History's Greatest Hoaxes

A dubious producer based in London convinced large parts of the UFO-hungry public a film of an autopsy being performed on a dead alien was authentic.

According to folklore a large sea monster lurks in Scotland. Over the years, grainy photographs and inconclusive video footage has emerged to keep the legend alive.

In the 1980’s, one of the most extraordinary discoveries of the 20th century was made – the personal diary of none other than Adolf Hitler. It caused a sensation.

An inadvertent hoax perhaps? Or a very clever ploy that made an unknown 23 year old New York City radio producer famous overnight?

The best-selling book by Henry Charrierre, which told of his life on the Penal colony island of French Guiana was ‘exposed’ as a novel, not a biography, in 1970.

The quest to conclusively connect man and ape appeared to come to an end in year 1912 with the discovery of a skull and jawbone in a quarry near the village of Piltdown in Sussex.

In 2011, a body was discovered around 08:45 BST by an elderly couple lying in an alleyway between two houses.