Hoax Museum Blog: Urban Legends

Joseph Papp and his Submarine — Infinite Energy, 'The Magazine of New Energy Science and Technology,' has devoted its entire current issue to analyzing the work of Joseph Papp, the Hungarian inventor who claimed to have built some kind of fusion-powered engine that used noble gases as fuel (i.e. we're talking 'free-energy' technology here). In the 1960s he also claimed to have built a submarine that could travel at 300 mph, and in a test run of this craft he said that he travelled from Canada to France in 13 hours (the airplane ticket that was later found in his pocket debunked this claim). Infinite Energy has one sample article about Papp on its website. I've also got some pictures of Papp's submarine on my site.

Laze’s Diet System — Laze's Diet System: Here's a diet system that promises fast results. It seems to involve sucking your stomach in.

Black People Love Us — Black People Love Us: Sally and Johnny (a white couple) just want everyone to know that the black community loves them.

Rent-a-Negro — Rent a Negro: Are you embarrassed by the lack of racial diversity at your social events? Then this website has the answer. Just 'rent a negro' and you too can appear multicultural in the eyes of your friends, all without ever having to challenge your own white privilege.

Wife Odyssey — Wife Odyssey: He may look like a grouchy old slob, but don't let his appearance deceive you. He's really a 'lonesome artist seeking a soulmate.'

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.

Mankato, Minnesota — Mankato: Welcome to Mankato, Minnesota, where you can enjoy whale watching on the Minnesota River.

Burmese Mountain Dogs — Burmese Mountain Dog: A page (also from the creators of the Mankato, Minnesota page) with some info about a rare breed of dog known as the Burmese Mountain Dog. You can examine this a long time and potentially not realize the joke, which is that the actual breed is the Bernese Mountain Dog (it comes from Berne, Switzerland). I guess a lot of people say Burmese instead of Bernese.

Reemco — Reemco: Providers of high-quality products such as the 'CDC Ebola Virus Outbreak Action Playset.'

Two Towers Protest — Two Towers Protest: This group is protesting the fact that the second installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy is named The Two Towers (despite the fact that Tolkein came up with this name some fifty years ago). They feel this might cause emotional discomfort to people following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. I'm almost positive this was meant to be satirical. But its companion in spirit, The Return of the King Protest site, was definitely a satire. This second group argued that the name of the third installment of the trilogy would cause discomfort to fans of Elvis. The Return of the King Protest site no longer exists, but it can still be partially viewed via the Wayback Machine.

New Rotterdam — A trilogy of sites devoted to exploring the community of New Rotterdam (or New-Rot, for short). First we have the Official Site of the Town of New Rotterdam. Next there's the New Rotterdam Vocational Union High School. And last is the St. Giles School for Male Youth.

Ben ‘n Jen Marriage Ruse — Oh No! Are Ben Affleck and J-Lo back together? They were sighted together applying for some kind of license at a Georgia courthouse. Their split may have just been a fake. The media waits with baited breath to find out the truth, while the rest of us whimper, 'please, no more.'

The True Meaning of Des Moines — Linguistic research has shed new light on the meaning of 'Des Moines.' Turns out it might derive from a 330-year-old practical joke. In 1673 Father Jacques Marquette met some representatives of the Peoria indian tribe near the mouth of the modern-day Des Moines River. He asked them the name of the rival tribe that lived further along the banks of the river. The Peoria told him that tribe was called the Moingoana, which became the root for the word 'Moines'. But researcher Michael McCafferty of Indiana University, while studying the now extinct Miami-Illinois language, discovered that Moingoana, translated literally, meant 's**t faces.' Evidently the Peoria were having a little fun at their rival's expense. The city of Des Moines has not yet acknowledged the true meaning of its name.

Practical Joke Six Years in the Making — Perry Caravello wanted to be an actor, and his friends told him he would be. In fact, they signed him up to play the leading role in a film they were making, Windy City Heat. Unfortunately for Perry, they weren't actually shooting a movie. They were just stringing him along, trying to figure out how long they could keep him believing that they were making a movie. He kept believing, for six long years, bolstered by an unshakeable faith in his own Star Power. Even though the friends weren't shooting a movie, they did shoot footage of the entire practical joke, which has now resulted in a documentary on Comedy Central titled, appropriately enough, Windy City Heat.

CIA Tricks of the Trade — Some of the CIA's recent strategies are outlined here. For instance, it's been creating fake religious leaders in the Middle East to drum up support for American polices... i.e. it's been paying people to pose as pro-American Muslim clerics. They've also been giving agents satellite phones hidden in rifles. But even though they've got all kinds of high-tech gadgets, they're also still using disappearing ink.

Jesus Freakin — Here's a curious website just sent in by a visitor: JesusFreakin.com. It's the homepage for a new role-playing game in which you get to play Jesus Christ, who's just returned after 2000 years and is ready for revenge. The game has tag lines such as 'The time has come to thin the flock,' and 'After 2000 years, he's ready to cast the first stone.' In my opinion, it's definitely a hoax. First of all, the site and graphics are pretty amateurish, given that it's supposedly produced by a video game company (Last Stone Studios). Second, there's no evidence that this company exists. It lists a business address on a press release it issued, but this address is just a p.o. box at a Mail Boxes etc. Finally, just reading through the site, it seems pretty obvious that it's satire. But the website does link to a CafePress page where you can buy Jesus Freakin merchandise. My guess is that whoever created the site is trying to be controversial as a ploy to sell a few t-shirts.

An Email from Mystic Merlin — I got an angry email from Mystic Merlin, creator of the Crop Circles Mystery Board Game that I linked to below. He demanded that I remove all mention of his game from my site because, in his words, 'THIS BOARDGAME IS NOT A HOAX AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HOAXING AT ALL' (caps are his). Of course! How could I have been so foolish as to presume that crop circles have anything to do with hoaxes? My mistake entirely. And yet, I just can't bring myself to remove the link. Sorry, Mystic Merlin.

Indian Ghost, Part II — Kentaro Mori managed to unearth the source for that ghost photo that scared so many people in India (see below). Click images for larger versions.

  

Diploma Mill — General Delivery University: America's only genuine diploma mill

Lake Michigan Whale Watching — Lake Michigan Whale Watching: One of the best guarded secrets of the Great Lakes