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Why do so many people believe things that aren't true? In an era when claims of "fake news" come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to "Balloon boy" in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we'll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood's Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we'll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.
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- Jun 22, 20261h 56m
The Jussie Smollett Incident
In January 2019, ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett was the victim of a racial and homophobic hate crime perpetrated in Chicago that shocked the nation and sparked an outcry from seemingly Hollywood’s entire A-list. But it didn’t take long for cracks in his story to emerge. In our season 1 finale, we explore the logic holes, inconsistencies, and downright bizarre twists in this years-long saga involving race, sexuality, police brutality and celebrity. Plus, a lot of tangents. SOURCESThe Truth About Jussie Smollett? (Netflix)https://www.biography.com/actor/jussie-smolletthttps://www.out.com/entertainment/2016/1/28/exclusive-jussie-smollett-being-black-and-gay-hollywoodhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/feb/03/im-the-gay-tupac-jussie-smolletthttps://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/jussie-smollett-video-shows-brothers-red-hat-ski-mask/https://time.com/5560430/jussie-smollett-donald-trump-fbi/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-police-chief-eddie-johnson-fired-after-series-ethical-lapses-n1094301https://www.chicagotribune.com/2021/12/02/jussie-smolletts-legal-team-begins-defense-at-actors-trial-for-allegedly-staging-and-reporting-a-phony-hate-crime/https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/samuel-l-jackson-offered-support-for-smollett-in-letter-read-at-sentencinghttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/21/jussie-smollett-conviction-overturnedhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/25/jussie-smollett-chicago-charities-settle-lawsuithttps://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/prosecutor-kim-foxx-defends-jussie-smollett-decision-in-wbez-interview/ddc80843-d6ee-4c25-a635-02ad49c325e6https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-47317701https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/jussie-smollett-2007-dui-arrest/4508/https://www.businessinsider.com/jussie-smollett-2007-false-information-case-2019-2https://variety.com/2025/film/news/jussie-smollett-hate-crime-netflix-documentary-comeback-1236487316/https://www.citybureau.org/black-caucus-timelinehttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-police-department-routinely-violated-people-s-rights-feds-say-n706586See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Jun 8, 202651 min
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 BiographySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- May 25, 202655 min
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? SOURCEShttps://rileyraccoon.substack.com/p/time-travel-taleshttps://vimeo.com/11661023https://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.htmlhttps://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-rochesterhttps://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/john-titor-time-traveler-predictions-storyhttps://johntitorresearch.wordpress.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- May 11, 20261h 15m
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-stateshttps://phys.org/news/2018-07-fresh-dna-authenticate-bones-russia.htmlhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19600212&id=tuUlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EncDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7046,629353&hl=enhttps://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/24/archives/anastasia-grand-duchess-or-grand-hoax-the-last-act-in-the-drama-of.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20250331152750/http://www.readthehook.net/86004/cover-jack-amp-anna-remembering-czar-charlottesville-eccentricshttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68616https://blog.newspapers.com/anna-anastasia-anderson/https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-anastasia-or-imposter-local-author-12950650.phpSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Apr 27, 202659 min
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 Meyershttps://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 FraknoiSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Apr 13, 202639 min
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 RussellJohn Matthew Gutch's narrativeEnglish Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell"Devonshire Characters and Strange Events""British Performances of Java," Matthew Isaac CohenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Mar 30, 202637 min
April Fool's Day: Google, Spaghetti Trees and Sidd Finch
This episode of Hoax is no fun at all. April Fool's! For our (almost) April 1 episode, we explore the holiday's origins and some of the best pranks of the 20th and 21st centuries: Google's various exploits (Pokemon Go!), that time the BBC produced a piece on Spaghetti Trees, and the Curious Case of Sidd Finch, the Mets pitcher who could throw 168 MPH. SOURCES:https://www.rutgers.edu/news/how-did-april-fools-day-get-startedhttps://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/april-fools/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/01/king-kugel-an-april-fools-history-lesson/https://frenchmoments.eu/april-fools-day-traditions-in-france-le-1er-avril/https://bylines.scot/society/hunt-the-gowk-day/https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/hunt-the-gowk-april-fools-scotland/https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-celebrates-april-fools%E2%80%99-day/https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cancels-april-fools-day-pranks-coronavirus-2021-3https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finchhttps://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/21/si-60-curious-case-sidd-finch-mark-mulvoy-myra-gelbandhttps://nypost.com/2025/04/08/sports/legendary-sidd-finch-finally-makes-it-to-mets-home-game-40-years-later/https://niemanstoryboard.org/2014/04/01/whys-this-so-good-no-90-george-plimpton-and-sidd-finch/https://www.milb.com/news/legend-of-sidd-finch-lives-on-in-brooklyn-145695984https://sports.yahoo.com/still-curious-catching-those-brought-150800240.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/sports/baseball/an-old-baseball-april-fools-hoax.htmlhttps://www.mlb.com/news/sidd-finch-hoax-recalled-at-sabr-convention/c-133074166ESPN: Unhittable: Sidd Finch and the Tibetan FastballBBC: Spaghetti-Harvest in Ticino https://fox59.com/news/national-world/greatest-april-fools-prank-of-all-time-the-story-of-the-bbcs-spaghetti-trees/https://retrospectjournal.com/2023/09/25/the-spaghetti-trees-of-ticino/https://ericajurus.ca/2024/04/02/the-tradition-of-pranking-and-fooling/http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/cucina/when-i-was-a-kid-i-learned-that-spaghetti-grew-on-treesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Mar 16, 20261h 16m
Napoleon is Dead
Stockmarkets are now battlefields. An aide-de-camp arrived in Dover with the startling, thrilling news that Napoleon had been killed, and the British stock market behaved accordingly. The problem was, Napoleon wasn't dead. SOURCES:Napoleon Is Dead by Richard DaleTrial transcriptSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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About Hoax!
Why do so many people believe things that aren't true? In an era when claims of "fake news" come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to "Balloon boy" in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we'll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood's Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we'll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.
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