Historical Hoaxes, Legends & Fallacies

Articles Index

Did Nostradamus Predict the 9/11 Attacks?
Internet rumors claim French seer Nostradamus predicted the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon 500 years before they happened.

Why Friday the 13th Is Unlucky
As folklorists, we may not be able to cure paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th), but we can at least lend its sufferers a few good excuses. The origins and history of Friday the 13th.

JFK: 'I Am a Jelly Donut' ('Ich bin ein Berliner')
Did Germans chuckle with embarrassment when John F. Kennedy uttered the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner' at a Berlin Wall ceremony in 1963?

The Seventh-Inning Stretch
The seventh-inning stretch: does anyone really know when, where and how this baseball custom got started?

Yellow Ribbon 'Tradition' Is of Recent Origin, Folklorists Say
'Tying a yellow ribbon' to honor U.S. troops overseas has become such a ubiquitous and familiar symbol that many people assume its origins to be quite old. Folklorists say its history stretches back little more than 20 years.