Weird & Wonderful

Clever minds and their cleverer plans!

It’s the New Year and as they say, with every passing year, we grow wiser and smarter. That’s why this time, we’ll be looking at some crafty hoaxes from the past… so that you can learn to be wary about such tricks should you encounter them.

Illustration of fossils
Illustration: © Rama Ramesh

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”.

Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.

Rama Ramesh is a creative writer who has written stories and features for children’s magazines and has co-authored a series of nanotechnology books for kids.

Rama Ramesh

Rama Ramesh is a creative writer who has written stories and features for children’s magazines and has co-authored a series of nanotechnology books for kids.