Could the stories of Ayapaneko's two surviving speakers be a lie? I'm Adam from Ripley's.com, and this is your Weird Minute. In southern Mexico is a region known as Ayapa. For hundreds of years, it's been the sole place where people have spoken its titular language, Ayapaneco. It's long been reported that the language has only two speakers, but they refuse to talk to each other because of some long-forgotten feud.
Recently, however, they put aside their differences, and with the help of telecom giant Vodafone, began teaching the language to new speakers. Unfortunately, the story is a lie. There are, in fact, around 14 speakers of Ayapaneko. One of the two quote last speakers actually started getting paid by the Mexican government along with four other speakers to teach the language. The supposed chagrin speaker? No such thing. They had no beef to squash.
When the ad agency came to make their campaign, however, they didn't find the real story good enough. Instead, they paid two of the speakers to act out the story in their campaign, and paid the others not to appear. They faked building a school and tricked news outlets around the world. To see this fake campaign and learn more about Aya Paneko, head to ripleys.com. Rate The Weird Minute if you haven't already, and tune in tomorrow for another Minute of Odds.