Hoax Museum Blog: Urban Legends

White Peacock — It may look like something out of a fairytale, but it's definitely real. Plus, it's a pretty cool photo. Here's a different picture of a white peacock on Wikipedia. (via Reality Carnival)

Controlling Traffic Lights — Here's a couple of YouTube videos on the subject of controlling traffic lights. The first video is for pedestrians. It claims that by clicking the walk button in a special way you can cause the traffic light to change in your favor. This secret code is: 3 short clicks, 2 long, 1 short, 2 long, and 3 short. Sounds like total baloney to me. Of course, if you live in New York City, many of the walk buttons have no effect whatsoever on the signal because they were disconnected decades ago.



This second video claims that it's possible to cause red lights to turn green by using a universal remote control. I'm more inclined to believe this is possible, since I know that emergency vehicles do have devices to change the lights to green. However, you would first have to locate the correct frequency, which would mean standing there with the remote on scan mode until it hits on the right one. Also, you'd need to know the correct code. (The video claims the code is 911.) Finally, would a typical remote control have a strong enough signal? Oh, and it would also be completely illegal.

Centrifuge Growth Treatment — Why do people fall for stuff like this?
I think 1.05 million yen is around $9000. It would have been a lot cheaper for her to have found a centrifuge ride at an amusement park. Of course, the chiropractor can defend himself by claiming that he was just pulling her leg.

Fake Sewage Workers Go Door-to-Door — Here's an odd story reported in the Mainichi Daily News:

So let me get this straight. Some guys are going around, posing as sewage workers, and giving people free drain-clearing chemicals. And sometimes they're trying to get people to swallow these chemicals. These sound like very disturbed individuals, but I'm also getting the sense that there's more to this story than is being reported here.

No-Poop Dog Food — A Dutch company called Energique claims to have developed a type of dog food that has the pleasant side effect of drastically reducing what comes out the other end. Basically, the company claims that if you feed your dog this stuff, your dog will barely poop at all: An Ananova article gives some more details: "They claim remaining 10% comes out the other end as a smell-free dry pellet that can be picked up by hand in a tissue. According to research by the University of Utrecht, a dog will normally need to go three times a day, but with Energique it only needs to go once a week."

This strikes me as a very odd claim. If true, could it possibly be healthy for the dog? I would imagine that the total surface area of a food has a lot to do with how much of it can get digested. For instance, a powder would probably get digested more fully than a chunk of meat. But is the one necessarily healthier than the other, just because more of it is getting digested?

The amount of poop a dog produces would almost seem to be a function of how much it eats. Surely if you feed your dog tons of this Energique food, it's still going to excrete most of it.

Magic Faucet — A picture of an actual scene -- nothing has been digitally manipulated or removed. A lot of people are familiar with this illusion. My wife, for instance, took one look at it and told me that not only did she know what the trick was, but that it's also possible to buy table-top versions of it. But for those who haven't seen it before, it is kind of cool. The trick is that the pipe supplying the water (and holding the faucet up) is concealed by the stream of water. I'm not sure where this picture was taken.

Is it possible to cut glass with scissors? — A YouTube video claiming that it's possible to cut glass with scissors by placing the glass underwater has been attracting some skepticism. Geekologie suggests that the guy in the video is swapping out pieces of glass with other pieces of glass as he pretends to cut it.

Hmm. I'm no expert on this subject, but after some quick googling, I'm inclined to believe that it is possible to cut glass with scissors by holding the glass underwater.

SpectrumGlass.com, which appears to be a commercial glass company, addresses the claim on their site (though not with specific reference to the YouTube video). They say that the trick does work, though it doesn't make a very clean cut. They quote from Scientific American to explain why holding the glass under water aids the cutting process:
An article by some guy name Paul Umstead, titled "How to cut glass without a diamond cutter," also asserts that the glass-under-water trick works. Umstead sounds like he knows what he's talking about, which is more than I can say. So I'm going to say that it seems to be true that you can cut glass with scissors by holding the glass under water. I would test it out myself, but I don't have a spare pane of glass lying around.

Giant Italian Skeleton — The photos show a giant skeleton lying on display in a town square, recalling that photo of a giant skeleton supposedly unearthed in Saudi Arabia that circulated around a few years ago. (It was actually an image from a Worth1000 photoshop contest.)

In this case, the giant skeleton is not a product of photoshop. It's a real skeleton, in the sense that it's something that one can really go and see. However, it's not real in the sense of being an actual archeological artifact. It's a piece of art created by the Late Gino De Dominicis. It's titled "COSMIC MAGNET." It's currently on display in Milan, and then will tour throughout Europe.

The Google translation of a blurb about the piece says:
(via CeticismoAberto.com)

Elephants On Acid Put To Bed — Wow! It's been almost a month since I posted. Last time I posted, I thought that work on my next book was winding down. That turned out to be overly optimistic. I still had a lot of work to do, but now it truly is all done. The manuscript has been sent to my publisher.

Meanwhile, thanks to Flora for keeping this place running while I took a leave of absence!

As proof that I really have been working on a book, the book itself -- Elephants On Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments -- is now listed on Amazon, although it will only be in stores in October or November. Also, from what I understand, the cover that you see on the Amazon page is not the actual cover. It's just a placeholder. The design department hasn't finished work on the real cover yet.

The book is not about hoaxes at all. It's about, as the subtitle suggests, bizarre scientific experiments. Here's the advertising blurb that the publisher wrote about it:

Dead Fairy — This website shows a ‘dead fairy’, along with the story of how it was found in the Derbyshire countryside. It claims that the police and a local ‘paranormal expert’ had examined the fairy, and that the barrow it was found in contained over 20 bodies.

The site also features an update posted on April 1st, which explains that no, it is not a real fairy, and that it is a piece of art.

According to one of the people who wrote to us about this story, some people refuse to believe it’s not a real fairy, and are claiming that the artist’s update itself is a hoax.
The fairy is currently up for sale on ebay.

(Thanks, Jen and John.)

Google April Fool’s Day Jokes 2007 — Google Introduces TiSP
Gmail Paper
For those who like the features of Gmail, but aren’t so keen on email.

Google Maps Trick
This trick produced by Google Maps staff allows you to position one of a number of customisations on a map.

(Thanks to all who sent us these links.)

Quick Links: Save Boston, etc. —
Save Boston
A little game based on the Boston bomb scare.

Children’s TV Presenter Accused of Obscenity in Sign Language
Mr Tumble, a presenter on the children's BBC programme Something Special has been greeting the viewers with controversial signing. The BBC claim that the misunderstanding was due to their use of Makaton sign language, as opposed to British sign language.
(Thanks, Madmouse.)

Man Banned From Pub for Farting
Since Scotland's smoking ban came into force, an Edinburgh man's 'unbearable stench' has led to him being barred from his favourite pub.
(Thanks, Matt.)

Public Break-up — A University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill couple, Ryan Burke and Mindy Moorman, have admitted that their Valentine’s Day break-up was nothing more than a prank.

The story went that the couple had been dating for four months when Burke discovered Moorman had been cheating on him.
He invited people via facebook.com to watch the confrontation, which featured a group of singers performing the Dixie Chicks song “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” before he broke up with Moorman, to which she responded with expletives. Hundreds of people turned up to the event, and it was quickly posted on youtube.com, where the video has been seen by thousands of people worldwide.

However, twelve days after the break-up, Burke admitted that the entire story was a prank. He and Moorman had never even dated, and they had set up the spectacle to show ”the power of Internet communities and the amount of money that companies make from them.”

Quick Links: Fake Gucci Advertisement Fools Newspaper, etc. —
Fake Gucci Advertisemant Fools Newspaper
A man in Switzerland phoned a national newspaper and managed to get them to run a two-page advertisement showing himself posing beside a bottle of Gucci perfume. He told the newspaper he was a representative for the company, and told them to send the 60,000 Swiss Frank bill to Gucci.
Forum thread here.
(Thanks, Carlotta.)

Shark with ‘Webbed Feet’ Caught
A Malaysian fisherman recently caught what appeared to be a shark with webbed feet. The 1.7kg shark was given to a worker at the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board in Penang. When she noticed the feet, she gave it back to the fisherman, who threw it back into the sea.
(Thanks, Richard.)

Homer Simpson Appears on Pizza
With a hopeful-sounding minimum bid of $100, the seller from Kentucky has yet to garner a single taker for his piece of half-eaten pizza with the image of Homer Simpson on it.
(Thanks, Andy.)

Man Apologises to Internet — 10zenmonkeys.com has posted an article discussing the interesting law case surrounding Michael Crook. Inspired by the craigslist sex hoax by Jason Fortuny, Michael Crook started up a website to expose ‘perverts’ on the Craigslist site. He’d copied Fortuny’s prank, then posted his results on his webpage.
When 10 Zen Monkeys posted a screen shot of Crook taken from a Fox news report on his previous ‘Forsake our Troops’ hoax, Crook responded with an email falsely claiming that he owned the copyright for his own image.
Whilst many sites did remove the image and quotes in question, other web users took advantage of the fact that: ”...deep within the DMCA law is a counter-provision — 512(f), which states that misrepresenting yourself as a copyright owner has consequences.”

Mr Crook has now been effectively sued and is prevented from issuing any notices of copyright infringement, as well as being required to apologise to the Internet community as a whole. You can see his apology at the bottom of the article here.

(Thanks, Destiny Land.)

Quick Links: Princes Prank Queen’s Voicemail, etc. —
Princes Prank Queen’s Voicemail
Reports have come out that Princes William and Harry recorded a message for their grandmother when she found herself confused by the workings of her voicemail.
The message allegedly says:
“Hey, wassup! This is Liz. Sorry I’m away from the throne. For a hotline to Philip, press one. For Charles, press two, and for the corgis, press three.”
(Thanks, Zoom.)

First Draft of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
This is a joke ebay auction, but at least it’s not another ‘haunted’ item, or an item with an alleged image of a deity on it.
(Thanks, Robert.)

Man Builds Bungalow in Barn
In a bid to circumvent the green belt laws which prohibit building on protected land, farmer Graham Head spent six years building a bungalow inside a barn, surrounded by straw bales.

Havidol — Havidol.com is a pharmaceutical website touting a solution to Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD). Havidol (avafynetyme HCI) comes in both tablet and suppository form, and should be taken indefinitely.

The site is very well made and, frankly, looks more professional than some legitimate websites.
Whilst the names of the drug are the first sign that this site shouldn't be taken seriously, there are other signs scattered throughout the site. For example:


When one goes to the 'shop' page, the only actually purchasable item is a t-shirt (ever the sign of a fake website). Clicking any of the other items opens up the webpage for the New York Daneyal Mahmood gallery, which is currently showing an exhibition based around the concept of Havidol by artist Justine Cooper.

(Thanks, Thierry.)

Yemeni Man Grows Horns from Head — 102-year-old Saleh Talib Saleh says he had had dreams when he was younger of growing horns from his head.
At the age of 77, he started noticing a hard patch on his scalp. It wasn’t really bothering him and, since at the time there were no local medical facilities, he just ignored it.
Gradually, the hard patch grew into what looked like a horn. The growth reached 1.6 feet before the stress on it, due to everyday life, caused it to weaken and fall off.

Almost immediately, a second ‘horn’ began growing in the place of the first. Many people from around the Gulf countries have travelled to visit Saleh in order to view what he considers to be a ‘gift from Allah’.

So, is this story true?
Well, I haven’t been able to track down much coverage of it (these aren’t the easiest search terms to isolate). Saleh has said he had no local medical facilities when he first grew the horn, but there is no mention of his having been to see a doctor (or a doctor seeing him) in the following twenty-five years. The only photograph I’ve found is the one in the linked article.

(Thanks, Tah.)

Edit: The complete photograph (shown in the article) seems to have some sort of Arabic writing at the bottom. Can anyone translate?

Computer Programme Debunks Pianist — English pianist Joyce Hatto had risen to some prominence over the year preceding her death. Whilst she never played in public, recordings of her performances of works by artists such as Liszt, Schubert, Rachmaninov and Dukas, produced by her husband from a private studio, had her hailed as an unknown genius.

However, an iTunes programme that compares recordings with an online database has thrown her abilities into doubt.

A critic for the classical music magazine Gramophone was surprised to find that, when he loaded into his computer a recording of the pianist playing Liszt, the programme identified it as the work of the pianist Laszlo Simon on BIS Records. The critic tried again, this time using a disc of a Hatto recital of Rachmaninov. Once more, his computer listed it as the work of another pianist, Yemif Bronfman.

The critic was aware of certain rumours doubting Hatto's performances which had been floating around the internet, so he sent the recordings to audio expert Andrew Rose, who confirmed that the soundwaves of the Hatto recitals were identical to the ones of the other pianists.

(Thanks, Sophie.)

UPDATE (28/2/07): Gramophone magazine reports that Hatto's husband has admitted to the scam.
(Thanks, Floormaster Squeeze.)

Quick Links: Fishermen Eat ‘Alien’, etc. —
Fishermen Eat 'Alien'
Fishermen from the Rostov region of Russia recently caught a mysterious creature that is said to have made 'squeaking sounds'. The men were out fishing two weeks ago after a storm, and found something unidentifiable. The animal weighed around 100kg, and the men took video footage of it using a camera phone. Then they ate it.
Whilst experts were disappointed that there was nothing left of the creature, the footage has been reviewed by scientists and ufologists, and both appear to agree that there was nothing extra-terrestrial about the specimen.
(Thanks, Jen.)

Duckling Born with Four Legs
A genetic mutation meant Stumpy the duckling was born with four full sized legs. Apparently he's doing well.
(Thanks, Nettie.)

Nope, It's Soap
This website sells... well, soap that's hand-made, coffee-scented, and made to look like dog poo.
Apparently it's a great gift. If a tad surprising for the recipient.
(Thanks, Randall.)