Category:
Frauds, Cons and Scams

The egg on the head scam

San Francisco Examiner - Dec 22, 1974

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 29, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, 1970s

The Roll-a-Ray Fat Remover

Introduced in 1948, by 1950 the Roll-a-Ray had been banned by the FDA. It was simply two rubber rollers with an electric light bulb mounted behind them.

Detroit Free Press - Nov 21, 1948



FDA Consumer - Feb 1977

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 17, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, 1940s, Dieting and Weight Loss

The Great Cheiro

The late part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century were filled with occult types, most famously Aleister Crowley. But I had not previously encountered Cheiro.

His Wikipedia page is here.

You can read his palmistry book here.





And luckily, in 1979, Cheiro (died 1936) conducted a long conversation with another medium. Read it here.







Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 27, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, New Age, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century

Electrical Frauds of 1916

Rather than try to reproduce the text that accompanies these illos as an illegible thumbnail here, I direct you to the source, where you can enlarge the image for readability.



Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 07, 2023 - Comments (6)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Technology, 1910s

The Barrett Eye Normalizer

Perfect vision through eyeball massage. At least, that was the claim.

Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan - Oct 1926



Source: American Artifacts



Boston Sunday Globe - Oct 8, 2017

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 23, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Eyes and Vision

The Cures of Albert Abrams

As his Wikipedia page tells us:

Albert Abrams (December 8, 1863 – January 13, 1924) was a controversial American physician, well known during his life for inventing machines, such as the "Oscilloclast" and the "Radioclast", which he falsely claimed could diagnose and cure almost any disease.[1] These claims were challenged from the outset. Towards the end of his life, and again shortly after his death, many of his machines and conclusions were demonstrated to be intentionally deceptive or false.[2]


He actually published a whole periodical devoted to his theories. Read an issue here.

Hugo Gernsback, the father of modern science fiction, was having none of this, running the expose below in a 1923 issue of his magazine SCIENCE AND INVENTION.





Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 14, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Medicine, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1920s

Fake Violin Scam

Police are describing people pretending to play the violin for money as a "nationwide issue."

More info: The CW7

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 02, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Music

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Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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