1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: I'm to bling a chocolate boarding and I'm fair out. 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: And we just talked about the famous radio hoax on 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: a recent podcast, the nineteen thirty eight War of the 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: World's Broadcast. But hoaxes in general were around long before that. 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: A lot of experts believe that the seventeen hundreds, also 8 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: known to some as the Age of Enlightenment, gave birth 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 1: to them. Doesn't really make sense, doesn't know it doesn't 10 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: I mean you would think that around that time it 11 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: would be all about reason thinking really hard. Yeah. Absolutely, 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: But I like the way that Alex Berza, who is 13 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: the curator of the online Museum of Hoaxes, he actually 14 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: calls himself a hoax Burt, which I love hoax. He 15 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: put it this way in an interview with a history 16 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: magazine in two thousand nine. He said, quote, in order 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: to be able to perceive a hoax, one needs to 18 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: see the world in terms of a contrast between reason 19 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: and ignorance, fact and fiction, and that way of thinking 20 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: only clearly came into focus in the eighteenth century. So 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: we're going to take a look at some hoaxes throughout history, 22 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: not necessarily broadcast ones like the War of the Worlds, 23 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: but ones that fooled a lot of folks just the same. 24 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: And we promised we're not pulling any hoaxes on you. 25 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: All of these are true historical hoaxes. Yes, not this time, 26 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: not this time. So our first one is Cottingly Fairies, 27 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: and it started with two little English girls named Frances 28 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: Griffith's and her cousin, Elsie Wright, And they were a 29 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: couple of cousins and they were basically just trying to 30 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: put one over on their parents, as kids sometimes do. 31 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: They were ten and sixteen years old at the time, respectively, 32 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: and so in nineteen seventeen, the two of them used 33 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: to play at the Rights home and Cottingly, which was 34 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: in West Yorkshire, and Francis would often come back home 35 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: after a day of play soaking wet after falling into 36 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: the brook on the property, and the parents weren't really 37 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: pleased with this. They'd grill the girls what happened? Why 38 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,559 Speaker 1: do you keep falling into the brook all the time? 39 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: And the girl's explanation was that they went down close 40 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: to the water to hang out with the fairies that 41 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: were there naturally, right, naturally, so the parents also naturally 42 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: weren't buying this at all. So the girls asked to 43 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: borrow a camera, and they produced two photos kind of 44 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: as proof of their adventures, one with Frances looking toward 45 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: the camera and a little troop of fairies kind of 46 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: prancing around in front of her, and the second had 47 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: Elsie entertaining a gnome. So Arthur right after this pretty 48 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: much he didn't believe them at all. He quit loaning 49 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,959 Speaker 1: the girls his camera. So the incident was all but 50 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,799 Speaker 1: forgotten until the summer of nineteen nineteen. And that's when 51 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: Arthur's wife, Polly Right, she was pursuing an interest in 52 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: the occult and a supernatural at the time, and she 53 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: attended a lecture hosted by the local Theosophical Society, which 54 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: they come up from time to time in these podcasts. 55 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: I've noticed, yeah, whenever we talk about spiritualists and so forth. 56 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: But she mentioned the fairy photos when she was there, 57 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: and among the people to show a special interest in 58 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: these photos was none other than Arthur Conan Doyle, our 59 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: old friend yes from the who was the real Sherlock 60 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: Holmes podcast. Yeah, so Conan Doyle is of course most 61 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: famous for for that Sherlock Holmes connection, but he was 62 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: also a famous spiritualist at the time too, and a 63 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: believer in the supernatural. It was very important to him, 64 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: and so he wanted to check out this whole fairy 65 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: photo thing because he was conveniently enough working on a 66 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: piece about fairies for the Strand magazine. And I think 67 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: you mentioned it was a quite serious, scholarly piece. It 68 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: wasn't a piece of Conan Doyle's typical fiction. No, it 69 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: wasn't fiction at all, and that's why he wanted to 70 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: make sure he had proof before he wrote about this. 71 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: So he may have had a few doubts of his own. 72 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: So he personally visited the girls and Cottingly along with 73 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: Edward Gardner, another leading spiritualist, and they brought their own 74 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: cameras along, and they asked the girls to take a 75 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: couple more photos for them, just to be sure before 76 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: he wrote this piece. And they had taken some measures 77 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: at this point to like marking the plates just so 78 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: things couldn't be tampered with. Yeah, they wanted to be 79 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: extra sure that what they were getting was authentic. But 80 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: apparently the test wasn't too hard, because the girls passed 81 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: it pretty easily, and some people accepted the photos as genuine, 82 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: just as conn and Doyle and Gardner did. Others, including 83 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 1: Elsie's father, author Right, remain skeptical about it. One commentator 84 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,839 Speaker 1: put it this way, He said, quote for a true 85 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 1: explanation of these fairy photographs, what is wanted is not 86 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: a knowledge of occult phenomena, but a knowledge of children. 87 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: So we see that it didn't take much for a 88 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: lot of people to get to the bottom of this, 89 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: And some skeptics also pointed out how much the sprites 90 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: looked like cut out illustrations from a nineteen fifteen children's book. 91 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: So that's probably the first thing you'd think too, if 92 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: you saw these pictures today, which you can by looking 93 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: for them online, they look like nice, little romantic illustrations 94 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: of fairies. Yeah, and some people point out that what 95 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: we see to day, if you do happen to google 96 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: the photos or whatever, you'll notice that these are the 97 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: enhanced versions of the photos. So the original photos may 98 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: have been a little easier to believe, but probably not 99 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: that much. But Conon Doyle did believe this, and in 100 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: fact died believing this, and it wasn't until that the 101 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: girls finally confessed that four out of five of the 102 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: photos were fakes. According to a two thousand four piece 103 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: in British Heritage, Francis said of the most famous photo quote, 104 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: my heart always thinks when I look at it, when 105 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: I think of how it's gone all around the world. 106 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: I don't see how people could believe they're real fairies. 107 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: But there's one more thing to add to that quote. 108 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: While the girls did admit that most of the photos 109 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: were faked, they never admitted that the fairies were imaginary, 110 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: and to her dying day, Francis swore that the final 111 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: photo was real. So well, an interesting little twist for 112 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: the end of this hoax, yeah maybe leaves us a 113 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: little something to wonder about maybe maybe, yeah, depending on 114 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: how you look at it. So our next hoax involves 115 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: a historical animal, which I know is a favorite topic 116 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: of many listeners, and this one, of course reminded me 117 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: of the Mr. Ed theme song too. I couldn't help 118 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: but humming into my head or singing in my head 119 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: the whole time I was researching this. But around the 120 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: turn of the twentieth century, this truly remarkable horse caught 121 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: the world's attention. And his name was Clever Hans, and 122 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: he was owned by a school teacher named wilhelms On Austin. 123 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: And this horse wasn't I mean, he really made Mr 124 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: Ed look pretty low key with all of the stuff 125 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:43,720 Speaker 1: he could do. He could do addition and subtraction, multiplication, division. 126 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: He could also select any color named to him from 127 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: choosing among a group of different colored cloths. And he 128 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: couldn't talk and sing like Mr Ed could, but he 129 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: could communicate by stamping his hoof on the ground. So 130 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: if you said, for example, what is twelve divided by three? 131 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: You would get four hoofs stamps. Yeah, and we're gonna 132 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,599 Speaker 1: just twist things entirely here. Put it to a new level. 133 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: Hans could even read minds. You didn't have to ask 134 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: him a question out loud. You could put the question 135 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: to him mentally and he would still get it right. 136 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: And to to add even further to this, it didn't 137 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: have to be Von Austin who was asking the question. 138 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: Anybody could do it and the horse would still get 139 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: the answers right. So it wasn't just a simple matter 140 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: of a trainer who had secret cues with his animals. 141 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: So After initially causing this great sensation in Germany, which 142 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: is where Hans lived, he started to get international coverage 143 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: when this team of experts they were called the Hans Commission, 144 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: examined him to determine if von Austin was perpetuating some 145 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: kind of fraud somehow or enough because people were suspicious 146 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: of this, right, they thought it was a hoax. Yeah, 147 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: people were very suspicious. This was not within the normal 148 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: realm of horse abilities, and the experts were pretty prominent men. 149 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: There was a circus proprietor and army captain, the director 150 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: of the Berlin Zoological Gardens, of veterinary surgeon, and other 151 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: guys who were just really familiar with horses and with 152 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: horse training and would be able to presumably tell if 153 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: something fishy was going on. And after they did their work, 154 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: there was a headline printed in the New York Times 155 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: on October twod nineteen o four, which read expert commission 156 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: decides that the horse actually reasons. So it really was 157 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: global news. Yeah, But even more than that, they determined 158 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: that the horse was not trained in in the traditional ways. Instead, 159 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: Von Austin's techniques were more like those used to teach children, 160 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: which makes sense since he is a school teacher. But 161 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: some people still weren't convinced by this, and one man, 162 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: Oscar Funkst, got Von Austin's permission to come in and 163 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: investigate the horse, and after some pretty serious examinations, he 164 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: learned two things. One, the horse could only answer questions 165 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: in which the answer was all already known to the questioner, 166 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: so you can ask, what is twelve divided by three? 167 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: But maybe not some more outrageous piece of division. And 168 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: he could also only answer unless he could see the questioner. 169 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: And so clever Hans was used to being questioned with 170 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: somebody right in front of him. If he stood by 171 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 1: his side, he'd try to move his head so he 172 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: would be looking at you faith on, and if he 173 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: had blinders on, he couldn't answer the question at all. 174 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: So this gave fools some ideas about the limits of 175 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,599 Speaker 1: Hans's ability, Right, okay, so what did this mean? It 176 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,679 Speaker 1: suggested basically that there were some sort of unconscious movements 177 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: coming from the questioner, and sure enough, when he looked 178 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: more closely, he found that nearly every test question or 179 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: would ask a question and then bent his head forward, 180 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 1: which made the horse start tapping and then as soon 181 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: as the correct number of taps had occurred, the questioner 182 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 1: would jerk up his head and the horse would stop. 183 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: So Funks found that while almost everyone made these movements, 184 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: hardly anyone was aware of it. Yeah, so this makes 185 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: it kind of a hoax, but kind of not in 186 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: a way. People were suspicious of it. That's very hoax like, 187 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: But it seems like nobody was trying to perpetuate fraud, 188 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: as we'll see in most of our other hoaxes. So 189 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: Folks published a book on his findings in nineteen eleven, 190 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: and it got a really glowing review from the New 191 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: York Times. Although I liked that, the article also noted 192 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: quote it detracts nothing from the merit of his being 193 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: clever Hans achievements and leaves him as wonderful a horse 194 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: as he was before. I e. We still love you know, 195 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,679 Speaker 1: we still love Hans. We still think he's great. And 196 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: today you might still see mentions of Clever Hans. When 197 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: you're reading about animal psychology or articles about animal intelligence research, 198 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: you'll see something sometimes called the Clever Hans effect. And 199 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: it's something that researchers have to be very careful of 200 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 1: that they are not either willingly misleading the animal or 201 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 1: giving some sort of subcon just cues, or doing it 202 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: without even being aware of it. So this actually led 203 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: to something kind of useful. Yeah, it dead lead to 204 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: something useful, unlike our next entry, which just led to 205 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: a very peculiar hoax craze for a few decades there. 206 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: It started in eighteen sixty nine when a couple of 207 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: well diggers in Cardiff, New York made this startling find 208 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: while digging a well in the property of William stub Newell. Yes, 209 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: after hitting stone three ft down and clearing off the 210 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: top soil, one of them recognized a foot and he said, quote, 211 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: I declare some old Indian has been buried here. So 212 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: there was an ancient burial here, at least that's what 213 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: it seemed. But pretty soon they realized that it wasn't 214 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: just the skeleton of a normal man. It was ten 215 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: ft long and clearly the remains of some sort of 216 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: ancient giant. So Newell got right to work marketing this 217 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: fine try and make some money off of his farm. 218 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: He set up a tent and charged admission for people 219 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: to come and take a peek at the so called 220 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: Cardiff Giant, and he bumped it up after attendance was 221 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: so good he bumped it up to fifty cents, and 222 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: people were coming from all over the area to gawk 223 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: and marvel at this strange stone man. Yeah. Here's how 224 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: the first president of Cornell, Andrew White, described his own visit. 225 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: He said, quote lying in its grave, with a subdued 226 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: light from the roof of the tent falling upon it, 227 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: and with the limbs contorted as if in a death struggle, 228 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: it produced a most weird effect. An air of great 229 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:44,679 Speaker 1: solemnity pervaded the place. Visitors hardly spoke above a whisper. 230 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: Sounds pretty cool, doesn't except that White even himself realized 231 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: that the skeleton was clearly made from stone. He actually 232 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: realized it wasn't even a very good carving, and that 233 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: the two well diggers had would have had no reason 234 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 1: to dig in that very spot, suggesting some sort of 235 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: planned fraud. Very suspicious. So we have to backtrack a 236 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: little bit to eighteen sixty six to figure out what happened. 237 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,959 Speaker 1: And that's when a New York cigar maker named George 238 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: hall Or Hole got an idea. He was an accli 239 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: Iowa investigating his brother in law for a late payment 240 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 1: on a large shipment of cigars, and while he was 241 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: there he got into an argument with the Methodist revivalist 242 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 1: over giants, and he later spent the night quote wondering 243 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: about why people would believe these remarkable stories in the 244 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: Bible about giants, when suddenly I thought of making a 245 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: stone giant and passing it off as a petrified man. Okay, 246 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: so that's probably not where most people's train of thought 247 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: would go after that argument, but he really runs with 248 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: it once the once the thought strikes him, but he 249 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: knows that he can't make the giant close to home 250 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: because it's got to be secret. It's obviously a ten 251 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,560 Speaker 1: foot stone giant. I think it weighed about three thousand 252 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: pounds all said and done, would cause quite a sturf. 253 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,319 Speaker 1: So in eighteen sixty eight he hires some guys to 254 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: quarry a block of gypsum from Fort Dodge, Iowa, and 255 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: just so they don't talk and so it stays secret, 256 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: he tells them that it's for some sort of new 257 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: Lincoln monument that's going to be going up, and from 258 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 1: there he has his giant block of gypsum shipped to 259 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: Chicago and carved again in secret by a German stone cutter. 260 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: I think he's he's paid money and sworn to secrecy. 261 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: In fact, finally, the finished statue was sent on a 262 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: train to Cardiff, where Hole met up with his cousin 263 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: Stubbed Newell, and the men buried it on the farm. 264 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: So they waited about a year I think to dig 265 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: it up right, just so it could get some authentic 266 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: dirt scenes around it and and look convincing enough. But 267 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: there's a good plan if you if you're going to 268 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: go through all the trouble, you might as well put 269 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: in that extra year to make it work. But once 270 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: the giant was on earth, of the story didn't last 271 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: that long. Newell even told some people that it was 272 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: a hoax, which seems like a really bad idea if 273 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: you're trying to make fifty cents ahead on your farm. 274 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: But Whole realized he would have to lock somebody into 275 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: buying this giant get a large amount of money up 276 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: front before the story broke the fraud, so he sold 277 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: the giant to a businessman named David Hannum for twenty 278 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: three thousand dollars, and Hannum took it on the road 279 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: as kind of a syndicate show. It caught the attention 280 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: from there of P. T. Barnum again, our old friend. 281 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: He just pops up all the time. He offered to 282 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: buy the giant for fifty thousand dollars and hand him refused. 283 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: So Barnum, who isn't going to be thwarted by not 284 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: possessing the quote authentic giant, decided to build his own 285 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: replica and had an agent go to Handhem show make 286 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: them covert wax models. And of course all the newspapers 287 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: were running stories about the Cardiff Giants, so he had 288 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: all of the measurements ready to go, and Um just 289 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: started touring his own plastered giant. It did really really well. 290 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: To hand him though, is pretty dismissive of this plastic 291 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: copy of Barnum's and all of those who paid to 292 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: go see it. And he even said there's a sucker 293 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: born every minute, which is obviously painfully ironic to hear that. 294 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: But my favorite part of this is that it started 295 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: kind of a petrified man trend, right, did well? I mean, 296 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: it's easy to see how it would too if if 297 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: you could make so much money off of having a 298 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: petrified man in your backyard. But for a few decades 299 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: there there were lots of petrified men turning up giants 300 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: or just normal size, and Mark Twain even wrote a 301 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: little newspaper article a spoof of finding a petrified man, 302 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: and it got picked up by real outlet. So um. Yeah, 303 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: for a for a few years there there was a 304 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: rush and petrified men, and then they lost their cachet, 305 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: you know, yeah, you know, Well, that's what happens when 306 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: you find a hoax that works, you tend to see 307 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: it kind of over run into the ground. But I 308 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: have to say this next one on our list is 309 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: one Sarah that I'm really glad did not catch on. 310 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: It is about a woman named Mary Toft, and it's 311 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: a medical hoax that's been called the top fraud of 312 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: the Enlightenment. It started when an englishwoman named Mary Toft, 313 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: who was a mother of three already, had a miscarriage 314 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: around September of About a month after that, she and 315 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: her husband Joshua Toft sent for the doctor, who in 316 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: this case was a male midwife named John Howard, because 317 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: she was having these full on labor pains. And after 318 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,679 Speaker 1: she called in John Howard, she gave birth to a 319 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: dead skinned baby rabbit and then proceeded to continue giving 320 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: birth to dead rabbits at the rate of about one 321 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 1: per day, and Howard claimed that he could even feel 322 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: and see these baby bunnies jumping in the womb before 323 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,200 Speaker 1: they died. I know he could see. He claimed that 324 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 1: you could see kind of the bedclothes move over her stomach, 325 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: and that it would shake the bed sometimes so this 326 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: dead bunny would come out. Yeah, not pleasant at all. 327 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,199 Speaker 1: So obviously people are skeptical of the story, and so 328 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 1: people wouldn't think that he was lying. Howard put out 329 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: an open invitation for other doctors to come check out 330 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: the situation, maybe even deliver a rabbit for themselves, and 331 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 1: see the truth in this pretty invasive yeah it was. 332 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: But several people took him up on that, including Nathaniel 333 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 1: Saint Andre, a surgeon from Switzerland and also the personal 334 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: surgeon of King George. The first we have to mention 335 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: though St Andre had an interesting resume before he got 336 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: into the doctoring business, which maybe makes it so he 337 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: wasn't the most qualified person to be the public face 338 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: of this. He was originally a dancing and a fencing instructor. 339 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: Kind of a strange backstory for him. That is definitely odd. 340 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: But what's perhaps most surprising about this whole story in 341 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: general is that how many doctors were convinced that the 342 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 1: births were real. I mean, it wasn't just St. Andre, right, 343 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 1: it was some other people too, who really thought that 344 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,400 Speaker 1: this was happening. As a kind of proof of this phenomenon, 345 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: St Andre didn't experiment in which he put the organs 346 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: of the bunnies in water, and it's unclear I guess 347 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: as to why that actually provided any proof, but it 348 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: was supposed to have been century doctors. Some doctors were skeptical, though, 349 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,719 Speaker 1: including a Sir Richard manning Ham. And to figure out 350 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: what was going on once and for all, Mary was 351 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: brought to London and put under a twenty four hour watch, 352 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 1: which pretty soon put a stop to these strange births. 353 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: Then they discovered a porter trying to smuggle a rabbit 354 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 1: into Mary at her hotel. Her sister, who was kind 355 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: of playing nurse to her at the time. She also 356 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: confessed to this, but claimed that they were bringing the 357 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: rabbit into her for eating purposes only, not for birthing purposes, 358 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,199 Speaker 1: which sounds pretty fishy. Yeah, it didn't look good to 359 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: say the least, but Mary, just if you were giving 360 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: birth to rabbits, would you really still be eating them? 361 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: That is a very good by. I mean, if you're 362 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 1: going to think this out a little bit, that's a 363 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 1: good point, Sarah, I would think that you wouldn't want 364 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: to eat meat in general. But apparently she didn't have 365 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,199 Speaker 1: a problem with that while she was staying in London, 366 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:10,919 Speaker 1: but she did still claim even after that instant that 367 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,680 Speaker 1: she was telling the truth. Finally, though, they had to 368 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: resort to threatening her. They said, basically they would do 369 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 1: a painful procedure operate on her the next time she 370 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: was about to go into labor. Instead of just letting 371 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 1: the bunnies be born, they would they would do an 372 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 1: operation and examine her uterus. And so at that point 373 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: she finally confessed the whole thing was a scam to 374 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: get a pension and and live easy for the rest 375 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: of her life. Specifically, she said quote, her goal was 376 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: to get so good a living that I should never 377 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: want as long as I lived, Which is another strange 378 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: thing to think about, that you would be pensioned for 379 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: the very act of giving birth to baby bunnies. Yeah, well, 380 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: it's strange to plan that as a way. I think 381 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: to get your your fortune in your future. But she 382 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: didn't work alone. She said an accomplice helped her get 383 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: the animal parts in return for part of the potential profits. 384 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: So someone else may have been involved here, maybe multiple 385 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,239 Speaker 1: someone else's. Her husband was probably part of it, at 386 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: least a little bit. He I think was implicated in 387 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 1: getting it was found that he had purchased for rabbits. Yeah, 388 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 1: so Mary was charged as a quote to vile, cheat 389 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: and impostor and thrown in jail, but she was later 390 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: released and the doctors didn't come out of it very well. 391 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:29,400 Speaker 1: Many of their reputations were ruined, and a popular purchase 392 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: in the early eighteen hundreds in England was a book 393 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,360 Speaker 1: of writings about Toft, which was bound in of course 394 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 1: rabbit skin and one more note about these bunnies. Even 395 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,679 Speaker 1: though Mary Toft apparently did not lose her appetite for 396 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:49,119 Speaker 1: rabbit meat while perpetuating this fraud, a lot of people 397 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: in England did, and rabbit stew took a little nose 398 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,479 Speaker 1: dive in popularity for for a short time after this fraud. 399 00:21:57,119 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: So it's clear that the people of England knew. The 400 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: story of Mary Toft was definitely a hoax. But the 401 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: last story on our list is one that is still 402 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,440 Speaker 1: sort of in question. People have called this a hoax 403 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: for years, and it's cited as a common example of 404 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:14,880 Speaker 1: a hoax, but there are still some people who think 405 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 1: that it might be true. So here's the basic story. 406 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: It all started in Newark, Ohio in eighteen sixty when 407 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: a local county surveyor and amateur archaeologists named David Wyrick 408 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: was excavating some of the huge earthen mounds in the 409 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: American Midwest. And you may recall us talking about this 410 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: these quite recently in the Cohokia podcast, But most people 411 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,879 Speaker 1: believe that these mounds were the work of pre Columbian 412 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: native civilizations. However, a common belief during this time period 413 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: that we're talking about right now was that the mounds 414 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: were built by the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. I 415 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: think we we even mentioned that in the Khokia we 416 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: may have. They were believed to have vanished after being 417 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,639 Speaker 1: captured by the Assyrians. But Wyrick was a supporter of 418 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: this theory, and that's kind of what made what happened 419 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: next very suspicious, all Right. So Wyrick was digging near 420 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,640 Speaker 1: New York's fifty acre Octagon Mound in eighteen sixty when 421 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: he discovered the keystone, which was the first of the 422 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: holy stones in the shallow Hole. And the keystone is 423 00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: basically a polished wedge shaped piece of sandstone, and it 424 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: has Hebrew inscriptions on all four sides, and they read 425 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,920 Speaker 1: the Laws of Jehovah, the Word of the Lord, King 426 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: of the Earth, and the Holy of Holy. So this 427 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,879 Speaker 1: was really really big news because some people thought that 428 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,879 Speaker 1: it finally confirmed the ten Lost Tribes theory. Other people thought, well, 429 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: maybe it's not an ancient Hebrew text, maybe it's a 430 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:49,760 Speaker 1: Masonic keystone because of that shape and everything. It didn't 431 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: take long though, for some people to just call it 432 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: out as an outright fake. Yes. Charles Whittlesey, for example, 433 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: a noteworthy ohio archaeologist, he thought that it was neither 434 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 1: mace son I nor Jewish, but a relatively modern artifact. 435 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: The Hebrew, for example, was thought to be too modern 436 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: to be authentic to be from that previous time period 437 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 1: when the Lost Tribes would have been around. So that 438 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: November Wyrick gets a little bit more evidence. Maybe he 439 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,160 Speaker 1: discovers another stone, the Decalogue Stone, and the Jackson Town 440 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: Stone Mound, which is a few miles southeast of Newark, 441 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: and it's found in case in a custom made stone box. 442 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 1: Sounds pretty cool, yeah, And it's shaped like a tombstone 443 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: that's intricately carved all over with Hebrew letters that convey 444 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: an abbreviated form of the Ten Commandments, so completely different 445 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: from the keystone. On the front side, the inscription lines 446 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,640 Speaker 1: an arch that frames the image of a man named Moses, 447 00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: and the style of Hebrew was some unique archaic style. 448 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: They couldn't quite place that. It wasn't the modern style 449 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: that they found on the keystone, but it wasn't also 450 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: ancient Hebrew, right It wasn't what they knew to be 451 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: an ancient Hebrew style that was recognizable. So many people 452 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,880 Speaker 1: thought the was a fraud right away too, had too 453 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: many scriptural mistakes and a lack of patina that made 454 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,679 Speaker 1: people very suspicious. Should have left it in the ground 455 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: for longer, like the Cardiff Giant, But it is book 456 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: fantastic archaeology. Steven Williams says that the stones feel every 457 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: possible archaeological test. Their inscriptions are the only ones of 458 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: their kind known and are not correct for the time period. Others, though, 459 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: we're wondering, if ancient Hebrews were present in the America's 460 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,199 Speaker 1: why can't we find evidence of their settlements? So not 461 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,439 Speaker 1: just like why can't we find their their stones and 462 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: their inscriptions, but why can't we find anything from their settlement. 463 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: It's a good question. One problem with the stout about 464 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: the stones, though, is trying to figure out, Okay, if 465 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:49,480 Speaker 1: they're not real, who made them. Of course, some people 466 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,600 Speaker 1: thought it could be Wyrick. I read that before Wyric's 467 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: death he actually wondered himself if somebody had fooled him. 468 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: So it seems unlikely that he would bring that up 469 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: if he didn't want to put suspicion on himself. So 470 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,640 Speaker 1: archaeologist Brad Lepper believes that it was actually a man 471 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: named Reverend John W. McCarty who translated the text on 472 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,880 Speaker 1: the keystone for Wyrick overnight. So it just seemed too 473 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: fast for him to be able to be too familiar 474 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: with it exactly. And the theory is that McCarty hoped 475 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: the stones would prove that Adam and Eve were mother 476 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,880 Speaker 1: and father to all races, a good argument against slavery. Yeah, 477 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,959 Speaker 1: So in eighteen sixty four, two additional Hebrew inscribed stones, 478 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: which are now unfortunately lost, were found during the excavation 479 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: of a mound on the George A Wilson farm, which 480 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,879 Speaker 1: is east of Newark, and people again got really excited. 481 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 1: But soon a local dentist named John H. Nickel claimed 482 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: that he himself carved the stones, introduced them into the 483 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: excavation with the intention of discrediting the two earlier finds 484 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 1: from Wyrick, of course, and these inscriptions actually dispelled out 485 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: his name, so the plan did pretty much were these 486 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: new stones, which are so obviously frauds, kind of made 487 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: the earlier fine again. It kind of like the card 488 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 1: off effect. All the all the petrified men sort of 489 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 1: make the original one not seemed so great. Hence why 490 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: for years this has been believed to be a hoax. 491 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: But then attention came back to the story around the 492 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties or so, and there are some now who 493 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,479 Speaker 1: believe that the stones are authentic. They say they're just 494 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,679 Speaker 1: too detailed and thought out to be hoaxes, and the 495 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,439 Speaker 1: fact that they're so different from each other, they're so 496 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: unique and distinct. Um, Yeah, I think it was maybe 497 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: the decologue you were describing to me earlier you said 498 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: that it was just perfectly laid out. You know, there 499 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 1: were no there are no places where the words were 500 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: crammed in. Everything was planned. Yeah, it didn't look like 501 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: you were just trying to quickly put this together to 502 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: pull off some kind of hoax. That looked like something 503 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: that had been meticulously done. But today you can decide 504 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,359 Speaker 1: for yourself. The visitors can view the Holy Stones at 505 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: the Johnston hommerk House Museum in Ohio. So I think 506 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: it's only fitting that we leave off with one that's 507 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: still kind of hanging in the balance or in question, 508 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: because we love to leave you guys with a question 509 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 1: to answer. Um. Even though, as Sarah said when we 510 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:15,000 Speaker 1: started this, these are all true hoaxes we did. This 511 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: is not a hoax in itself. Would have been pretty 512 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:19,679 Speaker 1: That would have been pretty clever. Maybe we'll do that 513 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: some other time, but for now we're going to move 514 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: on to listener mail. Our first piece of mail was 515 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: from Catherine and she wrote, Hello, Sara Dablina. I'm a 516 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: big fan of her podcast and would love to hear 517 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: you talk about Bonnie Prince, Charlie or Flora McDonald, the 518 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: woman who helped him escape She even has a Highland 519 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:45,160 Speaker 1: dance named after her, Flora McDonald's fancy. I'm enclosing some 520 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: rulers quote rulers for you to pass around at work. 521 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: Maybe you'll find a future podcast topic on one of them. 522 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: I just wanted to say thank you to Catherine for 523 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,479 Speaker 1: sending us about five or six rulers. Yeah, they're awesome, 524 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: and I think they do have some podcast ideas on 525 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: the just wanted to take more than one or keep 526 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: them all, but I just took one, just to give 527 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: you guys examples. It was like patriots, and then it 528 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,320 Speaker 1: would be a big list, starting with Ben Franklin a 529 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,240 Speaker 1: picture of him, and then a big list of worldwide patriots. 530 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 1: I think we had women and art, scientists, all sorts 531 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: of cool things. So thank you Catherine for those. I 532 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 1: also wanted to read an email from Lori Leadfoot, and 533 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: I just I mean, I kind of picked it because 534 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,720 Speaker 1: of her nickname, but Lori wrote, just wanted to drop 535 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: a quick note to say hi and to thank you. 536 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: And then over the road truck driver And finally bought 537 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: my first iPod about six months ago. While browsing the 538 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: podcast in search of something to listen to, I came 539 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 1: across stuff you missed in history class. Being a fan 540 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: of history, I decided to check it out. I finally 541 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:49,719 Speaker 1: caught up with past shows and wanted to let you 542 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: know I think you're doing a great job and say 543 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: thank you. So I thought i'd read Lorie Leadfoot's email 544 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: sort of in tribute to all of the long hall 545 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: all drivers we have as listeners. Um, we get a 546 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: lot of listeners from folks who are driving trucks, which 547 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: I think is so cool. I when I was younger, 548 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: I was kind of obsessed with the idea of being 549 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: a truck driver. I think it sounds so adventurous to 550 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: be driving across country. So I was like the kid 551 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: trying to make them honk their horns. Yeah, I did 552 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: that as well. So we're glad to hear that we 553 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: have so many listeners who are doing the long haul 554 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: and learning about history while they're at it. So if 555 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,959 Speaker 1: you have any comments, any postcards you want to send us, 556 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,320 Speaker 1: go ahead. You can also send us more hoax suggestions. 557 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: This was pretty fun. I definitely enjoyed this episode. We're 558 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,480 Speaker 1: at History podcast at how Stuff works dot com. I've 559 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: noticed lately a lot of people have been confused about 560 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: how to contact us. We've gotten things on Twitter. That 561 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: is the only email address, so if you want to 562 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: send us an email, that's the place to go. History 563 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com. But you should 564 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, 565 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: and it's in history yep. And if you want to 566 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: learn a little bit more about how maybe you could 567 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: pull off your own hoax, Not that we encourage that 568 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: at all, but we do have an interesting article on 569 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,720 Speaker 1: our website called how Lying Works, and it talks about 570 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 1: how you can lie, how you can learn how to lie, 571 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: and also how you can learn to spot a lie, 572 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: which may be the more valuable skills. Were pitch that part, Yes, 573 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: we will pitch that part of it because we do 574 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,680 Speaker 1: not condone lying. But you can find that on our 575 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: website by searching on our homepage at www dot how 576 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:36,840 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Be sure to check out our 577 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff 578 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing 579 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,160 Speaker 1: possibilities of tomorrow. The House Stuff Works iPhone app has 580 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: a rise. Download it today on iTunes.