# Famous People Who NEVER Existed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 30, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586 "2004-07-30T13:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/181 "2015-10-16T19:01:26Z")
> [@Kilt-wearin\_man](#): > > Dr Jeckyll was based on a prominent Victorian doctor who was also a habitual criminal. I forget the real doctor’s name. [Deacon Brodie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brodie). Not a doctor, but a respected businessman. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/182 "2015-10-17T19:02:12Z")
While the existence of the other characters in the Little House book series have been verified, no record exists of Mr. Victor French. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/183 "2015-10-17T19:46:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Prester John** The fun thing about that is that although the man never existed nor did his utopian kingdom of plenty, and everything that was ever written about Prester John was a mountain of made up, fanfic-level bullshit all based on one hoaxed letter ; there really \*was \*a prosperous Christian kingdom lost somewhere in Africa - Abyssinia/Ethiopia. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/184 "2015-10-17T22:32:48Z")
> [@TheSpeculationElucidation](#): > > Bigfoot. > The myth is extremely popular where I live. My uncle goes on Bigfoot hunting trips with his buddies, hoping to ‘catch’ one. > I’m not even kidding. I’m afraid I have an unfortunate revelation about your uncle. 😉 Let’s just hope he hasn’t “caught” anything to date. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/185 "2015-10-19T22:50:15Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > While the existence of the other characters in the Little House book series have been verified, no record exists of Mr. Victor French. ya mean Mr Edwards? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/186 "2015-10-19T23:58:57Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > ya mean Mr Edwards? If they are non existent, how can we be certain about their names? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586/187 "2015-10-20T11:23:11Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > The [staff report on the subject](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mkilroy.html) leans toward the welding inspector theory. > [@](#): > > The cartoon part of the graffito has a different origin. According to Dave Wilton, it is originally British, named Mr Chad, and apparently predates Kilroy by a few years. It commonly appeared with the phrase “Wot, no \_\_\_\_?” underneath, with the blank filled in by whatever was in short supply in Britain at the time–cigarettes, Spam, etc. The Oxford English Dictionary lists Chad’s origin as “obscure” but it may have been created by British cartoonist George Edward Chatterton. Neat! So it was essentially an pre-Internet image meme. They aren’t just the same message and image like Killroy was, but mutate with different words. I mean, I knew they probably existed, but I hadn’t heard of one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-never-existed/257586.md?page=9)