Hoax!

Scratching Fanny of Cock Lane

A landlord claimed that his daughter was haunted, by the deceased wife of a former tenant. Most shocking of all, this ghost was accusing her husband of murder. Ghosts aren't real (most of the time, sorry), but murders plots can be very, very real. But who is the real murderer here? SOURCES: Gentlemen’s Magazine archives (by Samuel Johnson)  “Ghostly Hands and Ghostly Agency,” Jennifer Bann “Missionaries, Methodists, and a Ghost,” Travis Glasson “We See a Ghost: Hogarth’s Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs,” Bernd Krysmanski “Samuel Johnson and Spectral Media,” Rachael Scarborough King  Elizabeth [called the Cock Lane Ghost], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Time Traveler John Titor

From 1998 to 2001, a man claiming to be visiting our "world-line" on a mission from the year 2036 enthralled a corner of the nascent internet with his explanations of time travel, the world of the future, and the wars to come. While few of his "predictions" came true, his story remains haunting -- who was this enigmatic early forum poster? Why did he claim time ended in 2564? How did he know so much about early computers? And where, or when, did he go? SOURCES https://rileyraccoon.substack.com/p/time-travel-tales https://vimeo.com/11661023 https://web.archive.org/web/20170622161305/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11945420/Who-was-John-Titor-the-time-traveller-who-came-from-2036-to-warn-us-of-a-nuclear-war.html https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/john-titor-the-internets-most-mysterious-time-traveller/ https://web.archive.org/web/20260102173511/https://www.postbulletin.com/rochester-magazine/john-titor-who-was-the-time-traveler-that-visited-rochester https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/john-titor-time-traveler-predictions-story https://johntitorresearch.wordpress.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Fake Anastasias

Anastasia Romanov inspired a play, an Academy Award-winning movie, and a Dana-and-Lizzie-loving animated feature. But the legend of the missing princess is stranger and more involved than a movie with a talking bat might have led you to believe. SOURCES: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-6/anastasia-arrives-in-the-united-states https://phys.org/news/2018-07-fresh-dna-authenticate-bones-russia.html https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19600212&id=tuUlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EncDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7046,629353&hl=en https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/24/archives/anastasia-grand-duchess-or-grand-hoax-the-last-act-in-the-drama-of.html https://web.archive.org/web/20250331152750/http://www.readthehook.net/86004/cover-jack-amp-anna-remembering-czar-charlottesville-eccentricshttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68616 https://blog.newspapers.com/anna-anastasia-anderson/ https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-anastasia-or-imposter-local-author-12950650.php See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

The Gulf Breeze UFOtos

In one of the most famous and widely-reported UFO sightings of all time, a Florida man witnessed, photographed and even interacted with alien beings from another planet several times over the course of many months, sparking a frenzy of speculation and excitement. Then again...a Florida man... SOURCES: War of the Words by Craig R Meyers https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/16/congress-uap-obama-aliens-real-podcast/88699039007/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-files-released-scientists-trump/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/10/ufo-hearing-video-hellfire-missile/86073340007/ Professor Andrew Fraknoi See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

The Bristol Princess

A girl showed up at a town near Bristol in 1817 wearing a turban, and everyone went nuts.  SOURCES: "The Caraboo Hoax," Margaret Russell John Matthew Gutch's narrative English Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell "Devonshire Characters and Strange Events" "British Performances of Java," Matthew Isaac Cohen See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.