Historical Hoaxes, Frauds, and The Wolf of Wall Street

A title to a blogpost I never thought I would write. Today’s class was great, and not just because I won Kahoot. What really stuck with me was how long people have been falling for lies, and how the same patterns keep repeating in different forms. We explored how deception shows up across history, from mythical aliens to scientific frauds, and how it still plays out in modern stories like The Wolf of Wall Street.

The alien hoaxes fascinated me most. The Roswell incident and War of the Worlds both started with confusion and ended in chaos. They reminded me how people crave answers, even if they’re the wrong ones. When information is missing, imagination fills the gap and usually runs wild.

Then we looked at hoaxes that wouldn’t die, like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or the Cottingley Fairies. Those stories made me think about why people cling to falsehoods even after being told the truth. Sometimes it’s hate, sometimes it’s hope, but either way, belief is powerful.

The profit-motivated hoaxes hit closest to modern times: fake fossils, “AI” chess robots, and giants made from stone. They weren’t just jokes, they were businesses. Deception forming as an industry, a way to profit. 

I didn’t fully connect The Wolf of Wall Street to the historical hoaxes at first, but by the end, it clicked. Whether it’s a 1900s fraud or a Wall Street scam, both thrive on manipulation, greed, and people’s willingness to believe what benefits them. When money or fame is on the line, the truth becomes optional. And that, more than anything, feels timeless. 

Comments

  1. williams.dan76November 4, 2025 at 12:08 PM

    Thanks for commenting on both hoaxes and The Wolf of Wall Street. I appreciate the connections you found between the two. I thought your comment about deception being a business was quite astute.Marketing is the creation of belief, of confidence, and that's the basis for a con game one way or another. congratulations on winning Kahoot. That was down to the wire.

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