20 Of History’s Most Notorious Lies Ever Told

Crack open any history book, and you’ll read tales about the world’s most honorable men and women. But being trustworthy and valiant is only one way to make a name for yourself. There are also those notorious liars who rose almost as high as their truth-telling counterparts. But of course, each one had their bubble burst eventually. And that part of the story is gratifying – especially once you know what they did wrong.

20. George Washington never hacked that cherry tree

Most Americans will know the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. As a six-year-old, the future president received a hatchet as a gift – and he took the blade to his dad’s cherry tree. When his father confronted him, the young Washington apparently admitted, “I cannot tell a lie, I did cut it with my hatchet. And, with that, his father’s anger dissipated. His son’s honesty was worth more than that tree, he said.

Now, you can see why such a lesson would catch on: honesty is the best policy, you know. Funnily enough, though, Washington never said he couldn’t tell a lie. He didn’t even take a hatchet to a cherry tree. Instead, one of his first biographers – Mason Locke Weems – invented the tale. He added it to the fifth edition of his book The Life of Washington, which came out in 1806 – six years after the original.

19. Marmaduke Wetherell swore he tracked Nessie

Marmaduke Wetherell starred in and directed British and South African silent films. But when that well dried up, he got a new gig. In 1933 the Daily Mail hired him to helm a monumental – and arguably impossible – job. It hired the one-time screen star to find the Loch Ness Monster!

Shockingly, Wetherell did find some strange footprints on the shores of Loch Ness. But zoologists who investigated his claims determined that they were actually the footprints of a hippopotamus! Some say Wetherell became a bit desperate after struggling to find Nessie and ended up making the markings himself. The Englishman was a big-game hunter on the side, and he just so happened to have a hippo-foot ashtray as a trophy from one such jaunt…