From winged humanoids on the moon to supposed extraterrestrial corpses from Peru, alien hoaxes are usually pretty stupid—yet they continue to dupe us. Here's why.
✅ Quick Facts: We don't know of any real aliens yet. A portion of humankind has always been willing to lie for money—and hoaxes are lucrative. Hoaxes are not morally neutral, and they prey on regular people who just want to understand their world. Last October, news spread that "alien mummies" had been discovered in an airport in Peru. But scientists recently ruled out the aliens as dolls made of animal bones. The hoaxsters had used synthetic glue to create the humanoid figurines, which is the ultimate tipoff: natural mummies are held together with wrappings, and synthetic glue is not very old at all. Historically, among these tricksters, it's been common practice to assemble different species' bones into fake fantasy creatures like mermaids or unicorns. Passing them off as aliens, however, is a new twist. Whenever this kind of "evidence" emerges regarding aliens, the public reaction is typically very split. To many of us, these sightings and objects seem like—and usually are—events or artifacts that are missing a key piece of earthbound context. People who mean well may mistake what they see, or make assumptions, and they almost never have training in biology or engineering or whatever else might help them contextualize what they see. These alien sightings usually aren't malicious, but they are a misunderstanding. Getty Images The alleged aliens shown when officials from the Prosecutor's Office and Peruvian Ministry of Culture presented a report on alleged alien corpses, Lima, Peru, January 12, 2024. The alien bodies were recently seized before reaching their intended destination in Mexico. The report from the Institute of Legal Medicine concluded that the dolls are a fraud, made with animal bones, plant tissue, plaster, and glue. On the other hand, some people really are ready for aliens. They believe these encounters and artifacts are real in the sense that they represent encounters with extraterrestrial beings and technology. And, to be clear, we…