"'Fake news' is a new term. That means it's only about 125 years old," -- Merriam Webster blog entry, "The real story of 'fake news'."
Woman gives birth to rabbits: In 1726, Mary Toft convinced several doctors that she had given birth multiple times to rabbits. Nathaniel St. Andre, one of the doctors involved wrote about it in the London press.
Edgar Allan Poe's Balloon Hoax: Poe wrote a fake news story claiming that a hot air balloon had crossed the Atlantic Ocean from England to South Carolina in 3 days.
You must've heard of this guy.
