George Psalmanazar, The Man From Formosa

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the early 1700s, when maps still had blank spaces and “here be dragons” felt like a reasonable warning, a stranger arrived in Europe with a fantastic story to tell. Calling himself George Psalmanazar, and claiming to be a native of far-off Formosa, where people lived in underground houses and dined on human meat. He translated scriptures into a language no one had ever heard and tutored missionaries in the customs and culture of his country. But the greatest fiction wasn’t his island at all, it was Psalmanazar himself. And for a while, the world believed every dazzling word.SOURCES Psalmanazar, George (1704) An Historical & Geographical Description of Formosa. London, UK. Psalmanazar, George (1764) Memoirs of ****. Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar, a Reputed Native of Formosa. London, UK. Keevak, Michael (2001) The Pretended Asian. Wayne State University Press. USA Foley, Frederic (1968) The Great Formosan Imposter. St. Louis Jesuit Historical Institute, USA. ------ For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠darkhistories.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support the show by visiting our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://author.to/darkhistories⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dark Histories merch is available here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3GChjk9⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with us on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Or find us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/darkhistories⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Or you can contact us directly via email at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠contact@darkhistories.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or join our Discord community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:52.2	In the early 1700s, when maps still had blank spaces and he be dragons felt like a reasonable warning,
1:00.0	a stranger arrived in Europe with a fantastic story to tell.
1:04.1	Calling himself George Samanaza and claiming to be a native of Faro Formosa,
1:08.8	where people lived in underground houses and dined out on human
1:12.6	meat, he translated scriptures into a language that no one had ever heard of and tutored missionaries
1:17.4	in the customs and culture of his country. But the greatest fiction wasn't his island at all.
1:23.7	It was Salmanazra himself, and for a while, the world believed every dazzling word.
1:30.1	This is Dark History's, where the facts are worse than fiction.
	...

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