Hoax Museum Blog: Urban Legends

Laramie Kid Hoax — More about the Laramie Kid Hoax. I just received an email from the Long Riders guild alerting me to the great series of articles they have on their website, fully debunking the claims of Frank Hopkins (aka the Laramie Kid). Hopkins claimed to have been one of the great horse riders of all time, including among his accomplishments winning a 3000 mile horse race across Arabia on a mustang called 'Hidalgo.' In October 2003 Disney will be releasing a film based on this supposed event, starring Viggo Mortensen as Hopkins. It is claiming the movie is 'based on the true story of Frank Hopkins.' But as the Long Riders Guild demonstrates, none of Hopkins' claims were true. There's no evidence that he won ANY races at all. It's not clear he even rode horses. Other sources have also been picking up on the Laramie Kid Hoax, including the Billings Gazette (which I linked to previously).
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
The Kingdom of Mombessa — The adventures of Baron Moncrieffe and the mythical Kingdom of Mombessa. The Baron turns out to be a con man, and the Kingdom doesn't exist.
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
Electric Kite Hoax — MAJOR HOAX NEWS: Historian Tom Tucker argues in a recent book that Benjamin Franklin's story about flying a kite in a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was a form of electricity was actually a hoax. Franklin never did the experiment. I'm going to order a copy of Tucker's book (which will be released in a week or so) to read the full argument for myself, but if true, then I guess I can add the 'electric kite hoax' to the list of Franklin's other hoaxes.
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2003.   Comments (0)
The French Rockefeller — Update on the criminal career of Christopher Rocancourt. He recently confessed to having scammed people by posing as a member of the Rockefeller family. Why people would have believed that a Rockefeller would be speaking with a thick French accent, I still can't understand.
Posted: Sat May 31, 2003.   Comments (1)
Reviewing Stephen Glass — Book critics are stressing out over how to respond to the release of Stephen Glass's first novel. Should they review it and trash it, or just ignore it? Stephen Glass, if you don't remember, got fired from the New Republic five years ago for inventing news.
Posted: Sat May 31, 2003.   Comments (0)
Goat-Gland Brinkley — Great article in the New York Press detailing the career of Dr. 'Goat-Gland' Brinkley, the man who made a fortune during the 1920s and '30s by selling a quack cure for male impotence that involved the implantation of goat glands. Incidentally Brinkley became so popular and such a powerful figure in American culture that he ran for governor of Kansas and would have won if the Democrats and Republicans hadn't rigged the election.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003.   Comments (0)
Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias — Benjamin Radford and Robert Bartholomew have a book out that should be of interest to those interested in hoax stuff. It's titled Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking. I haven't got my hands on a copy yet, but here's a review of it from Psychology Today.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2003.   Comments (0)
Finger-Lickin — Apparently the old Kentucky Fried Chicken email hoax is still going around. I thought this one had died out ages ago. I guess the good ones never die out completely.
Posted: Thu May 29, 2003.   Comments (1)
Posted: Thu May 29, 2003.   Comments (1)
iLoo Not a Hoax — Oops! Microsoft now says that the iLoo was not a hoax, just a bad idea. But why should we believe this latest version of the story? Personally I think they'd have been better off leaving it as a hoax.
Posted: Wed May 14, 2003.   Comments (0)
Microsoft iLoo Diagram — Here's a diagram of the iLoo.
Posted: Tue May 13, 2003.   Comments (0)
Microsoft iLoo — Microsoft says that the iLoo (the internet toilet) was just a hoax.
Posted: Tue May 13, 2003.   Comments (0)
Push-Button Bugles — The military has a problem: not enough bugle players to play taps at all the military funerals. Therefore, they came up with the solution of bugles implanted with electronic chips that contain a recording of taps. No skill is required to play them, beyond being able to flip a switch. Now a group is protesting the use of the fake bugles, and is calling on bugle players throughout the nation to assist at military funerals: www.buglesacrossamerica.org
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2003.   Comments (1)
The Solomon Stone — image Scientists puzzle over the mystery of the Solomon stone found in Israel. As the London Times puts it: it "is either a state-of-the-art hoax or an ancient Hebrew inscription - more than 2,000 years old - confirming the Biblical account of Solomon's temple." Many people would dearly want this to be true. So in such cases the burden of evidence should be set even higher, to counter the wish-fulfillment impulse.
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2003.   Comments (0)
FBI chases fake terrorists — The FBI got fooled into thinking that 5 terrorists were on the loose around New Year's Eve.
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2003.   Comments (0)
Chavez Tricked — Yesterday there was this story about radio pranksters calling up Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and tricking him into believing that he was talking to Fidel Castro.
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2003.   Comments (0)
Clonaid — Recently the controversy surrounding Clonaid's claims that they've created a clone has been the big thing in the world of hoaxes. I got quoted in this Washington Post article about the situation.
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2003.   Comments (0)
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2002.   Comments (0)
Applebees e-mail hoax — A lot of people have been getting this e-mail in their inboxes:

My name is Bill Palmer, founder of Applebees. In an attempt to get our name out to more people in the rural communities where we are not currently located, we are offering a $50 gift certificate to anyone who forwards this email to 9 of their friends. Just send this email to them and you will receive an email back with a confirmation number to claim your gift certificate. Sincerely Bill Palmer Founder of Applebees Visit us at: www.applebees.com. Hey guys, DONT DELETE THIS EMAIL It really works, I tried it and got my Gift certificate confirmation number in 3 minutes.

Yes, it's a hoax! As confirmed on Applebees own website. There's no way anyone is going to pay people money just for forwarding an e-mail.
Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2002.   Comments (4)
Nigerian Bank Scam Sendup — Laddery on the High Seas. A funny send-up of the Nigerian Bank Scam, in which a couple of lads string-along a scammer.
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2002.   Comments (1)
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