MetaFilter posts tagged with hoaxes and hoax

Helen Duncan was the last woman to be convicted of witchcraft in Britain. This was in 1944.

Kattullus — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:21:58 -0800

Helen Duncan was the last woman to be convicted of witchcraft in Britain. This was in 1944. British authorities "were alarmed by reports that she had disclosed - allegedly via contacts with the spirit world - the sinking of two British battleships long before they became public." Her descendants still smart from the trial and there is a campaign to pardon Mrs Duncan, who some consider a martyred medium who could regurgitate ectoplasm out of her mouth. More than a decade before her trial legendary psychic researcher Harry Price exposed Mrs Duncan as a fraud in his essay The Cheese-Cloth Worshippers. If you want to judge for yourself you can take a look at the photographs Mr Price took of a séance performed by Mrs Duncan.

Congratulations!

Blue Stone — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:32:31 -0800

Clive James on Scams and Hoaxes. "If the flim-flam man is sensible enough to offer you a return of only twice as much, the scam might even work. I was once defrauded of a heartbreakingly-large sum by a fellow writer who was smart enough to offer no return at all. True to her word, she didn't return my money either."

Burnd down Wharton's house. PSYCHE!

Lentrohamsanin — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 10:54:18 -0800

The missive, on paper decorated with roses and butterflies addresses a Mr. Pulsifer, and implores him to "burn down Edith Wharton's house." Algonquin press goes just a touch overboard in their publicity for a new novel.

A Swift Bickerstaff, sir!

OmieWise — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 08:37:02 -0800

Jonathan Swift and April Fool's. In March of 1708 Swift published a pamphlet (under the name Isaac Bickerstaff) predicting the death of a popular astrological charlatan (John Partridge) who had predicted the demise of the COE. On March 29th, Swift published an account of the fulfillment of the prophecy and of the man's death, convincing people, despite Partridge's protestations, that the man claiming to be Partridge was an imposter. The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers.
Ben Franklin used a similar prank when he started Poor Richard's.
HP Lovecraft used the name Isaac Bikerstaff Jr., in 1914, when attacking "a quack named Hartmann, a devotee of the pseudo-science of Astrology."

sniggle: to fish for eels by thrusting a baited hook or needle into their hiding places

anastasiav — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 10:45:27 -0800

sniggle.net :: calls itself a 'Culture Jammer's Encyclopedia' -- its a fabulous compendium of forgeries, fakes, hoaxes, counterfeiting, spoofs, pseudoscience, and just plain weird stuff. Perfect fodder for killing time on a Friday afternoon.

April Fools

badstone — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 11:00:01 -0800

Top 100 April Fools Hoaxes of all time. Also, April Fools on the Net - a history of newsgroup April Fools posts.

luke — Sun, 07 Jan 2001 18:53:44 -0800

Found in today's Times: It takes some time to wind up, but this could be the finest and most thorough Internet hoax ever, at least that I am aware of.

tiaka — Fri, 05 Jan 2001 06:23:30 -0800

Wacky! even Kooky, what do you think it is? It seems that these days every other post has something to do with politics or dotcoms, Art Bell is coming back and it would be fun to do something of his range. How about best/funniest ghost/supernatural pic you can find on the net and then your explanation. There was mine.