Wednesday, April 1, 2026

SciShow's '7 Of The Weirdest Fossil Forgeries Ever,' an April Fools holiday special for Wayback Wednesday

Happy Wayback Wednesday on April Fools Day! I promised a retrospective about holidays and I'll get to it, no fooling, but first I'm returning to the theme of PBS Eons and SciShow on Piltdown Man for April Fools Day, a Science Saturday holiday special with SciShow discussing 7 Of The Weirdest Fossil Forgeries Ever.

You've heard of fake purses, and fake food, and fake concert tickets. But fake fossils? Turns out forging evidence of life in the ancient past isn't as uncommon as you might think. From another work by the infamous forger of the Piltdown Man to the carved footprints that fueled a conspiracy theory, here are seven of the weirdest fossil forgeries of all time.

Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
I knew about Piltdown Man, which is why I blogged about it twice, now a third time, but I had forgotten about Charles Dawson's other fossil forgery, the toad in the hole, which seems lazy in comparison. I hadn't heard about some of the others, particularly the augmented cheetah. Too bad — Acinonyx kurteni was a good name that is now invalid.

That completes the celebration of today's holiday. Follow over the jump for some of the most read holiday posts during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.


Normal social media promotion along with web search and the elevated page views from Vietnam during September 2026 were responsible for PBS Origins on pirates for Talk Like a Pirate Day from September 19, 2025 earning 1,276 raw page views by March 20, 2026, ranking it fourth among entries posted during the 15th year of the blog and eighth overall. It earned most of those page views, 810 default and 1,222 raw, during September 2025, ranking seventh by default page views, fifth by raw page views, and fourth among entries posted during the month.


Infidel753 shared the link to 'When Tolkien changed The Hobbit' for Hobbit Day on the Autumnal Equinox from September 22, 2025 at his blog. That and the elevated page views from Vietnam during September 2026 were responsible for it earning 1,134 raw page views by March 20, 2026, ranking it 13th overall by raw page views and eighth among entries posted during the 15th year of the blog. Most of those, 687 default and 994 raw page views, came during September 2025, ranking it 14th by default, ninth by raw, and tenth among entries posted during the month.


Normal social media promotion along with web search and the elevated page views from Vietnam during September 2026 were responsible for More 'Civics Made Easy' for a late Constitution Day and International Day of Democracy from September 18, 2025 earning 1,008 raw page views by March 20, 2026, ranking it twelfth among entries posted during the 15th year of the blog and 17th overall. Most of these page views, 919, came during September 2025, when it ranked eleventh among entries posted during the month and twelfth overall.


Infidel753 shared the link to Alexis Dahl describes 'The Incredible Engineering Behind Michigan's Iconic Bridge' for Labor Day from September 1, 2025 at his blog, helping it earn 875 default and 937 raw page views and ranking it fifth by default page views, 17th among entries posted during the blogging year, and 23rd overall. Like the rest of today's featured posts, it earned the bulk of its page views, 748 default and 873 raw, during September 2025 Infidel753, ranking it tenth during the month by default page views, 16th among entries posted during the month by raw page views, and 17th overall.

That's a wrap for today's holiday retrospective. I don't know if will have another tomorrow, but I am planning on continuing holiday coverage on Good Friday, so stay tuned.

Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about holidays.
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