Despite possessing an absolutely A-tier name, the titular character of “Ballad of John Henry” likely did not exist. The tale is about an ex-slave that challenges a steam drill to see which could work faster. While Henry manages to beat the steam drill, he dies just after the contest due to exhaustion.
While the story is likely false, the invention was real – it likely meant plenty of workers out of work. This allowed the story to gain traction as an early man vs. machine tale. The current version would be something like trying to vacuum a huge room before a Roomba does.
Jane and John Doe
If you like crime shows or movies, you might be familiar with the names John Doe or Jane Doe. While there are likely people that have those names (though poor choices when it comes to the parents), in the context of criminal investigations they mean that they're unidentified bodies – John for male, Jane for female.
The original use was that of an everyman, such as in “Meet John Doe,” but police departments picked up the term. While it seems like a relatively recent idea, it's possible that this sort of tactic was invoked as early as the reign of King Edward III, all the way back in the fourteenth century.
Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind
Yes, that's really the name. But, as the prettiest, sassiest, and toughest woman in the American West, she'll get us to ignore that for now. She was a feminist folk hero and a supposed spouse of Davy Crockett – but just like so many other folk tales both at home and abroad, it turns out she was entirely fictional.
More's the pity, since she apparently fought alligators, lived with a family of bears, and could outrun and out-wrestle any Tennessee boy by the age of seven. While Davy Crockett was a real person, there are plenty of details of his life that aren't true, such as this one.
Piotr Zak
In 1961, “BBC Third Programme” was a popular channel on the telly – it would broadcast classical musical compositions for all to hear and enjoy. The piece “Mobile for Tape and Percussion” was broadcast twice to great acclaim, but the alleged composer, Pole Piotr Zak, never existed.
The composers were actually BBC producers Susan Bradshaw and Hans Keller, who wanted to see if people would think a new creation was a real classical piece of music. While many listeners enjoyed it, critics roundly panned the tune, and immediately identified it as a studio prank. One reviewer even called it a farce.
John Abercromby
The writings of Thomas Dempster, a Scottish scholar, and historian, mention a Benedictine monk named John Abercromby, who supposedly authored the famous works “Veritatis Defensio” and “Haereseos Confusio” but copies of those books are...out of print is the best way to put them.
Thanks to disagreements with the Reformation in Scotland, Abercromby found himself on the wrong end of a mob and was executed in 1561. However, nobody can find his books, Dempster is the only person that ever mentions him, and there aren't any other records of the man, leaving many historians to call him a work of fiction, and it's hard to argue with them.