What's especially bizarre is that some of these documentaries about mythical sharks feature real-life shark scientists. How does that happen? As it turns out, there’s an answer — over at ion, David Shiffman, a PhD student studying sharks at the University of Miami, reveals that Discovery Channel producers flat-out mislead some of the experts they interview.

One such expert, Jonathan Davis, took a Discovery Channel crew to go see sharks in Louisiana back in 2013. The producers never told Davis what the show would be about, despite his repeated questions. He was later appalled to see that his interview was featured on a documentary called “Voodoo Shark” about a mythical monster that lived in the bayous.

"In reality, Davis was barely asked about the voodoo shark at all," Shiffman writes. "His answers from unrelated questions were edited together to make it seem like he believed in its existence and was searching for it."

Joe Stracci