Michigan’s Ancient Relics Spark Debate Over History And Hoaxes
Michigan farmers in the 1800s discovered nearly 30,000 ancient artifacts, but many experts believe them to be a giant hoax.
The story goes that a man named James Scotford was digging on his land when he came across more and more ancient relics. Over the next few decades, he would claim to discover thousands of these ancient relics. Unfortunately for him, experts are paid to spot fakes.
On April 28th, 1911, the Detroit News published a story from Prof. Frederick Starr, Dean of the Department of Anthropology and American Archeology at the University of Chicago, who took to the front page to confirm they were fakes.
Mysterious Michigan elaborates on this strange story:
During the time the relics were unearthed, it did not take the authorities long to dismiss them as forgeries. Not only did the relics contain inscriptions that seemed to be a mix of several ancient languages, but the tablets contained depictions of ancient religious art. The art on the tablets contained depictions of Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the Crucifixion, among others.
As they continue, they describe their main belief behind them being a forgery, or fakes:
Many times the stories depicted had a slight variation to the known beliefs of the 18 and 1900s, making no sense to those analyzing them. Considering the scrambled language and the “cartoon-like” religious art, they were dismissed as forgeries. They even had a group of culprits to blame: James Scotford, Daniel Soper, and Father James Savage.
A news reporter in Detroit eventually did some research, and it was revealed that Scotford allegedly hired his two sons and his son-in-law to create the artifacts in a boarding house. A woman who lived next to the boys claimed that while they were there, hammering went on day and night.
The boys told her that they were "Detroit's Ancient Relic Factory."
So, unless the boys and this random woman had any kind of grudge against their father, it's pretty clear these were serious hoaxes, even though the boys never flat-out admitted the forgeries. However, his daughter signed a deposition claiming she saw her father make them. You can learn the full story in the video below:
Leading experts present compelling arguments on both sides of the controversy about the divisive nature of the Michigan Relics, leaving the viewer to decide if the Michigan Relics are really history, or merely hoax.