On this day in conspiracies

A correspondent for the Savannah Georgian newspaper reports sightings of a large sea creature off the Georgia coast. The account, frequently cited as the earliest printed report, describes a monster seen near St. Simons Island below the mouth of the Altamaha by Captain Delano of the schooner Eagle and several other witnesses, estimated at around 70 feet long with a head held above the water.

The great San Francisco earthquake severely damages the mansion. The upper floors and a tower are wrecked; Sarah is briefly trapped, and much of the top of the house is later sealed off or torn down rather than fully rebuilt, leaving stairs and doors that now lead nowhere.

Four boys, Robert Hart, Thomas Willetts, Bob Farmer, and Fred Payne, trespassing in Hagley Wood on the Hagley estate in Worcestershire while hunting for birds' nests, look inside a hollow wych elm and find a human skull. Frightened of being caught poaching, they agree to say nothing, but one boy tells his parents and the police are called.

A séance attended by figures including the future prime minister Romano Prodi reportedly yields the word 'Gradoli.' Police search a village of that name but not Via Gradoli in Rome, where Red Brigades leader Mario Moretti in fact kept a hideout in a building later noted for its proximity to properties linked to the secret services. The missed lead becomes a centerpiece of conspiracy accounts.

President Vladimir Putin awards an honorary 'Guards' title to the 64th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, a unit that had operated in Bucha, praising its 'heroism,' an award that sits awkwardly beside Moscow's claim that its forces did nothing there.

Mainstream outlets and fact-checkers publish point-by-point debunkings, explaining that each 'clue' reflects normal suborbital physics and capsule design, and noting that the flight was livestreamed and watched by millions. The fake-flight claim persists as a meme even as it collapses on inspection.