Hoax Museum Blog: Birth/Babies

Mobile Phone Birth Control — This one had me going for a while before I figured out it was a joke. The EETimes reports on a small Belgian company called Prophy-Lectric that has developed a cellphone add-on, dubbed the Nippit 3000. This remarkable device "projects a high-intensity ultra-sonic electromagnetic 'sound cone' that is inaudible to the human ear but fatal to any sperm cell within a range of six meters, or about 18 feet." In other words, just place it next to the bed during moments of intimacy, and that's all the birth control you need. As an added benefit, the high-pitched sound also keeps the dog away. I've noticed that quite a few websites have linked to this story without any acknowledgment (or apparent recognition) that it's a joke.

Clone Number Six — Clonaid now claims that it has created its sixth human clone, in the form of a baby boy born in Sydney last week. Once again, no evidence of any kind was provided to back up this claim. You're just supposed to take their word for it. And come on! They seem like an extremely credible bunch, don't they?

Eat Babies — Discover all kinds of recipes for cooking and eating babies at eatbabies.com. For instance, you might want to try baby soup or baby stir fry. The site is plastered with warnings announcing that it's all just a joke (I guess they must have got complaints), but I suppose it'll still attract criticism from people who think it might provide sick and twisted individuals with bad ideas. Personally, I think the site would have been funnier if it had provided recipes for eating the babies of poor people, thus playing off of Jonathan Swift's classic work, A Modest Proposal. (Thanks to Antonia for the link).

Raeling Cloning Hoax, One Year Later — Remember the Raelians and their claims that they've produced a number of human clones? Well, this reporter infiltrated their ranks and writes that the Raelians are now all chuckling about what a brilliant publicity stunt the cloning hoax was.

Male Lactation — Here's an odd website, forwarded to me by Mara. It's titled Milkmen:// Fathers Who Breastfeed. Now, when I first saw this I figured it had to be a joke. It surely can't be possible for men to lactate and produce enough milk to feed an infant. But after reading through the site, and exploring some of the links it provides, I'm beginning to suspect it might not be a joke. One of their links goes to this article about a man from Sri Lanka who breastfed his child after his wife died. I guess men do have all the physical equipment necessary to produce milk. It's just a question of triggering the right hormones so that the equipment starts working.

Black-Market 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.

Baby Smashers — Baby Smasher: use baby-changing stations to dispose of unwanted babies

Eggs As Caviar — Chrissy Caviar: A woman sells her eggs as caviar

Black Market Babies — If you feel like adopting a baby, but can't for some reason, just give the folks at Black Market Babies $50,000 and they'll steal someone's baby and give it to you. They also offer black market pandas and black market tigers for sale. Unfortunately their online form for submitting orders is 'temporarily' out of order. (Link via Entensity.net, who linked to me. Warning: their site is not safe for work).

Baby Ink Perpetrators Found — David Emery, of About.com's Urban Legends and Folklore page, found out that the Baby Ink tattoo parlor was an April Fool's day joke created by a couple of San Diego DJs. The DJs boast about the prank on their website (you need to scroll about halfway down to find the reference).

Tattoos for Kids — Here's the latest hoax website making the rounds: Baby Ink, a tattoo parlor for kids. The site claims that any kid over the age of six months is allowed to get a tattoo as long as their parent signs a consent form. But I don't believe that's right. That would be a bit like saying kids are allowed to smoke or drink alcohol as long as their parents consent to it. No, I think you have to be 18 or over to get a tattoo (or is it 16 and over?). The site lists a San Diego location that's quite near to where I live. I think I'll drive by and see what's actually there.

If you hear a baby crying… Don’t Open the Door — Here's a creepy email that's been making the rounds for at least half a year. It was sent to me by a visitor who wants to know if it's a hoax. Yes, it is. There have been no reported instances of serial killers using this particular modus operandi:

Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird.The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night. Please pass this on! and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby. This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana.

The case of the non-existent child — An Australian woman invented the existence of a child in order to hit up her ex-boyfriend for child support. She even went so far as to provide him with pictures of the (fake) child, and dreamed up a costly medical condition that the kid was suffering from, which she, of course, wanted the boyfriend to pay for.

Clonaid — Recently the controversy surrounding Clonaid's claims that they've created a clone has been the big thing in the world of hoaxes. I got quoted in this Washington Post article about the situation.