But these are written that ye might believe . . .

 That paltry story is untrue,

And forg'd to cheat such gulls as you. 

 

-- Samuel Butler, Hudibras 

Poor Rod Dreher: Evidence is emerging that government efforts to propagate UFO mythology date back all the way to the 1950s

The Pentagon Disinformation That Fueled America’s UFO Mythology: U.S. military fabricated evidence of alien technology and allowed rumors to fester to cover up real secret-weapons programs

... At times, as with the deception around Area 51, military officers spread false documents to create a smokescreen for real secret-weapons programs. In other cases, officials allowed UFO myths to take root in the interest of national security—for instance, to prevent the Soviet Union from detecting vulnerabilities in the systems protecting nuclear installations. Stories tended to take on a life of their own, such as the three-decade journey of a purported piece of space metal that turned out to be nothing of the sort. And one long-running practice was more like a fraternity hazing ritual that spun wildly out of control. ...

The many in America who have been gulled by the disinformation should take heart. Hundreds upon hundreds of military men have been taken in by the stories too, and some of them believe them to this day.

It's not called quackery for nothing, but now it's a $13 billion business in the United States

 Brown writes that, before he became the founder of chiropractic, Daniel David Palmer was a Spiritualist and practitioner of animal magnetism. Palmer subscribed to eclectic spiritual ideas based on the unity of God and nature and the idea that humans can restore themselves to a state of harmony without depending on divine intervention.

Palmer claimed to have received communication from a deceased physician who taught him the principles of chiropractic—a term he invented in 1896, combining the Greek words cheir and praktos to mean “done by hand.”

Palmer considered introducing Chiropractic as a religion in its own right but ultimately settled on describing it as an amalgamation of Christian Science and modern medicine. He wrote that it was based on adjusting the body to permit the free flow of “Innate Intelligence,” or just “Innate,” which he explained as “a segment of that Intelligence which fills the universe” (i.e. God) found in each individual.

More. 

How could ancient peoples be so gullible as to believe preposterous myths?

Because they were people just like us.

Of all the offspring of Time, Error is the most ancient.

-- Charles Mackay

  

 

 

Intemperance destroys both the knowledgeable and the ignorant

 

Thou hast not half that power to do me harm,

As I have to be hurt:

oh gull, oh dolt,

As ignorant as dirt!

-- William Shakespeare, Emilia to Othello, Act V, Scene 2

Fashion is as unpredictable as the weather

And sooner may a gulling weather-spy, 

By drawing forth heav'n's scheme, tell certainly

What fashion'd hats, or ruffs, or suits, next year

Our giddy-headed antique youth will wear. 

-- John Donne