The Magic of Debunking: Interrogating Fake Facts in the United States since the Eighteenth Century

Abstract This article describes the work of debunkers, people who call out fake facts and ‘correct’ the record. While we are familiar with many of the journalists today who are carrying out this important work of debunking fake political claims, there is a long history since the eighteenth century in the United States that has involved a long list of colourful and unexpected figures, including the carnival showman P. T. Barnum, the escape artist Harry Houdini, the humorist Mark Twain, the promoter of the weird Robert Ripley, the actor Orson Welles, the astronomer and television showman Carl Sagan, the popular science writer Martin Gardner, and the magicians Penn & Teller. This debunking practice has also been carried out by institutions such as the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, the Committee for Sceptical Inquiry and the Sceptics Society. While this paper focuses on the United States, there are parallel developments in many other parts of the world.