15 Biggest Hoaxes That Fooled The World

Unless you've been living under a rock at the bottom of the Mariana trench, you've probably had this hoax turn up on your newsfeed at some point. The original claim was circulated via email stating that in October 2003, Mars was going to appear larger than the Moon in the night sky. It has since done the rounds on which ever social media platform is flavour of the month every year since its inception.

While it was true that Mars was going to be at its closest point to Earth, the spectacular claims of Mars' size, plus the assertions that "NO ONE WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN IN THEIR LIFETIME" were just a tad overstated. Mars was indeed going to be the brightest object in the sky...after the Moon, the Sun and Venus. For anyone who has ever seen Venus, you'll know that this is not that bright at all, and certainly not as bright as the Moon.

Whether this hoax is simply the result of some people getting their wires crossed over the years, or whether the shrill claims of the cosmic spectacle that was about to thunder across our skies was a teenage girl's ploy to get more Facebook likes (they certainly sound like it at any rate), we'll never know. But, do the world a favour, and smugly point out the truth the next time this one rolls around.