
← Weird History21 Aug · 22 min
The Great Moon Hoax, The Cardiff Giant, and The Fairy Photographs That Fooled Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
<p>Three famous hoaxes show how manufactured evidence can become powerful when it borrows the authority of something real. In rural Yorkshire, two cousins took photographs that seemed to show fairies near a stream, and the images eventually won the support of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. In New York in 1835, a penny newspaper reported that a celebrated astronomer had discovered forests, animals, temples, and winged humanoids living on the Moon. And in 1869, workers digging a well near Cardiff, New York, appeared to uncover the petrified body of a ten-foot ancient giant, creating a public spectacle so successful that P. T. Barnum made his own counterfeit version of the counterfeit.</p><p><br></p><p>This podcast uses artificial intelligence in its research, writing, production, and narration. Episodes are editorially reviewed before publication.</p><p><br></p><p>#WeirdHistory #TheCottingleyFairies #TheGreatMoonHoax #TheCardiffGiant #GreatMoonHoax</p><p><br></p><p>YES OR NO: Would you have suspected these three hoaxes at first?</p>