The chess-playing automaton
Much before computers were programmed to play chess, there was the “Turk” – an automaton dressed as a Turkish man seated in front of a box filled with complicated gears and wires. The Turk was able to act as a “thinking machine” and play chess with any human opponent and even won many times. This was no minor hoax – it was taken to several countries and fascinated many people. What was its secret? An expert chess player hidden, not inside the Turk, but in a compartment in the box, controlling the pieces using special devices!
A well-hidden secret
Charles Redheffer made a claim in 1813 that sent chills of delight down the spines of physics buffs. He claimed that he’d invented a perpetual motion machine and at the outset it did seem utterly convincing. However, Robert, a mechanical engineer, noticed something fishy – the machine wobbled and appeared unsteady. When he put on his detective cap, he found something quite interesting – a man turning a crank that operated the machine hidden in an upstairs room!
A giant in the backyard
In 1869, two years after the plan hatched in the mind of George Hull and $3,000 later, the petrified remains of a large, gigantic man about 10 feet tall was excavated. Thousands of people flocked to view it. Much later, it was revealed that the statue was made from a gypsum block and treated with acids to give it an old, corroded look. By the time, people realized that they were being fooled by a “big” trick, the hoaxer had made well over $20,000 (a tidy sum at that time)!
Stirring up trouble
In 1749, a few British noblemen as well as a duke and an earl wondered to what extent people could be fooled. Not being ones to merely contemplate, they went about booking a theatre and announced that the audience would be able to visualize a man jumping into a quart bottle. Despite sounding incredulous, it created great interest across London and the theatre was booked full. However, the audience did not take it lightly when they heard that the show wasn’t going to happen, and ended up tearing down the theatre!
Fossils? Uh, wait!
In 1725, Adam Beringer, dean of a university in Germany was terribly excited. The discovery involved several limestone pieces with carvings of different animals and inscriptions. So convinced was Adam that they were fossils that he even went on to write a book detailing his findings! It turned out, though, that it was two of his university colleagues who’d planted them where Adam often hunted for fossils! When they tried to point out that it could be fake, Adam not only got furious, but took them to court. Talk about a clever deception! Later, these pieces began to be called “lying stones”.
A fancy mechanical duck
When Jacques de Vaucanson announced that his invention a mechanical duck about the size of the real bird and made of gold-plated copper – was capable of eating, drinking and excreting like a real duck, it created quite a stir. The inventor even claimed that the duck’s interior had a chemical laboratory capable of breaking down and excreting food. But it turned out that the pellets that came out of the duck were preloaded breadcrumb bits dyed green!
Picture Credit : Google
