13 Movie Hoaxes That Completely Fooled Everyone

5. A Woman Died While Searching For The Fargo Money

Unlike most of the hoaxes on this list, this isn't concerned with the production of a movie, but rather a real-life story that followed it. First off, note that the Coen Brothers' 1996 neo-noir masterpiece Fargo features a sequence in which Steve Buscemi's character, Carl, buries almost $1 million in the snow.

In November 2001, more than five years after the film's release, a 28-year-old Japanese woman named Takako Konishi was found dead in some icy woodlands 50 miles from Fargo, with the authorities initially believing that she had been attempting to track down the fictional fortune.

The media naturally ran with this, and the legend still endures today, to the extent that the 2014 indie hit Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter even dramatises it.

However, Konishi's death was ultimately ruled a suicide and is supported by plenty of evidence: she was depressed having recently lost her job in Tokyo, so travelled to Minnesota, drank two bottles of champagne and lied down in the snow, quickly succumbing to the harsh elements.

Kinoshi also made a 40-minute phone call to her estranged lover the night prior, sent a suicide note to her parents and disposed of most of her belongings before heading to Minnesota. As fascinating as the Fargo theory is, logic points to it being complete bunk.