a supposed 16-year-old soccer prodigy from the small eastern European country
of Moldova. News of the phenom first broke on soccer blogs
and forums, where Bugoluv was described as a surgical striker who already played for
the Moldovan national team. Soon enough, the mainstream soccer media—known
the world over for their tendency to play fast and loose with the facts—had picked
up on the story. The popular website Goal.com posted news about
the player, and in early January of 2009, even the Times of London was on board, listing
Bugoluv as “Moldova’s finest” and linking him with a possible move to the famous English
club Arsenal. But the more the rumors about “Massi”
began to heat up, they more they became suspect. After some background checking and research,
a soccer blogger named Neil McDonnell was able to prove the truth: Masal Bugoluv didn’t
exist. In fact, the whole media whirlwind was all
a hoax allegedly perpetrated by an Irishman who was fed up with the glut of fake information
circulated during soccer’s transfer season. In order to test just how unreliable media
outlets were, he’d decided to invent his own player. With the help of fake Wikipedia articles,
blog posts, and falsified reports from the Associated Press, he created a cult following
for what turned out to be the greatest soccer player who never was. 9. Pierre Bressau At some point we’ve probably all looked
at a piece of modern art and thought: “anybody could have painted that.” In 1964, Swedish journalist Dacke Axelsson
actually put this claim to the test. In what has come to be a famous hoax, he took
a series of paintings by a chimpanzee named Peter, a ward of the local zoo, and began
circulating them around Sweden as the work of an unknown French artist he called Pierre
Bressau. In order to put art critics to the test, Axelsson
chose a few of Peter’s best paintings and set up an exhibition in Gothenburg. Sure enough, the mysterious Mr. Bressau was
hailed by some as a bold new talent. One writer even claimed that the work showed
all the signs of “an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer.” Surprisingly, once the paintings were revealed
as the work of a primate, none of the art critics retracted their praise. In fact, Rolf Anderberg, the critic who’d
been Bressau’s biggest champion, insisted that Peter’s work was still the best thing
at the exhibition. Of course, not all the critics fell for Axelsson’s
ruse. One writer reportedly remarked that “only
an ape” could be responsible for the paintings. 8. David Manning Film fans and critics often rail against so-called
“quote whores”—reviewers who are willing to write a positive notice for any movie as
long as the studios wine and dine them enough—and David Manning of the Ridgefield Press was
seemingly one of the worst. Around 2000, his glowing reviews frequently
appeared on the posters for such universally loathed films as The Animal (“another winner!”)
and Hollow Man (“stupendous!”). Manning would have been a running contender
for America’s worst working film critic, save for one key detail: he didn’t exist. As it turned out, a marketing executive at
Sony had invented Manning as a tool for building positive press for films released by the corporation’s
subsidiary Columbia Pictures. Newsweek discovered the deception when a reporter
contacted the Ridgefield Press, a small weekly paper in Connecticut, only to discover that
no one named David Manning had ever worked there. The incident proved to be a major black eye
for Sony’s marketing division, and a spokesperson for the studio would later claim they were
“horrified” by the whole episode. Not only that, but it also cost them as much
as $1.5 million after two moviegoers in California sued the studio, saying that the phantom film
critic had unfairly lured them into seeing bad movies. 7. Allegra Coleman These days, there are plenty of people who
are famous for not really doing anything, so it only seems fitting that someone could
become a celebrity without ever actually existing. Allegra Coleman was a fake starlet invented
by journalist Martha Sherrill. As part of a large-scale media hoax, in 1996
Sherrill wrote an article for Esquire declaring Coleman to be “Hollywood’s Next Dream
Girl.” She even got model Ali Larter, not yet famous,
to pose as the “actress” on the magazine’s cover. The article contained all the usual celebrity
hi jinks, from battles with the paparazzi over supposed nude photos to a rocky relationship
with actor David Schwimmer. Sherrill intended the article to be a satire
of the “puff pieces” that fill so many gossip magazines, but it was also telling
about the way Hollywood works: even after the whole affair was revealed to be a hoax,
publicists and agents were still frantically trying to sign Allegra Coleman to their agencies,
and the whole episode ended up jumpstarting Ali Larter’s acting career. 6. Sidd Finch Legendary journalist George Plimpton is famous
for trying out for the Detroit Lions and sparring with Sugar Ray Robinson, but one of his most
memorable stunts was the creation of a phantom baseball player. In April of 1985, Plimpton engineered one
of the all-time greatest April Fools’ Day hoaxes when he published an article in
Sports Illustrated detailing the arrival of baseball’s next super star, an unknown pitcher
called Hayden “Sidd” Finch. The piece stated that Finch was a mysterious
28-year-old who’d spent time studying at Harvard and searching for inner peace in the
Far East. He’d never played organized baseball before,
but thanks to an unorthodox wind-up that gave him the ability to throw the ball an unbelievable
168 mph, he was considering signing up with the New York Mets. Plimpton’s article went on to discuss Finch’s
many eccentricities, which included wearing only one hiking boot when on the mound, playing
the French Horn at a professional level, sleeping on the floor, and speaking in cryptic Zen
koans. The article was accompanied by pictures of
Sidd Finch—played by an unknown high school teacher named Joe Berton—hanging out with
other Mets players like Lenny Dykstra and talking to coach Mel Stottlemyre. After a brief uproar of fascination and disbelief—Sports
Illustrated received almost 2000 letters about the story—the magazine announced that Finch
had held a press conference announcing his retirement from baseball. A week later, they finally came clean about
the hoax. 5. Pope Joan One of the most famous Popes of all time is
the one that modern day scholars believe probably didn’t exist. Pope Joan was a figure who was once believed
to have served as Pontiff for a few years around 853-855 A.D. Her story first appeared in the 13th century
writings of a Dominican Friar called Jean De Mailly, and for centuries it was a well-known
legend in Europe. The tale came in many forms, but the most
popular version described Joan as pious and brilliant woman who, after disguising herself
as a man, rose quickly through the ranks of the Catholic Church and was chosen as Pope. Her reign supposedly came to an end when,
while riding on horseback one day, she suddenly fell ill and gave birth to a child. Here the story takes many different turns:
some versions say she died in childbirth, others say natural causes, and others still
say that an angry mob murdered her. While historians have found enough evidence
to reject the idea that Pope Joan ever really existed—some have claimed that the tale
originated in a satirical story about Pope John XI—there’s no denying her legend
played a major part in the religion of the Middle Ages. Religious scholars and popular writers like
Boccaccio often made references to her, and there are reports of statues of her being
erected. The legend persisted for several hundred years,
and it took until 1601 before Pope Clement VIII officially denied the story. 4. lonelygirl15 The internet has long been a breeding ground
for hoaxes and alter egos, and lonelygirl15 is perhaps the most famous example. The name refers to the YouTube handle of a
16-year-old girl named Bree who started posting video blogs on the site in 2006. At first, the videos were nothing more than
the online diary of an average high-school student, complete with quirky effects and
complaints about how boring her hometown was. Lonelygirl15 quickly became a hit, and was
eventually the most popular channel on YouTube. But after a few episodes, Bree’s growing
fan base began to be suspicious over whether the videos were a hoax. A number of websites and forums soon sprang
up, and amateur detectives began poring over the videos looking for clues and inconsistencies. It didn’t take long before it was discovered
that “Bree” was in fact Jessica Rose, a 19-year-old L.A.-based actress, and that
her YouTube account was actually a carefully scripted media hoax designed to eventually
expand into a full-fledged television show. The whole episode briefly made lonelygirl15
a cultural phenomenon, and the show continued for a further two years, eventually taking
on a quasi-sci-fi plot that featured a sweeping narrative and multiple characters. The character of “Bree,” once considered
by many to be a real teenager, was killed off of the show in 2007. 3. Tony Clifton Comedian Andy Kaufman was famous for playing
with audience expectations by mixing performance art and mysterious alter egos into his stand
up. One of his most famous creations was Tony
Clifton, a washed-up, vulgar, and often-drunk lounge singer who served as the opening act
for Kaufman’s comedy gigs. With his terrible singing voice, confrontational
attitude, and tendency to forget his lyrics, Clifton summed up every stereotype of the
aging Vegas entertainer, and he soon became a popular character. After it surfaced that Clifton was actually
being portrayed by Kaufman in costume and makeup—something both men denied—Kaufman
enlisted both his brother and his friend Bob Zmuda to portray the character on stage in
order to further the illusion that he and his creation were separate people. Tony Clifton was soon making appearances on
everything from David Letterman’s late night show to Dinah Shore’s talk show, where he
was famously thrown out of the studio for dumping a plate of eggs on the host’s head. He was even slated to appear as a special
guest on the sitcom Taxi, but was kicked off the set for being disruptive. Kaufman died in 1984 without ever revealing
the truth about the character, and even today it’s not widely known how many times he
actually appeared as Clifton, or how many times an accomplice stepped into the role. The gruff lounge singer has continued to make
appearances since Kaufman’s death, which has only furthered the illusion that Tony
Clifton is actually a real person. 2. Alan Smithee Director Alan Smithee has enjoyed a long and
varied career, which has seen him make everything from feature films to television pilots, cartoons,
and music videos. He’d be one of Hollywood’s most prolific
filmmakers if not for one key fact: he doesn’t exist. Since 1968, directors who wish to have their
name removed from the credits of their films have used the name “Alan Smithee” as a
pseudonym. Alan Smithee was first employed by Don Siegel
on the film Death of a Gunfighter, and it’s since been used whenever a director feels
that their creative control over a film project has been compromised to the extent that the
final product is no longer their work. With this in mind, Alan Smithee now has 73
directorial credits on the website Internet Movie Database, including such lamentable
productions as Hellraiser: Bloodline and Solar Crisis, along with TV projects including episodes
of The Cosby Show and MacGyver. Mainstream directors like Michael Mann and
Paul Verhoeven have also used the credit in instances where movies like Heat or Showgirls
are significantly edited for exhibition on television. The Director’s Guild of America officially
abandoned Alan Smithee in the late nineties, after the release of a film called An Alan
Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn drew unwanted attention to the name. Since then, unhappy filmmakers have chosen
their own pseudonyms, but others continue to use Alan Smithee as a sort of tribute. In fact, since 2000, the phantom director
has racked up a further 18 film credits. 1. Prester John There might be more well known entries on
this list, but none of them had the same influence on world politics, religion, or exploration
as Prester John, a mythical king who was once believed to have presided over a Christian
empire in Asia. His legend dates back to the 12th century,
when it arose as an amalgam of adventure stories, true histories of Christian missionaries,
and the exploits of Alexander the Great. Prester John and his kingdom became a true
sensation in 1165, when a letter supposedly written by him began circulating around Europe. According to these fantastical sources, Prester
John was a direct descendant of one of the Three Wise Men. His kingdom, which was suspected to be in
India or the Middle East, was seen by the Europeans of the time as a shining light of
civilization in a region that was viewed as exotic and barbarous. Prester John himself was believed to be a
kind and wise man who ruled over an empire of great wealth, and his kingdom was often
said to include such wonders as the Fountain of Youth and even the Garden of Eden. Despite little evidence of his existence,
the legend of Prester John persisted for several hundred years, and for a time he was even
linked with the Mongol warlord Genghis Khan. It would take until the 1600s before academics
and travelers were able to prove that Prester John was nothing but a myth, but in the interim
the legendary king had managed to affect everything from religion to world trade. Not only had missionaries stepped up their
efforts in Asia and Africa in the hope of discovering Prester John’s kingdom, but
explorers like Magellan were encouraged to seek out new lands in the hope that they might
one day stumble upon the mythical ruler.
