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Hoaxes Through the Ages

A The French writer Anatole France once said, "Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom." Although some might say France takes a cynical view of human nature, for the authors of the world's greatest hoaxes, this assertion could be right-on. According to the online Museum of Hoaxes, a hoax is "a deceptive act or scheme that plays upon the credulity of others." Alex Boese, the museum's creator, is an expert. He has "collected" hoaxes for years to create his book of the same title. The greatest hoaxes, he says, as well as the most damaging, are intended for large audiences. At their most harmless, hoaxes can be amusing—think of the bearded lady or the five-legged cow at the local carnival. But at their best—and worst—hoaxes can seriously damage people's lives, careers, and livelihood. Why hoaxers feel the need to draw attention to themselves by deceiving scores of people is unclear, but what is certain is that this propensity among a certain few toward sensational acts of trickery has existed for centuries.

B Although the headline "Girl Gives Birth to Rabbits" might not look out of place in tabloids like the National Inquirer or the Globe, to anyone today it would appear to be an obvious hoax. But in England in the year 1726, Mary Toft and her rabbit babies were one of the country's most baffling medical mysteries. Late in 1726, Mary Toft, a young housemaid, summoned the local doctor, John Howard, to her house in Godalming, England, where she proceeded to give birth to nine dead rabbits. Dr. Howard, excited by the discovery, called together the foremost scientists of the time, including Dr. St. Andre, surgeon-anatomist to King George I, and Sir Richard Manningham, a London obstetrician. With these doctors in attendance, Mary Toft proceeded to give birth to a total of seventeen rabbits (or parts of rabbits). Soon the word of these aberrant births spread, and Mary Toft became the center of London society. Despite the fact that Manningham eventually exposed the hoax, St. Andre continued to maintain its legitimacy. Whether he was searching for fame or fortune, this decision eventually cost St. Andre his career.

C The story of the rabbit babies has fascinated writers of long-ago and today. The poet and satirist Alexander Pope wrote a verse mocking Dr. St. Andre. Mary Toft is also the subject of the book The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: A True Medical Mystery by Clifford Pickover, as well as a play called The Rabbits of Godalming, by Peter Morgan. The latter two works were both written in the twenty-first century, perhaps because of the story's resonances with contemporary themes such as fame, infamy, gullibility, and the struggle between men and women.

D Another famous hoax, this one from the early 1900s, was not debunked until recently. The Cottingley Fairies, as they were called, were photographs taken by the young cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths in 1917. The photographs depicted the girls interacting with tiny fairy creatures. Soon the fairy photos caught the attention of the public, and although the phoniness of the photographs seemed evident to many, Edward Gardner, a British theosophist, got his hands on them, claiming them as evidence that fairies really existed. Soon, millions of people worldwide believed the photos were genuine. Another British figure, the spiritualist and author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (famous for his Sherlock Holmes series), further lent support for their authenticity and even wrote an article stating as much for Strand magazine. Such support helped Elsie and Frances hide the truth for years to come.

E It was not until the 1980s that the girls admitted to having cut the pictures out of a book and fixed them in place with hair pins. Such a hoax may seem frivolous and painfully obvious, but what made it so successful was that, unlike other more hurtful or sinister hoaxes, it appealed to the spiritual and emotional sides of its believers.

F One of the most intricate hoaxes of the last century is that of the Tasaday tribes in the Philippines. The Tasaday were discovered on July 8, 1971 in the Mindanao rain forest and were said to be a lost tribe who had been living a Stone Age existence for over 2,000 years. According to the man who found them, Philippine Cultural Minister Manuel Elizalde, Jr., the Tasaday had never had any contact with the outside world. They were an anthropological phenomenon. CBS and National Geographic jumped at the opportunity to film the Tasaday in their natural habitat; the documentary The Last Tribes of Mindanao aired on Jan. 12, 1972.

G As a consequence of the discovery, Elizalde set up a PANAMIN (Presidential Assistance to National Minorities) foundation for the Tasaday, and President Marcos created a 19,000-hectare reservation for the tribes. Then, in 1974 Marcos imposed martial law in the country, and no one was able to seriously investigate the validity of Elizalde's claim.

H Finally, in 1986, Marcos was ousted, and the opportunity to properly investigate the Tasaday presented itself. A Swiss journalist named Oswald Iten ventured into the forest to find the Tasaday. What he found instead was evidence exposing years of government manipulation of local tribes. In an interview, a local tribesman reported that Elizalde had "forced" them to abandon their huts and live in caves. They were made to remove their clothes and "look poor" in return for food and a promise of tribal security. Elizalde had even paid money to the local people to pose as Tasaday. Although some maintain that Elizalde's purpose was to promote tourism in the region, his true purpose seems to be the millions of dollars of PANAMIN money he took when he fled the country in 1983, leaving the organization bankrupt. Although the Tasaday do not exist, many other indigenous tribes in the Philippines are struggling to gain independence and land, and this story further reveals the extent of the exploitation of indigenous peoples in that country. Local tribes were not the only ones to suffer, however. Elizalde got his comeuppance when he moved to Costa Rica with his millions, spent the money on drugs, and died penniless.

I As is evident, hoaxes and hoaxers have been around for a long time. Why? Is it what Anatole France stated, that lies are necessary in order to escape the drudgery of everyday life? In the case of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, it is said that they had to invent an alibi when they were late for afternoon tea, so they said they were playing with fairies. But that excuse does not really tell us why they had to work up such an elaborate scheme. It would seem that Elizalde developed the Tasaday hoax only for the money, but surely there are easier ways to earn a buck. According to Allan Shafer, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, humans have a wide variety of motives for creating hoaxes, but in the majority of cases, the purpose of hoaxing is to achieve a certain grandiosity—to earn a sense importance by affecting the greatest number of people. When a hoax is created, its creator feels a sense of power that few people have the opportunity to feel in their lives.


1		Anatole France has a negative view of human nature.


2		At first, Mary Toft's ability to give birth to rabbits was inexplicable.


3		The news of Mary Toft's unusual births quickly traveled to London.


4		The famous poet Alexander Pope wrote a poem making fun of St. Andre.


5		The hoax of the Cottingley Fairies seems silly today.


6		The Tasaday hoax was one of the most complex hoaxes ever.


7		In 1986, Marcos was forced out.


8		Elsie and Frances created a clever plan in order to explain their lateness.

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