In 1920, a magazine article announced something incredible.

Real fairies had been photographed.

Two young girls playing by the creek near their house in Cottingly, England,

had been surrounded by fairies and had been able to snap pictures to prove it.

That magazine article announcing their discovery, it was written by Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle. If you don't recognize his name, you probably know the name of his most

famous character, Sherlock Holmes. Yes, the man who invented literature's most brilliant detective

was fooled by two girls into thinking fairies were real.

The thing, which you probably know, is that fairies aren't real.

But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to believe they could be.

And so he found ways to dismiss all of the logical ways the photos of the Cottingley fairies could have been faked.

History is filled with hoaxes, people coming up with scams and tricks, sometimes for profit,

but sometimes just for fun. In an era of misinformation, the ability to think critically and to

understand what's real and what isn't seems more important than ever.

Hoax is a new podcast for me, Dana Schwartz, the creator of Noble Blood.

And me, Lizzie Logan.

Every episode will explore one of the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history,

from the fake Shakespeare's to Balloon Boys, all trying to answer the question,

why we believe what we believe.

The first episode of hoax is available on August 4th.

Listen on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.