13 Movie Hoaxes That Completely Fooled Everyone

8. The Shining Was Stanley Kubrick's Confession To Faking The Moon Landings

Perhaps no film in cinema history has been subject to as many hoaxes, fan theories and outlandish legends as Stanley Kubrick's masterful 1980 horror classic The Shining, to the extent that a documentary film, Room 237, was even released in 2012, detailing the most popular conspiracy theories.

The most elaborate theory claims that The Shining is effectively Kubrick's veiled confession to and apology for helping fake the Apollo 11 moon landings. It's been a long-standing claim that the 2001: A Space Odyssey director helped create the "hoax" moon landing footage, and many believe that The Shining contains key clues to "confirm" that.

First off there's the fact that Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) wears an Apollo 11 sweater, the carpet pattern of the Overlook Hotel resembles a launch pad, the fruit drink Tang is visible in the hotel's pantry (a drink commonly consumed by astronauts), a Native American mural on one of the hotel's walls resembles rockets taking off, and the iconic room 237 refers to the mean distance of the Earth to the moon (it's actually 238,856 miles, not 237,000).

Is it a crackpot theory with no factual basis whatsoever? Absolutely, but that didn't stop many latching onto it. Even many smart, educated people are still sceptical of the moon landings' authenticity, which combined with the obsessive fandom surrounding The Shining makes for one hell of a wacky hoax-within-a-hoax.