Introducing: Hoax!

This Day in History Class

iHeartPodcasts and HowStuffWorks

Society & Culture, History

4.3 • 913 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hi, This Day in History Class listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Hoax!

Hoax!: Why do so many people believe things that aren’t true? In an era when claims of “fake news” come as naturally 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. 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.

Listen to Hoax! on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	In 1920, a magazine article announced something incredible.
0:06.0	Real fairies had been photographed.
0:09.0	Two young girls playing by the creek near their house in Cottingly, England,
0:14.0	had been surrounded by fairies and had been able to snap pictures to prove it.
0:19.0	That magazine article announcing their discovery? It was written by Sir Arthur
0:23.9	Conan Doyle. If you don't recognize his name, you probably know the name of his most famous character,
0:30.8	Sherlock Holmes. Yes, the man who invented literature's most brilliant detective was fooled by two
0:37.4	girls into thinking fairies were real.
0:40.3	The thing, which you probably know, is that fairies aren't real.
0:44.8	But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to believe they could be.
0:48.4	And so he found ways to dismiss all of the logical ways the photos of the Cottingley fairies could have been faked.
0:55.1	History is filled with hoaxes, people coming up with scams and tricks, sometimes for profit,
1:00.8	but sometimes just for fun. In an era of misinformation, the ability to think critically and to
1:06.7	understand what's real and what isn't seems more important than ever.
1:10.7	Hoax is a new podcast for me, Dana Schwartz, the creator of Noble Blood.
1:15.0	And me, Lizzie Logan.
1:16.6	Every episode will explore one of the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history,
1:21.2	from the fake Shakespeare's to Balloon Boys, all trying to answer the question,
1:25.5	why we believe what we believe.
1:27.7	The first episode of hoax is available on August 4th.
1:31.4	Listen on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts and HowStuffWorks, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and HowStuffWorks and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.