In 1869, well-diggers in Cardiff, New York, struck what looked like a 10-foot petrified man buried in the ground. Crowds paid to see the "ancient giant." What was it actually made of? Solid marble carved by Greek sculptors A real fossilized human, just unusually large A block of gypsum carved to look like a buried man Plaster poured into a hole overnight None On Halloween eve in 1938, a radio drama convinced some listeners that aliens were actually invading New Jersey. Who directed and narrated that infamous broadcast? Walt Disney Orson Welles Alfred Hitchcock Edward R. Murrow None In 1917, two young English cousins took photographs that convinced even famous believers that tiny winged fairies were real. How did the girls actually fake the images? They used trained insects with paper wings They double-exposed the film by accident They posed paper cutouts held up with hatpins They painted directly onto the photo negatives None In 1912, an amateur archaeologist announced he'd found the "missing link" between apes and humans in an English gravel pit. Decades later, tests revealed the skull was a fraud built from what? A wax model coated in dirt A human skull combined with an orangutan's jaw Bones from a circus elephant A medieval skeleton repainted to look old None In 1842, showman P.T. Barnum drew huge crowds with a "mermaid" supposedly caught in the South Pacific. What was the so-called Feejee Mermaid really made of? A wax sculpture with real human hair A dolphin's skull and seaweed The top of a monkey stitched to the tail of a fish A carved piece of driftwood None Stumper. In 1983, a major German magazine paid millions for 60 volumes of a secret diary it believed had been written by Adolf Hitler. How quickly were the diaries exposed as forgeries? Within about two weeks Not for nearly 30 years Almost immediately, before publication After a full decade of debate None Time's up
