Carlos Castaneda faked an anthropology classic, then built a cult

Carlos Castaneda's 1968 bestseller The Teachings of Don Juan presented itself as an anthropological chronicle—a firsthand account of the author's apprenticeship with a Yaqui shaman who used peyote to unlock hidden dimensions of consciousness. According to Boing Boing, the University of California Press published it as serious scholarship, and it captivated millions. John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, George Lucas, and literary critic Octavio Paz all fell under its spell. The problem: it was almost entirely fabricated. Castaneda had invented don Juan and the teachings wholesale, building not just a publishing phenomenon but a devoted cult around himself. The hoax remains one of the most consequential academic frauds—a fake anthropology book that shaped counterculture and spirituality movements for decades.

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