What's your favorite hoax?

[LibGeek]

My personal favorite involves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes). His entire life he was fasacinated with fairies. When he received a photo of his friends' children with a couple dancing fairies, he was ecstatic and claimed they proved the existence of fairies.

It was not until after his death that the photos were proven fake. The mother of the two girls went on to become a fairly successful fantasy artist.

The two girls (now elderly) still claim that the photos are real.

[DecoNoir]

Assuming it is a hoax, I'd go with the Patterson Film. Right type of camera and a half decent muscle suit that still has analyst guessing.

[Jeremiah65]

Mine has to be the film of the glowing orbs instantly making the crop circle. That one fooled millions of people! In fact, even though they now know it was made by a man that owns and operates a film and movie editing company, tons of people still believe and flat refuse to accept it was a publicity stunt to promote their film making talents.

[Fstop]

hmmm. nessiebigfootdemonsghostsmokelembembechupacabrachampmoderndaymegalodonprettymuchanythingwiththecryptozoologyorparanormallabelslappedonit.

yeah thats my favorite.

[Eldorado]

The Loch Ness Monster. It boosts our economy.

[Sakari]

Michigan Dogman......

The dude should have never come forward. It would have been a bigger hit then the Patterson film.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Michigan Dogman......

The dude should have never come forward. It would have been a bigger hit then the Patterson film.

This was the one from the history channel series wasn't it?

my fave two hoaxes are the memaid and megladon hoaxes from the discovery channels this year.

[Q-C]

Though I realize the extent of a real threat this "hoax" had on listeners is debatable, I have to go with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

I think it was brilliant.

[LibGeek]

Though I realize the extent of a real threat this "hoax" had on listeners is debatable, I have to go with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

I think it was brilliant.

Is it a hoax if the readers went into stating at the beginning that it was a work of fiction?

[Sakari]

This was the one from the history channel series wasn't it?

my fave two hoaxes are the memaid and megladon hoaxes from the discovery channels this year.

No, it was a youtube video...

He came out and told the truth on that show though. The show had nothing to do with the hoax, he did it all himself.

As for the two shows you are calling hoax's, those were both Mockumentaries, and said they were fiction on the TV guides, and before and after the shows. I would not call those hoax's.

I would call the people that watched them, and thought they were real stupid.

[Q-C]

Is it a hoax if the readers went into stating at the beginning that it was a work of fiction?

I put "hoax" in quotes. And yes, I personally would say it fits, in it's own way. Which was the point of the broadcast, imo.

**Revealed hoaxes and disclaimers still continue as reality for some...as witnessed on the Internet every day. And by the thousands of pages of debate on sites like UM.

edit to change **

Edited August 11, 2013 by QuiteContrary

[MrBene]

Roswell incident boosted Roswell's economy. Yes. I'll go with Roswell.

Edited August 11, 2013 by MrBene

[LibGeek]

I put "hoax" in quotes. And yes, I personally would say it fits, in it's own way. Which was the point of the broadcast, imo.

**Revealed hoaxes and disclaimers still continue as reality for some...as witnessed on the Internet every day. And by the thousands of pages of debate on sites like UM.

edit to change **

So by those standards, would you consider all radio dramas/readings hoaxes?

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Loch Ness monster was never proved to be a hoax,only the picture the surgeon took was way back when was.

[Q-C]

So by those standards, would you consider all radio dramas/readings hoaxes?

I don't see the connection. Do I consider all radio dramas as hoaxes because I consider War of the Worlds played out as a "hoax" in its own way?

Did they realize the potential fall-out which could ensue from airing that particular broadcast?

You may not believe they did, but I am not so sure. They may have counted on it.

Like today, these producers know they can trick/fool/deceive audiences even with disclaimers attached.

Reality TV, cryptid/paranormal fairytales, Internet vids and photos--are just trickery using the media means available today.

In 1938, radio served as the outlet used to reach audiences and disclaimers didn't influence everyone then either and some were tricked, deceived, fooled, yes.

Edited August 11, 2013 by QuiteContrary

[Sakari]

I have to add a few : ( some are copy / paste, as others have al ready stated what I do not now have to type )

The Book of Mormon 1830

The Book of Mormon is considered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to be a divinely inspired book of equal value to the Bible. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, claimed that he was directed by an Angel to a hill near his home in which he found golden tablets containing the full text of the book. With the books he found two objects called the Urim and Thummim which he described as a pair of crystals joined in the form of a large pair of spectacles. Unfortunately, after Smith finished his translation, he had to return the tablets to the Angel, so there is no physical evidence that they ever existed.

The book refers to a group of Jews that moved to and settled in America where Jesus visited them. Some segments of the Book of Mormon contain sections copied directly from the King James version of the Bible – the Bible that was most popular at the time and used by Joseph Smith. One example is Mark 16:15-18 which is quoted nearly word-for-word in Mormon 9:22-24. In addition, the book mimics the literary and linguistic style of the King James Bible. Linguistic experts have stated that the entire book is written by one man, and is not written by a combination of authors (the prophets as claimed by Smith). Additionally, the book refers to animals and crops that did not exist in America until Columbus arrived: ass, bull, calf, cattle, cow, domestic goat, horse, ox, domestic sheep, sow, swine, elephants, wheat, and barley.

The most compelling proof that Joseph Smith was perpetuating a fraud is the Book of Abraham. In 1835 Smith was able to use his Urim and Thummim to translate some Egyptian scrolls that he was given access to (at that time no one could read hieroglyphics). Upon inspection, Smith declared that they contained the Book of Abraham. He promptly translated the lot and it was accepted as scripture by the church. The scrolls vanished and everyone thought the story would end there. But it didn’t – in 1966 the original scrolls were found in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The scrolls turned out to be a standard Egyptian text that was often buried with the dead. To this day the Book of Abraham is a source of discomfort for the Mormon religion.

Feejee Mermaid 1842

And.....Milli Vanilli

[regeneratia]

My favorite hoax is that the US Constitution is still said to be in play. It has been totally diminished and rendered useless these days.

[EllJay]

My favourite hoax (favourite as in; "yo, that has to be the dumbest $h1t ever"-hoax) must be the Bigfoot-in-the-freezer hoax. What were they thinking??...that no one would want to examine it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Biscardi#2008_hoax

[Overdueleaf]

im not sure if this can be considered a hoax or just great marketing... but the backstory behind the blair witch project was genius... it had half the world believing the story was real

Edited August 12, 2013 by Overdueleaf

[Myles]

The Patterson film is the best for me. Got a whole generation of kids enthralled in bigfoot.

The pic of the Loch Ness Monster that has since been proven false was the single biggest attention getter for Nessie.

[BiffSplitkins]

My favorite hoax has always been the Cardiff Giant. George Hull put a lot of effort and money to pull that off.

[PrincePetropia]

My personal favorite involves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes). His entire life he was fasacinated with fairies. When he received a photo of his friends' children with a couple dancing fairies, he was ecstatic and claimed they proved the existence of fairies.

It was not until after his death that the photos were proven fake. The mother of the two girls went on to become a fairly successful fantasy artist.

The two girls (now elderly) still claim that the photos are real.

Are you talking about the Cottingley Fairies? The children involved in the hoax themselves have confessed that it was a hoax, and that they themselves had created the picture. The Cottingley Fairies did create an upsurge in the belief of people who adored fairies. However, I recently read about a case in a magazine where a group of skeptics had gone to an alleged haunted destination in an uphill region of India, where they actually saw fairies bathing in the ponds and playing with each other, but hey soon flew away. the skeptics were spellbound.

[Leonardo]

Piltdown Man

[little_dreamer]

Spaghetti tree hoax - " It told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_tree_hoax

[Aggie]

Milli Vanilli.......I was heart broken when I found out they were fake....but I was also young and dumb! lol

The Piltdown Man allegedly found in Sussex, England and was believed to be an unknown hominid species...I think the hoax was only exposed as a forgery in the 60s or 70s when the 'experts' finally realized it was an ancient human skull with an orangutan jaw bone.

The spaghetti tree..

And the Balloon Boy in the US a couple of years ago.