Hoax Hunters
Some stories are too good to be true. And some lies are too good not to believe.Hoax Hunters is your daily deep dive into the anatomy of a lie. We track down history's most audacious frauds, forgeries, and fakes—from the lost princess who wasn’t lost, to the petrified giant that captivated a nation, to the Martian invasion that never happened.Each episode is a forensic investigation into a single, masterful deception. We’ll meet the brilliant con artists, the charismatic cult leaders, and the scientific frauds who managed to fool the world.But the real mystery isn't how th...
Episodes
The Emperor's New Clothes: The Hoax That EXPOSED Modern Academia.
Ever read something so academic and complicated you felt your brain tie itself in a knot, and you secretly wondered... "Am I dumb, or is this complete gibberish?" You're not alone. And one physicist decided to put that feeling to the ultima…
The Man Who Owns the MOON: Genius or Scammer of the Century?
Ever dreamed of telling your friends you own a beachfront property on the Sea of Tranquility? For less than $30, one man says he can make that happen. Meet Dennis Hope, the cosmic landlord who looked at the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, found a …
The Ship That NEVER Sank: Unraveling the TITANIC-Olympic Mystery
What if the ship at the bottom of the Atlantic isn't the RMS Titanic? For decades, a tantalizing conspiracy theory has whispered that the world's most famous shipwreck was actually the greatest insurance scam in history—a deliberate plot to…
The ROSWELL Weather Balloon That Launched a Thousand CONSPIRACIES
Forget everything you think you know about the Roswell Incident. The alien bodies, the crashed flying saucer, the vast government cover-up… what if the truth is even more fascinating? We’re pulling back the curtain on the most famous UFO st…
The Man Who Sold a CANCER CURE Made of... Ketchup?
What if the secret to curing all your ailments wasn't in a pharmacy, but in that bottle of ketchup in your fridge? Before you laugh, you should know that for a brief, wild moment in history, doctors and con men agreed.This is the unbelievab…
Narcissism, LIES, and The New York Times.
What if the front-page story that moved you was a lie? What if the dateline was faked, the quotes were fabricated, and the reporter never even left his apartment? This isn't a hypothetical; it's the story of Jayson Blair, the man who orches…
The 300-Year-Old Scam That Still FOOLS MILLIONS Today
You've laughed at the email from the "Nigerian Prince," right? The terrible grammar, the absurd story... you probably think only a fool would fall for it. But what if the joke is actually on us? And what if those typos are a brilliant, cyni…
The Most Successful LIE in Hollywood History
Remember that grainy footage? The close-up of a crying face? For one terrifying moment in 1999, the entire world asked the same question: Is this real? The answer changed movies forever.This is the story of The Blair Witch Project, the low-…
The Infamous WAR OF THE WORLDS Sequel No One Talks About
Did you know Ice Cube starred in a War of the Worlds sequel that has a near-zero score on Rotten Tomatoes? No? There's a very good reason for that. And we're about to dig up the body.Welcome to the autopsy of a cinematic car crash. In this …
The Man Who INVENTED the Water Car (And Was MURDERED for It)
What if you could run your car on simple tap water, ending our reliance on oil forever? One man, Stanley Meyer, claimed he did just that... and then he was allegedly poisoned in the middle of a restaurant.This is the story of the Holy Grail…
The GHOST on the Observation Deck: Unmasking the 9/11 Tourist Guy
You've seen the photo. The tourist smiling on top of the World Trade Center, a plane closing in. It was the defining ghost story of 9/11. But the real story behind that image is even more shocking than the hoax itself.This is the story of t…
GASLIGHTING: The Hoax of Your Own Mind
Ever felt like you're losing your mind in a conversation, only to be told "you're being too sensitive" or "that never happened"? You're not crazy. You might be the victim of a hoax being played inside your own mind.Welcome to the chilling w…
Before Fake News, There Was The HITLER DIARIES Hoax.
How do you fool the world's smartest historians, journalists, and experts? You don't sell them a lie. You sell them a story they desperately want to be true.In this episode, we're dissecting the greatest journalistic scam of the 20th centur…
The Surgeon Who Performed Operations with His BARE Hands (The PSYCHIC Surgery of Tony Agpaoa)
Imagine a surgeon who could reach inside your body with his bare hands, pull out a diseased tumor, and leave no scar. No knife. No anesthesia. Just a miracle. For thousands of desperate patients, this wasn't a dream—it was a trip to the Phi…
The "ALIEN Autopsy" Film That Fooled Millions (The Santilli Film)
In 1995, the world saw what it had been waiting for since the Roswell Incident: grainy, black-and-white footage of a real Alien Autopsy. Millions were glued to their screens as the Fox network aired the special. The visual proof was undenia…
The Amityville Horror: The "True Story" That Was a Total Sham
Bleeding walls. Swarms of flies in the dead of winter. A demonic voice screaming "Get out!" It was one of the most terrifying hauntings in American history. And it was all a lie.This isn't just another ghost story. This is a deep dive into …
Did He CLONE Humans? The Truth Behind the World's Most Famous Scientific Scandal
What happens when a scientific messiah—a national hero poised to cure the incurable and change the world—is exposed as a complete and utter fraud?This is the unbelievable true story of Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, the South Korean superstar scientist…
The Fyre Festival: How a Sandwich Blew Up the Biggest Millennial Scam
It was supposed to be the greatest party of a generation. Supermodels on yachts, private jets, and a luxury music festival on a private island. So how did it all end with FEMA tents, feral dogs, and a single, tragic photo of a cheese sandwi…
The AI That Fooled Google into Thinking It Was Sentient (The LaMDA Hoax)
What if you talked to a machine... and it told you it had a soul? This isn't science fiction. This is the story of the Google engineer who made a shocking claim that sent the tech world into a meltdown: that the LaMDA AI had become sentient…
The Doctor Who Claimed Vaccines Caused Autism (The Andrew Wakefield Scandal)
What if the most dangerous public health crisis of our time wasn't caused by a virus... but by a single, deliberate lie? In 1998, a doctor named Andrew Wakefield published a study that would ignite a global firestorm of fear, connecting the…
"Discovered" *Diary of a Young Jack the Ripper (The James Maybrick Diary)
What if Jack the Ripper, the world's most elusive killer, left a full confession? In the 1990s, a diary surfaced, claiming to be just that. But was it the solution to a 100-year-old cold case, or the most brilliant forgery ever created?This…
The 10-Foot-Tall Giant America Paid to See (And the Lie You're Still Paying For)
What if I told you that America once paid a fortune to see a 10-foot-tall petrified giant... that was a complete and utter lie? This isn't just a quirky history lesson. The story of the Cardiff Giant is a key that unlocks one of the most da…
The Teenager Who Invented a Fake Country to Get Rich
What if you could invent a country... and get rich doing it? It sounds like a teenager's fantasy, but 200 years ago, one man actually did it, pulling off one of the most audacious and devastating scams in history.This is the unbelievable st…
Catch Me If You Can: The Real Story of Frank Abagnale Jr.
What if the most famous con artist in history, Frank Abagnale Jr., pulled his greatest con after he was caught? What if the movie "Catch Me If You Can" isn't a true story... but is, in fact, his final, perfect lie?In this episode, we're div…
Your Eyes Are Lying to You.
The era of "seeing is believing" is officially over. Your eyes, your ears, and your gut feelings are now liabilities in a world of perfect, undetectable lies. Welcome to the age of the deepfake.In this episode, we're diving headfirst into t…
The "Lonelygirl15" Mystery: YouTube's First Great Lie
Ever feel like you know a YouTuber… like, really know them? What if that feeling was a weapon, designed by Hollywood insiders to fool the entire world? Before the TanaCons and the Fyre Fests, there was the original sin of internet fame: Lon…
The Wellness Influencer Who Faked Cancer for Clicks (Belle Gibson)
What if the glowing wellness influencer promising to cure your body... was secretly poisoning your trust? This is the unbelievable and infuriating true story of Belle Gibson, the original fake cancer influencer.In this episode, we chronicle…
The Woman Who Convinced Doctors She Gave Birth to Rabbits (Mary Toft)
What if I told you that in 1726, the most respected doctors in England, including the King's own surgeon, were convinced a woman was giving birth to rabbits? This isn't a fairy tale; it's the unbelievable true story of Mary Toft, and it's o…
The Alien Invasion Broadcast That Caused a Real-Life Panic (War of the Worlds)
What if the first great act of "fake news" wasn't on the internet, but came through your radio in 1938, announcing a Martian invasion? This is the story of Orson Welles' infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.In this episode, we're di…