Frauds & Hoaxes Trivia

1. Which culture's end-time myth is known as Ragnarok?

From Quiz Close Calls 2: Ten More Days The World Didn't End

Answer: Norse

Ragnarok or 'Doom of the Gods' isn't identical to the Christian end of the world. It's the end of a mythological cycle which would be followed by a rebirth of both mankind and the gods. Richard Wagner used the name 'Twilight of the Gods' in the last of his Ring Cycle operas, 'Götterdämmerung'.

From Quiz Close Calls 1: Ten Days The World Didn't End

Answer: Assyrian

According to the tablet, "Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching." Despite obnoxious children and flagrant corruption, Assyria's best days were yet to come. The civilization lasted another 2,000 years.

From Quiz Jim and Tammy: The Pearlygate Scandal

Answer: Heritage USA

While the television network was called "The PTL Club", membership in the club made you a "PTL Partner", and the television network was "The PTL Network", the actual property was called "Heritage USA". Carowinds is a secular theme park a couple miles down the road straddling the North Carolina/South Carolina border. Heritage USA occupied 3.6 square miles in total, and was the largest employer in town, with about 2,500 total employees.

From Quiz Whispers in the Dark

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln was an avid believer in the supernatural. Shortly after moving into the White House, the 11 year old son of the President and First Lady died, plunging both of them into depression or melancholia. In 1863 the "Boston Gazette" published an article written by one of their correspondents who was present at one of these sittings. It is thought that Abraham Lincoln found the idea of seances to be a novelty, as did many other members of society. His wife, however, truly believed that she was in contact with their deceased son. For the rest of her life, when her health permitted it, she visited mediums in the firm belief she was in contact with both her son and her then-deceased husband.

From Quiz Did It Really Happen?

Answer: a balloon

The balloon story went that a six year old boy was trapped in a balloon and the balloon was traveling across Colorado. After the balloon was discovered to be empty, the manhunt continued because authorities thought he had fallen out during the flight. It was later revealed to be a hoax because the boy had been hiding in the attic at the time. The parents were believed to have set it up for the publicity, and both served jail time.

From Quiz It'll Sell Like Hot Cakes - I Promise!

Answer: The Moon

The creatures, dubbed Vespertilio-homo (bat men), were described as "covered, except on the face, with short and glossy copper-colored hair, and had wings composed of a thin membrane, without hair, lying snugly upon their backs." The faces of these creatures, Dr. Grant remarked, were "of a yellowish flesh color, was a slight improvement upon that of the large orang outang." The 'news' caused "The New York Sun's" circulation to nearly triple for a time, and the possibilities of life on the moon were widely discussed, with newspapers throughout America country picking up on the story and writing their own articles.

From Quiz Dr. Quackery's Medicine Shop

Answer: Snake oil

In 1879, ex-cowboy Clark Stanley began performing in front of large crowds by killing rattlesnakes in what he claimed was the first step in the process of making his mysterious cure-all 'snake-oil'. For 50 cents a bottle, quite a sum in those days, he claimed his patent medicine could cure migraines, toothaches, sprains, as well as a huge variety of other ailments. He made a small fortune selling his concoction. This was an example of the 'placebo effect'. About one third of those who bought his 'medicine' would experience some relief, simply because they expected to. In 1917, the Federal government seized a shipment of his snake oil and had it tested. It was found to contain 99% mineral oil with traces of red pepper, beef fat and turpentine thrown in to add color, flavor, and a medicinal smell. His factory was promptly shut down, but the term 'snake oil' survives.

From Quiz Dr. Quackery and His Friends

Answer: Electrons

Albert Abrams was the epitome of the quack. For example, he claimed he could cure disease over the telephone, by examining a drop of blood, and by looking at the patient's handwriting. He made numerous fake medical machines, which he claimed manipulated electrons. He became very wealthy from the exorbitant prices he charged for them. Incredibly, both Upton Sinclair and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publicly supported him and believed him to be a miracle worker in spite of the many deaths attributed to his advice and his machines. He was exposed publicly when another doctor sent him a blood sample asking for a diagnosis. Abrams advised that the patient had malaria, syphilis, diabetes, and cancer. At this time, the other physician went public with the fact the blood provided to Abrams was from a rooster. He died before his criminal trial for medical fraud could commence.

From Quiz Hook, Line, and Sinker

Answer: Liberty Bell

A full page advertisement appeared in six newspapers, including the 'Washington Post' and 'New York Times', to announce the acquisition of the bell, which would be renamed the 'Taco Liberty Bell'. The purchase was Taco Bell's contribution towards reducing the national debt, according to the announcement, and the company encouraged other big corporations to follow suit. The hoax led to large numbers of telephone calls to both Taco Bell and to Philadelphia's National Park Service, who were not in on the joke. At noon a press release was issued, confessing to the hoax and announcing a donation of fifty thousand dollars towards the upkeep of the Bell.

From Quiz It's a Hoax!

Answer: The Cottingley Fairies

Elsie was born in 1901 and Frances in 1907. Elsie was a gifted watercolour artist who attended Bradford Art College. She worked in a photographic laboratory during World War I. She was just 16 years old when she took the first two photos depicting her younger cousin surrounded by fairies. It was not until 1981 that both women admitted the fairies were a hoax using cardboard cutouts.

From Quiz Moon Landings - Fact or Fiction?

Answer: Flutter in the lunar wind

Sceptics have pointed to the fact that the flag appears to flutter in a lunar wind, when there is actually no wind on the moon. The explanation is that the flag itself is wired so that it is fully extended, and the flutter effect was caused as these wires tightened as the flag was erected.

From Quiz Famous Hoaxes

Answer: the Loch Ness Monster

In the proverbial "deathbed confession", UK man Christian Spurling admitted in 1995 to having participated in a fake "sighting" of the Loch Ness Monster in 1934. On April 14, 1934, Spurling and his friend Robert Wilson were strolling along the shore of Scotland's Loch Ness when, lo and behold, up popped Nessie from the water (or so they said). "My God, it's the monster!" Spurling shouted, using a line right out of a B horror film. Wilson, who was conveniently carrying a camera, snapped a photo of an object in the water that appears to be the head and shoulders of a serpentine sea beast. The photo was printed in the London "Daily Mail" and appeared around the world, sparking Nessie fever. Many scientists believed the photo showed the real elusive beast that has believed to have inhabited the Loch for hundreds of years. However, in 1995, Spurling admitted that the whole thing was a stunt conceived by one Marmaduke Wetherell, a film maker who had been hired by the "Daily Mail" to search for Nessie. The "monster" was a toy submarine fitted with a phony sea-serpent head made by Spurling. Despite this single hoax, the Loch Ness Monster is still considered by many to actually exist.

From Quiz Great Hoaxes, Fixes & Frauds in American History

Answer: Land grants at bargain basement rates by a tainted legislature.

Jake Gittes and Noah Cross in "Chinatown", but in the early 19th century. A corrupt Georgia legislature sold public lands in Mississippi to private companies at ridiculously low rates; almost all the legislators had money invested in the companies picking up the real estate on the cheap. The next legislature canceled the dirty deal; on an appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the original purchasers, thus striking a blow for contract rights, Federalism, and, unfortunately, a number of unscrupulous crooks.

From Quiz Frauds and Mistakes in History

Answer: Clifford Irving

Nice try - but it didn't fly.

From Quiz Jim and Tammy: The Pearlygate Scandal

Answer: Praise the Lord

"Pass the Loot" was a common joke before the scandal broke, in that there was a ton of money being spent at the park, and "Pay the Lady" became the joke once there were revelations of hush money being spent.

From Quiz Ask and Ye Shall Deceive!

Answer: Two days in April were cancelled

April 5 and April 12 were the first two Fridays after April Fool's Day, and both were to be cancelled to bring British time in step with the rest of the world. Strangely enough, the concept of decimal time, with 100 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes in an hour and 10 hours in a day has been mooted, but not since the days of the French Revolution. The other two wrong options are just silly, but will probably be used as a April Fool's joke in the future.

From Quiz Whispers in the Dark

Answer: Spiritualism

Spiritualism originated in the English-speaking countries in the mid-19th century. Communicating with the deceased was a central part of this belief system. Interestingly, most of the followers of Spiritualism were from the middle and upper classes. The use of human psychology was very evident, and very successful. It was also a belief system that allowed women to play a larger role than most of the other accepted belief systems found in the Judeo-Christian religions.

From Quiz Dr. Quackery's Medicine Shop

Answer: Opium

During the 19th century there were no laws and standards controlling the sales of patent medications. Some medications that were sold were simply harmless scams, but others were very dangerous. 'Kopp's Baby Friend', 'Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup' and 'Hooper's Anodyne' were just a few of the medications sold to tired parents who were eager for a full night's sleep. They contained alcohol and opium and were pretty much guaranteed to put the baby to sleep. The labels advised increasing doses as the child grew (and developed a tolerance to the medication). Thousands of babies were turned into helpless opium addicts, and many died from overdoses of the medication. It was not until the American Medical Association publicized the dangers of these medications at the turn of the century that their popularity began to wane.

From Quiz Dr. Quackery and His Friends

Answer: Iris patterns

Iridology was an alternative medicine technique which proposed the unique patterns found on a person's iris could provide valuable information to a persons present and future health. He was also a proponent of fasting, colon hydrotherapy and color therapy as a cures for almost any disorder. He owned at least three sanitariums which provided many alternative care methods for those desperate enough to shell out his high prices. Jensen was not a trained physician, but an entrepreneur who became wealthy in the field of alternative medicine. His name is synonymous with the term 'quack'.

From Quiz The Great Pretenders

Answer: They gave an award to a restaurant that did not exist

"The Wine Spectator" allows a restaurant to submit their wine list with a $250 entry fee for a chance to receive an "Award of Excellence". In 2008 it came out that Robin Goldstein, author of "The Wine Trials" sent the $250 entrance fee along with the name of a fake restaurant and a fake wine list and was awarded an "Award of Excellence". Goldstein had also made a fake website complete with reviews from fake clientele. The wine list included several of "The Wine Spectator's" lowest rated wines! He added he got the award as did 3/4 of the "restaurants" who applied. He admitted that he hoaxed the magazine who regularly hoaxed the public into thinking that their award actually meant something other than that the restaurant had paid $250 for it.

From Quiz It's a Hoax!

Answer: Milli Vanilli

German music producer, Frank Farian, came up with the idea of Milli Vanilli. He recruited Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus to front the group but they did not sing the vocals. In 1990, Milli Vanilli won a 'Grammy' Award for Best New Artist, but this was withdrawn when it was discovered the duo were lip synching. Lawsuits were filed against Pilatus, Morvan and Arista Records, with approximately 10 million people eligible to claim back a refund.

From Quiz Moon Landings - Fact or Fiction?

Answer: Multiple shadows

The sceptics say that the multiple shadows cast by the astronauts and their equipment point to there being multiple light sources, as would be found if big film studio lights were used. The explanation is that the photographs were taken in a brightly lit landscape with the sun low on the horizon and the contours of the ground produced the multiple shadows effect, much as you would get if you photographed someone on an uneven snow field.

From Quiz A Fatal Fraud: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Answer: Russia

The "Protocols" were written in Paris somewhere between 1895 and 1899; opinion differs as to whether the author was Pytor Ivanovich Rachovsky (an agent of the Russian secret police, the Okhranka), Russian propogandist Mathieu Golovinski, or Russian journalist Ilya Tsion (whose name, ironically, means "Zion" in Russian). The general consensus, however, seems to be that the work originated amongst the Okhranka. The "Protocols" were first published by Sergei Nilius, one of Rachovsky's associates, in 1905 (An abbreviated version had appeared in the Russian newspaper "Znamia" two years earlier). The reasons for the work's creation were threefold; a very similar forgery had been making the rounds in Europe for some time which purported to be a Will and Testament drawn up by Peter the Great to the successive tsars of Russia, which consisted of a dictum to conquer and control the world. This forgery, which had appeared in France during the reign of Napoleon, fed into European fears of a "Russian threat" (not unlike the "Communist threat" which gripped the U.S. in the 1950s); the "Protocols" neatly subverted the "Russian threat" into a "Jewish threat". The Okhranka also hoped to use the work to make Jews the scapegoats for Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese war (much as Hitler would later make them the scapegoats for Germany's defeat in WWI); in this, they were horrifically successful. Finally, it was hoped that national fears inspired by the "Protocols" would shore up the flagging support for the reign of the weak-willed Nicholas II. Nicholas was the son of the virulently anti-Semitic Tsar Alexander III; in the first year of Alexander's reign alone, there were approximately two hundred pogroms among the Jews of Russia which left about forty people dead, numerous women raped and many others homeless and destitute. Many more pogroms followed throughout his reign. Alexander also enacted the "May laws" which drove Russian Jews back into the Pale of Settlement. Nicholas shared his father's regard for the Jews as a depraved race who bore the so-called "ancestral burden of deicide" as a result of the crucifixion of Christ; under his reign occured the single most horrific attack on Jews in Russian history during the week of October 18-25, 1905, when the Black Hundreds (an unofficial Russian police force) killed hundreds of Jews throughout Russia, destroyed countless homes and businesses, and left thousands wounded and injured. Over 200,000 Jews emigrated from Russia during this year alone. According to Edvard Radzinsky's biography of Nicholas ("The Last Tsar; the Life and Death of Nicholas II") the Tsar was delighted when the "Protocols" first appeared and accepted them as genuine. Later, he eventually recognized that they were a forgery (although both he and the tsarina were known to keep a copy at their bedside); by this time, however, the fuse had been lit.

From Quiz Great Hoaxes, Fixes & Frauds in American History

Answer: The U.S.'s claim to the soil on which the bloodshed occurred was questionable at best.

In what was essentially an imperialist land grab, and the apotheosis of Manifest Destiny, Polk, spoiling for a fight with our southern neighbors, sent U.S. troops into disputed territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande in what is now Texas. Lincoln, smelling a rat, stood in Congress to demand that Polk respond to interrogatories about the actual location of the bloodshed, but his outcry was seen as unpatriotic and as a result he was subjected to such scorn that he couldn't get himself reelected to Congress.

From Quiz Great Conspiracies

Answer: Imprisoned and pardoned

It's unclear whether he got a raw deal or not ... but he did fix Booth's broken leg. After trial he was imprisoned. He was pardoned by President Johnson after peforming heroically in a yellow fever outbreak.

From Quiz Frauds and Mistakes in History

Answer: Piltdown Man

It looked good at first ... but faded.

From Quiz Gotcha: Hoaxes - Famous and not-so Famous

Answer: Anastasia Nikolaevna

When Czar Nicholas of Russia and his family were murdered, the acidified bones of the family found in a mine were missing those of the crown prince and one of the daughters. Persistent rumors were circulated that the Grand Duchess Anastasia had escaped with the assistance of one of the guards. Several women claimed to be the missing duchess, but the most successful was Anna Anderson. Anderson had been institutionalized for mental illness in 1920 in Berlin and claimed to be Anastasia in 1922, a charade that she maintained until her death in 1984. Later research indicated that her name actually was Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness. Despite the fact that many people close to the Russian royal family contested her claims, she kept many supporters to the very end. Later DNA testing proved the falsehood of her claim.

From Quiz Jim and Tammy: The Pearlygate Scandal

Answer: Fort Mill, SC

Fort Mill is just on the south side of the North Carolina/South Carolina border off Interstate 77. It was also the site of the last Confederate Cabinet meeting just before the end of the Civil War. Jim and Tammy Bakker actually lived in the upscale suburb of Tega Cay, which is just west of Fort Mill on the shores of Lake Wylie.

From Quiz Dr. Quackery's Medicine Shop

Answer: Electromagnetic coil

Very popular from 1860-1940, the electromagnetic coil was touted to cure everything from cancer to the common cold. It was also said make you feel and look younger. These harmless devices claimed that an electromagnetic coil supercharged the iron in your body, assisting with the transference of oxygen between cells. They were usually sold in the form of a belt that contained a large coil of insulated wires. The buyer, in the privacy of their own home, would strap on the belt, plug it in, and receive the cure. It was painless, harmless, and depended completely on the 'placebo effect'.

From Quiz Famous Conspiracy Theories.

Answer: Harold Holt

Harold Holt held his office for barely two years. He disappeared while swimming in heavy surf off the coast of Victoria. Despite one of the largest searches in Australian history his body was never found. While it is likely he drowned, a number of rumours have circulated regarding his disappearance. Most recently, a book was published suggesting hat he committed suicide. Gough Whitlam also served a short period as Australian Prime Minister. He was dismissed in controversial circumstances in 1975 by the Governor General. Robert Menzies was the longest serving Prime Minister in Australian history (serving for 18 years, including 1949-1966). He was succeeded as Prime Minister by Harold Holt on January 26 1966. Interestingly, this date is Australia Day, commemorating the arrival of the 'First Fleet' of European settlers in 1788.

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