Hoax Museum Blog Posts: July 2014

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: July 4

July 4, 1879: The Taughannock Giant
Residents of the town of Trumansburg, in upstate New York, came out to see a giant "Stone Man" that had recently been discovered buried near Taughannock Falls. But the excitement only lasted a few days, since it soon became known that the figure wasn't a petrified prehistoric man, as originally thought, but rather a fake created by local hotel owner John Thompson to drum up publicity for his business. [Taughannock Stone Man]
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014.   Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: July 3

July 3, 1931: Death of Harry Reichenbach
Harry Reichenbach was a press agent for the movie industry, known for staging outrageous stunts and hoaxes for the sake of publicity. He was best known for the "September Morn" hoax of 1913 in which he pretended to complain about the indecency of a painting, thereby bringing it to public attention and leading to the sale of millions of copies of it. Ironically, it is now clear that although Reichenbach took credit for the painting's popularity, he could have played no role in its promotion, which reveals that ultimately he was best at promoting himself.
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014.   Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: July 2

July 2, 1874: Solar Armor
An article that ran in Nevada's Territorial Enterprise newspaper described the case of a man who had invented "solar armor." The armor counteracted the heat of the sun, cooling the wearer more the hotter it grew outside, but his invention worked so well that it caused him to freeze to death in the middle of the Nevada desert during the Summer. Summaries of this curious case soon appeared as fact in papers throughout America and Europe. In reality, the story was the satirical creation of humorist Dan De Quille. More…
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2014.   Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: July 1

July 1, 1959: Watch Found in Shark Hoax
Boat captain Joe St. Denis admitted that the story he had told about finding a wristwatch in a shark's stomach was a hoax. St. Denis caught the 12-foot, 750-lb shark off Catalina Island and then gave the watch (supposedly taken from its belly) to the Sheriff's office who attempted to find out if it belonged to any missing persons. Eventually St. Denis conceded that his entire tale was a "big fat happy hoax." The watch was an old one he had smashed up and dipped in acid. His motive for inventing the story was that he "wanted in the news."
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2014.   Comments (0)

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