A painting purportedly by Leonardo Da Vinci himself is discovered at a little-known auction house in New Orleans in 2005; a decade later, it fetches the highest price for a work of art ever sold at auction. Sources:The Lost LeonardoSavior For Salehttps://therenaissanceworkshop.com/leonardo-da-vinci/https://www.mos.org/leonardo/biography.htmlhttps://www.rct.uk/collection/912525/the-drapery-of-a-chest-and-sleevehttps://www.rct.uk/collection/912524/the-drapery-of-a-sleevehttps://web.archive.org/web/20200524085434/https://www.history.com/news/how-a-priceless-da-vinci-masterwork-disappeared-from-view-for-centurieshttps://salvatormundirevisited.com/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/sep/09/lost-leonardo-da-vinci-film-solved-mystery-worlds-most-expensive-painting-salvator-mundihttps://apnews.com/general-news-91be03753b7d4dbbacfc4bb0d1dcca3dhttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/how-saudi-royal-crushed-his-rivals-shakedown-ritz-carlton-n930396https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/arts/design/salvator-mundi-louvre-abu-dhabi.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/world/middleeast/saudi-crown-prince-salvator-mundi.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGsUFvwgvCohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P64rDJkX4HYhttps://artwatch.org.uk/two-developments-in-the-no-show-louvre-abu-dhabi-leonardo-salvator-mundi-saga/https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/menteleonardo/emdl.aspSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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1:09:00
The Wild West in Palisade, Nevada
People traveling through the west by train in the 1800s expected shootouts and danger and cowboys. The citizens of Palisade gave it to them. Sources:"Westward Hoax: The Secret History of Palisade, Nevada," Very Special Episodes.Fakes, Frauds & Other Malarkey by Kathryn Lindskoog."Mark Twain's Nevada Newspaper Hoaxes" Andrew R. Giarrelli.Mark Twain's writing for the Territorial Enterprise (1851-1865)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Ern Malley Poetry
Two bored poets decide to prank their least favorite snobby magazine editor by submitting intentionally bad poetry to his literary journal and watching with mirth as he and his fellows delight in publishing it. Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m3bytB5ULwhttps://theconversation.com/the-greatest-poet-who-never-lived-ern-malley-at-80-234905https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4533011085https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/ern-malley-literary-hoax-angry-penguins-1944/100412208https://www.ernmalley.net/https://www.literaturelust.com/post/the-great-poet-ern-malley-who-never-existedhttps://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/harris-maxwell-henley-max-29615https://quirosonline.com/jindyworobaks-part-one/https://time.com/archive/6821805/books-angry-penguins/https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/33/wertheim.phphttps://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcauley-james-phillip-10896https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stewart-harold-frederick-29423http://jacketmagazine.com/17/fact2.htmlSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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48:16
The Ireland Shakespeare Relics
Samuel Ireland was an avid collector, the type of man who boasted and tried to make himself look important. His son, William Henry, just wanted to make his dad proud of him. Sources: The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare, by Doug StewartShakespeare and Others by S. Schoenbaum'The Poet's Hand,' Adam Gopnik, The New Yorkerhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Henry-Irelandhttps://www.npr.org/2010/06/19/127931669/william-henry-irelands-great-shakespearean-hoaxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Balloon Boy
For a few tense hours in October 2009, the entire world watched as a homemade aircraft purportedly carrying a 6-year-old boy drifted in mid-air on live television. When the balloon landed, there was no boy inside. Sources: Wife Swap Season 5, Episode 1: “Heene/Martell”Wife Swap Season 5, Episode 18: “Heene/Silver” The video that I showed Dana of the YourShakeDown invention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xAX2Y8-g4g Compilation of news coverage from the time of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAlwBcvb9RA Internet Historian video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWhUvm8SunY&t=1s Richard Heene’s response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axgyj7g5XZY The gawker essay: https://www.gawkerarchives.com/5383858/exclusive-i-helped-richard-heene-plan-a-balloon-hoax Transcripts from 911 and CNN: https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ng/date/2009-10-21/segment/01 The Denver magazine that cracked the case: https://www.5280.com/the-balloon-boy-hoax-solved/ More reporting: https://people.com/human-interest/10-years-later-balloon-boy-dad-insists-saga-no-hoax/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345497/Four-years-Balloon-Boy-aged-10-finally-set-worlds-youngest-heavy-metal-band-brothers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/us/19balloon.html https://nypost.com/2025/02/22/us-news/infamous-balloon-boy-starts-tiny-home-building-business-in-florida/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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.
**New episodes every other week**
Ireland