Beringer's Lying Stones (Lügensteine) are pieces of limestone which were carved into the shape of various fictitious animals and "discovered" in 1725 by Professor Johann Bartholomeus Adam Beringer (1667-1740), Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Würzburg. Beringer believed them to be fossils, and because some of them bore the name of God in Hebrew, suggested that they might be of divine origin. He published a book on his findings but shortly after discovered that he had been the victim of a hoax. He took the hoaxers to court and won the case but his reputation was forever besmirched.