List of hoaxes

List of hoaxes throughout history

The following is a list of hoaxes:

Exposure hoaxes

These types of hoaxes are semi-comical or private "sting operations" intended to expose people. They usually encourage people to act foolishly or credulously by falling for patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality.

  • The Atlanta Nights hoax novel.
  • The practice of growing bonsai kittens in jars.
  • The British television series Brass Eye, which encouraged celebrities to pledge their support to nonexistent causes to highlight their willingness to do anything for publicity.
  • Dihydrogen monoxide, a facetious technical term for water.
  • Disumbrationism, a hoax art exhibit.
  • Genpets, a hoax mixed-media art installation of bio-engineered pet creatures.
  • Grunge speak, an alleged slang of the Seattle rock underground, concocted by a Sub Pop employee and profiled in The New York Times.
  • The house hippo hoax briefly perpetrated by Concerned Children's Advertisers in public service announcements designed to encourage children to view items in the media with a critical eye.
  • The ID Sniper rifle, a rifle that shoots GPS-enabled microchips to mark and track suspects.
  • The Morristown UFO hoax of 2009.
  • The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis), an amphibious octopus.
  • Project Alpha, which was orchestrated by James Randi and exposed poor research into psychic phenomena.
  • The Quadrant hoax involving historian Keith Windschuttle.
  • Joey Skaggs's media pranks, including Cathouse for Dogs (1976).
  • SINA, the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, the first media hoax of Alan Abel.
  • The Sokal affair, which scrutinized an academic journal's intellectual rigor.
  • Nat Tate, an imaginary artist about whom a biography was published in 1998 by William Boyd intended to temporarily fool the art world.
  • The Taxil hoax by Léo Taxil, poking fun at the Roman Catholic Church's attitude toward Freemasonry.
  • The avant-garde "music" of the fictitious Piotr Zak.

Journalistic hoaxes

Deliberate hoaxes or journalistic scandals that have drawn widespread attention include:

Other hoaxes

This list does not include hoax articles published on or around April 1, a long list of which can be found in the List of April Fools' Day jokes article.

A–C

D–F

G–I

J–M

N–P

Q–S

T–Z

0–9

See also

References

  1. ^ Plimpton, George (2004). The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. New York, NY: Four Walls Eight Windows. ISBN 1-56858-296-X.
  2. ^ "The depressing tale of Johann Hari". The Economist. September 15, 2011.
  3. ^ Doerry, Martin (6 June 2019). "The Historian Who Invented 22 Holocaust Victims". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  4. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara & David P. "Hunting For Bambi" at Snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference Pages.
  5. ^ Victor, Daniel (September 30, 2022). "For Once, the Hurricane Shark Was Real". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  6. ^ Mehta, Ankita (2014-08-28). "'Two Moons' Hoax: Absence of Twin Moon on 27 August Disappoints Many". International Business Times. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
  7. ^ Heyd, Theresa (2008). Email Hoaxes: Form, Function, Genre Ecology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 4. ISBN 978-90-272-5418-4. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
  8. ^ Stein, Gordon (1993). Encyclopedia of hoaxes. Internet Archive. Detroit : Gale Research. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-8103-8414-9.
  9. ^ Case, Richard A. (July 2, 1976). "Rubbing uncovers truth". Syracuse Herald-Journal.
  10. ^ Brown, Dan (2003). The Da Vinci Code. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50420-9.
  11. ^ Cohn, Norman (1966). Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elder of Zion. New York: Harper & Row..
  12. ^ Sarah Dai (2018-08-17). "Redcore CEO admits '100pc China-developed browser' is built on Google's Chrome, says writing code from scratch would 'take many years'". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  13. ^ "Maccas in damage control over Seriously McDonald's picture hoax". News.com.au. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  14. ^ "Ipswich, we have a problem: Space Cadets, the reality show that never left the ground". the Guardian. 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  15. ^ "A prominent Indian independent news site destroys its own credibility". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  16. ^ Staff, T. N. M. (2022-10-23). "The Wire retracts Meta stories, Tek Fog investigation to be reviewed too". The News Minute. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  17. ^ "The Wire: India website removes Meta investigation after row". 2022-10-19. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  18. ^ Rogers, A. Glenn (1953). "The Taughannock Giant". No. Fall 2003. Life in the Finger Lakes. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  19. ^ Githler, Charley (26 December 2017). "A Look Back At: Home-Grown Hoax: The Taughannock Giant". Tompkins Weekly. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Saturn and Lord Shaneeshwara – Part One | Mysteries Explored". Archived from the original on 2015-12-23. Retrieved 2015-12-23.

Further reading

  • Boese, Alex (2002), The Museum of Hoaxes: A Collection of Pranks, Stunts, Deceptions, and Other Wonderful Stories Contrived for the Public from the Middle Ages to the New Millennium, Dutton/Penguin Books, ISBN 0-525-94678-0, OCLC 50115701
  • Boese, Alex, Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and other B.S., Harvest Books 2006, ISBN 0-15-603083-7.
  • Hamel, Denis (November 2007), "The End of the Einstein-Astrology-Supporter Hoax", Skeptical Inquirer, 31 (6): 39–43
  • Hines, Terence (1988), Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-419-2, OCLC 17462273
  • Moseley, James W.; Pflock, Karl T. (2002), Shockingly Close to the Truth: Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-57392-991-3
  • Curtis Peebles (1994). Watch the Skies: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth, Smithsonian Institution, ISBN 1-56098-343-4.
  • Randi, James (1982), Flim-Flam!, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-198-3, OCLC 9066769

External links

  • Museum of hoaxes – A collection of hoaxes
  • Snopes – A database about urban legends