Have you ever looked a photo and being fooled into thinking it was something that it really wasn’t? If so then maybe you have fallen for one of the most famous photo hoaxes of all time.

The Cottingley Fairies Hoax

One of the most famous photo hoaxes of all time was carried out in the early 20^th century by a couple of inventive young cousins. Using a very early prototype of the Samsung Galaxy and a computer program known as Ye Olde Photoshoppe they cobbled together images that mystified the public and experts alike for decades. It was almost 60 years before they finally admitted that the photos were fake, although they rather bafflingly insisted that one of the images was actually real.

The Fake Suicide Hoax

Hey, how can this be classed as a famous hoax photo when you’ve never seen it before? Before you start clamouring for your money back and for the site to get taken down let me explain. This is the first ever photo hoax, which I feel means that it deserves a place on this illustrious list of made up nonsense and outright BS. This is the image of Hippolyte Bayard, who was a relatively unheralded pioneer of the photographic process and who claimed to have taken this image of his own suicide after failing to get the acclaim he deserved.

The Hitler Rally Photo Hoax

It turns out this famous photo of a young and rather enthusiastic Hitler at a 1914 war rally is almost certainly a fake. The size of his moustache and the fact that he never appears in video footage of the rally are the main reasons given by experts for finally working out after all this time that the photo isn’t real.

The Loch Ness Monster Photo Hoax

 

This hoax image of the Loch Ness monster was taken by a surgeon in 1934. It was the first really good photo of the beast and in a stunning twist of creativity became known as the Surgeon’s Photograph. Millions believed that it really showed a type of swimming dinosaur. In the mid 1970s experts finally claimed it was a photo hoax, as the ripples were different on different photos taken at the same time and the negatives showed that the image had probably been tampered with.

The 9/11 Photo Hoax

You have probably already seen this hoax image at least once and might even have had it sent to your inbox. It is of a chap known at the Tourist Guy or Accidental Tourist standing on top of one of the Twin Towers just as the 9/11 attack takes place. Analysis of the photo reveals that it just makes no sense. Why would neither the subject nor the photographer realise that a giant plane was unexpectedly heading towards them. Why is he so well wrapped up on what was a warm day and how did the camera survive the incident and then get recovered from the rubble?

The Bush Book Hoax

This famous picture of some guy holding a book round the wrong way is, apparently, a hoax. The same goes for the photo of Barack Obama holding a phone round the wrong way too.

The Giant Dog

 

Apparently Hercules is the world’s biggest dog. This is a brilliant photo but it isn’t 100% real.