Fake News: Indian Cobbler claims to be 179 years old


A news story is circulating claiming that the man in this photo is a 179-year-old Indian cobbler named Mahashta Murasi. The text of the article is as follows:
A retired cobbler from northern India, Mahashta Murasi, claims he was born in January 1835, making him not only the oldest man on earth, but the oldest to have ever lived, according to the Guiness World Records.

According to indian officials, the man was born at home in the city of Bangalore on January 6th 1835, and is recorded to have lived in Varanasi since 1903. He worked as a cobbler in the city until 1957, when he retired at the already venerable age of 122.

"I have been alive so long, that my great grand-children have been dead for years" explains Mr Murasi. "Somehow death forgot about me... And now there's hardly any hope left. Look at the statistics, nobody dies past 150, even less at 170. At that point, I guess I'm immortal or something. I might as well enjoy it!"

The man's birth certificate and identity cards all seem to confirm his version, but unfortunately no medical examination can confirm his saying for now. The last doctor Mister Murasi visited died in 1971, so there is little information available about his previous medical files.

The article is circulating widely on foreign-language sites in particular (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.) where it's being posted unquestioningly as fact. But, of course, not a word of this story is true.

The source of the article is the fake-news site worldnewsdailyreport.com, which has a disclaimer buried on their site, identifying all their articles as fiction.

However, World News Daily Report didn't create the picture of the old man. They simply found it online, where it's been circulating for many years. At various times, the photo has been turned into a meme. However, I've been unable to locate the original source of the image. So I can't identify who the man in the image really is.


But assume that World News Daily Report hadn't invented the entire story. Would it have been possible for the story to have been true? Could someone live to be 179? Well, there have been cases of extreme age reported. However, they usually turn out to be cases of age exaggeration, which is a well-known phenomenon. As people get older, into their 80s and 90s, they often start to exaggerate their age, because being thought of as older is a way to enhance their status within the community. This strategy works especially well when there are no birth records to contradict whatever age the person is claiming to be. So it's relatively common to have cases of people falsely claiming to be supercentenarians (older than 110). The most notorious case of this occurred during the 1970s in the Ecuadorian town of Vilcabamba, where numerous people were claiming to be supercentenarians, although subsequent research discredited their claims. None of them were older than 96.

The oldest person on record, whose age was well documented, was Jeane Calment of France, who reached the age of 122. She died in 1997.

Death

Posted on Tue Apr 29, 2014



Comments

Well as the name says, "museum of hoaxes" the home page is focused on the hoax everywhere...that´s their primary world view. And in some cases right, but this article seems to forget that there IS a birth certificate of the man...and even if that is a hoax, he´s registered to live in Varanasi since 1903. Since boys under 18 are registered with their parents, he must have been at least 18 at that time, which makes him at least to be born in 1885. So he is by math and logic, at least 129 years old. Fine to be critic and skeptic, but not for all costs and in spite of facts and reasons. NO, we don´t live in a world where everything is discovered, there´s alot of surprises and this might be one of them.
Posted by Klus  on  Thu May 01, 2014  at  03:29 AM
Have you seen any birth certificate?? Or have you just read it??
Posted by Sanjay ashtamkar  on  Thu May 01, 2014  at  03:41 AM
Just read it, but it has been said that it has been checked, both that and the fact that he is registered to have moved in 1903 to Varanasi.
I see your point in "seeing it" but honestly....you can´t apply that to every thing. I myself have never been to America, so I have never seen it, I have to assume that America is there as everyone says it is.I have to assume Plutonium exists, although I have never seen it. I have to assume the declaration of Indipendence (american document) exists, and If people have cheched both his documents and Varanasi 1903 registry I have to assume it´s true. I can´t be 100% sure, but if it´s not true, it´s not gonna change my life radically, I must admit.

But you´re missing my point : don´t be skeptical no matter what, that closes your mind.
In late 1800 the scientists declared that NOTHING heavier than air could fly...guess what...bummer. In 1903 they were proved wrong. Be open, we have a universe still to discover
Posted by Klaus Pendolo  on  Thu May 01, 2014  at  04:55 AM
...in the end my point is : it could be a hoax, but it´s not necessarily. A preassumption that whatever you read is right is as good as assuming that everything you read is wrong. Even if it sounds a bit absurd. The basic ground of science, is never deny anything until it´s proven wrong...or right. So, let´s take the scientific approach, and say that however unlikely, it´s not impossible. Progeria is a sickness (scientificly demonstrated and acknowledged) that leads to a very fast aging process (a 15 yeard old person can look as a 45 year old). If the genes can be affected that way, why not the other way? That could be a nice question to get an answer to. Maybe he could be the case....
Posted by Klaus Pendolo  on  Thu May 01, 2014  at  05:02 AM
Klaus, have you not noted that it was the hoax site which claimed that there was a birth certificate? And that nobody else has been able to confirm that? It's a hoax. The certificate is a lie. There are no documents. As for science, science also says that extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof - and in this case, there being no certificate, there is no proof, and therefore this extraordinary claim can be dismissed out of hand.

As for progeria, it's something very different, and reversing it is a pipe dream, not dissimilar to some perpetual motion ideas.

(And the captcha is beating the Turing test again, this time coming up with "hundred19"...)
Posted by Richard Bos  on  Thu May 01, 2014  at  06:48 AM
Why just dont you do some medical examination or do some carbon dating of that old guy??
Posted by why do you care about my name?  on  Sun May 04, 2014  at  11:42 PM
to the neptunian guy,
carbon dating would be the easiest way yes
and to all disbelievers,
it could be a hoax yes, but srsly, birth certificates in early india?
nope.. they should have carbon dated him after his death
Posted by Alex  on  Tue Jun 17, 2014  at  12:02 AM
You can't carbon date a bloke. That's not how it works. You could carbon date his corpse and that would tell you the date of his death. So yay...
Posted by Molden  on  Thu Jul 03, 2014  at  02:15 PM
I am from varanasi , does any one can give me the address of this old man , so that I can meet him; if yes plc provide me the address
Posted by prabha  on  Sat Sep 13, 2014  at  01:36 AM
'In late 1800 the scientists declared that NOTHING heavier than air could fly...' well birds were lighter than air in 1800's Good
Posted by sreejith_rs  on  Sun Nov 16, 2014  at  06:50 AM
Carbon dating isn't precise enough to find out how old someone is - the errors are too large.
Posted by issimon  on  Sun Nov 16, 2014  at  07:48 AM
I am always amazed at how willfully stupid some people are...

They take the position to trust and defend an unbelievable story on a site that states it is a fake news site outright (in the disclaimer), and then they come in here and argue that the story is real because a scientist said flight wasn't possible in the 1800s.

It shocks me that people are so quick to believe something unbelievable they read on a crappy, low-rent site and they never think, "Gee, I wonder why no major news outlet is covering this AND there are sites saying this story is a hoax."

If you believe the story about the old man, just know that you are a stupid, stupid person.
Posted by Edward  on  Sun Nov 16, 2014  at  10:13 AM
Klaus just trying to say that anything can happen no matter what is advertised, even is this story isn't real, it doesn't mean any person on Earth can't have this story and it's not told to anyone and stays somewhere in silence. Don't get into the world where you believe what everyone is shown to believe. You can think in your own way. And as I see, when one person starts to do it, all this blank community tries to fight against his thoughts.. people grow up in your head. Stop arguing where you don't have to .. 😊 peace in world.
Posted by me  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  09:13 AM
What is new with 179 years of age if one is a Xtian and you believed the Bible that somebody lived about 900yrs. If technology has not allow people somewhere to live across 100 yrs does it make you to think that the person believing this is a fool or stupid? My last uncle died at 118 last 2yrs(2012) and i believed that people still lived above that. So please lets not abuse anybody here simply because somebody believed and the other does not believe. METHUSELAH lived 969yrs(Genesis 5:27) ...so y will u beliv dis bcos it's writen smwhere rigt?
Posted by Ubong  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  12:27 PM
Xtian definitely translates to cross-tian not christian. lol
Posted by bruhh  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  12:38 PM
Merry Cross-mas. lol
Posted by jnr  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  05:02 PM
The people who believe this should also believe me if i tell them to jump off a cliff and they will fly - there are so many morons in the world
Posted by Pete  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  06:26 PM
I think this guy could be telling the truth if the papers are real then it would be one hell of an awesome thing to have someone that old living in the world.
Posted by guy  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  08:02 PM
Alright so this stupid internet photo is bullshit.

If you want something to actually to be able to sink your teeth into on the same subject, I give you Li Ching-Yuen.
Claimed to be 197 years old, records suggest he actually was 256 years old.
Old people do lie about their age. 😛

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen
Posted by BobDull  on  Mon Nov 17, 2014  at  11:22 PM
Hold your seats tight guyz we are soon landing to stone age.
Posted by raj  on  Tue Nov 18, 2014  at  10:00 AM
Well, you gave your reasons but they did not seem to satisfy me. These were just mere assumptions with no evidence or proper facts so I would possibly still believe the news to be a true one.
Posted by Shaziq  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  05:19 AM
you use wikipedia, enough said....

they also have a vampire on wikipedia that is over 230 years old called ANGEL, am i sposed to beleive that aswell?

get real Bob dull.
Posted by Dar Kuma  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  06:32 AM
Carbon dating cannot be used on a living organism. The test is based on the rate of carbon-14 decay in once-living tisses. AS long as an organism is alive, it takes in carbon-14, either from the air (if it's photosynthetic) or in its food (if it's not). Once the organism dies, it stops taking in carbon-14, which slowly decays into nitrogen-14 via beta decay. However, the carbon-12 doesn't decay, so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 will gradually decrease over time after the organism dies. Therefore, the lower the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 (i.e. the longer it has been since the organism died), the older the sample. Since carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 years, testing the age of organic samples that are older than about 150,000 years is problematic, because by that time the carbon-14 in the sample would have decayed down to about 0.0002 percent of its value when the organism died.
Posted by Allen MacNeill  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  08:04 AM
I havent seen any reason for insults in this conversation. Maturity is necessary when u are dealing with ppl in an argument. Jeez. Its soo immature to throw insults and abuses just becos one does not believe in ur opinion or accept defeat. Whether the write up is true or false, it made a good line for an argument and atyms u challange ur interligence by arguing some obvious points. However are we saying that it is not possible 4 anyone 2 live 179 or are we particular about the man and his claims...? If we say anyone cannot then we are directly limiting God and that will be the most foolish kind of argument I would come across. Whatever it is pls lets grow up and not throw tantrums becos we feel our own point is better and superior. Note, anyone who can prove that an impossible thing is possible is a very intelligent one. Its an argument. Dont result to insults when u are out of points. Hellooooooo.
Posted by anonymous  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  08:20 AM
"In late 1800 the scientists declared that NOTHING heavier than air could fly" guess they never saw a bird?
Posted by knalle  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  08:40 AM
maybe he's part tortoise
Posted by abby  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  10:14 AM
Be skeptical about everything, especially if you hear that 'science has proved X' because that is not the language that scientists use. It is what newspaper reporters with a scant knowledge of what they are summarizing say about a well received, but limited paper describing evidence under certain conditions.
Posted by Tom  on  Wed Nov 19, 2014  at  04:53 PM
You guys are arguing abt a person who does'nt exist. they have no clue who the person is in that picture or where the picture originated from..you'll get the same pic on many websites with different quote.. that says everything.
Posted by asif  on  Thu Nov 20, 2014  at  02:35 AM
Believe me, there was no system of issuing a birth certificate 179 years ago. In India, despite whatever gains, developments, and being mandatory, people hardly register births of their children. Whether the site disclaims or not, the certificate they talk of now, is fake. Period.
Posted by Rajgopal  on  Mon Nov 24, 2014  at  07:57 AM
Sitting here we are making all sorts of comments.Why not some one visit Varanasi; make some investigations before drawong conclusion.
Posted by Akhtar  on  Thu Nov 27, 2014  at  12:49 AM
People don't live to 179! They just don't.
Of course it's a hoax.
Posted by Dan  on  Thu Nov 27, 2014  at  12:11 PM
Well the story is obviously a fake. If you looking for a scientific argument from my part, you barking at the wrong genious. I can't give you one. However I am religious and I do believe what the Bible says about people who lived for hundreds of years. After Adam and Eve were banished from Eden they become mortal and susceptible to disease and cellular degradation which they passed on to their children, who then passed that on to their children and so on. By now our cells are so degraded that we would never be able to figure out how they supposedly looked like if they haven't degraded. In my opinion it is also the answer why we have so many diseases, why are there so many kinds of people and why we can't live for that long anymore. Science one day might find a way to give people longer lifespans, but you can patch a hole only that many times...
Posted by Peter Samu  on  Fri Nov 28, 2014  at  04:58 PM
Conduct his DNA tests and match them with his future generations.If they resemble he has got the first thing right.Also that he has a valid birth certificate, he does seem to have a strong point anyhow.
Posted by kamlesh bhatt  on  Sun Dec 07, 2014  at  11:10 PM
Did you all know that we are all related by Adam and Eve our oldest ancester to ever live like woah all of us related really? According to me that's what I believe by my 12 year old brain.
Posted by Sweety  on  Mon Dec 08, 2014  at  10:02 AM
Wow! All you skeptics are straight up MEAN. If someone wants to believe in the possibility that anything is possible, just let them! Oh I forgot, your big ass egos just force you to feel the need to play the devils advocate. You don't have to call someone with an open mind stupid! It's actually quite ignorant and not very WISE to have such a closed mind. You will see.....one day;).
Posted by briseis  on  Tue Dec 09, 2014  at  11:32 PM
facebook allways giving fake news don't trust this news
some people try to make the people foolish y you. be foolish your self very funny
Posted by perlyperera  on  Thu Dec 11, 2014  at  09:19 PM
I am from North West region of Cameroon, my grand mother is still alive I visited her recently she is 115 walking without stick or support. The only thing she can't do is cooking. God is keeping them for a purpose and is a blessing. I hope to hit 150 if God permit.
Posted by James Warren  on  Sun Dec 14, 2014  at  12:55 PM
This might be truth, during british period, selective registration was going on, in Goa too, it was registered in the office of Civil
VERIFY THE AGE BY COMPUTER USE
Registrar, provided men came with his records, if it is village, he has to come with two witnesses, if it is a chritian, he has to come with baptism certificate, it all depends on the moods of the Registrars, (Drunkards) {This is my statement because I have seen a drunkar registrar since my youn days who would be under the influence of Alcohol from morning till evening, only after taking bath at home he would not drink since he was a Brahmin}
So, itis possible that his registration was not done for some or the other reason,
Now, in the computer age, when ASI claims the age of structures, plants, young men and women on the basis of their cells, why not the government take initiative to verify the Age.
There should be no two way information to be false.
Posted by Goaca Kan  on  Sun Dec 14, 2014  at  10:06 PM
The British ruled India during this old boys birth, and they were strict on record keeping.
Posted by peter  on  Tue Dec 23, 2014  at  02:33 AM
This story is not hoex
Posted by nick  on  Fri Jan 23, 2015  at  02:36 PM
I want to know from those people who simply said its a hoax because people can not live that long, can medical science prove that it's not possible for humans to live years..? I mean by use of factual illustrations..
Posted by Rajeev  on  Sat Apr 18, 2015  at  04:49 PM
Who cares whether this is a hoax or not. The fact is that people can live to extremely old ages. There are many documented cases of this out there, the most famous of which is Mr. Li Ching-Yuen who lived to the ripe old age of 256 years. Food for thought.
Posted by mr g  on  Fri Jun 26, 2015  at  04:11 AM
Now, in our age of advanced medical technology is it not possible to scrutinise these claims, if so, why the authorities or people are not doing the same without circulating the claims ?
Posted by BISWADIP BHATTACHARJEE  on  Tue Oct 13, 2015  at  06:33 PM
i can get a birth cert saying im 200 for the right price
Posted by mick  on  Sat Dec 26, 2015  at  09:35 AM
i am really shocked to read all this ignorant comments about this man that claims to be 179 years old.maybe he has ten or twenty years less,but the fact is that this is extra ordinary person respect to all the others living people of the world, and i will tell you why. If you could like i do measure through this man's photo his vibrational energy you would understand that this is a exceptional person,because he has aquired the vibrational energy of over 1 million Bovis unity,compared to the vibrational energy of us common people that is less than seven thousands Bovis unity,and to many people is notorius that a high vibrational energy is index of longevity. My thought is that all the world competent istitutions should investigate to try to find out where and how this man has aquired all this vibrational energy,instead of being deaf to this important signals that nature gives to humanity
Posted by carmelo vaticano  on  Wed Jan 13, 2016  at  06:08 AM
Just cut him in half and count his rings.
Posted by Biff Henderson  on  Tue Jan 26, 2016  at  09:43 AM
Can I get database from Mahashta's living relatives who could have picked the story of his lifetime todate. Please notify me as soon as possible
Posted by Tumwine Richard  on  Mon Mar 28, 2016  at  04:08 AM
Get a grip PEOPLE!!!!! HOAX SITE! HOAX SITE!!! Please read and actually understand the article.
Posted by tired of STUPID people!!!  on  Thu Mar 31, 2016  at  08:24 AM
Ain't it kinda funny all the claims of advanced age (far beyond age proven by sound documentation ) all come from people who cannot prove it and have now evidence to back up their claim ?

When people can actually prove their age beyond any doubt and from several different sources as accepted for instance by the Guinness Book of records - we find that out of billions of people who have ever lived and have the means to prove their age beyond question - nobody has lived to be 123 years old yet . One person has been 122 , nobody died at 121, nobody at 120 , 1 person at 119 , nobody at 118 and then 3 so far at 117 then there are more numbers but still only a handful at 116 115 etc out of millions and millions of people this clearly shows where life which can be proved runs out !!!!
Posted by Russell  on  Fri Nov 11, 2016  at  05:24 AM
..... and therefore naturally also more importantly shows where life which cannot be proved also reaches its limits .

Or does somebody think that some people who cannot prove their age live longer ( decades longer by many foolish claims ) than the billions who have solid evidence for their age ?

This article is anyway fake and obviously fake anyway even if it was not stated as so !!! 179 is just stupid . If a person claims 120 for instance and cannot prove it - well it would be very unlikely to be true but it could be . Then the older they claim the more unlikely it becomes . So many far more reasonable age claims are proved to be false all the time . People take on the ID of a dead father or older sibling with the same name and first seem to be able to supply evidence which subsequently is shown to be fraudulent . If a child died young as many did in older times for example in some cultures it was common to call a younger offspring the same name . Even where evidence is given it is not always what it seems to be !!! We have to be very careful with false claims which give prominence to the wrong people while denying the rightful people of their record . What satisfaction can these people get from lying anyway in the end when they know it is not the truth ?
Posted by Russell  on  Fri Nov 11, 2016  at  05:40 AM
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