Hoax, proven
Radio Quito's War of the Worlds broadcast
On the twelfth of February, 1949, Radio Quito aired a live drama about an alien invasion in Quito, Ecuador. When listeners learned it was fiction, a mob attacked the station's building, and six or more people died.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Samantha Houston and Love Letters
Historians have found no evidence for the story of Samantha Houston, a girl said to have died at the Driskill hotel in Austin, Texas, Austin Monthly reports. A painting there, Love Letters, is said to be haunted by her.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Sarah Ellen Roberts, the Pisco vampire
Sarah Ellen Roberts, an Englishwoman buried in Pisco, Peru, became the subject of a vampire legend. On 9 June 1993, eighty years after her death, crowds gathered at her grave.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
The 1913 meteor procession
Fireballs crossed the sky as a procession on 9 February 1913, seen from Canada, the north-eastern United States, Bermuda and ships heading toward Brazil.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The Armero curse
Armero, Colombia, was destroyed by mudflows from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985, and over 23,000 people died. In Armero Guayabal some people still say a murdered priest had cursed the town.
Something ToldObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
The Bernardo de Gálvez portrait
A painting of Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish general, that hangs in Galveston's Hotel Galvez in Texas. Local folklore says photographs of it fail unless you ask his permission first.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 5 of 7
Claimed sighting
The Colares UFO wave (Operação Prato)
In 1977 residents of Colares, in the Brazilian state of Pará, reported lights in the sky said to suck people's blood. The Brazilian Air Force sent a team to investigate in what became known as Operação Prato.
Something SeenObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The Trauco of Chiloé
The Trauco is a misshapen forest being of Chiloé folklore in southern Chile, said to prey on young women. His story was long used to explain pregnancies when no father was named.
Before you read on. On Chiloé, families blamed the Trauco when a young woman became pregnant and the father was not known, and Spanish Wikipedia reports that the myth was also used to frighten girls into keeping their virginity. A 2026 study finds violence towards young women's sexuality running through the Trauco stories.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
The Varginha UFO incident
Three young women in Varginha, Minas Gerais, Brazil, said that on 20 January 1996 they saw a strange creature in the street. The case became known as the ET de Varginha.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 1 of 7
Claimed sighting
The Villas-Boas abduction
Antônio Villas-Boas, a Brazilian farmer, said a craft landed in his field and took him aboard on the night of 15 October 1957. Sources also give 16 October.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
The boto encantado
In Amazonian folklore the boto is a river dolphin that turns into a young man, goes to dances and seduces young women. The story has long been used to explain pregnancies when the father is not named.
Before you read on. The boto story is still used to explain a girl's pregnancy when the father cannot be named. A judge interviewed by Agência Brasil in 2018 said that behind many of these stories is sexual violence against girls, usually by relatives, which the legend helps to keep hidden.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The lobizón
The lobizón, or luisón, is the werewolf of Paraguayan and Argentine folklore, said to be the seventh son in a row. In Argentina the president's godchildren, a custom for seventh sons, have had their schooling paid by law since 1974.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
The pishtaco
The pishtaco is the fat thief of Andean tales, told in nearly every Quechua-speaking place. The rumour keeps returning in Peru, in a 2009 police claim the authorities disowned and in crowd violence against people accused of being pishtacos.
Before you read on. Pishtaco rumours put real people in danger. In Sicaya, near Huancayo, residents seized two people they accused of being pishtacos who traffic in organs; RPP Noticias reported that police rescued them before they could be lynched, and that a crowd of about 500 with stones and sticks then surrounded the police station.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7