At Ripley's Believe It or Not! in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a rare artifact on display is a real shrunken human torso, one of only six in the world, which belonged to author Ernest Hemingway. The Shuar people of Ecuador and Peru practiced head shrinking (traditionally known as tsantsa) as a way to capture souls and prevent them from taking revenge in the afterlife. Far from being just morbid trophies, tsantsas were spiritual tools, meant to harness power and protect the living. In the 1920's, shrunken heads became popular among Western collectors, sparking a market for fake tsantsas sold to tourists. Have you ever bought something that you thought was authentic and valuable, only for it to turn out to be a fake?

P. T. Barnum was the key figure behind the Fiji mermaid hoax, which gained fame in 1842 after he got major newspapers to publish stories about it. People were fooled into believing the creature was real, leading to similar mermaids being "found" in sideshows worldwide. The original Fiji mermaid was believed to be created by Japanese sailors around 1822 and was lost in a fire, though some claim to have it. Later, Robert Ripley showcased it as a hoax in his Odditorium. The Fiji mermaid was actually a monkey's torso attached to a fish's body. Today, Fiji mermaids can be found in Ripley's Odditoriums all over the world. While a few are original sideshow pieces from traveling shows, some are remade by modern artists. Had you ever heard of this famous hoax before this survey?