Is anyone really named Penis? BabyCenter.com, the self-proclaimed "#1 parenting and pregnancy digital resource," claims there were seven baby boys in the United States named Penis in 2012. But when Ryan Jacobs set out to find them, he couldn't locate a single one of them. [Pacific Standard]
Do you want to buy a haunted house? Gwynne Watkins interviews a realtor who works at Past Life Homes, a firm that specializes in selling homes with "stigmatized pasts," which is a euphemistic way of saying that they're haunted. [vulture.com]
10 of the greatest hoaxes? That's what the Herald Sun claims their list represents. But it's yet another list that reads more like '10 hoaxes that came up on a google search'. [Herald Sun]
Nazi Party Museum Hoax. A letter received by homes and businesses in Utrecht, informing them that a museum detailing the history of the Dutch Nazi movement will soon open, has been called "extremely odd," since no such museum is planned. [DutchNews.nl]
Swiss-Army-knife Trout. A picture of a trout swimming in Switzerland's Lake Blausee with a Swiss Army knife stuck in its head is real, says the lake manager, who also adds the fish was later captured and put out of its misery. [NY Daily News]
The true origin of Count Dracula. There's no evidence that Bram Stoker modeled Count Dracula on Vlad the Impaler, despite current widespread belief to the contrary. According to Stoker's notes, he chose the name because "DRACULA in Wallachian language means DEVIL." [io9.com]
Misinformation about a misinformation study. Indiana University's "Truthy Project" (funded by the NSF) is designed to study how information and misinformation spreads through social media. But it's now become the subject of a conservative rumor claiming that it's actually a government project "to monitor the activities of those who oppose its policies." [motherboard]
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