The Man Who Fooled Oxford University

追加: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]In 1704, a mysterious man named George Psalmanazar arrived in London claiming to be a native from the exotic island of Formosa. He didn't look Asian. He was completely white with blonde hair, but when scientists questioned him, he didn't blink. He spoke a functional language no one had heard and described a religion of bizarre sacrifices. He explained that his pale skin was simply because the Formosan upper class lived entirely underground. The world believed him. George became a celebrity and Oxford University even hired him to teach. For nearly 3 years, he was treated as the world's leading expert on an ancient civilization, but it was all a lie. George was just a broke French teenager who wanted free meals. He had fabricated the language, customs, and geography in his bedroom just to see how far he could push it. Eventually, real travelers returned and pointed out that his descriptions matched absolutely nothing in reality. George confessed, but his commitment to the lie made him a legend, proving that if you lie with absolute [music] confidence, you can literally convince the world just like