Hoax Museum Blog: Hate Crimes/Terror

Columbine Paintball — Here's a site that's in incredibly bad taste, but it is DEFINITELY a hoax. It's Columbine Paintball. It purports to be a paintball arena in Cheyenne, Wyoming that allows you to play a paintball game inside a recreation of the Columbine high school. As I said, it's a hoax.

Think of the Children — Think of the Children: Here's a British group advocating the use of mob violence and vigilante justice against anyone even suspected of committing a crime against a child. Punish first, deliberate about possible guilt or innocence later, seems to be their philosophy.

Another 9/11 Hoax — Here's yet another 9/11 hoax. Cyril Kendall has been sentenced to 11 to 33 years in prison for claiming that his son Wilfred died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Because of his claim he got $160,000 from the Red Cross, which he used to buy a new car. The only problem: he never had a son named Wilfred. (Story in the NY Times, Reg. Req.).

9/11 Hoax on LiveJournal — A hoax involving 9/11 has just been exposed on LiveJournal. It appears there was once a LiveJournal user named Flashman, aka Anthony Joseph Pereira. But on Sept. 11 a friend of his, Rhyein, posted that he had died rushing into one of the burning World Trade Center Towers trying to save people. This caused an outpouring of grief from the LiveJournal community. But some people began to become suspicious when they realized that Anthony Joseph Pereira was never listed in the official lists of the 9/11 dead. To make a long story short, it now appears that Flashman never existed. He was invented by Rhyein. Anthony Joseph Pereira was in reality the original name of Joe Perry of Aerosmith, her favorite band.
Details of the initial exposure can be found here at superdeluxe's weblog, though it was a LJ user named tupelo who did the actual exposing. Another LJ user named Bubba Ray then compared the IP addresses used by Rhyein and Flashman and found that they matched. The journal of Flashman himself has unfortunately recently been deleted (by rhyein). This brings back memories of Kaycee Nicole Swenson.

Long-Lost Daughter Hoax — Woman cruelly poses as long-lost daughter of couple. Who knows what deranged motive was behind what she did. The woman, Donna Walker, has now been arrested.

911 Survivor a Hoax? — The team of developers on this website claim to be creating a game called '911 Survivor' that allows you to simulate being inside the burning World Trade Center. Reacting to this, quite a few people have immediately speculated that it must be a hoax. But looking through the site, I suspect it isn't. Instead it seems to be some kind of art project designed to make people question the boundaries drawn between real-reality and media-reality.

Terrorism Hoaxes — Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist muses on when pranks and hoaxes can get out of hand... as in the case of terrorist hoaxes

Terrorist Funny Money — Here's an odd report from the frontlines of the war against terrorism in Argentina (quoted from Agence France Presse):

"Authorities said they found fake US dollar bills bearing the portraits of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the home of a possible suspect in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center here. Presumably meant for propaganda purposes, the fake money was found along with numerous Arab documents and visa forms filled out by Lebanese citizens at the home of a Lebanese national, court officials told reporters Thursday. The suspect, whose identity was not provided and who is apparently out of the country, is sought in connection with the July 18, 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people -- Argentina's worst terrorist attack."

No Coke after Aug. 31st — As the first anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, I guess it's inevitable that the e-mail scare stories start up again. I remember that after Sept. 11 the big scare was that we weren't supposed to go to malls on Halloween. The new scare is that we're not supposed to drink Coke after August 31st. Good grief. I wouldn't believe this for a second. Here's the text of the e-mail that's going around:

This is from me, Amy M. Fairburn. What I was told today has lead me to warn everyone that I know, because each and every one of us deserves to live.My neighbor (Nancy Cavinee) informed me that her mother overheard some shockingnews, while awaiting to get her hair cut at a shop, just yesterday. The woman stated that while waiting in the check-out line at Wal-Mart, the lady before her was $1.00 short with her purchases, and she had no more money to cover it. The cashier insisted that she was short $1.00. The woman (from the shop) reached into her purse, handed the cashier the dollar and told her to give the lady her things. The lady waited outside of Wal-Mart for the woman to walk out, and stopped her. She thanked her very much for being so considerate as to help her out, and told her she wanted to return the favor. The Islamic lady told her not to drink any Coke after August 31st, and turned and quickly walked to her car where other Islamic women were waiting. They then drove off, and the woman was left standing there in Horror. Although she did not even think to get the license plate number of the vehicle, she did notify the police as soon as she got back to her senses. Whether you believe this or whether you don't, I would advise temporarily stopping the consumption of this beverage and any other like it, for the simple fact that September 11th is just around the bend, and we have no clue as to who, what, where, when , or how the next attack will present itself. It certainly is not going to kill any of us to revert to drinking iced tea, bottled water, or what have you, until this is clarified by the Government or local officials.Keep in mind that Zanesville, Ohio has a Coca-Cola plant, and it was there that this happened. BE SAFE! MAKE SENSIBLE DECISIONS FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR FAMILIES! THIS IS NOT A JOKE. INFORM EVERYONE THAT YOU HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR. LET THEM CHOSE LIFE OR DEATH FOR THEMSELVES, BUT ATLEAST INFORM THEM!Thank You for your time, everyone!

9/11 Fakes — The San Francisco Chronicle takes a look at the phenomenon of phony heroes and fake victims of 9/11.

Fake 9/11 Heroics — Lake Tahoe Man invents Sept. 11 heroics, including the claim that he was buried under rubble for over 79 hours.