A picture tells a thousand words, so they say. But it doesn\u2019t always follow that those words speak the truth. Charlotte Hodgman explores the stories behind some of the most remarkable hoax photographs that have been taken since the advent of the technology in the 19th century <\/p>

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The Cottingley Fairies, 1917<\/h3>\n<\/div>
When cousins Elsie Wright (above<\/em>) and Frances Griffiths produced photos of themselves seemingly interacting with sprites, gnomes and fairies, they achieved overnight notoriety and sparked widespread debate.<\/p>\n
The validity of the photographs divided opinion for more than 60 years, until Elsie finally confessed to the Cottingley Fairy hoax<\/a>, in 1983: the fairies were, in fact, drawings secured in the ground and to branches with hatpins.<\/p>\n
Read more | The supernatural interests of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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Grow your own\u2026 giant vegetables, 1911<\/h3>\n<\/div>
In what is surely every gardener\u2019s dream, two men struggle to squeeze a giant root vegetable through a cellar door.<\/p>\n
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Grow your own\u2026 giant vegetables, 1911<\/h3>\n<\/div> In what is surely every gardener\u2019s dream, two men struggle to squeeze a giant root vegetable through a cellar door.<\/p>\n

Colin Evans the sham showman, 1938<\/h3>\n<\/div> Welsh medium Colin Evans, shown seemingly levitating in the air, drew in huge crowds with his claims that he could be lifted from his chair by the \u2018power of the spirits\u2019.<\/p>\n

Close encounter, 1976<\/h3>\n<\/div> When Swiss national Billy Meier claimed he had proof that he had been in contact with aliens from the Pleiades star cluster since the age of five, few believed him.<\/p>\n