Have you guys heard the theory about 300 years of history being fabricated? Probably not true but it's a hoot to think about.
Phantom time conspiracy theory is a
pseudohistorical conspiracy theory first asserted by Heribert Illig in 1991. It hypothesizes a conspiracy by the
Holy Roman Emperor Otto III,
Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the
Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII,[<em><a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia

lease clarify"><span title="He lived in a different time frame. (December 2021)">further explanation needed</span></a></em>] to fabricate the
Anno Domini dating system retroactively, in order to place them at the special year of AD 1000, and to rewrite history<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_conspiracy_theory#cite_note-1"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a> to legitimize Otto's claim to the
Holy Roman Empire. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical evidence.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_conspiracy_theory#cite_note-fomenko1-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a> According to this scenario, the entire
Carolingian period, including the figure of
Charlemagne, is a fabrication, with a "phantom time" of 297 years (AD 614–911) added to the
Early Middle Ages.
Evidence contradicts the hypothesis and it failed to gain the support of historians, and calendars in other European countries, most of Asia and parts of pre-Columbian America contradict this.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_conspiracy_theory#cite_note-Dutch-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a><a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_conspiracy_theory#cite_note-Foessel-4"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a><a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_conspiracy_theory#cite_note-Muetz-5"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a><a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_conspiracy_theory#cite_note-Adams-6"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a>[<em><a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Bundling_citations" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources"><span title="This claim has too many footnotes for reading to be smooth. (March 2025)">excessive citations</span></a></em>]