When Venice froze over
You probably don’t remember the time the canals of Venice froze over like a scene from The Day After Tomorrow. Most likely because it never happened, but that didn’t stop some from believing the magic after seeing this image. Artist Robert Johns created the beautiful illusion by composing the frozen Lake Baikal over the city.
Polite cat
This striking little fellow caused quite a stir online when a slightly edited version of his face appeared in a viral text exchange meme. The conversation ends with a picture of a cat, which the landlord allows to stay because he “looks very polite”. This resonated with a lot of people, many of whom bought the strangely convincing smile.
Oscar Mayer Weiner Jet
This one is so convincing as an image and concept, it’s no wonder it has been doing the rounds online for over 15 years. Why on Earth wouldn’t there be a weiner jet? Surely by now Big Hotdog have amassed enough fortune to buy their own commercial jet. The image is reportedly from a Boeing artist themselves, though it was only thrown together as a joke.
That’s a big snowball
With around 95% of the internet’s entire infrastructure made of up cat pictures, it’s no surprise there have been nine lives worth of feline fakery. Canadian Roger Degagne created the edit to send to friends and family, saying he found her around a nuclear waste site. The gag kept getting shared and Snowball was soon radioactive icon.
Photos of Honest Abe’s funeral
There are a few variations on this, most are as fake as a three-dollar bill with a John Hancock ‘I.O.U’ signed across the bottom. Truth is, preciously few images of Lincoln’s body were ever taken. After his assassination, the army forbid any pictures of him at rest. These hoaxes are the work of the genuine hustlers of 1865, trying to cash into newspapers.
The rainforest destruction
This photo went viral after being edited into a collage showing how, in just ten years, a section of rainforest had been destroyed. While this certainly happens, this particular image did not show a change from global warming, but a different man-made destruction. It’s actually only one image of a site where trees were bulldozed for a palm tree site.
Incredible rice toss
We’ve all seen enough of Hell’s Kitchen to believe we have what it takes to chef it up with the best of them. That’s what kept us all blind to the fact that this perfectly timed photo was nothing but a lie. The rice sculpture used can be bought online, presumable for no other reason than to recreate this photograph.
Bambi and the Bobcat
The picture itself isn’t a forgery you’ll be delighted to know. It tends to resurface every time a wildfire happens across the US, with the caption saying the fawn and bobcat clung to each other after escaping the blaze. That did happen, as the image was taken after the 2009 Santa Barbra fires, but is distributed to everyone since.
Only in Russia
This photo, often captioned ‘polar express’ or something similar, claims to show a polar bear wandering off a tram somewhere in Russia. The actual photo was taken in the Czech Republic, and the bear only disembarked because it was his stop. Jokes aside, the image isn’t edited, it was a Green Peace promotional shot featuring a cracking bear costume.
Scrub the poop deck
A Facebook post featuring this image went viral after claiming it showed a luxury cruise liner dumping waste… right into the ocean. It’s easy to see why this became so popular, as it makes a little sense. Where else does the plumbing go? Well, a company spokesperson had to clarify that the swirling brown clouds were dirt kicked up by the turbines.