From alien autopsies to teleportation and the Gates of Hell, these hoaxes fooled millions of people.
As far as we know there're millions of supernatural occurrences out there that we cannot explain for sure (unless you're a skeptic). Day in and day out we find something new mostly around the web or by someone claiming to have had some sort of experience. Whether it's big foot making a comeback for the thousand time, maybe it's aliens or anything remotely ghostly caught on tape, as much as we want to believe we don't know for sure if it's the real deal or someone hoaxing it in order to get their 15 minutes of fame. Some of the cases down below are notably known for fooling a lot of people, while some believers still claim that they are nothing but true.
1. The Cottingley Fairies
Between the months of July and September of 1917 in Cottingley, West Yorkshire England, two young girls Frances Griffiths (12) and her cousin Elsie Wright (16) claimed that were able to interact, play and even take pictures of real life fairies and a gnome (who didn't like photographs). The young duo produced a total of 5 photographs claiming the existence of the benevolent beings, dressed in Paris fashion gowns and green, mauve and pink transparent wings. These pictures along with the girls became an overnight sensation, thanks in major part to writer and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes). Being a big supporter and believer in the spiritual world, he fell for the scam and even went as far as to write a book about it (The Coming of the Fairies 1922) and soon thereafter he left to Australia for a lecture tour. When he came back, he was the laughingstock of the press. Conan Doyle couldn't believe that such scheme had been fabricated by two young girls, but most importantly why?
In regards to the well-documented evidence that proved that the images were nothing but a fabrication of the girls, Mr. Doyle was still a firm believer of the existence of the beings. It was long after his death when the pair decided to come clean about their hoax and explained the reason behind it, which was to get back at adults for laughing at them in the first place when they had mentioned they really had encountered fairies. They also mentioned they didn't admit this to Doyle to avoid embarrassment. Until his death, he was still a firm believer in the spiritual world.
2. Ghostwatch
Before the big hype of found footage films and documentaries such as the famous Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, back in 1992 a documentary/film entitled 'Ghostwatch' premiered on BBC for a special Halloween night only. Now referred to as a reality horror/mockumentary, the film revolves around a team of BBC reporters performing a live, on-air investigation of a house said to be inhabited by a 'poltergeist' in Northolt, Greater London. The premise of the show was that like of any other current 'ghost show' on TV: Go inside the house, investigate, interview neighbors and the family that lives there, try to make contact etc.
While getting to know the house, its tenants and the backstory of it all, they stumble upon the 'ghostly' presence of a malevolent spirit that goes by the name of 'Pipes' (the children often asked their mother, what the noises were and she always replied 'oh it's the pipes,' hence the name). As the program goes on, viewers learn that the spirit belongs to a psychologically disturbed man called Raymond Tunstall. He believed he was being disturbed by the malignant spirit of a "baby farmer" turned child killer from the 19th century. Almost at the end, the reporters suddenly realize that the program might be working as some sort of 'seance' and things start to go awry. Finally, the spirit decides to unleash its power by dragging the host behind a door, then setting himself free and taking control over the BBC studios and transmitter network along with possessing the other host in the process.
The whole thing turned out to be fake when they led people to believe that it was being recorded live and all the occurrences going on were real when in actuality they had filmed on set locations and used FX weeks in advance. The people were clamoring and eager that night to try to figure out what in reality was going on. The BBC switchboard received an estimated 30,000 calls in a single hour, and let's just say people weren't too fond of the hoax.
