Hoax Museum Blog: Photos

Groping Cardinals — image Here's a photo that I received in my email (forwarded by Robert Avallone). My first impulse is to say that it looks real, though it's conceivable that someone whited out something that Jim Edmonds (on the right) was holding in his hand, making it look like he's groping Jason Marquis (on the left). I haven't been able to find any references to the photo online. Maybe this is an example of the 'Pope grope' that cardinals are said to use to check the gender of the Pope (following the Pope Joan debacle). Wait, no. Wrong type of Cardinals.
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005.   Comments (10)

Gibraltar Airport — image This seems kind of odd: a runway with a road going across it. And yet it's real. It's Gibraltar Airport, which is the only airport in the world that has a road crossing the runway. A view of the airport can also be seen via Google Maps (if you don't believe the picture is real). It reminds me of Princess Juliana Airport in St. Maarten, in terms of being a very unusual airport. (via Outhouse Rag)
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005.   Comments (17)

When To Stop Tanning — imageHere's a picture that I got in my email, which is appropriate for these hot summer days. Not to be negative about sun worshippers, but it's pretty gross. The woman's skin could have been made to look like that with photoshop, but I suspect the image hasn't been manipulated because I know that there are people whose skin really looks like this.
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005.   Comments (33)

Bear On The Green — image Michael Perkins sent in this image (click the image to enlarge), asking whether or not it's real. I've never seen the image before, so I don't know where it comes from, but it looks like a fake to me. The background image of the bear in the woods seems to have been pasted onto the foreground image of the golfers. Note the unnaturally straight line where the green meets the forest directly behind the flag.
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005.   Comments (49)


Photocopier Accident — image Here's a link to some video footage of an accident with a photocopier. I don't have any details about where this footage was taken, or if it's real. Although it looks staged to me.
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005.   Comments (36)

Woman With Purse 1, Thief 0 — image Gunner Miller forwarded me a link to the latest viral video going around. It shows a purse grabber who gets taught a lesson. I've never seen the video before, and I can't decrypt the text above it (I tried to translate it using altavista's Russian-to-English tool, but that didn't work). So I can't add much to it. Gunner comments that "The females stance and shoulders seem very guy'ish."
Posted: Fri May 27, 2005.   Comments (24)

Storm Near Bunbury? — Some amazing pictures of a tornado have been doing the rounds. According to the info that accompanies them, these are "Photos of storm near Bunbury" (which is in Australia), although the text also notes that "you'd swear these were taken in america's mid west / tornado belt..." This has started some discussion on alt.folklore.urban, as people try to locate exactly where these photos were taken. The scenery does look a lot like the midwest.

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Posted: Fri May 20, 2005.   Comments (81)

Woman Swallows Balloon — image My guess is that this video clip is real (the banner ads on the site that hosts the movie probably aren't safe for work, but the clip itself is safe). It's the kind of stunt that circus performers, sword swallowers, etc. have done for ages. It's still pretty bizarre to watch, however. I think the clip has been doing the rounds for a couple of years because I vaguely remember seeing it a long time ago.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2005.   Comments (24)

Florida UFO — Here's another Google satellite map oddity. It's a photo of West Palm Beach, Florida. But look closely. The satellite appears to have captured a UFO flying overhead:

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(via Outhouse Rag)
Posted: Sun May 15, 2005.   Comments (30)

Hoosier Gazette On the Air — Josh Whicker, creator of the Hoosier Gazette, is featured in a segment on Across Indiana that you can see on the web (if you have Windows Media Player). If you don't recognize the name, Josh was the creative force behind internet hoaxes such as the Name Change for I-69.
Posted: Thu May 12, 2005.   Comments (1)

Big Squid — Edna Barrie has forwarded along some pictures of large fish (and one large frog). I don't see any reason to think any of these aren't real.

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Posted: Wed May 11, 2005.   Comments (64)

Satellite Map Oddity — I got an email from Mike Scofield asking about this odd thing that can be seen via Google's satellite map out in the middle of the desert around Nevada. Mike writes:

Assuming I did the link right, you should see a giant triangle with concentric circles in it. I did some poking around and it looks like this symbol is ~near~ Area 51. This leads me to think it's one of two different hoaxes. One is that it's a very good photoshop someone slipped into the satalite map that Google is referencing or, two, that it is a symbol out there in the desert someone did that isn't related to Area 51.

Honestly, I don't know what this is. I'm guessing it's some kind of military base. If you zoom in you can see that it hasn't been photoshopped in (at least, it doesn't appear to me as if it's been photoshopped). The triangle and concentric circles appear to be roads.
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2005.   Comments (64)

Cochran’s Tombstone — This photo of Johnnie Cochran's tombstone has been making the rounds:
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One big clue that it's fake is that it misspells Cochran's first name. Another clue that it's fake is that it's obviously a joke. But here's a photo taken by the Mars Spirit lander that I swear is absolutely real. No joke:
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2005.   Comments (8)

Photos of the Museum of Hoaxes — Some of you have asked about the images of the Museum that appeared in the piece on CNN. They were created by Eric Schucard of Carlsbad, CA about a month ago (he was hoping I could get USA Today to run them, but no such luck). I've uploaded them so everyone can check them out. At some point (when I'm done with the book) I'll redesign my 'About the Museum' page to incorporate them.
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2005.   Comments (5)

Suicide Jumper — Warning: Graphic. This is from an email going around:

A police officer sent this to me. It is not for the faint of heart. If you have a weak stomach, then don't look at the URL. It is a picture of the demise of a suicide jumper taken shortly after he landed. It shows him with his insides now on the outside. You will see the look of horror on the faces of the bystanders. The faces of the bystanders is why I believe this is real..

http://hoaxes.org/images/Jumper.jpg
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2005.   Comments (31)

The Oops List — Check out this directory of pictures involving accidents and screw-ups of every kind imaginable. It would be easy to spend an hour or two browsing through them all. But I think a few of them are of doubtful reality. For instance, this one of the California Highway Patrol is an obvious joke. And I can't imagine how this container ended up inside the engine. There's also this photo of a bird that collided with a plane. I believe it's real, but it's still a pretty odd picture.
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005.   Comments (11)

Road Through The Snow — image I seem to have a minor trend going with pictures of cars and snow. This picture here looks slightly suspicious to me because I can't imagine how the snow got so deep on either side of the road, or how they cleared it away so perfectly. But then, I live in Southern California, so I can't claim to be any kind of expert on snow.
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005.   Comments (55)

High Heels — More strange images from my inbox. These shoes look like some kind of art project. I don't think it would be possible to walk in them.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005.   Comments (67)

Keep Your City Clean — image Big Gary pointed out this AP photo to me. I don't doubt the photo is real, but the caption explains the irony of the scene:

A car bomb explodes, detonated by U.S. troops after it was discovered at the scene of the double car bombing in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, April 14, 2005. The initial attack killed 18 and wounded three dozen, but no one was injured in this controlled explosion. The sign at left reads 'Keep Your City Clean' in Arabic.(AP Photo/Samir Mizban)
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005.   Comments (4)

Naked But Wearing Clothes — More pictures from my inbox. The pictures themselves aren't fake. I'm pretty sure of that. But they show a hoax of a kind. This is the caption that accompanies them:

This woman is actually walking down the street with no "real" clothes -- only those painted on her. The passersby didn't give her a second look because the paint looked so much like clothing. YES, she is naked!

I'll give links to the photos, not thumbnails, so that I can continue to claim this site is only 'R' rated. The pictures probably aren't safe for work since the woman is naked (except for her shoes), though she does look like she's wearing clothes, which is the entire point. I was trying to figure out what city she's in, but nothing looks familiar.
naked1.jpg | naked2.jpg | naked3.jpg | naked4.jpg
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005.   Comments (31)

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