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Famous hoaxes: Difference between revisions
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'''Hoax''' | '''Hoax''' | ||
* noun: a deliberate deception, for humor or mal (bad) intent | * noun: a deliberate deception, for humor or mal (bad) intent | ||
* verb: to deceive deliberately | * verb: to deceive deliberately | ||
This page is a list of famous hoaxes | This page is a list of famous hoaxes | ||
See also | |||
** http://hoaxes.org | |||
== Academic hoaxes == | == Academic hoaxes == | ||
=== Sokal Affair === | === Sokal Affair === | ||
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** he objective was to satirize post-modernist theories in the social sciences | ** he objective was to satirize post-modernist theories in the social sciences | ||
* link to his paper: [https://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity (nyu.edu)] | * link to his paper: [https://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity (nyu.edu)] | ||
* see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair | * see: | ||
** https://www.school4schools.com/wiki/index.php?title=Literary_Analysis_and_Criticism#Sokal_affair | |||
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair | |||
== April Fools hoaxes and pranks == | |||
* for list of pranks, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_April_Fools%27_Day_jokes | |||
* see Geographic hoaxes below for fake volcano April Fools pranks | |||
=== Sid Finch Sports Illustrated hoax === | |||
* in its April 1, 1985 issue, Sports Illustrated rana story about a yoga-practicing baseball pitcher who could throw the ball 168 mph | |||
* named Hayden Siddhartha "Sidd" Finch | |||
** he was supposedly raised in an English orphanage and had gone to Tibet to study under a Buddhist monk | |||
** the story claimed that Finch chose not to play baseball and instead decided to "play the French horn or golf or something" | |||
* Finch was pictured throwing the ball in bare feet | |||
** the NY Mets participated in the hoax with players and coaches appearing with Finch | |||
* see [http://www.bostonbaseball.com/whitesox/baseball_extras/sidd.html The Curious Case of Sidd Finch (bostonbaseball.com)] | |||
=== Spaghetti trees hoax=== | |||
[[File:Sunny april morning spaghetti tree harvest (7036208493).jpg|thumb|Photograph of a woman harvesting spaghetti (California)]] | |||
* in 1957, a British BBV TV program ran a fake report on "spaghetti trees" in Switzerland | |||
* the report showed Swiss workers harvesting spaghetti from trees | |||
* others have copied the hoax, including in California | |||
=== Taco Liberty Bell hoax === | |||
* on April 1, 1996, Taco Bell published ads in 7 newspapers claiming the company had purchased the Liberty Bell | |||
** the purpose was to "reduce the country's debt" | |||
** it would, however, be renamed the "Taco Liberty Bell". | |||
== General hoaxes == | |||
== Geographic hoaxes == | |||
=== April's Fool volcano prank === | |||
* on April 1, 1974, pranksters climbed atop the dormant 3002 ft high volcano, Mt. Edgecumbe, near Sitka, Alaska | |||
* a helicopter had dropped off old tires, kerosene, smoke bombs and rags, which the pranksters lit and threw into the crater | |||
* a Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to observe the eruption and instead saw a man standing by spray-painted show reading, "APRIL FOOL." | |||
* see | |||
** https://school4schools.com/wiki/index.php?title=Geography_fun_facts_%26_oddities#Volcanos | |||
** https://www.iflscience.com/environment/the-greatest-april-fools-day-prank-of-all-time-took-four-years-to-plan-and-involved-a-volcano/ Greatest April Fools Day Prank of All Time (iflscience.com)] | |||
** http://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/the_eruption_of_mount_edgecumbe/ | |||
=== Great Blue Hill eruption prank === | |||
* [[File:Great Blue Hill from Trillium.jpeg|thumb|Great Blue Hill in Massachusetts. On April 1, 1980 a local news station reported it was erupting.]] at 6:00 pm on April 1, 1980, a Milton, MA news station aired a fake news bulletin that announced that a nearby, small mountain was erupting | |||
** the report was one week after the tremendous eruption of Mt. St. Helens | |||
** the report showed edited statements of concern by Massachusetts Governor and President Carter | |||
** panicked residents called the police and the state Civil Defense office | |||
** some were reported to have fled the area | |||
* at 11:00 the state apologized for the hoax | |||
* the producer of the 6:00 news segment was fired the next day | |||
** in addition "failure to exercise good news judgment," the producer had also violated FCC rules regarding use of "stock footage" (old news footage) without identifying it as such<br /> | |||
== Historical hoaxes == | |||
== Religious hoaxes == | == Religious hoaxes == | ||
=== The Da Vinci Code (Christianity) === | |||
* while a work of fiction, Dan Brown's series, "The Da Vinci Code" is based on an unsupported claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married | |||
* much of the plot line is derived from that claim, including a blood line of Jesus and the Holy Grail (which is supposed to provide eternal youth) | |||
=== Letter of Benan (Christianity) === | |||
* in 1910, Ernst Edler von der Planitz claimed he had discovered a 5th century Coptic (ancient Egyptian derivative language) text | |||
** he claimed it was a translation from a Greek text in 83 AD | |||
** the text was about the encounters of an Egyptian physician with Jesus and the apostles | |||
=== The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Judaism) === | |||
* published in 1903 in Russia, which was strongly anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) at the time | |||
* a literary forgery, the papers outlined Jewish plans for global domination | |||
=== Scientology (cult) === | |||
* technically not a hoax, as its inventor did not deliberately aim to deceive or he never admitted it | |||
* however, its practices have been questioned by governments, medical experts, and theologians | |||
** especially the claim of secret Scientology texts that were created 70 million years ago by an outer space alien ruler | |||
* in 1950 author L. Ron Hubbard published, "Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science" in a science fiction magazine | |||
** the book mentioned the term, "Scientology" | |||
** Hubbard, who had undergone psychiatric treatment, hated psychology and offered a new counseling treatment, "Dianetics" | |||
** it was intended to be a form of psychotherapy, but he morphed into a "religious philosophy" in 1952 | |||
** he said he created it as "scientific rather than religious" thought | |||
** however, after being banned from running a medical clinic, he established it as a religious organization, instead | |||
* over 25,000 people follow Scientology today | |||
=== The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ === | |||
* in 1894, a Russian journalist published a book that claimed historical evidence that Jesus had visited India and studied under Hindu & Buddhist priests | |||
* | |||
== Scientific hoaxes == | == Scientific hoaxes == | ||