Hoax Museum Blog: Urban Legends

Blow Up the Moon — The moon is our enemy. Therefore, we must blow it up. That pretty much sums up the philosophy of the Citizens' Association to Blow Up the Moon.
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004.   Comments (1)
Bank of England Email Hoax — During the past week many people received an email apparently from the Bank of England. It read: "Dear customer. The security of your personal and account information is extremely important to us. By practising good security habits, you can help us ensure that your private information is protected. Please install our special software that will remove all the keyloggers and backdoors from your computer." The email, of course, was a hoax. Thankfully, those who went ahead and installed the attached file suffered no harm because the file appears to do nothing. The media have been calling this an example of a phishing scam (phishing being a scam in which spammers try to fool people into divulging personal info such as credit card numbers), but I don't think it was a phishing scam because I can't see where or how any personal info was being collected. To me it looks like it was just junk, pure and simple.
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004.   Comments (0)
The Michigan Relics — michigan relicsIn October, 1890 James Scotford unearthed some relics while digging postholes for a fence in Montcalm County, Michigan. The relics appeared to demonstrate the prior existence of a Near Eastern culture in ancient America. They were eventually debunked as frauds, though not before attracting a lot of attention and stirring up lots of controversy. Now the relics are on display again. The Michigan Historical Museum has a special exhibit devoted to them titled 'Digging Up Controversy: The Michigan Relics.' Much of the exhibit can be viewed online. Definitely worth checking out.
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004.   Comments (0)
The Land of Molvania — If you're looking for an interesting place to visit on your next vacation, you might want to check out Molvania. It's located over in Eastern Europe and is famous as the birthplace of the whooping cough. Also home to the Molvanian Sneezing Hound. If you want to learn even more about this little-known country then get a copy of Molvania:// A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry, by Jetlag Travel.
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003.   Comments (4)
The Sasquatch Militia — sasquatchThe Republic of Cascadia is recruiting for the Sasquatch Militia. Help defend the Sasquatch homeland against invading cryptozoologists, Canadians, and others. Militia activities include boulder throwing, stomping, and delimbing.
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003.   Comments (0)
Friends of Silver Lake — The Friends of Silver Lake purports to be a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in LA's Silver Lake district. Their projects include supporting the construction of a new shopping mall in Silver Lake that will be home to stores such as Wal-Mart and The Gap, because otherwise Silver Lake residents might have to drive up to ten miles to find these retailers (the horror!). Also, they're pushing a workplace diversity initiative to get more 'middle-class youngsters' employed in the food service and retail industries since, according to them, this demographic is underrepresented in these industries. Seems a little tongue-in-cheek to me. (Thanks to Chris Kelly for the link).
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003.   Comments (0)
Where Is My Gnome — gnomeBill has lost his garden gnome. Someone stole it from his lawn. Now he's hoping that you can help him find it. There's even a 1-800 number you can call if you have any info, but Dani, who told me about the site, reports that if you call the number "a nervous sounding man asks you to leave a message if you have information about his gnome, then before the beep, he says 'Mom, if this is you, hang up now.'"
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003.   Comments (1)
The Death Clock — The Internet Death Clock will calculate the time of your death, telling you exactly how many seconds you have left to live. But Chris has written in noting that there's something fishy about it because every time you click the button to calculate your time of death, you get a different number. I would add that I once had a fortune teller read my tarot cards and tell me when I was going to die, and the internet death clock doesn't agree with this reading... so it must be a hoax. (note: sarcasm intended).
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003.   Comments (16)
Hampton Court Ghost — hampton ghostQuite a few people have sent me links to this: a ghost captured on film exiting Hampton Court Palace (where Henry VIII once lived). Or maybe it's just a guy wearing a bathrobe and a mask.
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003.   Comments (16)
MIT Honors the Wright Brothers — A couple of days ago a replica of the Wright Brothers' plane refused to fly. But nevertheless, the plane still managed to make a successful landing on top of MIT's Great Dome.
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003.   Comments (0)
Tall-Tale Postcards — martinThe American Museum of Photography has a nice collection of William H. "Dad"�Martin's tall-tale photographs online. Martin made a fortune selling tall-tale postcards during the early twentieth century. He had a company called the Martin Post Card Company based in Ottawa, Kansas.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003.   Comments (0)
Record-Breaking Snowflake — Was the 15 inch snowflake that was recorded to have fallen in eastern Montana on Jan. 28, 1887 a tall tale? It was either that or a bunch of snowflakes frozen together.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003.   Comments (0)
Vindication for Man Will Never Fly Society — The reenactment of the Wright Brothers' first flight failed. I hate to say it, but the members of the Man Will Never Fly Society, whom I linked to just a few posts below, did predict that would happen.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003.   Comments (0)
Diet Holy Water — If you're feeling a little sinful, wash away your sins with some Diet Holy Water. Now, I don't think this is a hoax in the sense that this stuff isn't really for sale. Instead I'm linking to it because it seems like a marketing effort that has tongue firmly in cheek.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003.   Comments (1)
The Voynich Manuscript Solved? — Computer Scientist Gordon Rugg may have proven that the mysterious Voynich Manuscript (the famously untranslatable medieval book full of pictures of naked women) is a hoax. He theorizes that it was created by a sixteenth-century Englishman named Edward Kelley in order to con Emperor Rudolph II. Kelley could have created the book by using an encryption device called a Cardan Grille. Voynich scholars are still undecided about Rugg's theory, but whether or not Rugg is right, it should now just be a matter of time before he lapses into insanity, as many other scholars who have spent too long obsessing about the Voynich Manuscript have done.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003.   Comments (14)
Garden Gnomes Under Threat — Residents of Derbyshire (in the north Midlands of England) have received official-looking letters threatening them with criminal prosecution if they don't remove all gnomes from their gardens. The presence of the gnomes supposedly runs afoul of government planning regulations. Real officials warn that the letters are a hoax.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003.   Comments (0)
Saddam Claus — saddam clausJohn Walkenbach has a great photoshop on his weblog (J-Walk): the disguise Saddam Hussein was wearing when he was captured.
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003.   Comments (1)
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.
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2003.   Comments (7)
Manned Flight is a Hoax — men will never flyAccording to the members of the Man Will Never Fly Society, the official account of the Wright Brothers' 1903 first flight, the anniversary of which is coming up on Dec. 17th, is all a hoax. They contend that the plane never flew... and all subsequent manned flights are a hoax also. Never mind that the majority of the members of this society are pilots. Every year they meet and have a boozy celebration to commemmorate the Wright Brothers' non-flight. In fact, alcohol seems to be the main focus of their meetings, because the more they drink the more confident they become in the truth of their position. So it might best be described as a drinking club. Their motto is "Birds fly. Men drink," and their website proclaims: "The Man Will Never Fly Memorial Society has fought the hallucination of airplane flight with every weapon at its command save sobriety." Sounds like a fun group to be a member of. (Thanks to Alex Richbourg for the link).
Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003.   Comments (0)
Death by Lizards — I'm not sure whether or not this is a hoax, but it's definitely strange. Back in 1910 a young woman died in Akron, Ohio and the local doctor reported that the cause of her death was lizards living in her stomach. Common sense would say that this couldn't have been the case. Lizards couldn't survive for an extended period in the acid of a person's stomach. So did the doctor really believe lizards were the cause of the woman's death, or was he purposefully trying to make an outrageous claim? I don't know.
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2003.   Comments (0)
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