Hoax! cover art

Hoax!

Hoax!

By: iHeartPodcasts
Listen for free

Summary

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**

2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia Politics & Government Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • The Gulf Breeze UFOtos

    The Gulf Breeze UFOtos
    Apr 27 2026

    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 Meyers
    https://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 Fraknoi

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
  • The Bristol Princess

    The Bristol Princess
    Apr 13 2026

    A girl showed up at a town near Bristol in 1817 wearing a turban, and everyone went nuts.

    SOURCES:
    "The Caraboo Hoax," Margaret Russell
    John Matthew Gutch's narrative
    English Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell
    "Devonshire Characters and Strange Events"
    "British Performances of Java," Matthew Isaac Cohen

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
  • April Fool's Day: Google, Spaghetti Trees and Sidd Finch

    April Fool's Day: Google, Spaghetti Trees and Sidd Finch
    Mar 30 2026

    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-started
    https://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-2021-3
    https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finch
    https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/21/si-60-curious-case-sidd-finch-mark-mulvoy-myra-gelband
    https://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-145695984
    https://sports.yahoo.com/still-curious-catching-those-brought-150800240.html
    https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/sports/baseball/an-old-baseball-april-fools-hoax.html
    https://www.mlb.com/news/sidd-finch-hoax-recalled-at-sabr-convention/c-133074166
    ESPN: Unhittable: Sidd Finch and the Tibetan Fastball
    BBC: 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-trees

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
No reviews yet