Hoax Photos: Okay, a few of the credulity-stretching images and videos featured in this category aren't really fakes -- some are authentic -- but most, you'll find, are demonstrably bogus, altered, or at the very least misrepresented. We've done our best to separate the real from the fake.
A gallery of viral images depicting animals in a variety of credulity-stretching contexts: giant housepets, wayward predators, albino wildlife, and more. Some of these photos are authentic, others are fakes. See if you can tell which is which...
A gallery of viral images depicting natural disasters and other astonishing phenomena that often seem more supernatural than natural. That's because many of these photographs are fake, of course, or at the very least circulating under false pretenses. You may be surprised in some cases at which photos are actually authentic. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!
A gallery of viral images notable for their 'Ick!' factor. Some of these 'gross pictures' are authentic, others are fakes. As you'll see, it's not always obvious which is which!
Take the UL Image Quiz and test your ability to tell hoax photos from real ones.
A gallery featuring dozens of weird, wacky images -- some real, some fake, some whose authenticity has yet to be determined -- as circulated via forwarded email.
Authentic emailed images of a 2-year-old tsunami victim found battered and bruised but alive in Khao Lak, Thailand.
Authentic: Emailed photos of the 'Tear Drop Memorial' designed by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate the victims of 9/11.
Parodies of the infamous 'tourist guy' photo, a hoax circulating in the wake of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001
TRUE: Emailed image of a young girl in Phuket Hospital, a victim of the Indian Ocean tsunami whose parents are still missing.
Emailed photos allegedly show a 412-pound deer killed by a hunter in Clarion County, Pennsylvania (or in Nebraska -- take your pick).
Emailed photo shows a hunter posing beside a dead razorback hog purportedly 8 feet long and weighing 800 lbs.
Emailed image allegedly taken from a 1954 issue of
Popular Mechanics shows the RAND Corporation's conception of what a home computer would look like in 2004.
September 2007 email flier of indeterminate origin purports to seek a home for six abandoned black lab mix puppies.
Is the American Civil Liberties Union against displaying crosses on federal property? (W/photo of veterans' cemetery.)
Has the ACLU raised objections to U.S. service personnel praying based on a photo showing a group of Marines with bowed heads?
Photo purports to show a Veterans Day flyby of T-38 Talon jet fighters in a formation spelling out 'USA' over the "Taj Mahal" building at Randolph Air Force Base.
Emailed photos purportedly taken inside the passenger cabin of A330 Air France Flight 447 moments before it broke up over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009 (originally circulated as photos of Gol Airlines Flight 1907 after mid-air collision in 2006).
Emailed images of an albino fawn found near Stanley, North Dakota, the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas, or West Liberty, Kentucky, depending on which version of the story you believe.
Emailed photos purportedly taken at Cross Lake, Louisiana show a gator moving through the water with a full-grown deer in its mouth.
Emailed photos show remarkably realistic three-dimensional street and sidewalk paintings. Are they real?
Emailed video of an "amazing music machine" allegedly manufactured out of farm equipment parts at the University of Iowa.
This photo of two elk cows surrounded by an awesome conflagration is authentic, snapped on a digital camera by U.S. Forest Service fire behavior analyst John McColgan on August 6, 2000.
Authentic emailed image of a U.S. military helicopter accomplishing a precarious rooftop landing and pick-up in Afghanistan.
Authentic emailed images show Hispanic high school students in California demonstrating against proposed immigration legislation by hoisting a Mexican flag above an upside-down American flag.
Circulating via email, an unsettling photograph of what appears to be a half-human, half-animal creature suckling her hybrid offspring.
Translated into English, the French portion of an American product label reads: 'We are sorry that our president is an idiot. We did not vote for him.'
Email hoax claims an "Asian/Chinese" restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia was recently closed by authorities for offering dishes made of rats, mice, kittens and puppies.
Emailed photo shows presidential candidate Barack Obama speaking on the phone while apparently holding the receiver upside-down.
Emailed photos taken in a cornfield in Illinois, Minnesota, or Wisconsin (depending on version) show a black bear awakened from hibernation by a combine harvester.
Emailed photos show a rental townhouse in Ogden, Utah every room of which is piled high from floor to ceiling with empty beer cans.
Emailed images show a pair of twin sisters - one black, the other white - born to a British couple who both had mixed-race parents.
Emailed photo shows a U.S. soldier wearing a black patch which reads 'Doing the work of...' above the flags of France, Germany and Russia.
Emailed photo purports to show a satellite view of the 2003 blackout of the northeastern United States.
Disturbing images of what appears to be a worm infestation of a live human brain are circulating attached to two completely different stories, both of which are terrifying, but false.
Emailed image and video purport to document the medical case of anthropologist Susan McKinley, who failed to seek treatment for a rash and wound up with an infestation of larvae in her breast.
Emailed photos purport to show the progressive deterioration of a wound caused by the bite of a brown recluse spider.
Emailed video of a grizzly encounter between a bungee jumper and the crocodile awaiting him in the river below.
Authentic photo circulating via email shows President G.W. Bush hugging 15-year-old Ashley Faulkner, the daughter of 9/11 terrorism victim Wendy Faulkner.
Emailed photo purports to show President Bush and his father nonchalantly fishing in the flooded streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
TRUE. Emailed photo shows President Bush running beside U.S. Army Sgt. Mike McNaughton, who lost his leg in a land mine explosion in Afghanistan.
Emailed photos purport to show a 'calico buck' shot by a hunter somewhere in Wisconsin (or Michigan, Arkansas, West Virginia, or Georgia, depending on version).
Emailed photo taken by U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq show a pair of huge, scary-looking arachnids called camel spiders. Do they really eat human flesh?
Emailed photos not released by the U.S. government show the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, Iraq. They appear to be genuine.
Here is a well-traveled card trick/mindreading illusion that has popped up again and again on the Internet, even circulating in the form of a PowerPoint presentation purporting to be (although it almost certainly is not) the work of renowned stage magician David Copperfield.
Authentic: Emailed photos show a huge cache of money totalling $207 million seized from Mexican drug dealers in 2007.
Emailed photos show a flathead catfish with a child's basketball stuck in its mouth.
According to this email flier and attached video, law enforcement officials have discovered .22 caliber guns disguised as cell phones being smuggled into western Europe from Croatia.
Viral video tells the true, heartwarming tale of the reunion between Christian the Lion and the two men who adopted him as a cub in the 1970s.
Authentic: Emailed images show Christmas wreaths adorning the headstones of fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
Amazing - and real - video of a suburban house decorated with animated Christmas lights synchronized to music.
Emailed photos purportedly show the stylish and comfortable new digs of prison inmates in Chicago's Cook County Correctional Center.
Emailed slideshow, a new version of a rumor circulating since 2003, claims August 27 will bring the closest encounter between Mars and Earth in recorded history. Unfortunately, this "once in a lifetime event" already came and went in 2003.
Emailed photos purportedly depicting 'new summer trends' show women with symmetrical rows of skin-piercings on their torsos laced up like old-fashioned corsets.
Authentic / Mislabeled: Emailed photos taken through a screen door show a cougar (mountain lion) prowling the porch or patio of someone's home.
Little did the Palm Beach golfer realize as he tramped off alone to the seventh hole that he was about to become Ol' Mose's last meal.
Authentic emailed image of a one-eyed kitten named Cyclops who lived only one day before succumbing to a rare medical condition known as "holoprosencephaly."
(NOT a hoax!) Irate consumer complains in forwarded email about finding a tiny dead frog inside a can of Kroger peas. With revolting photo documentation...
Set of emailed images purports to show rare deep-sea creatures washed up on the beaches of Phuket, Thailand by the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004.
Emailed photos document the discovery of a dead deer high atop a power pole in a remote area of Baltimore (or Winnipeg, Manitoba, depending on version).
A photo released by the White House of U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney on a fishing trip in Idaho appears to show the blurry reflection of a naked woman (among other possibilities) in the dark sunglasses he is wearing.
Photos circulated on the Internet seem to prove that human infants are eaten in China. Are they real? (Not for the faint of heart!)
Revolting photos show the surgical removal of a live worm from the eye of an unfortunate patient who purportedly contracted the parasite from ordinary house dust.
Forwarded email urges recipients to sign a petition preventing artist "Habacuc" Guillermo Vargas (aka "Habakkuk") from participating in the Central American Biennial of Art because he created an exhibition in which a stray dog was allegedly starved to death in the name of art. Attached photos appear to be authentic.
Can images "commemorating" the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of last September 11 be seen on a properly folded U.S. $20 bill?
True: Emailed images chronicle the completion of a massive indoor ski resort built on desert sands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Viral video appears to show an elephant painting a "self-portrait" unguided by human hands.
In this emailed image, a rock formation and its reflection in a body of water resemble a mother and child praying.
This authentic, much-emailed NASA photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has been labeled 'The Eye of God.'
Emailed photos of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor were purportedly discovered on a roll of film from an old Kodak Brownie camera.
Emailed photos show the carcass of a very strange fish with monstrous teeth allegedly washed up on a beach in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Authentic/Mislabeled: Emailed photos purport to show a "frozen wave" or "ice wave" frozen in mid-air by sub-zero temperatures in Antarctica, Lake Huron, or Lake Michigan, depending on version.
'Last photo' supposedly taken by the seller of a digital camera shows a rampaging bull heading straight for the lens.
Emailed photos of extremely uncomfortable-looking high-heel and platform shoes, allegedly the "latest fashions" from Japan and Italy.
Emailed photo allegedly shows a ghost standing next to a tourist visiting the Sundarbans in southwest Bangladesh. Two days later, the tourist died of a heart attack. Coincidence?
Email chain letter claims that a ghost depicted in the attached image will "collect your soul" if you don't forward it to at least five people.
Direct from our inbox, the email tale of an 87-pound housecat named "Snowball." You won't believe the photo!
Despite its resemblance to the infamous "mutant cat" hoax above, this 2004 image appears to be authentic.
Emailed photo - apparently real - of a huge, 140-pound catfish supposedly caught in Lake Texoma, Texas.
Apparently authentic: Emailed photos of gargantuan specimens of Birgus latro - the coconut crab, named for its preferred diet of fallen coconuts and said to be the world's largest land-dwelling arthropod.
Emailed image of a large alligator allegedly shot in Texas or Florida (depending on version) by a game warden named Joe Goff.
Are emailed pictures of a giant, 1,600-pound, man-eating grizzly bear allegedly killed in Alaska by a hunter or Forest Service employee real?
"Recent gas exploration activity in the southeast region of the Arabian desert uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size."
Mislabeled: Emailed photos of a gigantic, 1,800-pound wild boar allegedly shot and killed in Conroe, Texas by a radiology technician.
Emailed photographs purportedly taken
inside the passenger cabin of GOL Airlines flight 1907 seconds after the Boeing 737's fatal collison with another aircraft on Sept. 29, 2006.
Authentic: Emailed image shows a corn maze carved in the shape of a United States map with the aid of a GPS unit and a laptop computer.
Artist's rendering of a 70-foot glass-bottomed skywalk being built over the rim of the Grand Canyon in the Hualapai Indian Reservation.
Emailed image purporting to show a U.S. soldier in Iraq tending a small plot of grass grown from seeds sent by his wife back home.
TRUE: Emailed photo shows the hand of a 21-week-old fetus, Samuel Alexander Armas, grasping the finger of a surgeon performing a prenatal operation.
Emailed image purports to show the 'hands of God' in a cloud formation associated with 2004's Hurricane Charley.
Authentic emailed images show several hummingbirds calmly feeding from a woman's outstretched hand.
Authentic emailed photos of a 10-foot "liger" (a cross between a lion and a tiger) named Hercules.
Emailed image of a gargantuan dog named Hercules, purportedly the Guinness Record holder for World's Biggest Dog.
Authentic emailed image of a very large "German Giant" rabbit named Herman, held by his owner, Hans Wagner.
Emailed image of the world's highest bridge, the Millau Viaduct in southern France.
AUTHENTIC: Circulating via email, a vintage 1918 photograph by Mole & Thomas captures an aerial view of 18,000 enlisted men and officers forming a "Human Statue of Liberty."
Forwarded email recounts the true story of the rescue of a female humpback whale trapped in a web of crab lines in the Pacific Ocean near the Farallon Islands.
Emailed image purports to show the approach of Hurricane Isabel at sea, September 2003.
Emailed images purport to show Hurricane Katrina approaching the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
Eerie, dramatic photo circulating by email purports to show three massive waterspouts threatening a supply ship at sea as 2002's Hurricane Lili advanced toward the Louisiana coast.
The accompanying story is suspect, but emailed photos of a woman being smuggled into the U.S. crammed inside the dashboard of a vehicle are authentic.
Can you find the hidden, insulting message in this epitaph inscribed on a tombstone located in a Montreal cemetery?
In which we are asked to believe that Japanese women are proudly wearing skirts imprinted on the outside with trompe l'oeil panties.
Authentic images circulating via email capture the formation of condensation clouds around jet aircraft flying near the speed of sound.
'Newspaper clipping' circulating on the Internet purports to show a youthful John Kerry shaking hands with Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey.
Circulating via email: a photo purporting to show the headstone of famed lawyer Johnnie Cochran. The inscription reads: "O.J. DID IT."
Actually, we think these photos of a "seriously pissed-off cat" just back from the groomer are real, but the accompanying story is too good to be true.
TRUE: Emailed pictures show the denouement of a pickup truck accident in which the truck apparently crashed through a barricade, struck a culvert, flipped end over end, and landed upright mere inches from the edge of a deep ravine.
According to this forwarded email, Arizona resident Jeff Green preserved the body of his dead wife Lucy in a specially-built glass coffee table, which is on display in his living room.
Did the male model in an underwear spread for the 1975 Sears catalog show more, um,
panache than was expected of him?
Emailed photos purport to show a giant, man-eating catfish caught in the Furong Reservoir of Huadu, China.
Email flier (with photos) purports to enumerate the personal property holdings of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Emailed images purportedly show tiny, realistic sculptures of human babies fashioned from marzipan paste.
Emailed photos allegedly show the carcass of a dead mermaid found in the Philippines. P.T. Barnum would be proud.
Emailed photos purportedly show the carcass of a merman (or mermaid) washed up on a beach variously said to be located in Venda, South Africa; Cebu, The Philippines; Malaysia; and Fort Desoto Beach, Florida.
Emailed photos show U.S. forces uncovering a Russian MiG-25 Foxbat jet fighter found buried in sand in Iraq.
Emailed photos of a huge crocodile fished from the sea in the port of Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.
Emailed image purportedly shows a full-grown 'work moose' being harnessed to haul wood in a logging operation.
Emailed image shows an unfortunate moose accidentally strung up on power cables by a utility crew near Fairbanks, Alaska.
Emailed photos show an unusually large mountain lion (cougar) allegedly killed between Grantsville and Walker near Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Emailed images appear to document one of the more unusual causes of a printer jam - a mouse stuck in the printer's ink toner cartridge.
Emailed photos purportedly show a mule attacking and killing a mountain lion in Arizona (or Wyoming, depending on version).
Emailed images purport to show mummified remains of a fairy (or "butterfly man" or "moth man") discovered in the Derbyshire countryside of England.
Emailed images purportedly show a space-age automated parking garage constructed in a circular tower in Munich, Germany.
(Authentic/Mislabeled) Emailed photos show Muslims brandishing signs advocating violence against anyone who insults Islam at a purported 'Religion of Peace demonstration' in London.
Emailed slideshow tells the story of a mysterious staircase at Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico and its miraculous construction by an unknown carpenter without the use of nails, glue, or central support.
Emailed photos purportedly taken in 1911 offer postcard views of Niagara Falls completely frozen over.
A phony Nike ad showing a bloody sneaker lying intact on the pavement after a terrorist attack bears the slogan, "You may not survive the blast, but your shoes will."
Images circulating via email purport to show common housecats hand-painted in a variety of decorative colors and designs.
Circulating via email, authentic pictures of the rare parrot flower (Impatiens psittacina), which is native to northern Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and India and bears a remarkable resemblance to its avian namesake.
Based on an actual design by NEC, emailed images purport to show a "computer of the future," a full-featured PC comprising five slender objects the size and shape of ball-point pens.
AUTHENTIC: Emailed pictures of an extremely rare albino dolphin with red eyes and pink skin taken on Calcasieu Lake, Louisiana.
Emailed pictures of fishermen holding a large fish with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth, variously captioned: "Piranha on Steroids" or "World Record Piranha."
Emailed images show the result of an unfortunate encounter between a "pit bull" and a porcupine.
Emailed photos authentically (and graphically) document injuries sustained by the survivor of a polar bear attack.
Emailed images show a 1,200-pound polar bear playing with husky sled dogs in the sub-arctic wilderness of northern Canada.
TRUE: Emailed photos show an outdoor public toilet with walls made entirely of one-way glass.
Authentic: Emailed photos show a chihuahua puppy born in Japan with a heart-shaped pattern in its coat.
Emailed image shows Queen Elizabeth of England sitting amidst a group of kilt-wearing Scottish soldiers, one of whom reveals a wee bit too much of his manhood.
Circulating via email, a photo taken of a window of the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Coral Gables, Florida featuring a display of Barack Obama books into which a book named 'Monkeys' has been inserted.
According to this email tale, an AFP news photo containing a close-up of a Red Cross Debit Card issued to Hurricane Katrina victim Latesha Vinette instantly resulted in fraudulent charges on a massive scale.
Email hoax claims an "Asian/Chinese" restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia was recently closed by authorities for offering dishes made of rats, mice, kittens and puppies.
Emailed photos evidently snapped by a U.S. soldier document a 'sandstorm from hell' at Al Asad airbase in Iraq on April 26, 2005.
Emailed image purports to show Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin posing for a photo wearing an American-flag bikini and carrying a rifle.
These stunningly clear, close-up images purporting to show the Space Shuttle Columbia blowing up in orbit are circulating via email. Were they really taken by an Israeli spy satellite?
Germany-based sports shoe manufacturer PUMA AG says a pair of pictorial "ads" currently circulating on the Internet and featuring sneaker-clad adults engaged in an apparent sex act are "unauthorized," "appalling," and utterly fake.
Dramatic still photo shows a great white shark lunging out of the water towards a diver dangling precariously from low-flying helicopter.
Emailed image shows a massive shark looming behind two blissfully unaware scuba divers vacationing in Australia.
Has your computer ever hissed at you? Here's a tale, complete with shocking photos, of a woman who probably wishes she'd called Animal Control instead of Tech Support when her PC began making strange noises.
Various tales, some taller than others, accompany these authentic images of a python who tangled with an electric fence and lost.
Emailed image shows a very large snake (evidently a python) pulling its prey (evidently a wallaby, though some have labeled it a "cow") out of a body of water in Western Australia.
Emailed photos purport to show a nest of baby copperhead snakes found in the bottom of a plastic flower pot purchased at a grocery store.
This charming series of photographs purports to show a gigantic serpent killed and dissected in the process of swallowing a full-grown human being.
Authentic: Emailed pictures of square watermelons grown in special tempered glass cases by Japanese farmers.
Emailed photos show a memorial statue by Iraqi artist "Kalat" purportedly honoring the American troops who liberated his country.
AUTHENTIC: Emailed images show a strange catamaran-like vessel consisting of a glass-walled cabin suspended over a pair of giant pontoons via tall, spidery legs.
Emailed image purportedly snapped at the North Pole in which the crescent moon appears to be many times larger than the setting sun.
Emailed photo purportedly shows a huge nighttime tornado illuminated by a lightning bolt near an oil rig south of Ft. Stockton, Texas.
Emailed picture of a giant rattlesnake killed in Texas, allegedly measuring 9 feet 1 inch in length and weighing 97 pounds.
Emailed snapshots taken at a zoo show a mother tiger nursing a brood of piglets costumed in tiger skins.
"Brooks Brothers suit: $680. Political career to become Senate Majority Leader: $15 million. Using the wrong hand while repeating the Pledge of Allegiance: PRICELESS."
Photo vignette circulating via email shows a tow truck tumbling into the sea while attempting to salvage another tow truck that had already met the same fate while attempting to salvage a wrecked car.
Remarkable photo vignette shows a river towboat colliding sideways with a bridge, rolling underneath it, and emerging intact on the other side.
Emailed images of purported examples of trompe l'oeil advertising on the side panels of truck trailers.
Emailed images purportedly show people running for their lives as the Indian Ocean tsunami washes ashore on December 26, 2004.
Emailed image purports to show the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004 washing ashore on the Thai island of Phuket (or Indonesia, depending on version).
Emailed images show skin rash caused by Chinese-made rubber flip flops purchased at Wal-Mart.
Emailed photo of a "water bridge" over the Elbe River in Magdeburg, Germany.
Forwarded email accompanied by a photo purportedly depicting the penis of a blue whale claims that the male of that species produces over 400 gallons of sperm in a single mating session.
"The tallest woman in the world is from Holland. She is over 7'4" and weighs 320 pounds. BEFORE you open these, get your mental picture of what you'd think a woman with these kinds of numbers would look like..."
