List of hoaxes's theme is one that has captured the attention of millions of people around the world. For a long time now, List of hoaxes has been the subject of debate, discussion and deep analysis. Its impact on society, culture and the economy is undeniable, and its relevance remains evident today. In this article, we will explore the many facets of List of hoaxes, from its origin and evolution to its influence on different aspects of everyday life. Through a thorough examination, we hope to shed light on this phenomenon and provide a clear and concise view of its importance to the modern world.
These types of hoaxes are semi-comical or private "sting operations" intended to expose people. They usually encourage people to act foolishly or credulously by falling for patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality.
The British television series Brass Eye, which encouraged celebrities to pledge their support to nonexistent causes to highlight their willingness to do anything for publicity.
Fuckart & Pimp, a hoax exhibition at London's Decima gallery which purported to be the show of a female artist having sex with clients to consummate the sale of her paintings, created a worldwide media scandal but was later revealed to be a hoax.
The Great Wall of China hoax of 1899, a fake news article describing bids by American businesses on a contract to demolish the Great Wall of China and construct a road in its place. The story was reprinted by a number of newspapers.
Johann Hari, journalist for The Independent, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and other media organizations, who committed acts of plagiarism, fabricated sources and quotes, and posted malicious comments to social media and edits to the Wikipedia biographies of his critics and opponents. Hari was forced to return the Orwell Prize (which he won in 2008) after it was withdrawn by the Orwell Prize Council.
Edgar Allan Poe created a hoax of moon travel in "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall," as well as The Balloon-Hoax, a hoax newspaper article about the first transatlantic balloon trip (1844).
"A Rape on Campus", an article written by Sabrina Erdely and published by Rolling Stone magazine that reported an alleged gangrape of a female college student by college men in graphic detail, but was later found to have been entirely fabricated by the "victim" and the journalist.
San Serriffe, a fictional island nation made the subject of an extensive report created for April Fools' Day 1977 by Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Other hoaxes
This list does not include hoax articles published on or around April 1, a long list of which can be found in the List of April Fools' Day jokes article.
A–C
Cedric Allingham, a fictitious author who wrote a book about meeting the pilot of a Martian spacecraft. Allingham was created by British astronomer Patrick Moore and his friend Peter Davies.
The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, a book about the purported sexual enslavement of a nun.
The balloon boy hoax, about a boy reported to be traveling uncontrollably at high altitude in a homemade helium balloon, but was later discovered to be hiding in the attic of his house.
Franz Bibfeldt, a fictitious theologian originally invented to provide a footnote for a divinity school student, which later became an in-joke among academic theologians.
Pierre Brassau, a pseudonym for a chimpanzee whose art was exhibited in a gallery under the presumption that Brassau was a real human artist. The chimpanzee received positive reviews from several critics.
The Cardiff Giant, a hoax of a hoax; P. T. Barnum had a replica made because he could not obtain the "genuine" hoax item.
The CERN ritual, a supposed occult sacrifice on the grounds of CERN.
China Under the Empress Dowager, co-authored by Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet using a forged diary as a major source, with a manuscript of Backhouse's memoirs also being mostly fiction. He also falsely represented himself as representing the Chinese Imperial Court in business deals and donated forged books to the Bodleian Library.
Crop circles; English pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claimed they started the phenomenon, and hundreds of "copycat" circles have been fabricated since by other hoaxers.
Going Places, a public media debate on the nature of art provoked by University of Leeds art students pretending to take a week-long vacation in Spain, then presenting the vacation as their end-of-year project.
The Gorgeous Guy, an apparently motiveless hoax which gained the perpetrator some media attention.
Grávida de Taubaté, a Brazilian woman who pretended to be pregnant with quadruplets in 2012 and gained national media attention before her pregnancy was revealed to be bogus.
Hanxin, a DSPmicrochip claimed to be developed completely by Chen Jin himself, later found to be a Motorola microchip with its original trademark sanded away.
Tania Head (Alicia Esteve Head), who claimed to be a 9/11 survivor and received widespread media attention.
Hurricane Shark or Street Shark, a recurring hoax appearing to show a shark swimming in a flooded urban area, usually after a hurricane. A 2022 video of such a shark or large fish, however, proved to be real.
Lenin was a mushroom, a television hoax by Soviet musician Sergey Kuryokhin and reporter Sergey Sholokhov. It was first broadcast on 17 May 1991 on Leningrad Television.
The Ligma-Johnson hoax, hatched by two amateur actors pretending to be recently fired Twitter employees.
The Mars hoax (also called the Two Moons hoax), a yearly hoax started in 2003 that falsely claims that at a certain date, Mars will appear as large as a full moon.
The Masked Marauders, a non-existent album "reviewed" as a prank by Rolling Stone magazine. The album was alleged to feature a jam session between Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. Shortly thereafter, Rolling Stone hired several celebrity impersonators and session musicians to record the album.
Eva and Franco Mattes have perpetrated a number of hoaxes, including the fake Vatican web site "vaticano.org" and the fictitious artist Darko Maver.
The Microsoft acquisition hoax, a 1994 hoax claiming that Microsoft had acquired the Roman Catholic Church. The hoax is considered to be the first hoax to reach a mass audience on the Internet. Despite debunking by Microsoft, similar stories about Microsoft and other companies implementing unrealistic acquisitions continued.
The Miscovich emeralds hoax, an attempt by a diver to pass modern emeralds off as treasures from a sunken Spanish galleon.
The missing day hoax, a piece of fundamentalistevangelical propaganda claiming that the planets in the Solar System were found to be halted from orbiting the Sun for 24 hours in the ancient past, supposedly reflecting the time when God extended a day for Joshua.
The Maggie Murphy hoax, a hoax that claimed that a farmer grew an oversized potato.
N–P
Naked Came the Stranger: a 1969 novel by a group of American journalists attempting to satisfy, and thus expose, what they perceived as degraded standards in popular American literature; it succeeded, selling about 90,000 copies before the hoax was revealed.
Ompax spatuloides, a "fish" supposedly discovered in 1872 in Australia as a practical joke on Karl Theodor Staiger, which also fooled Francis de Laporte de Castelnau into writing a scientific description of the "species". It was made of a mullet, an eel, and the head of a platypus.
Our First Time, an early popularized Internet hoax involving two purported 18-year-olds who claimed they would live broadcast themselves losing their virginity.
The Persian Princess, a mummy of an alleged princess which surfaced in October 2000. It proved to be an archaeological forgery and possibly a modern murder victim.
The Piltdown Man, whose remains were purported to be "the missing link" between apes and humans.
Tamara Rand's prediction of the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, which was actually made after the fact (Randi 1982:329).
Redcore, a Chinese browser purported to be developed in-house, but was revealed to be based on Chromium.
"Rejecting Jane", an article that chronicles publishing houses' rejection of the opening chapters of Jane Austen novels submitted to them under a pseudonym by British writer David Lassman.
The Report from Iron Mountain, a literary hoax claiming that the United States government had concluded that peace was not in the economy's best interest.
The Rosenhan experiment, involving the admission of healthy "pseudopatients" to twelve psychiatric hospitals.
The skvader, a form of winged hare supposedly indigenous to Sweden.
The Sloot Digital Coding System, a method of digital compression devised by Dutchman Jan Sloot allegedly capable of compressing an entire film into 8 kilobytes.
Space Cadets, a 2005 TV programme by Channel 4 in which participants were deceived into believing they were on a five-day trip in low Earth orbit.
Spectra, a 1916 publication heralding a hoax poetry movement.
Stardrive 2000, a 1986 radio advertising hoax in Portland, Oregon to promote the effectiveness of radio advertising by advertising a fictional automobile.
Fool's errand, a type of practical joke where a newcomer to a group, typically in a workplace context, is given an impossible or nonsensical task by older or more experienced members of the group.