Hoaxification

Some time ago, I discussed the 1820s “Manhattan is sinking” hoax. At a two-century remove from the events it’s hard to tell what, if anything, actually happened. Here’s a current bit of fun that may almost certainly confuse people in the future: an artist is creating monuments to events that never happened. His monuments are only visible in person briefly, but are immortal on his website. I will admit to having a soft spot for the Brooklyn Bridge Elephant Stampede.

Joking aside, the process of how people’s memories become history is an interesting one, studied by historians and sociologists. The stories that we learn are not always what actually happened, but once they are history – in other words, once the actual event is far enough in the past that most people have no first-hand knowledge – they can drift even more.