Hoax
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Victorian Parents Using Their Children for Pranks Collection #2
Among the huge amount of photographs we have received this month, we have been lucky enough to find another rare example of Victorian parents using their children for pranks. This time the subject was toddlers. Our expert in this particular area tells us that back in the early to mid-nineteenth century, families tended to be…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #7 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #4)
This is the last of this collection for a while. We apologise for not posting as promised yesterday. We had to deal with some trick or treaters who refused to leave the office until we gave them some biscuits. We will return to this collection in the future with more fascinating background information and solve…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #6 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #3)
“Who on God’s Earth is responsible for this?” screamed the Penny Rotten Paper and Illustrated Times headline. It was printed alongside the cartoon in photograph #10. Nobody really knew the answer to this until many years later. The majority of people surveyed in the 1860s believed it was something to do with the paranormal; the…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #5 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #2)
Here is a journal account written by a landlord living in London: “The giant ghouls and monsters hung in the sky, staring down at us as if we were prey. Is this how the apocalypse begins and ends? I have seen people all over London down on their knees, reaching to the heavens and praying…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #4 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #1)
To get into the Halloween spirit, we are going to archive some interesting photos from the second half of the 19th century. They are all in the Ambrotype style and have been touched up over the years by oil paint which explains how immaculate they are. In cities across England, during the month of October,…
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Quoth the Raven “Nevermore”
We know that Edgar Allan Poe spent several of his formative years in London. Some scholars also believe that Poe set many of his stories in the capital and had returned there over the years to rekindle childhood memories. As can be seen in photographs #1 and #2, it is believed that he would spend…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #3 (Martian Edition Part #1)
Today’s collection has to be one of the most bozarre and hilarious we’ve archived thus far. Yet when these images began to circulate in a national newspaper in 1895, Victorians were queueing up to be fooled. In 1895 a theatre company named Barnard & Co. was celebrating the end to a fantastic summer season in…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #2 (Ghost Edition)
Today we are sharing more Victorian hoax photography, except today the theme is ghosts. As with last time, photograph #1 is the best example of a ghost hoax we have in our archives. You can use it as a yardstick for how utterly terrible the other attempts are. We particularly like photograph #3; you can…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #1 (Yeti Edition)
Hoax photography was once a lucrative industry. Most of us are familiar with the ‘fairies at the bottom of the garden’ photographs. To a modern audience they look ridiculous, but to many Victorians they were evidence of paranormal activity. So today we bring to you some hoax photography of the mythical yeti and take a…
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