List of hoaxes
Encyclopedia
Proven hoaxes
These are some claims that have been revealed to be deliberate public hoaxes.This list does not include hoax articles published on or around April 1, a long list of which can be found in the "April Fool's Day" article.
A-F
- George AdamskiGeorge AdamskiGeorge Adamski was a Polish-born American citizen who became widely known in ufology circles, and to some degree in popular culture, after he claimed to have photographed ships from other planets, met with friendly Nordic alien "Space Brothers", and to have taken flights with them...
's claims to have gone into space in UFOs. His book was based on his earlier book of fiction. - The Col de Vence Medusa
- Ray SantilliRay SantilliRay Santilli is a British musician, record, and film producer, best known for his exploitation in 1995 of the controversial "alien autopsy" footage, subject of the Ant & Dec film Alien Autopsy.-Life and career:...
's Alien autopsy - The Archko Volume, a collection of documents related to the life of Jesus.
- Avirginsplea.com, a website that was part of a viral marketing experiment (2006).
- The Awful Disclosures of Maria MonkMaria MonkMaria Monk was a Canadian woman who claimed to have been a nun who had been sexually exploited in her convent...
, a book about purported sexual enslavement of a nun - The balloon boy hoax - a boy thought to be traveling at high altitudes in a home-made helium balloon was later discovered to be hiding in the attic of his house instead
- BananadineBananadineBananadine is a fictional psychoactive substance which is supposedly extracted from banana peels. A hoax recipe for its "extraction" from banana peel was originally published in the Berkeley Barb in March 1967...
, a fictional drug made from bananas - Bathtub hoaxBathtub hoaxThe bathtub hoax was a famous hoax perpetrated by the American journalist H. L. Mencken involving the publication of a fictitious history of the bathtub.- "A Neglected Anniversary" :...
, an imaginary history of the bathtub published by H.L. Mencken - Berners Street Hoax in 1810
- Johann BeringerJohann BeringerProfessor Johann Bartholomeus Adam Beringer of the faculty of medicine at the University of Würzburg was the victim of a famous early 18th century hoax, perpetrated on him by his colleagues ex-Jesuit J...
's "lying stones" - Franz BibfeldtFranz BibfeldtFranz Bibfeldt is a famous, fictitious theologian and in-joke among American academic theologians.Bibfeldt made his first appearance as the author of an invented footnote in a term paper of a Concordia Seminary student, Robert Howard Clausen. Clausen's classmate, Martin Marty was struck by the name...
, a fictitious theologian originally invented to provide a footnote for a divinity school student, which later became an in-joke among academic theologians. - The Big Donor Show, a hoax reality television program in the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
about a woman donating her kidneyKidneyThe kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
s to one of three people requiring a transplantation - Biggest Drawing in the World, Erik Nordenankar's "drawing" of a self-portrait over the entire world using a GPS receiver
- Jayson BlairJayson BlairJayson Blair is an American reporter formerly with The New York Times. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2003 in the wake of the discovery of plagiarism and fabrication in his stories. Since 2007 he has worked as a life coach in the field of mental health.-Background:Blair was born in...
's plagiarized and fabricated articles for the New York Times - Steve Brodie, who did not jump from the Brooklyn BridgeBrooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
- Calaveras SkullCalaveras SkullThe Calaveras Skull was a human skull found by miners in Calaveras County, California which purported to prove that humans, mastodons, and elephants had coexisted in California. It was later revealed to be a hoax...
- The Cardiff GiantCardiff GiantThe Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history. It was a tall purported "petrified man" uncovered on October 16, 1869 by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York. Both it and an unauthorized copy made by P.T...
, of which P. T. BarnumP. T. BarnumPhineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
made up a replica when he could not obtain the "genuine" hoax - Andrew Carlssin, a nonexistent "time travelling" stock broker arrested for SECUnited States Securities and Exchange CommissionThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
violations. - Thomas ChattertonThomas ChattertonThomas Chatterton was an English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He died of arsenic poisoning, either from a suicide attempt or self-medication for a venereal disease.-Childhood:...
's "medieval" poetry - The Shakespeare discoveries of John Payne CollierJohn Payne CollierJohn Payne Collier , English Shakespearian critic and forger, was born in London.-Reporter and solicitor:...
- The Cottingley FairiesCottingley FairiesThe Cottingley Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins who lived in Cottingley, near Bradford in England. In 1917, when the first two photographs were taken, Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 10...
- Crop circleCrop circleA crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, or rapeseed. Crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. While the exact date crop circles began to appear is unknown, the documented...
s. English pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claimed they started the phenomenon, and hundreds of "copycat" circles have been fabricated since by other hoaxers. - Donald CrowhurstDonald CrowhurstDonald Crowhurst was a British businessman and amateur sailor who died while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. Crowhurst had entered the race in hopes of winning a cash prize from The Sunday Times to aid his failing business...
who entered the Sunday Times Golden Globe RaceSunday Times Golden Globe RaceThe Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969, and was the first round-the-world yacht race...
in an attempt to become the first person to single-handedly sail around the world non-stop. Instead he abandoned the race early on but continued to report false positions in an attempt to make it appear as if he was still competing. - Death in the Air: The War Diary and Photographs of a Flying Corps Pilot, a book containing World War I Aerial combatAerial warfareAerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare, including military airlift of cargo to further the national interests as was demonstrated in the Berlin Airlift...
photos that were actually models superimposed on aerial backgrounds. - Disappearing blonde geneDisappearing blonde geneThe disappearing blonde gene is a pseudoscientific claim that has periodically surfaced in the media since 1865. The most recent version started in 2002...
- Document 12-571-3570Document 12-571-3570Document 12-571-3570 is a hoax document originally posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.sex on November 28, 1989. According to this document, astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-75 performed a variety of sex acts to determine which positions are most effective in zero gravity...
supposedly establishing that sex had taken place during a space mission - The Donation of ConstantineDonation of ConstantineThe Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor Constantine I supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the pope. During the Middle Ages, the document was often cited in support of the Roman Church's claims to...
- Drake's Plate of BrassDrake's Plate of BrassThe so-called Drake's Plate of Brass is a forgery that purports to be the brass plaque that Francis Drake posted upon landing in Northern California in 1579. The hoax was successful for forty years, despite early doubts. After the plate came to public attention in 1936, historians immediately...
, accepted for 40 years as the actual plate Francis DrakeFrancis DrakeSir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
posted upon visiting CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1579 - George DupreGeorge DupreGeorge Dupre is a Canadian man who falsely claimed to have been an Special Operations Executive operative during World War II.In 1953 Quentin Reynolds, an ex-war correspondent, had written a book The Man Who Wouldn't Talk about George Dupre's alleged wartime experiences...
, who claimed to have worked for SOESpecial Operations ExecutiveThe Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local... - The Education of Little TreeThe Education of Little TreeThe Education of Little Tree is a memoir-style novel written by Asa Earl Carter under the pseudonym Forrest Carter. Since its first publication by Delacorte Press in 1976, the book has been the subject of acclaim. Many people have been drawn to its message of simple living, tradition, and love of...
, widely acclaimed autobiography by Asa Earl CarterAsa Earl CarterAsa Earl Carter was an American political speechwriter and author. He was most notable for publishing novels and a best-selling, award-winning memoir under the name Forrest Carter, an identity as a Native American Cherokee...
, later revealed to be fictional. - Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
quotation supporting AstrologyAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
- Emulex hoaxEmulex hoaxThe Emulex hoax, an instance of securities fraud, was a false 2000-08-24 press release claiming to be from Emulex Corporation. The release falsely claimed that the company's CEO was stepping down, that previously stated quarterly earnings were being revised downward, and that the company was under...
, a stock manipulation scheme - The English MercurieThe English MercurieThe English Mercurie is a literary hoax purporting to be the first English newspaper. It is apparently an account of the English battle with the Spanish Armada of 1588, but was in fact written by the second Earl of Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, in the 18th century as a literary game with some friends...
, a literary hoax purporting to be the first English language newspaper. - Ern MalleyErn MalleyErnest Lalor "Ern" Malley was a fictitious poet and the central figure in Australia's most celebrated literary hoax. The poet, and his entire body of work, were created in one day in 1944 by writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart as a hoax on Max Harris, Angry Penguins, the modernist magazine he...
, a fictitious poet - Essjay controversyEssjay controversyThe Essjay controversy was an incident concerning a prominent Wikipedia participant and salaried Wikia employee, known by the username Essjay, who later identified himself as Ryan Jordan. Jordan held trusted volunteer positions within Wikipedia known as administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator and...
, a false claim of academic credentials, starting on WikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
and continued into a New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
interview - The False DecretalsPseudo-IsidorePseudo-Isidore is the pseudonym given to the scholar or group of scholars responsible for the Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals, the most extensive and influential set of forgeries found in medieval Canon law. The authors were a group of Frankish clerics writing in the second quarter of the ninth century...
- Fiji mermaidFiji mermaidThe Fiji mermaid was an object comprising the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish, covered in papier-mâché...
, the supposed remains of a half fish half human hybrid. - Sidd FinchSidd FinchSidd Finch was a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious article and April Fools' Day hoax "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated.-Hoax:...
, fictional baseball player - Spiritualist Arthur FordArthur FordArthur Ford was an American psychic spiritual medium, clairaudient and in 1955 founded the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship.- Biographical problems :...
's claim of psychic contact with Harry HoudiniHarry HoudiniHarry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
. - Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood 1939-1948, Binjamin WilkomirskiBinjamin WilkomirskiBinjamin Wilkomirski was a name which Bruno Dössekker adopted in his constructed identity as a Holocaust survivor and published author...
's memoirs, which were supposed to be a faithful account of his childhood in a Nazi death camp - Furry troutFur-bearing troutThe fur-bearing trout is a fictional creature native to the northern regions of North America, particularly Canada, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Great Lakes. The basic claim is that the waters of lakes and rivers in the area are so cold that a species of trout has evolved which grows a...
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- Stephen Glass's falsified articles for The New RepublicThe New RepublicThe magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
- Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of RussiaGrand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of RussiaGrand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna....
claims by Eugenia SmithEugenia SmithEugenia Smith, of Chicago, also known as Eugenia Drabek Smetisko, was one of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia. She is the author of the Autobiography of HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia , in which she claimed to be Anastasia...
and Anna AndersonAnna AndersonAnna Anderson was the best known of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia... - The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814 was a hoax or fraud centered on false information about the then-ongoing Napoleonic Wars, affecting the London Stock Exchange in 1814.-The du Bourg hoax:...
- Gundala (film) a super hero movie that was promoted on the web despite the fact that it did not exist
- The Hand that Signed the Paper, purportedly based on the experiences of "Helen Demidenko", actually Helen DarvilleHelen DarvilleHelen Dale , also known as Helen Darville and Helen Demidenko, is an Australian writer and lawyer.While studying English literature at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, she wrote The Hand that Signed the Paper, a novel about a Ukrainian family who become both bystanders and perpetrators...
- HanxinHanxinHanxin is the name of a digital signal processing microchip. A Chinese professor, Chen Jin, claimed to have developed the chip in 2003. Chen Jin was a professor at the prestigious Jiaotong University in Shanghai...
, industrious and scientific hoax of a forgery Digital signal processorDigital signal processorA digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:... - Recordings allegedly made by the pianist Joyce HattoJoyce HattoJoyce Hatto was a British pianist and piano teacher. She became famous late in life, when unauthorised copies of commercial recordings made by other pianists were released under her name, earning her high praise from critics. The fraud did not come to light until a few months after her...
- Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
supposed recording of the Welsh National Anthem - see The Red DragonhoodThe Red DragonhoodThe Red Dragonhood is a street fashion label from Wales, founded in 2006 by Welsh designer Martin Davies.The label is rooted in Welsh counter-culture, as exemplified at different times by the music of bands such as Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, Catatonia and Goldie... - Joice HethJoice HethJoice Heth was an African American slave who was exhibited by P. T. Barnum with the claim that she was the 161-year-old nursing "mammy" of George Washington.-Biography:Little is known of Heth's earlier life. The promoter R. W...
, African-American slave exhibited by P. T. BarnumP. T. BarnumPhineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
as George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's nurse. - Histoire de l'Inquisition en FranceHistoire de l'Inquisition en FranceHistoire de l'Inquisition en France is a book published in 1829 by Etienne Leon de Lamonthe-Langan, supposedly on the basis of his unprecedented access to Church archives in Toulouse, granted by one Bishop Hyacinthe Sermet...
, the 1829 book by Etienne Leon de Lamonthe-Langan - The Hitler DiariesHitler DiariesIn April 1983, the West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler, known as the Hitler Diaries , which were subsequently revealed to be forgeries...
- Supposed UK ban on teaching about the Holocaust - see Holocaust teaching controversy of 2007Holocaust teaching controversy of 2007The Holocaust teaching controversy of 2007 was a controversy sparked by sensationalist claims mainly circulated in emails which stated that teaching of the Holocaust had been banned in British schools because of fears that this could offend Muslim pupils...
- The Horn PapersHorn PapersThe Horn Papers were a genealogical hoax consisting of forged historical records pertaining to the northeastern United States for the period from 1765 to 1795. They were published by William F...
- The hundredth monkey effect, a supposed zoological behavioral phenomenon
- Idaho's name
- Il BambinoIl BambinoIl Bambino , the name given in art to the image of the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes common in Roman Catholic churches...
, a sculptureSculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
created by MichelangeloMichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
but sold as a classic Greek statue. - The Ireland Shakespeare forgeriesIreland Shakespeare ForgeriesThe Ireland Shakespeare forgeries were a cause célèbre in 1790s London, when author and engraver Samuel Ireland announced the discovery of a treasure-trove of Shakespearean manuscripts by his son William Henry Ireland. Among them were the manuscripts of four plays, two of them previously unknown...
, a collection of ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
-related documents supposedly discovered by William Henry IrelandWilliam Henry IrelandWilliam Henry Ireland was an English forger of would-be Shakespearean documents and plays. He is less well-known as a poet, writer of gothic novels and histories...
and published in 1795 by his father, Samuel IrelandSamuel IrelandSamuel Ireland , British author and engraver, is best remembered today as the chief victim of the Ireland Shakespeare forgeries created by his son, William Henry Ireland.-Early life:...
; the discoveries included a "lost" play, Vortigern and RowenaVortigern and RowenaVortigern and Rowena, or Vortigern, an Historical Play is a play that was touted as a newly discovered work by William Shakespeare when it first appeared in 1796. It was eventually revealed to be a Shakespeare hoax, the product of prominent forger William Henry Ireland. Its first and only... - Clifford IrvingClifford IrvingClifford Michael Irving is an American author of novels and works of nonfiction, but best known for using forged handwritten letters to convince his publisher into accepting a fake "autobiography" of reclusive businessman Howard Hughes in the early 1970s...
's biographyBiographyA biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Howard HughesHoward HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world... - The JackalopeJackalopeThe jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail . The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope". It is also known as Lepus...
, supposedly a form of rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
with antlers. - The Jacko hoaxJacko hoaxThe Jacko hoax was a Canadian newspaper story about a gorilla supposedly caught near Yale, British Columbia in 1884. The story, titled "What is it?, A strange creature captured above Yale. A British Columbia Gorilla", appeared in the British Columbia newspaper the Daily Colonist on July 4th, 1884...
a supposed gorilla or sasquatch caught near Yale, British Columbia in 1884. - Jdbgmgr.exe virus hoaxJdbgmgr.exe virus hoaxThe jdbgmgr.exe virus hoax involved an e-mail spam in 2002 that advised computer users to delete a file named jdbgmgr.exe because it was a computer virus...
- Anthony Godby JohnsonAnthony Godby JohnsonAnthony Godby Johnson is the subject and supposed author of the 1993 memoir A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy's Triumphant Story. Subsequent investigations suggest that there may have never been a person by this name, and that his entire story was a fabrication on the part of Vicki Johnson, the...
, a nonexistent author of a hoax autobiography A Rock and A Hard Place. - The Lady Hope Story, a claim of Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's deathbed conversion to Christianity - Lobsang RampaLobsang RampaCyril Henry Hoskin , more popularly known as Tuesday Lobsang Rampa, was a writer who claimed to have been a lama in Tibet before spending the second part of his life in the body of a British man. Hoskin described himself as the "host" of Tuesday Lobsang Rampa...
- Enric MarcoEnric MarcoEnric Marco is an impostor who claimed to have been a prisoner in Nazi German concentration camps Mauthausen and Flossenburg in World War II. He was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi by the Catalan government in 2001 and wrote a book on his experiences...
, who presented himself as a victim of the extermination camp of MauthausenMauthausenMauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
until uncovered in 2005. - Mars hoaxMars hoaxThe Mars hoax was an e-mail-circulated hoax that originated in 2003, claiming that Mars will look as large as the full Moon to the naked eye on August 27, 2003...
, a yearly hoax, started in 2003, falsely claiming that at a certain date MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
will look as large as the full moon - The Masked MaraudersThe Masked MaraudersThe Masked Marauders is a record album released on the Warner Bros. Reprise/Deity label in the fall of 1969. The recording captured a purported "super session" of the era's leading rock and roll musicians, including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney...
, an album issued by a Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
subsidiary that reportedly featured a jam session between Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. The perpetrator: Rolling Stone magazine. - Memorial Heroes of ChernobylMemorial Heroes of ChernobylMemorial Heroes of Chernobyl was an almost entirely faked chess tournament held in April 2005. The organizers apparently ran out of money, and some of the supposed participants had never even heard of the tournament. It is possible that some games were actually played, and that the event was held...
- fake chess tournament - Michelle RemembersMichelle RemembersMichelle Remembers is a book published in 1980 co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his psychiatric patient Michelle Smith. A best-seller, Michelle Remembers was the first book written on the subject of satanic ritual abuse and is an important part of the controversies beginning...
, a memoir of Satanic child abuse - The Microsoft hoaxMicrosoft hoaxThe Microsoft hoax was an Internet hoax suggesting that the information technology company Microsoft had acquired the Catholic Church. It is considered to be the first Internet hoax to reach a mass audience.- The press release :...
, a 1994 hoax claiming that MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
had acquired the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. The hoax is considered to be the first hoax to reach a mass audience on the Internet. - The Moles' "We Are The Moles", a 1967 single promoted with not-so-subtle hints that it might be The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
recording under a pseudonym. It was actually recorded by Simon Dupree and the Big SoundSimon Dupree and the Big SoundSimon Dupree and the Big Sound were a British pop band formed by three brothers, Derek Shulman, born 1947 , Phil Shulman, born 1937 , and Ray Shulman, born 1949 .-Career:...
- a 1960s UK pop group, members of whom later formed the progressive rockProgressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Gentle GiantGentle GiantGentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
. - Mon cher Mustapha letterMon cher Mustapha letterThe Mon cher Mustapha letter was an anonymous chain letter distributed in Dreux, France around 1981–82 by supporters of the far-right political party National Front. It was supposedly written by an Algerian living in France to a friend or brother living in Algeria...
, a letter supposedly written by a Muslim immigrant in France, designed to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment - My 61 Memorable Games, a fake version of My 60 Memorable GamesMy 60 Memorable GamesMy 60 Memorable Games is a chess book by Bobby Fischer, first published in 1969. It is a collection of his games dating from the 1957 New Jersey Open to the 1967 Sousse Interzonal. Unlike many players' anthologies, which are often titled My Best Games and include only victories, My 60 Memorable...
by Bobby FischerBobby FischerRobert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
N-S
- Ompax spatuloides Castelnau, a fish "discovered" in 1872 in Australia, made of a mullet, an eel and the head of a platypus.
- The Works of OssianOssianOssian is the narrator and supposed author of a cycle of poems which the Scottish poet James Macpherson claimed to have translated from ancient sources in the Scots Gaelic. He is based on Oisín, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to Finn McCool, a character from Irish mythology...
, "translated" by James MacPhersonJames MacphersonJames Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of poems.-Early life:... - "Our First TimeOur First TimeOur First Time was one of the first widely popularized Internet hoaxes. Eighteen-year-olds "Mike" and "Diane" made a public announcement declaring they were to lose their virginity....
", an early popularized Internet hoax. - Edward Owens (hoax), perpetrated on the English-language Wikipedia in 2008 by a class at George Mason University.
- The Pacific Northwest tree octopusPacific Northwest tree octopusThe Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is an internet hoax created in 1998 by Lyle Zapato. This fictitious endangered species of cephalopod was given the Latin name "Octopus paxarbolis"...
(Octopus paxarbolis) - The shoot-outs of Palisade, NevadaPalisade, NevadaPalisade is located in Eureka County in the northeastern section of the state of Nevada, in the western United States. It is about 10 miles south of Carlin, and about 27 miles southwest of Elko. Although now a virtual ghost town, it had a rich history following construction of the...
- Paul is deadPaul Is Dead"Paul is dead" is an urban legend suggesting that Paul McCartney of the English rock band The Beatles died in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike....
(Paul McCartney death hoax) - The perpetual motionPerpetual motionPerpetual motion describes hypothetical machines that operate or produce useful work indefinitely and, more generally, hypothetical machines that produce more work or energy than they consume, whether they might operate indefinitely or not....
engines built by John Ernst Worrell KeelyJohn Ernst Worrell KeelyJohn Ernst Worrell Keely was a US inventor from Philadelphia who claimed to have discovered a new motive power which was originally described as "vaporic" or "etheric" force, and later as an unnamed force based on "vibratory sympathy", by which he produced "interatomic ether" from water and air...
and Charles RedhefferCharles RedhefferCharles Redheffer was an American inventor who claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine. First appearing in Philadelphia, Redheffer exhibited his machine to the public, charging high prices for viewing. When he applied to the government for more money, a group of inspectors were sent to... - Pickled dragonPickled dragonIn December 2003, David Hart claimed to have found a pickled dragon or, more precisely, what appeared to be the fetus of a winged reptile-type creature preserved in a tall jar of formaldehyde in his garage in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire; he then showed it to a friend, Allistair Mitchell, who...
- Piltdown ManPiltdown ManThe Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
- Platinum WeirdPlatinum WeirdPlatinum Weird is a musical collaboration formed in 2004 between Dave Stewart and Kara DioGuardi. It is also the subject of an elaborate hoax placing the band in 1974, including a half hour mockumentary produced for television network VH1 and a series of bogus World Wide Web fan sites and related...
, deliberate hoax by David A. StewartDavid A. StewartDavid Allan Stewart , often known as Dave Stewart, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. He is usually credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with other musicians named "Dave Stewart".-Early life:Stewart was born in Sunderland,...
and Kara DioGuardiKara DioGuardiKara Elizabeth DioGuardi is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the light pop-rock, dance, and R&B genres. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; her songs have appeared on more than 159...
about a non-existing band from 1974 promoted using false advertisingFalse advertisingFalse advertising or deceptive advertising is the use of false or misleading statements in advertising. As advertising has the potential to persuade people into commercial transactions that they might otherwise avoid, many governments around the world use regulations to control false, deceptive or...
. - Pope JoanPope JoanPope Joan is a legendary female Pope who, it is purported, reigned for a few years some time in the Middle Ages. The story first appeared in the writings of 13th-century chroniclers, and subsequently spread through Europe...
- the one and only supposed female popePopeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. - Princess CarabooPrincess CarabooMary Baker was a noted impostor who went by the name Princess Caraboo. She pretended to be from a faraway island and fooled a British town for some months.-Biography:...
, aka Mary Baker - The Priory of SionPriory of SionThe Prieuré de Sion, translated from French as Priory of Sion, is a name given to multiple groups, both real and fictitious. The most notorious is a fringe fraternal organisation, founded and dissolved in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard...
, a made-up secret society that plays a prominent role in The DaVinci Code - ProgesterexProgesterexProgesterex is a fictitious date rape drug that would purportedly cause sterilization. It is part of a hoax that began to circulate in 1999 via e-mail on the internet. No actual drug by this name or even with these properties exists, and no such incident has ever been documented or confirmed...
, a date rape drug. - The Protocols of the Elders of ZionThe Protocols of the Elders of ZionThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fraudulent, antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for achieving global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the twentieth century...
, a book instrumental in the surge of antisemitism during the last hundred years. - George PsalmanazarGeorge PsalmanazarGeorge Psalmanazar claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but was later revealed to be an impostor...
and his "FormosaTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
" - Psychic surgeryPsychic surgeryPsychic surgery is a procedure typically involving the supposed creation of an incision using only the bare hands, the supposed removal of pathological matter, and the seemingly spontaneous healing of the incision....
- Q33 NY, an Internet hoax based on the 9/11 event
- A Racial Program for the Twentieth CenturyA Racial Program for the Twentieth CenturyA Racial Program for the Twentieth Century is an antisemitic hoax promoted by Eustace Mullins...
- Tamara Rand prediction of the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, which was actually made after the fact . - Rejecting JaneRejecting Jane"Rejecting Jane" is the title of an article by British author David Lassman, which became the 'literary story of 2007' The article, which was published in Issue 28 of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine., is a critique of the publishing industry through their inadvertent rejection of Jane Austen...
chronicles the rejection by publishing houses of the opening chapters of Jane AustenJane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
novels submitted to them under a pseudonym by British writer David LassmanDavid LassmanDavid Lassman is a British author, arts journalist and scriptwriter responsible for the 'Rejecting Jane' article, which became the 'literary story of 2007'.-Biography:...
. - The Report From Iron MountainThe Report From Iron MountainThe Report from Iron Mountain is a book published in 1967 by Dial Press which puts itself forth as the report of a government panel. The book includes the claim it was authored by a Special Study Group of fifteen men whose identities were to remain secret and that it was not intended to be made...
, a literary hoax claiming that the government had concluded that peacetime was not in the economy's best interest. - Rosie RuizRosie RuizRosie Ruiz Vivas is a Cuban American who in 1980 was initially declared the first place winner in the female category for the 84th Boston Marathon only to have her title later stripped after it was discovered that she had not run the entire course.-Background:Ruiz was born in Cuba and moved to...
, who cheated in the Boston MarathonBoston MarathonThe Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest... - Frank ScullyFrank ScullyFrank Scully was an author in the 1940s and 1950s and wrote for the show business publication Variety.In October and November 1949, Scully published two columns in Variety, claiming that extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash, based on what he said was reported to him by...
's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, which claimed that aliens from a crashed flying saucer were being held - "Seriously McDonaldsSeriously McDonalds"Seriously McDonalds" is the name under which a viral photograph was spread in June 2011. The photograph shows a sign, which is in fact a hoax, claiming that McDonald's has implemented a new policy charging African-Americans more, as "an insurance measure"...
", a viral photograph apparently showing racist policies introduced by McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
. - The SkvaderSkvaderThe skvader is a Swedish fictional creature that was constructed in 1918 by the taxidermist Rudolf Granberg and is permanently displayed at the museum at Norra Berget in Sundsvall. It has the forequarters and hindlegs of a hare , and the back, wings and tail of a female wood grouse...
, a form of winged hare supposedly indigenous to SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. - Songs of BilitisSongs of BilitisThe Songs of Bilitis is a collection of erotic poetry by Pierre Louÿs and published in Paris in 1894 .The book's sensual poems are in the manner of Sappho; the introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis, a courtesan and...
, supposed ancient Greek poems "discovered" by Pierre LouÿsPierre LouÿsPierre Louÿs was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who "expressed pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection."-Life:... - Space Cadets, a 2005 TV programme by Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, in which contestants were fooled into thinking that they were training at a Russian space academy to become space tourists. - The "R. E. Straith" letter sent to George AdamskiGeorge AdamskiGeorge Adamski was a Polish-born American citizen who became widely known in ufology circles, and to some degree in popular culture, after he claimed to have photographed ships from other planets, met with friendly Nordic alien "Space Brothers", and to have taken flights with them...
by James W. MoseleyJames W. MoseleyJames W. Moseley is an American ufologist.He has exposed UFO hoaxers and perpetrated fraud in his career and, according to Jerome Clark, has "entertained just about every view it is possible to hold about UFOs, without ever managing to say anything especially interesting or memorable about any of...
. - James Vicary'sJames VicaryJames McDonald Vicary was a market researcher best known for pioneering the notion of subliminal advertising in 1957.-Biography:...
Subliminal advertising - The "Surgeon's Photo" of the Loch Ness Monster
T-Z
- ThatchergateThatchergateThatchergate was the colloquial title of a hoax perpetrated by members of the anarcho-punk band Crass during the aftermath of the 1982 Falklands War. Using excerpts from speeches by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, a recording was spliced together which purported to be a telephone conversation...
Tapes, a fake conversation with which the punk rock band Crass fooled the governments of the USA and UK. - Robert TiltonRobert TiltonRobert Tilton is an American televangelist who achieved notoriety in the 1980s and early 1990s through his infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life, which at its peak in 1991 aired in all 235 American TV markets , brought in nearly $80 million per year, and was described as...
's "prayer cloths" - John TitorJohn TitorJohn Titor is the name used on several bulletin boards during 2000 and 2001 by a poster claiming to be a time traveler from the year 2036. In these posts he made numerous predictions about events in the near future, starting with events in 2004...
's time travelTime travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
ling claims - Mary Toft, rabbit mother
- ToothingToothingToothing was originally a hoax claim that Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones or PDAs were being used to arrange random sexual encounters, perpetrated as a prank on the media who reported it. The hoax was created by Ste Curran, then Editor at Large at the gaming magazine Edge, and ex-journalist Simon...
, an invented fad about people using BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
phones to arrange sexual encounters - Tourist guyTourist guyThe "tourist guy" was an Internet phenomenon that featured a fake photograph of a tourist who appeared in many manipulated pictures after the September 11, 2001 attacks...
, fake photo of a tourist at the top of the World Trade CenterWorld Trade CenterThe original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
building on 9/11 with a plane about to crash in the background - Trodmore RacecourseTrodmore RacecourseTrodmore Racecourse was the name of a fictitious racecourse, supposedly in Cornwall. On August 1, 1898, it was the subject of a punting scam.It is said that a man named Mr. Martin contacted the offices of a leading newspaper, The Sportsman, to inform them of a horse racing meeting he was holding...
, a fictitious CornishCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
race meeting. - The TurkThe TurkThe Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player , was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an...
, a chessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
-playing automatonAutomatonAn automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
that actually contained a person. - Tuxissa, a computer virus hoax.
- Benjamin Vanderford's beheading videoBeheading videoBeheading video is a colloquial term in the U.S. popularized during the "War on Terror" for videos released by Islamist militant groups depicting interviews by hostages taken by said groups. The prelude to these videos usually show the subject alive and pleading for their lives sometimes...
- Villejuif leafletVillejuif leafletThe Villejuif leaflet , also known as the Villejuif flyer and the Villejuif list, was a pamphlet which enjoyed wide distribution. The leaflet listed a number of safe food additives with their E numbers as alleged carcinogens. The leaflet caused mass panic in Europe in the late 1970s and 1980s...
, a pamphlet distributed in Europe with claims of various food additiveFood additiveFood additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines...
s having carcinogenic effects. - Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax (1977), hoax message inserted into a IBA broadcast in the United Kingdom on 26 November 1977.
- David WeissDavid Weiss (fictional person)In March 2009, Haviv Rettig Gur was contacted by a man claiming to be David Weiss, captain in the Norwegian military. Weiss was quoted in a news story written by Gur in The Jerusalem Post in which Norwegian Jews said they experienced tensions related to their Jewishness, mostly from Muslim...
a non existing person that was used by the Jerusalem Post as a source. - Laurel Rose WillsonLaurel Rose WillsonLaurel Rose Willson was an American woman born in Washington, whose allegations of satanic ritual abuse were published under the alias Lauren Stratford, which she would later adopt as her legal name...
's claims to be a survivor of Satanic ritual abuseSatanic ritual abuseSatanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
(as Lauren Stratford), and of the Holocaust (as Laura Grabowski) - Yellowcake forgeryYellowcake forgeryThe Niger uranium forgeries are forged documents initially revealed by Italian Military intelligence. These documents seem to depict an attempt made by Saddam Hussein in Iraq to purchase yellowcake uranium powder from Niger during the Iraq disarmament crisis....
, the false documents suggesting Iraq's Saddam Hussein was to purchase uranium from Niger - ZzxjoanwZzxjoanwZzxjoanw is a famous fictitious entry which fooled logologists for many years. In 1903, author Rupert Hughes published The Musical Guide, including a section containing a "pronouncing and defining dictionary of terms, instruments, etc"...
, a fictitious word that fooled logologistsLogologyLogology is the study of recreational linguistics, an activity that encompasses a wide variety of word games and wordplay emphasizing letter patterns...
for 70 years
Proven hoaxes of exposure
"Proven hoaxes of exposure" are semi-comical or private sting operationSting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
s. They usually encourage people to act foolishly or credulously by falling for patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality. See also culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
.
- The Atlanta NightsAtlanta NightsAtlanta Nights is a collaborative novel created in 2004 by a group of science fiction and fantasy authors, with the express purpose of producing a bad piece of work of unpublishable quality to test whether publishing firm PublishAmerica would still accept it...
hoax - The British television series Brass EyeBrass EyeBrass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
encouraged celebrities to pledge their support to nonexistent causes, to highlight their willingness to do anything for publicity. - The Centaur from Volos displayed at the John C. Hodges library at The University of TennesseeJohn C. Hodges library at The University of TennesseeThe John C. Hodges Library is the main library of the University of Tennessee.Opened in 1969, the library houses 3 million library volumes, periodicals, and computer resources. Its rare book collection numbers 51,000 items, the oldest dating from 1481 AD....
- Carlos, a fictional spirit medium created by James RandiJames RandiJames Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
and Jose Luis Alvarez. - Crop circles
- Dihydrogen monoxide hoaxDihydrogen monoxide hoaxIn the dihydrogen monoxide hoax, water is called by an unfamiliar name, "dihydrogen monoxide", followed by a listing of real negative effects of this chemical, in an attempt to convince people that it should be carefully regulated, labeled as hazardous, or banned...
- DisumbrationismDisumbrationismDisumbrationism was a hoax masquerading as an art movement that was launched in 1924 by Paul Jordan-Smith, a novelist, Latin scholar, and authority on Robert Burton from Los Angeles, California....
- GenpetGenpetGenpets are a mixed media installation art piece by artist Adam Brandejs. It is considered a hoax of exposure.The project has been shown in multiple galleries in Canada and Europe and has garnered some attention in the mass media....
s, the bio-engineered pet creatures - Grunge speakGrunge speakGrunge speak was a hoax created by Megan Jasper, receptionist for Sub Pop Records. Under pressure from a reporter for The New York Times who wanted to know if grunge fans had their own slang, Jasper, 25 at the time, told the reporter a set of slang terms that she claimed were associated with the...
, an alleged slangSlangSlang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
of the Seattle rock underground, concocted by a Sub PopSub PopSub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
employee and profiled in the New York Times - ID Sniper rifleID Sniper rifleThe ID Sniper rifle is an art project, a fictional, hoax weapon devised by Jakob Boeskov, a Danish artist and Danish industrial designer Kristian von Bengtson on a suggestion of Danish journalist Mads Brügger. The ID Sniper supposedly shoots GPS chips, and the police force may tag persons with...
, a rifle that shoots GPS chips to mark and track suspects - The LovelumpLoveLumpThe LoveLump was an Internet hoax perpetrated by digital artist Atmospheric Henry Ross. It is considered a hoax of exposure.Ross created a fictional company, Erotech Industries, which claimed to have developed a bio-engineered sex toy, combining male and female genitals, breasts, and buttocks in a...
bio-engineered sex toy - Project AlphaProject AlphaProject Alpha was an elaborate hoax orchestrated by the stage magician and skeptic James Randi. It involved planting two fake psychics, Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards, into a paranormal research project. During the initial stages of the investigation, the researchers came to believe that the...
- exposed poor research into psychic phenomena - Pacific Northwest tree octopusPacific Northwest tree octopusThe Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is an internet hoax created in 1998 by Lyle Zapato. This fictitious endangered species of cephalopod was given the Latin name "Octopus paxarbolis"...
, by Lyle Zapato - SinaSociety for Indecency to Naked AnimalsThe Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, or SINA [pronounced "sinna"], was a satiric hoax perpetrated by comedian Alan Abel from 1959 to 1962. In 1959 Abel wrote a satirical story about this imaginary organization for The Saturday Evening Post but the editors rejected it...
, the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals - Media pranks of Joey SkaggsJoey SkaggsJoey Skaggs is an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. He is considered one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs used Kim Yung Soo, Joe Bones, Joseph Bonuso, Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor,...
- The Sokal AffairSokal AffairThe Sokal affair, also known as the Sokal hoax, was a publishing hoax perpetrated by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to Social Text, an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies...
- The Taxil hoaxTaxil hoaxThe Taxil hoax was an 1890s hoax of exposure by Léo Taxil intended to mock not only Freemasonry, but also the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to it.-Taxil and Freemasonry:...
by Léo TaxilLéo TaxilLéo Taxil, originally Marie Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès , was a French writer and journalist who became known for his strong anti-Catholic and anti-clerical views....
, poking fun at FreemasonryFreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge... - The avant-garde "music" of "Piotr ZakPiotr ZakPiotr Zak is the name of a fictional Polish composer whose alleged composition Mobile for Tape and Percussion was broadcast twice on the BBC Third Programme on June 5, 1961 in a performance supposedly played by 'Claude Tessier' and 'Anton Schmidt'....
" - The practice of growing Bonsai KittenBonsai KittenBonsai Kitten was a satirical website which contained instructions on how to grow a kitten in a jar, so as to mold the bones of the kitten into the shape of the jar as the cat grew, much like a bonsai plant is shaped via trimming. It was made by a university student going by the alias of Dr....
s - January 2009 QuadrantQuadrant (magazine)Quadrant is an Australian literary and cultural journal. The magazine takes a conservative position on political and social issues, describing itself as sceptical of 'unthinking Leftism, or political correctness, and its "smelly little orthodoxies"'. Quadrant reviews literature, as well as...
Hoax - The "Commercial Whaling New Zealand" spokesman Jay Pryor on TVNZ Breakfast
Possible hoaxes
- The Amityville HorrorThe Amityville HorrorThe Amityville Horror: A True Story is a book by Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released between 1979 and 2005...
- ghostly events reported by the buyers of a house where another family had been murdered . - Ghost HuntersGhost HuntersGhost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
- during a televised live HalloweenHalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
special on October 31, 2008 Grant WilsonGrant WilsonGrant Steven Wilson is the co-founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which has just been renewed for its seventh season.-Personal life:He and his wife Reanna have three sons...
of The Atlantic Paranormal SocietyThe Atlantic Paranormal SocietyThe Atlantic Paranormal Society is an organization that investigates reported paranormal activity. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, TAPS was founded in 1990 by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. In 2004, the organization itself became the subject of Ghost Hunters, a popular weekly...
(TAPS) is widely believed to have been part of a hoax involving a coat pull incident that has been debunked and believed to have been rigged. (Ghost Hunters#Criticism) - Lake Anjikuni - mysterious disappearance of Eskimos
- The Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax (1977)
- The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot filmPatterson-Gimlin filmThe Patterson-Gimlin film is a famous short motion picture of an unidentified subject the film makers purported to be a "Bigfoot", that was supposedly filmed on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin on the Klamath River outside of Orleans,...
- The Buddha Boy - a meditating boy of apparently superhuman perseverance
- Trance Channeling, a New AgeNew AgeThe New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
form of spiritualismSpiritualismSpiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
. - Concordia (1696 ship), an early Dutch sailing ship that went missing.
- Natasha DemkinaNatasha DemkinaNatalya Nikolayevna Demkina , usually known under the hypocoristic naming Natasha Demkina, is a Russian woman who claims to possess a special vision that allows her to look inside human bodies and see organs and tissues, and thereby make medical diagnoses...
- Russian woman who claims to have x-ray vision - The works of James FreyJames FreyJames Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
which were at least partially fictional and have been alleged to be a complete hoax. - Psychic performances of Uri GellerUri GellerUri Geller is a self-proclaimed psychic known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other supposed psychic effects. Throughout the years, Geller has been accused of using simple conjuring tricks to achieve the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy...
- Kensington RunestoneKensington RunestoneThe Kensington Runestone is a 200-pound slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side which, if genuine, would suggest that Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century. It was found in 1898 in the largely rural township of Solem, Douglas County,...
- an artifact which implies Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century - The Killian documentsKillian documentsThe Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...
- documents used in a 60 Minutes60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
story alleging George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
did not fulfill his National Guard duty requirements - The LoudonLoudun PossessionsThe Loudun possessions were a group of supposed demonic possessions which took place in Loudun, France, in 1634. This case involved the Ursuline nuns of Loudun who were allegedly visited and possessed by demons: Father Urbain Grandier was convicted of the crimes of sorcery, evil spells, and the...
demonic possessionDemonic possessionDemonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
of 1634 that led to the execution of local priest Urban Grandier for witchcraftWitchcraftWitchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. - Mel's HoleMel's HoleMel's Hole is a supposed geographic anomaly discovered by Mel Waters on his land near Ellensburg, Washington. Waters claimed that he lived in or near Manastash Ridge, Washington, about nine miles due west of Ellensburg, though later investigation revealed that no such person was listed as a resident...
- a pit alleged to be bottomless - Metallic Metals ActMetallic Metals ActThe Metallic Metals Act is a non-existent piece of proposed legislation that featured prominently in an experiment conducted in 1947 by Sam Gill.-The Experiment:...
- a study that may not have actually been conducted about a fictional piece of legislation; the study is still cited in textbooks - NESARA conspiracy theoryNESARA conspiracy theoryNESARA is an acronym for the proposed National Economic Security and Reformation Act, a set of economic reforms suggested during the 1990s by Harvey Francis Barnard...
, a purported secret law under gag orderGag orderA gag order is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial...
by Supreme Court of the United StatesSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, which would abolish the IRSInternal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
and eliminate all credit cardCredit cardA credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
debt. - Walam OlumWalam OlumThe Walam Olum or Walum Olum, usually translated as "Red Record" or "Red Score," is purportedly a historical narrative of the Lenape Native American tribe. The document has provoked controversy as to its authenticity since its publication in the 1830s by botanist and antiquarian Constantine Samuel...
- alleged migration legend of the LenapeLenapeThe Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
people, likely perpetrated by Rafinesque - The Philadelphia ExperimentPhiladelphia ExperimentThe Philadelphia Experiment is the name of an alleged naval military experiment said to have been carried out at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA sometime around October 28, 1943. It is alleged that the U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge was to be rendered...
, a supposed experiment to make a ship completely invisible to radar even to the eye. Many factual errors have emerged and official U.S. navy records show no proof or record of the experiment ever taking place or of the ship ever having been in the alleged locations of the experiment. - The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed, book supposedly written by AIArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
program RacterRacterRacter was an artificial intelligence computer program that generated English language prose at random.-History:The name of the program is short for raconteur. The sophistication claimed for the program was likely exaggerated, as could be seen by investigation of the template system of text... - Josef PappJosef PappJosef Papp was an engineer who was awarded U.S. patents related to the development of a fusion engine, and also claimed to have invented a jet submarine.-Alleged submarine journey:...
's solo thirteen hour trans-Atlantic submarine voyage - PhilippinePhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
historical figure KalantiawKalantiawDatu Kalantiaw is a mythical Filipino character who was said to have created the first legal code in the Philippines, known as the Code of Kalantiaw, in 1433.... - Rendlesham Forest IncidentRendlesham Forest IncidentThe Rendlesham Forest Incident is the name given to a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and the alleged landing of a craft or multiple craft of unknown origin in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, in late December 1980, just outside RAF Woodbridge, used at the time by the U.S....
- possible hoax - Chief SeattleChief SeattleChief Seattle , was a Dkhw’Duw’Absh chief, also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. Seattle, Washington was named after him...
's speech - The Tasaday tribe
- The Book of VelesBook of VelesThe Book of Veles is a literary forgery claimed to be a text of ancient Slavic religion and history written on wooden planks.It contains religious passages and accounts of history interspersed with religious...
- The Vinland mapVinland mapThe Vinland map is claimed to be a 15th century mappa mundi with unique information about Norse exploration of America. It is very well known because of the publicity campaign which accompanied its revelation to the public as a "genuine" pre-Columbian map in 1965...
- alleged medieval map of the "New World" - The Voynich ManuscriptVoynich manuscriptThe Voynich manuscript, described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript", is a work which dates to the early 15th century, possibly from northern Italy. It is named after the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who purchased it in 1912....
- a mysterious book in an unknown and never-translated language - The Well to Hell hoaxWell to hell hoaxThe "Well to Hell" is a putative borehole in Russia which was purportedly drilled so deep that it broke through to hell. This urban legend has been circulating on the Internet since at least 1997...
- an urban legend that may have started either as a hoax or a misunderstanding - Zinoviev LetterZinoviev LetterThe "Zinoviev Letter" refers to a controversial document published by the British press in 1924, allegedly sent from the Communist International in Moscow to the Communist Party of Great Britain...
- alleges a socialist conspiracy between the Soviet Union and British Labour Party - Zeno mapZeno mapThe Zeno map is a map of the North Atlantic first published in 1558 in Venice by Nicolo Zeno, a descendant of Nicolo Zeno, of the Zeno brothers....
- shows lands known not to exist,
Practical joke hoaxes
- Alternative 3Alternative 3Alternative 3 is a television programme, broadcast once only in the United Kingdom in 1977, and later broadcast in Australia and New Zealand, as a fictional hoax, an heir to Orson Welles' radio production of The War of the Worlds...
- a British conspiracy theory documentary broadcast in 1977 - The Balloon-HoaxThe Balloon-Hoax"The Balloon-Hoax" is the title used in collections and anthologies of a newspaper article written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1844. Originally presented as a true story, it detailed European Monck Mason's trip across the Atlantic Ocean in only three days in a gas balloon...
- The "British Arctic Territory" flag
- The Dreadnought hoaxDreadnought hoaxThe Dreadnought Hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. Cole tricked the Royal Navy into showing their flagship, the warship HMS Dreadnought to a supposed delegation of Abyssinian royals...
- Peter Jackson's Forgotten SilverForgotten SilverForgotten Silver is a New Zealand film mockumentary that purports to tell the story of a pioneering New Zealand filmmaker. It was written and directed by Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, both of whom appear in the film in their roles as makers of the documentary.-Synopsis:Forgotten Silver purports...
- The Fortsas hoaxFortsas hoaxThe Fortsas hoax refers to an incident in Binche, Belgium, in 1840. That year, booksellers, librarians, and collectors of rare books throughout Europe received a catalog describing a collection of rare books to be auctioned....
, a purported auction of one-of-a-kind books in 1840 in BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. - I, LibertineI, LibertineI, Libertine was a literary hoax that began as a practical joke by late-night radio raconteur Jean Shepherd. Shepherd was highly annoyed at the way that the bestseller lists were being compiled in the mid-1950s...
, originally nonexistent book - Naked Came the StrangerNaked Came the StrangerNaked Came the Stranger is a 1969 novel written as a literary hoax poking fun at contemporary American culture. Though credited to "Penelope Ashe", it was in fact written by a group of twenty-four prominent journalists led by Newsday columnist Mike McGrady...
- a purposely horribly-written novel - Plainfield Teacher's CollegePlainfield Teacher's CollegePlainfield Teacher's College was an imaginary college, created as a hoax, that fooled the New York Times sports department and college football fans across the country....
and its footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team - Sawing off of Manhattan IslandSawing off of Manhattan IslandThe sawing off of Manhattan Island is an old New York City story that is largely unverified. It describes a practical joke allegedly perpetrated in 1824 by a retired ship carpenter named Lozier. According to the story, in the 1820s a rumor began circulating among city merchants that southern...
- Society for Indecency to Naked AnimalsSociety for Indecency to Naked AnimalsThe Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, or SINA [pronounced "sinna"], was a satiric hoax perpetrated by comedian Alan Abel from 1959 to 1962. In 1959 Abel wrote a satirical story about this imaginary organization for The Saturday Evening Post but the editors rejected it...
- ("A nude horse is a rude horse") - The spaghetti tree harvestSpaghetti treeThe spaghetti tree hoax is a famous 3-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current affairs programme Panorama. It told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree, broadcast at a time when this Italian dish was not...
was a hoax broadcast by the BBC in 1957. - Christopher WalkenChristopher WalkenChristopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
for US president.
Accidental hoaxes
"Accidental hoaxes" are not strictly hoaxes at all, but rather satirical articles or fictional presentations that ended up being taken seriously by some.- GhostwatchGhostwatchGhostwatch is a British reality–horror/mockumentary television movie, first broadcast on BBC1 on 31 October , 1992.Despite having been recorded weeks in advance, the narrative was presented as 'live' television...
, a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television play broadcast on HalloweenHalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
in 1992, was on its surface a live outside broadcast from a haunted house presented by well-known television personalities. Despite appearing in a drama slot and having a credit for a writer, viewers afterwards complained about being fooled. - The Masked MaraudersThe Masked MaraudersThe Masked Marauders is a record album released on the Warner Bros. Reprise/Deity label in the fall of 1969. The recording captured a purported "super session" of the era's leading rock and roll musicians, including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney...
, a non-existent "super group" supposedly consisting of Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
. Their supposed "bootleg album" was listed in a mock review in the 18 October 1969 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. An album entitled The Masked Marauders was shortly released, but the sound-alike musicians were later exposed to be members of The Cleanliness and Godliness SkiffleSkiffleSkiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
Band. - The NecronomiconNecronomiconThe Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
, a fictitious occultOccultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
book quoted by writer H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
in many of his stories. - Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' Mercury TheatreMercury TheatreThe Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
radio broadcastBroadcastingBroadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
on October 30, 1938, entitled "The War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds (radio)The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...
" has been called the "single greatest mediaMass mediaMass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
hoax of all time", although it was not — Welles said — intended to be a hoax. The broadcast was heard on CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
radio stations throughout the United States. Despite repeated announcements within the program that it was a work of fiction, many listeners tuning in during the program believed that the world was being attacked by invaders from MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. (Rumors claim some even committed suicide.) Rebroadcasts in South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
also had this effect even to a greater extent.
Known pranksters, scam artists and impostors
- Frank AbagnaleFrank AbagnaleFrank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist...
, professional impostor and check forger - Alan AbelAlan AbelAlan Abel is an American prankster, hoaxter, writer, mockumentary filmmaker, and jazz percussionist famous for several hoaxes that became media circuses.- Education and early career :...
, US professional hoaxer - P. T. BarnumP. T. BarnumPhineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
, US showman known for his sensational hoaxes - Sacha Baron CohenSacha Baron CohenSacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...
, British comedian and media prankster - a.k.a. Ali GAli GAli G is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show, Ali G is the title character of Channel 4's Da Ali G Show, original episodes of which aired in 2000 and on HBO in 2003–2004, and is the...
and Borat Sagdiyev - Pablo Belmonte, Spanish video editor known for his NintendoNintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
-related hoax videos (Nintendo OnNintendo OnNintendo ON is a fake video game console. The console was introduced in a 6 minute and 21 second videoreleased on the internet in 2005, shortly before E3...
, Super Mario GalaxySuper Mario Galaxyis a 3D platform game developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was released in most regions in November 2007, and is the third 3D original platformer in the Mario series, after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. The game follows the protagonist, Mario, on a...
DS, etc.) - Philippe de ChériseyPhilippe de ChériseyThe marquess Philippe de Chérisey was a French writer, radio humorist, and actor...
, forged two parchments as part of the Priory of SionPriory of SionThe Prieuré de Sion, translated from French as Priory of Sion, is a name given to multiple groups, both real and fictitious. The most notorious is a fringe fraternal organisation, founded and dissolved in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard...
hoax - Horace de Vere ColeHorace de Vere ColeWilliam Horace de Vere Cole was a British eccentric prankster and poet...
, British aristocrat - Noël CorbuNoel CorbuNoël Corbu is best known as a former restaurateur in the Southern French village of Rennes-le-Château, who from the mid-1950s circulated the story that Bérenger Saunière discovered the treasure of Blanche of Castile....
, French restaurateur who claimed that Bérenger SaunièreBérenger SaunièreFrançois Bérenger Saunière was a Roman Catholic priest in the French village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Aude region, officially from 1885 until he was transferred to another village in 1909 by his bishop, a nomination he declined and subsequently resigned...
discovered the treasure of Blanche of CastileBlanche of CastileBlanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....
in the village of Rennes-le-ChâteauRennes-le-ChâteauRennes-le-Château is a commune in the Aude department in Languedoc in southern France.This small French hilltop village is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories, and for being the location of an alleged... - Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, American patriot, scientist and publisher - Rémi GaillardRémi GaillardRémi Gaillard is a French humourist.Gaillard gained attention in the French media after performing a well-documented series of pranks, including a famous appearance disguised as a Lorient football player in the 2002 Coupe de France final match, during which he took part in the winners'...
, modern French prankster with a wide internet presence - William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
, a newspaper tycoon known as "the father of yellow journalismYellow journalismYellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism...
". - Danny HellmanDanny HellmanDanny Hellman is an American freelance illustrator and cartoonist nicknamed Dirty Danny. Since 1989, his illustrations have appeared in publications including Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and others, and his comic book work has appeared in DC Comics...
, NY cartoonist sued for impersonating Ted RallTed RallTed Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
in e-mails - Elmyr de HoryElmyr de HoryElmyr de Hory was a Hungarian-born painter and art forger who claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world...
, art forger - Brian G. HughesBrian G. HughesBrian G. Hughes was a US businessman and practical joker.Hughes was a paper-box manufacturer and a founder of the Dollar Savings Bank....
, US banker - Reginald JonesReginald Victor JonesReginald Victor Jones, CH CB CBE FRS, was a British physicist and scientific military intelligence expert who played an important role in the defence of Britain in -Education:...
, British professor - Andy KaufmanAndy KaufmanAndrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...
, US comedian and inter-gender wrestling champion - M. Lamar KeeneM. Lamar KeeneMorris Lamar Keene, born about 1938, is a former spirit medium in Tampa, Florida and at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana, where he was known as the "Prince of the Spiritualists"...
, Self-exposed fraudulent medium - J. Z. Knight, trance channeller who claims to contact an entity called Ramtha
- Victor LustigVictor LustigVictor Lustig was a con artist who undertook scams in various countries and became best known as "The man who sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice."-Early life:...
, professional con artist - Jim MoranJim Moran (publicist)James Sterling Moran was an imaginative publicist who was active as a press agent for various clients in a career that spanned five decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s...
, publicist, actor and TV panellist - Chris MorrisChris Morris (satirist)Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
, British comedian and actor of Brass EyeBrass EyeBrass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries. A series of six aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001....
, The Day TodayThe Day TodayThe Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992... - Frederick Emerson PetersFrederick Emerson PetersFrederick Emerson Peters was an American impostor who wrote bad checks masquerading as scholars and famous people. In an age before mass communication, few store owners bothered to ID check writers....
, professional impostor and check forger - Charles PonziCharles PonziCarlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi, , commonly known as Charles Ponzi, was a businessman and con artist in the U.S. and Canada. Born in Italy, he became known as a swindler in North America for his money making scheme. His aliases include Charles Ponei, Charles P. Bianchi, Carl and Carlo...
, originator of the Ponzi Scheme - Peter PopoffPeter PopoffPeter Popoff is a German-born American faith healer and the president of Peter Popoff Ministries. He conducts revival meetings and has a national television program...
, faith healerFaith HealerFaith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy.-Synopsis:... - Pierre PlantardPierre PlantardPierre Athanase Marie Plantard was a French draughtsman, best known for being the principal perpetrator of the Priory of Sion hoax, by which he claimed from the 1960s onwards that he was a Merovingian descendant of Dagobert II and the "Great Monarch" prophesied by Nostradamus.-Surname:Pierre...
, claimed descent from Dagobert IIDagobert IIDagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:... - George PsalmanazarGeorge PsalmanazarGeorge Psalmanazar claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but was later revealed to be an impostor...
, European writer - James RandiJames RandiJames Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
, professional stage magician, hoaxer and hoax debunker - James ReavisJames ReavisJames Addison Reavis , later using the name James Addison Peralta-Reavis, the so-called Baron of Arizona, was an American forger and fraudster...
, professional forger and impostor - Harry ReichenbachHarry ReichenbachHarry Reichenbach was a US press agent and publicist who dreamed up sensational publicity stunts to promote films. He worked both for actors, as an agent, and for the studios as a promoter....
, Hollywood publicist - Joey SkaggsJoey SkaggsJoey Skaggs is an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. He is considered one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs used Kim Yung Soo, Joe Bones, Joseph Bonuso, Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor,...
, US media prankster - Soapy SmithSoapy SmithJefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado; Creede, Colorado; and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. He was killed in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf...
, Jefferson Randolph Smith, infamous 19th century confidence man - Edward Askew SothernEdward Askew SothernEdward Askew Sothern was an English actor known for his comic roles in Britain and America, particularly Lord Dundreary in Our American Cousin.- Early years :...
, British actor - George SteevensGeorge SteevensGeorge Steevens was an English Shakespearean commentator.He was born at Poplar, the son of a captain and later director of the East India Company. He was educated at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge, where he remained from 1753 to 1756...
, critic and Shakespeare scholar - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, Irish humorist and writer - Robert TiltonRobert TiltonRobert Tilton is an American televangelist who achieved notoriety in the 1980s and early 1990s through his infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life, which at its peak in 1991 aired in all 235 American TV markets , brought in nearly $80 million per year, and was described as...
, evangelist - Hugh TroyHugh TroyHugh Charles Troy, Jr. was a US painter who is noted for his pranks.Troy was a son of a Cornell University dairy professor of the same name, and both father and son were members of the Quill and Dagger society...
, US painter - Dick TuckDick TuckDick Tuck is a former American political consultant, campaign strategist, advance man, and political prankster for the Democratic National Committee.-Pranks:...
, US political prankster who harassed Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. - Wilhelm VoigtWilhelm VoigtFriedrich Wilhelm Voigt was a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as The Captain of Köpenick ....
, the "Captain of Köpenick" - Mike WarnkeMike WarnkeMichael Alfred "Mike" Warnke is a Christian evangelist and comedian. With the success of his books and recordings, Warnke became one of evangelical Christianity's best-known experts on the subject of Satanism before his claims of having been a Satanist high priest were discredited in 1991 by the...
, evangelist and supposed former Satanic High Priest - Joseph WeilJoseph WeilJoseph "Yellow Kid" Weil was one of the best known American con men of his era. Weil's biographer, W. T. Brannon, wrote of Weil's "...uncanny knowledge of human nature." Over the course of his career, Weil is reputed to have stolen more than $8 million."Each of my victims had larceny in his...
, professional scam artist - Stanley Clifford WeymanStanley Clifford WeymanStanley Clifford Weyman , was an American multiple impostor who impersonated public officials, including the United States Secretary of State and various military officers....
, professional impostor - Yes Men, culture-jamming pranksters
Journalistic hoaxes
Deliberate hoaxes, or journalistic fraud, that drew widespread attention include:- Washington IrvingWashington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
created a hoax about the supposedly missing Diedrich Knickerbocker - Jayson BlairJayson BlairJayson Blair is an American reporter formerly with The New York Times. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2003 in the wake of the discovery of plagiarism and fabrication in his stories. Since 2007 he has worked as a life coach in the field of mental health.-Background:Blair was born in...
, reporter for The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization... - Janet CookeJanet CookeJanet Leslie Cooke is an American former journalist who became infamous when it was discovered that a Pulitzer Prize–winning story that she had written for The Washington Post had been fabricated.-Early career:...
, who won the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for her fictitious Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
story about an eight-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy - Dark Side of the Moon (documentary)Dark Side of the Moon (documentary)Dark Side of the Moon is a French mockumentary by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the...
- this French mockumentary "proving" that the Apollo moon landings were hoaxes is itself an admitted hoax - The Flemish Secession hoaxFlemish Secession hoax, also called "The Flemish Secession Hoax," was a hoax perpetrated by the French speaking Belgian public TV station RTBF on Wednesday, December 13, 2006, and created by Belgian journalist Philippe Dutilleul...
of 2006 - Stephen Glass, reporter for The New RepublicThe New RepublicThe magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
- Fuckart & PimpFuckart & PimpFuckart & Pimp was a media hoax conceived by Alex Chappel and David C West in April 1998 which subjected a small London gallery to worldwide media attention and became a British front page newspaper sensation, as well as featuring on national television...
a hoax art exhibition at London's Decima galleryDecima galleryDecima Gallery is a London-based arts projects organisation with a reputation for irreverent projects, according to a 2008 article in The London Paper:...
, which purported to be the show of a female artist having sex with clients to consummate the sale of her paintings, created a worldwide media scandal but was later revealed to be a hoax. - The Great Moon HoaxGreat Moon Hoax"The Great Moon Hoax" refers to a series of six articles that were published in the New York Sun beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon...
of 1835 - Great Wall of China hoaxGreat Wall of China hoaxThe Great Wall of China hoax was a faked story, published in United States newspapers on June 25, 1899, about bids by American businesses to demolish the Great Wall of China and construct a road in its place....
of 1899 - Jack KelleyJack KelleyJack Kelley was a longtime USA Today reporter and nominee and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002.He is perhaps best known for his professional downfall in March 2004, when it came out that he had long been fabricating stories, going so far as to write up scripts so associates could pretend to...
, longtime USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
correspondent - David LassmanDavid LassmanDavid Lassman is a British author, arts journalist and scriptwriter responsible for the 'Rejecting Jane' article, which became the 'literary story of 2007'.-Biography:...
who wrote the 2007 'Rejecting JaneRejecting Jane"Rejecting Jane" is the title of an article by British author David Lassman, which became the 'literary story of 2007' The article, which was published in Issue 28 of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine., is a critique of the publishing industry through their inadvertent rejection of Jane Austen...
' article, which chronicled Jane AustenJane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's rejection by modern day publishers. - The New York Zoo hoaxThe New York Zoo hoaxThe New York Zoo hoax is also known as The Central Park Zoo Escape and the Central Park Menagerie Scare of 1874. It was a hoax perpetrated by the New York Herald about a supposed breakout of animals from the Central Park Zoo on November 9, 1874....
of 1874 - Nik CohnNik CohnNik Cohn is a British rock journalist, born in London in 1946. He was brought up in Derry, in the North of Ireland, the son of historian Norman Cohn and Russian writer Vera Broido...
's New YorkNew York (magazine)New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine article, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday NightTribal Rites of the New Saturday Night"Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" was the title of a 1976 New York Magazine article by British rock journalist Nik Cohn. It was the basis for the plot and characters in the movie Saturday Night Fever....
", which was the source material for the movie Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
, and which Cohn admitted decades later had been fiction, not reportage. - Konspiration 58 about the soccer world cup of 1958.
- David ManningDavid Manning (fictitious writer)"David Manning" was a fictitious film critic, created by a marketing executive working for Sony Corporation around July 2000 to give consistently good reviews for releases from Sony subsidiary Columbia Pictures...
, a fictitious film critic created by SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
in order to place good quotes on Columbia PicturesColumbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
' film advertising.
See also
- Beale CiphersBeale ciphersThe Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over USD$63 million as of September, 2011. The other two ciphertexts allegedly describe the content of the treasure, and list the names...
(alleged location of hidden treasure) - Lost Dutchman Mine (alleged location of hidden treasure)
- Oak IslandOak IslandOak Island is a island in Lunenburg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 35 feet above sea level...
(alleged location of hidden treasure) - List of fictitious people (people it was claimed really existed – unlike fictional characterFictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
s). - Scam
- Literary hoax
Further reading
- Boese, Alex, Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and other B.S., Harvest Books 2006, ISBN 0-15-603083-7.
- Curtis PeeblesCurtis PeeblesCurtis Peebles is an aerospace historian for the Smithsonian Institution and the author of several books dealing with aviation and aerial phenomena....
(1994). Watch the Skies: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth, Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, ISBN 1-56098-343-4.