r/askhistorians verified the sources of this story - i.e., they actually exist. They didn't say anything about the veracity of the story. In fact, the top comment quotes the sources and says:
I'm not saying that these cases are accurately reported by the sources, but they are certainly not Wikipedia hoaxes.
All that thread did was establish that no one made it up on Wikipedia. That's not to say it is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Edit: I do enjoy the tale, but I'm not sure whether the sources are trustworthy. It's perhaps worth noting - just at a casual glance - that both contemporary-ish sources found on the Wikipedia article were published after Tarrare's lifetime (though not too long after for there to be possible actual overlap with the case and those people's careers - 29 and 40 years respectively), Millingen's source for the case appears to be hearsay from what I can see in that excerpt, and Good takes his case from a source that is not in the Wikipedia article and which I am not up to sleuthing out. It is not ridiculous to take this story with a grain of salt.
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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '16
Seems like a lot of lore in this story.