Gallery of
Hoax Websites: A-J
These aren't sites about hoaxes. These are sites that are, themselves, hoaxes.
The lifespan of hoax websites tends to be rather brief. So don't be surprised if some of the links no longer work. I do my best to check them once in a while, and if they're dead I'll move them to the Hoax Website Graveyard. But if you notice that a link is dead, just let me know. All these links worked as of September 20, 2003.
NOTE: I stopped adding to this list in late 2003 when I began keeping a regular weblog. Hoax websites that I've found since then can be found by looking at the 'hoax websites' category for the weblog. There's a lot of them there (more than there are on this list).
3rd Annual Nigerian Email ConferenceAre you a practitioner of Nigerian email scams, or want to become one? Then this conference is for you. Meet other people in the trade and learn how to earn a decent living from email.
10K4awife
This guy will pay $10,000 if you introduce him to his future wife. This site has been up for a long time, so you would think that if the offer were real that he would have found a wife by now. Some visitors have told me that the guy's for real, but until I hear that he's actually married someone he met through his site, I'm remaining skeptical. It just smells too much like a publicity stunt.
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Absolution Online Confess your sins and receive penance, without leaving the comfort of your desk.
Afterlife Telegrams Terminally ill volunteers will memorize your messages and, upon death, deliver them to your friends and family on the other side.
Aluminum Foil Detector Beanie
The low-cost device described on this site will help you combat unwanted mind control.
Asian Prince
"Am I not hot?" the Asian Prince wants to know. Decide for yourself. But apparently his name, Wo-Hen Nankan, means 'I am very ugly' in Mandarin, thereby answering his question. If you go to the Asian Prince's
original site there's now only a small message explaining that the site has been taken down because the Prince found a Princess, but happily the original site has been mirrored.
Ayleeorgnet.com
This company boasts that it's "the happiest web design company on earth!" The site looks real, until you start clicking on some of the links. It's actually a spin-off of a comic strip that can be found at
sluggy.com. In the comic strip Aylee is an alien who eats people. References to this taste for humans can be found throughout the site.
Baby Smasher Use baby-changing stations to dispose of unwanted babies.
Black Market Babies Do you want a kid but don't want to deal with the stress of using an adoption agency? Let Black Market Babies steal a baby for you.
Boilerplate, the Victorian Era Robot
A true work of art. More than any other site on this list, this one had me going for a long time. The attention to detail is astounding. I only fully decided it was a hoax when I checked the books listed in the site's bibliography and realized that none of them exist (at least none of them are in the Library of Congress's catalog). But still, I would love it if Boilerplate really had existed.
Bonsai Kitten
This site, which has succeeded in upsetting many people, claims to promote the art of sealing young kittens inside glass containers so that their bones will mold to the shape of the containers as they grow. It's all just a hoax, but many, many people have taken it seriously and demanded that the site be shut down. It was created in late 2000 by an MIT student with a twisted sense of humor. The site was even investigated by the FBI who determined that no animals were ever harmed in relationship to the site. (
Read More).
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Britain for Americans
Americans visiting Britain can often be confused by the peculiar customs and speech of the island inhabitants. This site, created by John Hopkin of the United Kingdom, offers puzzled Americans a field guide to Britain. See
'British Stick Insect Foundation,' 'CarpSoft,' and 'Sellafield Zoo' for other examples of Hopkin's work.
British Stick Insect Foundation
All you ever wanted to know about stick insects. How to feed them, train them, and breed them. Another site created by John Hopkin (see 'Britain for Americans' above. Also see 'CarpSoft' and 'Sellafield Zoo').
Buy Dehydrated Water It's compact, lightweight, and easy to store.
California's Velcro Harvest
Explains the reasons for the decline in California's important velcro crop. Reminiscent of the
Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax of 1957.
CarpSoft
A send-up of corporate jargon-speak. CarpSoft offers "goal-orientated corporate solutions." Beyond that, it's difficult to figure out exactly what they do. A creation of John Hopkin, also author of 'Britain for Americans,' 'British Stick Insect Foundation,' and 'Sellafield Zoo.'
Chrissy Caviar A woman sells her eggs as caviar.
Christian Women's Wrestling
These Christian woman have come up with a novel way of reaching out to sinners.
Click Monkeys
If low traffic to your website is getting you down, this site could be the answer to your prayers. Click Monkeys will help to create the impression that millions of visitors are checking out your site by artificially inflating your hit count. Their secret technology is an "offshore click farm." And it's all legal because they're based in Ukraine and therefore not subject to United States law. From the creative minds that also brought us 'PetsOrFood.com'.
CLONES-R-US
The website of Dream Technologies International, the world's "first and largest reproductive cloning provider."
Coincidence Design
Have you ever seen someone in a crowd or sitting at another table in a restaurant whom you'd really like to meet, but you can't think of a graceful way to do it? This organization makes it possible.
Cranky Media Guy Cranky Media Guy perpetrates many web hoaxes. The one I've linked to involves a man who has supposedly fallen in love with a picture of a girl he created on his computer. He's on a quest to find the real-life counterpart of his digital dream girl.
Digital Recomposition System
for wide screen film to video transfer
This is an amusing, low-key hoax. It's a technique for removing all the aesthetically unappealing excess space in widescreen films.
Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
A clearinghouse of information for citizens concerned about the dangerous chemical Dihydrogen Monoxide which is present in numerous toxic substances and can be lethal if inhaled. Of course, Dihydrogen Monoxide is more popularly known as water. This is an old joke that's been around a while, but this site gives it the fullest, most earnest treatment I've ever seen.
Dog Island An island where dogs can roam free.
DriversLicenseSearch.com
This site allows you to search over 220 million driver's licenses that have been scanned into a national database and made publicly available. Check out what the driver's license photos of all your friends look like.
The End of the Internet
The last page of the internet. Also see the entry for "First Page of the Internet."
Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
A piece of cutting-edge research. Pretty self-explanatory.
Final Curtain
An elaborate site involving cemetery theme parks. Brought to us by
Joey Skaggs. For more background, read my
description of this hoax.
Fineman Films
This website was created to help promote a movie that came and went almost unnoticed. It's interesting as an example of how the advertising industry sometimes uses hoaxes. Read my
longer description of the hoax.
First Genetics The website of the first laboratory to have successfully genetically engineered an ape to be able to communicate with humans via typing on a keyboard.
First Page of the Internet
The last page of the internet is listed above. Therefore it's appropriate to list the first page as well.
The Flag-o-Rama Flagstore Gift items for truly fanatical patriots.
Fly-BMI.com
The online community for owners of obese houseflies. Use the helpful tools on this site to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI) of your own obese housefly.
The Framley Examiner The Framley Examiner boasts that it "serves the people of Framley, and the surrounding villages—out as far as Whoft to the north and St Eyots to the north-east and Wripple to the north." This sounds perfectly legitimate, but dig a little deeper into its news, and Framley starts to sound stranger and stranger.
Fu-Fme.com
Warning: Parental Advisory. This site is slightly risque, containing some strong language and animated nudity (you probably won't want to be checking it out when your boss walks by). It represents a company that offers "Remote sex solutions for the internet and corporate intranet."
Funky Shoes
Forget about saving up your money to buy a new pair of Nikes or Reeboks. Funky Shoes are the hot new thing.
Fun Phone
What could be more fun than free phone calls? Just talk into your screen and you're suddenly making free long-distance calls. Also check out their hands-free cellphone kit.
Game of Satan
A site dedicated to the proposition that "roleplaying games are sliding our children on a greased pole straight to the FLAMES of HELL for ETERNAL TORMENT." Though the site's creator would appear to be something of a religious zealot, he does
reveal that it's all a joke.
Gangsta One-On-One
Chat online with a real LA Gangster named 'Pirate" who's imprisoned in a London jail.
General Delivery University America's only genuine diploma mill.
Genochoice.com
Use GenoChoice's technology to "create your own genetically healthy child online."
GolfCross.com
I've been informed by reliable sources that GolfCross is not a hoax. But I'm keeping this entry here anyway because I was convinced for ages that it was a hoax. I guess it's an example of how truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. GolfCross is golf played with an oval, egg-shaped ball. I have yet to see anyone actually play this game, but apparently they do.
Home Despot Shop, Destroy, Rule.