Before we retaliate over drone and oil tanker attacks, take a look at all the times we've been duped. By Robert W. Merry.

Washington Goes Full Retard on the Russia Hoax. By David Stockman.

The broad-smiling, blond-bearded, would-be killer - Oleksiy Tsymbaliuk - is sitting next to me in my car. Tsymbaliuk, a former Orthodox priest, is the unlikely starting point for the extraordinary tale of how the Ukrainian security service says it faked a murder in order to stop a murder. In doing so, it tried to expose what it says is Russia's involvement in the killing of political opponents. "I am Arkady Babchenko's assassin," says Tsymbaliuk (pictured below) with a laugh as we shake hands.

Whether it’s the Cottingley fairies, ghostly visions or even the Enfield poltergeist, there is a place for the lure of magic in these troubled days, says Eva Wiseman.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Spiritualism. By John Rabon.

Ever since Donald Trump became the High Priest Of Hate, the word “hoax” has gained new popularity. Global warming is a hoax cooked up by the Chinese. Reports that the Prevaricator in Chief is a serial abuser of women are hoaxes. Democrats are hoaxes. According to the Flat Earth community, last week’s launch of the Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral with Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster onboard was a hoax of epic proportions.

With little more than a website and some nerve, a prankster did the unthinkable: turned his home into the top-rated restaurant listing in London. By Eli Rosenberg.

After the Civil War, popular prints and doctored photographs played on the idea that Confederate president Jefferson Davis had been arrested wearing women’s clothes. By Stassa Edwards.

Why do archaeological fraudsters work so hard to deceive us? Because bad science makes for good stories. By Ted Scheinman.

Investigative journalist Gareth Porter has published two exclusives whose import is far greater than may be immediately apparent. They concern Israel’s bombing in 2007 of a supposed nuclear plant secretly built, according to a self-serving US and Israeli narrative, by Syrian leader Bashar Assad... By Jonathan Cook.

A fake social network might be the only thing your smartphone needs. By Ian Bogost.

During World War II, a man went to the doctor in Rozwadów, Poland with a unique complaint… By Matt Soniak. (Sept. 22, 2015)

Scientific discoveries and faraway voyages inspired fantastic tales—and a [2015] Smithsonian exhibition. By Sarah Zielinski.(July 2, 2015)

How hard is it to con people in Washington, D.C.? Easier than you might think, considering it’s the place where things like nuclear war get decided. The national-security circuit in particular, with its think tank fellowships and massive government contracts, is one of the juiciest rackets around... By Brendan James.

She has convinced her followers she is a pretty-in-pink naïf, an escort, an unhinged ex, an office drone, and, most recently, an expectant mother. None of it is real. By Molly Langmuir. (Sept. 16, 2016)

New techniques finger 19th century amateur fossil hunter in famous forgery. By Michael Price.

Police said in a press release on Friday afternoon that the white powder that led to the evacuation of a mail distribution centre was a harmless flour product that contain no foreign substances. “We are of course pleased that there were no dangerous chemicals in the powder,” police spokesman Knut Erik Ågrav said. Ågrav said that police are continuing to investigate who sent the envelope and said the incident was "serious and will have major consequences". "Both the police and the hospital used a lot of resources on this," he told NRK.

For 13 years, Brett Christensen has been a committed professional debunker. This balding, bearded, soft-spoken, and serious man of 53 years has devoted himself to fighting the tide of online misinformation—the kind of scams, frauds, and hoaxes that used to spread from one inbox to the next but today move with alarming speed… By Andrew McMillen.

Four members of the controversial Trollstation YouTube channel have been jailed in connection with fake robberies and kidnappings. The group were involved in a fake robbery at London's National Portrait Gallery and a fake kidnapping at Tate Britain in July 2015. The channel, with 718,000 subscribers, has built a reputation for filming staged pranks around the city. A fifth member was imprisoned in March following a bomb hoax.

What if some of the most haunting symbolism of the twentieth century was the invention of a shadowy figure who pirated innocuous images from a famous church in order to construct the mythos of a secret society? By Andrew Gough.