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Few things are more gratifying to the creatively competitive than hoodwinking one's fellow humans. Coupling a desire for fame with a mischievous streak can spell great entertainment for one person, and vast cultural adaptation for the rest of us.

Whenever a hoax is proven to be a hoax, not everyone listens. Some believers remain believers for the rest of their lives, no matter how unlikely their claims. The indellible cultural watermark created by hoaxing is exemplified in the ten most famous UFO hoaxes of the last few decades.

10) Michael Shermer's Mini-Hoax (2007)

Shermer, the editor of Skeptic magazine, released a short video last year detailing his investigation of how easy it is to fake UFO photos. He had children 'make' UFOs using household materials, glue, and silver paint, then had the children photograph their creations hanging from fishing line against a backdrop of gray sky.

The pictures didn't look tampered with to a professional photography analyst - he couldn't see the fishing line, and the images were not smudged.

When Shermer showed the photos to the public at a sidewalk booth, some were skeptical, and some believed. When he showed them that the pictures were hoaxed, almost everyone seemed disappointed at the fact, and many claimed determinedly and defiantly to believe in UFOs nonetheless, as though accepting evidence would show personal weakness.

9) Images of Extraterrestrial Beings (1960s - present)

In the nineteen fifties and sixties came the American cultural trend not only of flying saucer sightings, but reported meet-and-greets with their occupants. The mass hoax spread across the nation as people grappled for a stint in the spotlight. Some would dress up strangely, posing for photographs or gently harassing acquaintances. At least one man (named R. E. Harrison II), took photographs of an image on his television screen, claiming it to be an alien at his door!

A more scandalous, and gruesome, example of alien body hoaxery can be found in Ray Santilli's black-and-white Alien Autopsy footage, in which a creepy-looking, hairless humanoid, with large eyes and a large head, is shown on a table, partially decomposed. The footage was released in the nineties, and received a great deal of attention. Santilli disappointed believers in 2006 by admitting the footage to be fake. At least he tried to let us all down easy - he claimed the footage not to be totally fake, exactly, but a reconstruction of an alien autopsy that did take place. Either way, the depicted

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