Forged hoax of a furry trout displayed at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, Ocean City, Maryland, USA. By Ryan Somma. Source: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Something Fishy Going On: Rumors of the Furry Trouts

Things are gonna get quite fishy—or rather furry—in this most curious story time of an article. Let us first dive deep into the reflective waters of North America’s lakes and rivers where Nature presents us with a wealth of wonders. Hidden beneath the waters exists a tale as peculiar as it is charming: that of

Feel free to go check whether the strange rock off Baja California is a secret underwater alien base; we fear you will be disappointed. Source: Spiritual People / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

The Non-Existent Secret Alien Base Hidden off the California Coast

At the end of 2024 there was a rash of sightings of purported UFOs in the United States. Social media filled up with blurry footage (and it is, of course, always blurry footage) or strange lights in the sky. For the main this footage is easy to pick apart. Aside from anything else a lot

The Lydian king Croesus: Lydia was supposedly a neighbor of Llhuros, but the artifacts of the latter kingdom were unsurprisingly very different. Source: Marco Prins / Public Domain.

Llhuros: The Lost Civilization that Can Never Be Found

We know a great deal about the lost civilization of Llhuros. You may not have heard of this Iron Age kingdom, but far from being obscure and forgotten it is among the better attested cultures of Asia Minor. Situated in what is now Turkey, Llhuros was a neighbor of the more famous kingdom of Lydia

An example tablet from the Michigan Relics, including crude and inaccurate representations of Egyptian headwear. Source: James E. Talmage / Public Domain.

The Michigan Relics, and the Greatest Fraud in American History

The year is 1890, and James O. Scotford of Edmore, Michigan, is about to make an astonishing claim. Scotford reveals to the world his “discoveries”: a series of relics including a cup and several flat panels covered in what appear to be hieroglyphics. These were only the first finds, and more and more artifacts began