From George Washington’s cherry tree and Neil Armstrong's iconic quote to Thomas Edison's invention of the lightbulb and Marilyn Monroe’s IQ – stories about famous Americans have taken on a life of their own. There’s just one problem: many of them aren’t true.

Read on for the REAL story behind 15 widely believed 'facts' about famous Americans. To view these images in FULL SCREEN on a desktop, click the icon in the top right.