Four of the World's Most Famous Historical Hoaxes

We explore some of the most famous hoaxes in all of the literature including the history of the bathtub, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the lost works of Shakespeare, and the Codex Gigas.
Biographics: / @biographics
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
Warographics: / @warographics643
MegaProjects: / @megaprojects9649
Into The Shadows: / intotheshadows
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526
Casual Criminalist: / thecasualcriminalist
Decoding the Unknown: / @decodingtheunknown2373

[@MichaelEilers]

Turtleneck Simon is most authoritative Simon.

[@djquinn11]

Simon Whistler invented the black turtleneck in 2009.

[@bn-tc2tk]

Makes me think he’s a very successful novelsist, therapist, or artist

[@RupertReynolds1962]

As long as it isn't *rotting* turtleneck...

[@killa103728838829838]

Simmer

[@munchiemac2895]

Ol no neck

[@diegoferreiro9478]

Fun fact: the history of the bathtub was published on a December 28th, which in Spanish speaking countries is the equivalent of the April 1st. It is very typical that on December 28th Spanish newspapers bring some phony news, like that of the bathtub.

[@ruoazquara6070]

Huh that’s my birthday explains why I’m such a chronological liar

[@bruhmania7359]

@@ruoazquara6070lmao

[@NoctisIgnem]

@@ruoazquara6070 not just indicating that you're a joke?

[@ruoazquara6070]

@@NoctisIgnem could be lol n the punchline is my foot in your ass

[@antcommander1367]

Why use bathtub, when any body of water does the job and seasons like winter don't matter. Just make hole in the ice, its refressing feeling

[@fivespeed3026]

“Newspapers weren’t interested in serious journalism.” Not much has changed in 100 years.

[@jerrybrickley2115]

Not much before that, either.

[@francesrude3007]

LOL!!

[@francesrude3007]

@@jerrybrickley2115 Double LOL!!

[@travisolander4749]

The fake bathtub controversy is simultaneously so mild and similar to other ignorances of the mid-19th century that, ironically, it sounds even more believable today.

[@martinstallard2742]

0:45 history of the bathtub 3:52 the protocols of the elders of Zion 7:35 the lost works of Shakespeare 11:43 codex gigas

[@davidaltman8831]

the lost works appeared on an episode of belive it not with jack palance i think it said that for awhile ireland made copies of his forgeries becaause everyone wanted one

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

A very famous U.S. hoax is the article written by renowned writer George Plimpton for the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated. "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" described a free-agent rookie pitcher trying out for the New York Mets. Finch was raised in Tibet ("Sidd" was short for Siddhartha). He could throw a fastball 168 mph, played the French horn, and pitched with one foot bare and a work boot on the other. The Mets supposedly were keeping Finch totally under wraps and practicing in secret because he was both a total recluse and a phenom whom the team wanted to spring upon major league baseball only when ready. The Mets played along with the gag, assigned Finch a locker between those of two actual players and even getting a local sportswriter to "confirm" he'd seen Finch pitch. The article was, upon examination, completely ridiculous. But Plimpton wrote it so well that, with the help of the Mets, many people totally believed it, including me as an avid Mets fan. There was so much hype that the Mets held a press event to introduce Finch to the world. But instead, Finch (played by a friend of a SI photographer) announced that he had decided to retire and return to the monastic life in Tibet. It was another week after that before Sports Illustrated confirmed that the whole thing was an April Fool's joke.

[@vexile1239]

Of eff that's hilarious

[@glenchapman3899]

Look up Carlos Kaiser - Played soccer for 12 clubs over a 14 year career. Never played a single game. Even made a movie about him lol

[@yvetteveres8235]

Covid...Greate$t

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

@@glenchapman3899 Simon did a video about him on one of his channels recently. Anyway, I think this video focused on literary frauds.

[@diegoferreiro9478]

@@glenchapman3899 rather than 'played for' let's say 'stayed at'.

[@ChanningKing]

I cannot recommend Will Eisner’s “The Plot” - in which he refutes the PotEoZ - enough. One of the most towering figures in the history of comic books and graphic novels chose to devote the last of his energy and life to destroying that hoax, so you know he serious he viewed the topic.

[@Lunch_Meat]

Dude was a masterful and amazing human being as well as artist and writer. It's called an "Eisner award" for a reason

[@finonevado8891]

real or not it is not needed when the talmud already exists, it just adds insult to injury

[@georgeashley6643]

I used to work in a second hand bookshop as work experience. The owner completely believed in the protocols and kept trying to convince me to read it. I stopped working there over it and ended up writing about him as part of my A level English exam.

[@In_TheMoonlight]

I hope you did well on that exam because you deserve it after having to deal with someone trying to get you to read the Protocols

[@b22chris]

Did he want you to read it bc he believed it? Or bc it’s a part of history?

[@georgeashley6643]

@@b22chris he firmly believed it. He was obviously a massive Holocaust denier as well. After I’d been to on a school trip to visit a concentration camp, he outright told me I’d been lied to and that it couldn’t have existed… about the place I saw with my own eyes.

[@b22chris]

@@georgeashley6643 yikes. Hopefully he’ll come to his senses one day

[@georgeashley6643]

@@b22chris we can but hope

[@hinzster]

"... he published a 400-page essay" - damn, did he want to beat the hoaxer by volume?

[@ubergnu]

Page 60: "And I have not even started!"

[@TraumaQueen65]

Hubby and I are so proud! You got both of us with the bath story 😁

[@diyeana]

I'm glad it wasn't just me. 😅

[@Vaeldarg]

To anybody who knows the U.S, as soon as hear "it was banned due to not everyone being able to afford it" immediately gives it away.

[@DimBeam1]

@@Vaeldarg Because they buy everything on credit.

[@LadyOfVikings]

I feel like anything that has Shakespeare's writing on it is in a safe place owned by the royal family.

[@Wolfpaw754]

Shakespeare was fiction, the only surviving signatures look like it was written by someone illiterate They say it was a group of intellectuals as the writing would have to be done by someone who knew decent amount of law and some words were even first used in the writing, they just picked a guy named Shakespeare as the people who wrote the stuff I think were named after some goddess who would shake her staff/spear at an ignorant person There's a good documentary I think called was Shakespeare real, it's on youtube and goes through the inconsistencies of one man writing all the stuff

[@grantorino2325]

Some have spectacular that "William Shakespeare" was a collective pseudonym used by various authors of the King James Bible. Look up Psalm *46* (KJV). The *46th word* from the beginning is "shake." And the *46th word* from the end is "spear."

[@TheKlaun9]

When the homeopaths approved of the bathtub, did they prefer a really tiny one or a very short dip? The video doesn't explain

[@dougstubbs9637]

Fun fact; David Dunbar Buick, a plumber, invented a way to attach Porcelain to tin bathtubs, and made a fortune, losing it all later when he decided to go into the motor car business.

[@nosuchthing8]

Buick huh? Like the car?

[@cottoneyedJoe29]

My ex wife was raised in the birth place of Millard Fillmore, Moravia NY, the people of that town will still proudly argue that as fact to this day... I could not convince her well educated family to the contrary despite my numerous attempts... they get very angry in that small town if you dare correct them.

[@Vaeldarg]

The truth can't get between a small town, and something it can use to draw tourists.

[@cottoneyedJoe29]

@@Vaeldarg one thing I can assure you is that with this particular small town is that this belief is the absolute only thing it can claim as mildly interesting. There are no tourists coming to this town as it has a gas station, small general/grocery store and not so much as a stop light. The only tourists in that town are on their way to more historic cities and towns in the region like Auburn or Seneca Falls or one of the many towns offering accommodation on the finger lakes. The only outsiders are in the summers when the nudist camp on the outside of town has an event.

[@dudeinoakland]

That is pitiful.

[@darrencole97]

Bathtubs are centuries old. I am pretty sure that Egyptian’s used them occasionally way back when they were building pyramids.

[@Wolfpaw754]

Yeah the crappy falling apart ones that were actually built by the new kingdom the 3 main pyramids were most likely built by survivors of atlantis, watch "the revelation of the pyramids", the great pyramid is too advanced, there's so much maths built into it that show the builders knew the golden ratio, the maths even have the circumference of the earth, the metre, also in the grand gallery has a box the same dimensions of the arc of the covenant... certainly wasn't a tomb built in 20 years with copper tools, all tombs have art, hell even the original casing stones look like the ones at ollantaytambo and cusco, the same pillowed effect with nubs on the stones

[@harveydean7952]

Pierre Plantard's Priory of Sion hoax would be another excellent topic to cover on this channel.

[@willmfrank]

Tracing how it propagated from Gerard de Sede through Henry Lincoln to Dan Brown would take an entire series.

[@djquinn11]

Nobody believed it, but it sold a lot of books, Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

[@harveydean7952]

@@djquinn11 - yeah, I read that book and its follow-up "The Messianic Legacy" about 20yrs ago, before the DaVinci Code came out. There's no doubt in my mind Dan Brown stole his whole narrative from those books. Henry Lincoln definitely deserved to win the plagiarism court case he brought against Brown.

[@brianedwards7142]

I used to wonder about breaking into the Adelaide Art Gallery and reposition a few things, turn paintings upside down and then leave just to see if I could do it and defeat the forensics. Twenty years later and it just sounds strenuous, lol.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:50 - Chapter 1 - History of the bathtub 4:00 - Chapter 2 - The protocols of the elders of zion 7:40 - Chapter 3 - The lostworks of shakespeare 11:45 - Chapter 4 - Codex gigas

[@danidavis7912]

Always love your Sideprojects posts!

[@Sideprojects]

Thanks :)

[@danidavis7912]

@@Sideprojects You bet!

[@johndavid8815]

@@Sideprojects good morning

[@corbin8930]

Dialogue in Hell between M&M is one of the greatest books I’ve read. It should be a mandatory reading during schooling.

[@avenuex3731]

Unfamiliar. Post a link.

[@dyamonde9555]

So not even the Fires of Hell can melt M&Ms, only your mouth can!

[@TaralgaBushAdventure]

He's never once whistled.

[@jerkoardalic]

I swear you are the only person I can still watch on KZbin without feeling like someone is shoving his opinion down my throat.

[@jsouth5577]

couldn't stop laughing at the idea of some guy, just minding his own business, walking along when out of nowhere this giant piano sized book comes crashing out a window and nails him.

[@DjBlacid]

36 inches tall = 91.4 cm 20 inches wide = 50.8 cm 8.7 inches thick = 22.1 cm 12:04 for all the rest of the world if you’re wondering

[@simonagree4070]

I have serious issues with Mencken, but I have a small collection of his writings. What a mind.

[@Lunch_Meat]

He's one of those awful people that just happens to be some sort of horrible genius. I have a few collections of his writings, but if you put him in front of me, I'd probably start swinging

[@catherine_404]

I forgot "Protocols" were Russian. But I somehow remember that are listed as "extremist materials" by Russian law (true, I checked the list). There is no censorship in Russia by its constitution, but there definitely is censorship by Russian laws. And one of them is that there is such a list of "extremist materials", texts and other documents get there by decisions of various Russian courts. It is not illegal to read them, but it is illegal to publish or otherwise distribute them.

[@zackmorrison470]

Thanks for not doing another video on the Piltdown Man! 😂

[@elliesimpson1313]

Great video, Simon

[@tankoshinomi]

That 1st story I've never heard a single word of that ever until now

[@Cypresssina]

I thought the dark chocolate being good for you thing was going to be brought up here 😂

[@swedishmeatball4382]

That could hardly be described as a literary hoax, though, which is the subject of the video.

[@Cypresssina]

@@swedishmeatball4382 It was written as an article by Bohannon. It could, indeed be considered a literary hoax.

[@marthahawkinson-michau9611]

But dark chocolate is good for you? It does wonders for my mental health. That does count for something, right?

[@Cypresssina]

@@marthahawkinson-michau9611 lol. I think that should definitely count for something.

[@Shoelessjoe78]

And remember... These people vote

[@piercebales9546]

Mencken famously said, "Nobody ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

[@theresehopkins1581]

Turtleneck Simon is definitely my favorite too.... totally more authorative!!

[@donise8406]

I was expecting the Hitler Diary's to be on this list. Not to mention CRT lol

[@jasonjuneau2948]

Love his pronunciation of controversy. Do aluminum and vitamins next😆

[@owenshebbeare2999]

We British people find American pronunciations quaint, and wrong. V-EYE-tarmins? Really? So many others.

[@jasonjuneau2948]

@@owenshebbeare2999 al-you-mini-um....really 😄

[@VeracityLH]

My favorite is "innovative.". Rolls right off the tongue.

[@ferociousgumby]

@@VeracityLH In-NOV-a-tive.

[@nosuchthing8]

​@@owenshebbeare2999 like studying MATHS? ZED instead of ZEE? Or going on holiday, instead of vacation? Or going to hospital, instead of THE hospital or A hospital? Do you drive on road, or a road or the road?

[@bipolarminddroppings]

Always find it hilarious that in "The land of the Free" they seem so eager to ban innocent things like bathing (I know its a hoax but the fact that its perfectly plausible is my point)

[@leopoldbloom4835]

The fact that such a ban seemed plausible to Americans says it all. Now Image how many people would believe a hoax about a ban of firearms. 😢

[@Deepthought-42]

8:15 It is well documented that Shakespeare’s plays were all written by Upstart Crow.

[@davidmaheengun2672]

What the futtock!

[@larapalma3744]

Not true

[@albertdehn8381]

Thanks for sharing 👍😀

[@richardb9419]

My cats freak out every time they hear Simon’s theme music. Anybody else have that issue?

[@viscache1]

Why is it that Switzerland is always the place that those interested in dominating the planet go to meet? (WEF)

[@MrStringybark]

"The Hoax That Fooled America." You could do a show about that every day of the week.

[@enisra_bowman]

i think it would be illegal to restream Foxnews or Infowars

[@MrStringybark]

@@enisra_bowman There's an opportunity here for someone to do a satire of each day's Fox Entertainment. So much material!!

[@owenshebbeare2999]

American "news" from the likes of CNN is a joke to we non-Americans. The alternatives are amusing too, though Fox seems to get the Woke types upset more than most.

[@enisra_bowman]

@@owenshebbeare2999 yes, "the woke" are pretty much upset by the legitimate successors of Der Stürmer

[@Michelle-vq8ku]

Simon is legit the king of KZbin 👑

[@diyeana]

Why did I believe you in the beginning? I even knew this was about hoaxes! I forgot! 🤣

[@Chris-vz7en]

When he started talking about the bathtub thing, all I thought was, "what....the f*ck is he talking about? People have been bathing since the dawn of time...." I thought Simon had lost his mind.

[@pinkchaos.]

Not in bath tubs like that though

[@zimboy9921]

I bought it 😢 😂

[@gregnulik1975]

So, the ''elders of zion'' book is really a ''why we should overthrow napoleon...'' book ?

[@timm.6391]

Add the events of the last 3 years to this.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

"The world itself is just one big hoax, spamming each other with our running commentary..." -- Rami Malek As Elliot Alderson

[@lekiscool]

The Protocols is the source of almost every conspiracy we know of today.

[@slcpunk2740]

It also contends that bird aren't real.

[@jeffdroog]

In your opinion lol

[@dylan-2169]

And what about all the other bs lmao

[@dominiccianciola2000]

Are we just unimaginative now?

[@staytuned2L337]

Which is pretty unfortunate. We can trace it back, make it obvious af it isn't real but they won't believe it.

[@donsandsii4642]

OK fact boys writers, your challenge is to reveal the true history of the bathtub.

[@zimboy9921]

I think the infographic video is already up

[@donaldwert7137]

The defense of the bathroom "hoax" has been used quite recently: I didn't expect anyone in their right mind would BELIEVE me!

[@spazzmalone]

Is it just me, or does this Millard Fillmore character look exactly like Alec Baldwin in costume? (2:04)

[@liminalradiofm7899]

yeah he does. paul revere looks like jack black and benito mussolini looks like The Rock

[@spazzmalone]

@@liminalradiofm7899 ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!!! lol

[@maureenjacobs3697]

Yes, I truly thought …separated at birth.

[@jailbotmark1379]

Lost my shit when it jumped to "THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION"

[@weiwu1442]

i did a double take and made sure i read that right

[@Wolfpaw754]

Yeah it's not a hoax, I mean hell what's said in it is true, why you think h1tI3r started exiting j33ws to Palestine? They were trying to take over the banking system, look at America and the federal reserve, it's no more federal then FedEx The syn@g0gu3 of s@t@n is a must read, exposes the whole thing at least in america

[@AeroGuy07]

Having been born and raised in the Cincinnati area, I completely believed the first story.

[@0Chinese0Arithmetic0]

You forgot to mention ‘The Diary of Ann Frank.’

[@uilsonRJ]

i have a small suggestion for the podcast version, tell the chapters titles since we cant see the damn thing. or maybe do a separated audio track just for the podcasts instead of just ripping the audio from the video.

[@MartinInBC]

I assume a wordsmith like Mencken would have been aware of attributing the introduction to America of the bathtub to a President named 'Fillmore' ...

[@shawnbell3468]

So the protocol book if fake but some people seem to be using the teachings in it today, so we should find out those in power destroying lives today then right?

[@otmgi3865]

I don't want to throw any hate, but I love how across your channels, the set is the same, the person is the same, the structure is pretty much the same, but the audio...inconsistent as hell.

[@wolle8182]

2:02 at first i thought that's Alec Baldwin haha

[@selvain318]

With all the various topics on this channel it should just be called Simon's side channel

[@joellandry2406]

Piltdown man, Nebraska man, Colorado man, Australopithecus Africanus, Australopithecus Afarensis

[@peteconrad2077]

Of which at least three weren’t hoaxes. Read a book.

[@joellandry2406]

@@peteconrad2077 You would know, you read an approved publication. I’m just gonna have to go back to the drawing board.

[@gordonwallin2368]

Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@tommyvalenzuela7504]

I’m surprised you didn’t include The Donation of Constantine

[@theawesomeman9821]

Sometimes the actual truth isn't all that exciting.

[@Braindeaddefault]

4:25 boy that satement coveres so much still.

[@karebushmarebu233]

Turtleneck Simon is my favourite indie band

[@rome8180]

Honestly, fooling experts for even a little while by forging multiple documents and two full-length plays is impressive. I'm thinking William had actual literary talent.

[@Appophust]

3:45 I'm not sure Kia actually presented it as fact. "unheard of" is commonly used in the US as a term of incredulity or disbelief. In fact, it's probably used in this manner far more than the primary manner, which is to state that the speaker had previously not been informed on the matter at hand.

[@DracoTriste]

Yeah, the tone of that commercial felt intentionally ridiculous. Like, “here’s a fake factoid as an inside joke” not “this is a real thing.”

[@Appophust]

@@DracoTriste yeah. Maybe it's lost in the pond or something. I have no idea. 🤣

[@ferretyluv]

No, it really was presented as fact. When Simon mentioned Millard Fillmore, I remembered that ad and thought “Oh yeah, the bathtub guy.”

[@olixpatdo8181]

“The gullibility of the American public”

[@VosperCDN]

Some things never change ...

[@beardedbrian7016]

Top ten ill take it

[@Pahoe77]

Simon, are you back on biographies? I'm not able to watch the other fellow

[@Avigailmichal]

I've never been this early before. Hiii :)

[@brucefreadrich1188]

I knew the Shakespeare forgery story about "Vortigern" - it featured on an episode of "The Rest of the Story" with Jack Palance (sort of a TopTenz of the late 70s early 80s). I did not know there was a fake "Henry II," however. How bad is it???

[@jello4835]

As soon as Millard Fillmore was mentioned, my mind went to the Millard Fillmore soap-on-a-rope commercial, so imagine my surprise when it made an appearance.

[@charliejones7512]

Looking at some of these reminds me of the ship that got hit by a meteorite, the only difference is that actually happened.

[@jodyswallow1008]

Herman the Recluse, that’s a handle 🤣 Hit by a massive book while walking down the street, that’s really bad luck 🤣

[@elijahgrey3904]

Mr Whistler, why is that porch door always open showing the latch in your videos... It drives me crazy a bit. I have the same latch on my porch door, i close it.

[@lowtechredneck6704]

I'm digging the blue light.

[@gigmaresh8772]

Actually, examples of Elizabeth's handwriting we're almost unreadable, and yet she was well educated and spoke 6 languages fluently

[@tomscott4644]

QAnon is a note for note rerun of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

[@drewrobinson5562]

Man... I totally forgot what video this was during the bathtub one... Cuz i can totally see people banning bathing for dumb reasons

[@albertchurchill4845]

Someone created the Codex Gigas story to make money from a rather ordinary compilation of knowledge by a monastery.

[@billcasti]

H. L. Mencken’s name is misspelled on your ‘bathtub’ episode slide.

[@gbonkers666]

What about the archelogists and historians who found a videotape of everyday Roman life 101 BC?

[@Deepthought-42]

Featuring Frankie Howerd

[@58Grov]

Enjoyed this video and others but I have one complaint. Your voice, while great to listen to is quite annoying. Your volume drops abruptly at the end of each sentence forcing us to raise the volume constantly. Can you improve this? It would be disappointing to miss what you present because of the big dip in volume.

[@RECTALBURRITO]

I knew what the video was, i clicked on it, and STILL got tricked. Damn fact boy

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Does Boris writing lies on the side of a bus count as a literary hoax…?

[@Kevin-gg2bl]

You could do an entire series like this about things believed to have been done for centuries, even thousands of years, involving witchcraft, paganism, rituals, rites, holidays and all that, that were simply ideas authors in the 1800 and 1900's came up with for their fiction stories. While there's a smattering across most spiritual beliefs, native american and celtic/druidic spiritual history, as believed by most today, is as true as the spirituality of Middle Earth.

[@IsmaelLovecraft]

what about Hitler's supposed diary?

[@ninjaswordtothehead]

Weird, how only one of these gets a KZbin warning.

[@8ifoto]

Hello I’m Simon, and this is the smallest chair ever.

[@justaguy6100]

Yeah, the gullibility of the public has become weaponized these days.

[@phillipnoetzel7637]

Bathing has never been allowed in France.

[@richardclark.]

Why did they not Google the Protocols to find the source? 5 minutes could have saved millions of lives?!

[@Kami84]

By the time a lie makes it around the world, the truth is still putting on its slippers

[@SDChargersFreak]

Has the Kensington Stone ever been officially debunked as a fake?

[@PaulineMontagna]

I loved the one about the bathtub, especially sine Americans seem to be so obsessed with everybody else’s hygiene habits.

[@Chalwa]

Well, honestly we don’t like stink so if you do good on ya. Good bath with soap won’t hurt most people.

[@PaulineMontagna]

@@Chalwa have you seen how many American videos there are on KZbin discussing the hygiene habits of peoples of the past? It’s hilarious. People so preoccupied with other people’s hygiene must be rather insecure in their own.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

02:00 I was going to make a -halfjoke about how Fillmore is no longer the lowest rated president post frump, but it turns out George junior takes the prize with 19% and approval wasn't tracked until 1937.

[@toddclean547]

Simon: here is a good one. The story that Americans (or anyone) gave smallpox blankets to the Indians in completely false. Not a single documented case. It was an article written by a liberal college professor -Ward Churchill - (who is still alive.) He made up other garbage also. I debated this with a PhD of history of my local college - live on a radio broadcast. He lost.

[@freethebirds3578]

Thank you. Someone once pointed out that the idea of smallpox blankets was nonsense because germ theory hadn't been accepted at that point. Diseases came from "bad air" so how could blankets make people sick?

[@toddclean547]

@@freethebirds3578 Furthermore. The two BRITISH military who suggested this idea in the 1600s only talked about it. And smallpox prevention was invented in 1699. So who exactly would deliver these blankets before 1699 when it would have likely killed them too? This nonsense is for the uneducated.

[@SergioArellano-yd7ik]

Some Indians stole blankets from dying people and ended up spreading germs amongst themselves

[@sabtahi13]

The Codex Gigas is said to have hand-writing that never varies from start to finish, quite an accomplishment. Especially if done over the span of three decades, no?