15 Biggest Hoaxes That Fooled The World
13. The Mummified Fairy
On April 1st, 2007, the supposed corpse of a fairy went up for online auction - eventually selling for nearly £300. The seller, Dan Baines from London, put the item online claiming that these were the genuine remains of a fairy and, despite the timing with April Fool's Day, received over 20,000 hits in one day from believers.
The body was described as like that of a child, but with hollow bones like a bird, with skin, hair, teeth and wings intact. He claimed that the item had been found by a local dog walker and had been examined by anthropologists who confirmed that it was genuine (and were presumably just fine with handing the groundbreaking discovery back over to be sold to a whackjob on eBay).
On April 1st, Baines finally admitted to the fake and put the item up for auction with a full disclaimer to the hoax. Despite this, many believers have claimed that Baines' revelation is merely him back-peddling on the truth and that the corpse is in fact genuine. He is accused of "covering up the truth" about the existence of fairies and many people still believe in the authenticity of the find.