MetaFilter posts tagged with hoaxes and pranks

Richard Whitehurst's Rape Tunnel

acb — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:30:57 -0800

An article in an art-related blog recently mentioned a new installation by a Columbus, Ohio conceptual artist named Richard Whitehurst: an exhibit reachable only by a tunnel, growing progressively narrower, with the artist waiting to rape anybody who attempted to pass.

I've constructed a 22 ft tunnel out of plywood that leads into the project room. There is no way in or out of the project room except for this tunnel. As you travel through the tunnel, it gets smaller and smaller, making it so that you have to crawl and put yourself in a submissive position in order to reach the tunnel's destination. At the end of the tunnel the subject will find me waiting in the project room and I'll try to the best of my ability to overpower and rape the person who crawls through.

I want to make it clear that I plan to make the experience as unpleasant as I possibly can to anyone who dares to crawl through the tunnel. I will try to the best of my ability to make them regret their decision.

The article, which was picked up by Gawker and spread from there, revealed that the Rape Tunnel was the sequel to an earlier work, the Punch-You-In-The-Face Tunnel, which Whitehurst constructed as a reaction to frustration with the current state of art, and for which he is still involved in a lawsuit with a model over her broken nose (which he seems pleased with, stating that, unlike other artists' work, he "is still making an impact on this young lady's life"). Or would have been, had the story not been a hoax; in reality, neither Richard Whitehurst nor his interviewer actually existed. The blog which posted the original article seems to have been overwhelmed by traffic.

Culture Jamming and Reality Hacking

netbros — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:07:43 -0800

The Art of the Prank offers insights, information, news and discussions about pranks, hoaxes, culture jamming and reality hacking around the world. Includes topics such as The History of Pranks, The Prank As Art, and the Sociology and Psychology of Pranks. Get pranking. Recent posts include: Mexico 17 Brazil 0 soccer match, The Pynchon Hoax, and a Microsoft Viral stunt.

Praising Abel, Raising Cain

jonp72 — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:30:21 -0800

Alan Abel is a self-described "professional hoaxer" active since 1959. His classic hoaxes include the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, the 1964 presidential campaign of Jewish housewife Yetta Bronstein, a topless string quartet (slightly NSFW), and the wedding of Idi Amin. He also released two mockumentaries long before Spinal Tap was a gleam in Christopher Guest's eye. Now Abel's daughter Jenny has released a documentary tribute to her father, Abel Raises Cain, which has some great You Tube clips, including 1970s talk show staple, Omar's School for Beggars. (some clips may be NSFW)

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.

Punk the National Review

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 14:09:05 -0800

Punk the National Review - a potentially-petty exercise in journalistic credibility. The National Review has recently engaged in printing anonymous e-mails from readers who "used to know" the Democratic candidates and just happen to have damaging stories about them. Blogger Ted Barlow is offering a $10 Amazon gift certificate to anyone who can get their anonymous story published. "If you possess an email address and an eye-opening story, you've passed the rigorous fact-checking that has made National Review and the Penthouse Forum world-famous."

April's Fools day, and the origins thereof.

taumeson — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 11:15:58 -0800

Anybody know the origin of April Fool's day? We already have a post about the greatest hoaxes of all time, but doesn't anybody know WHY we hoax and trick? I won't tell you why here....but I find it funny, what with the current jingoism and all, that it comes from France...after you digest that first link, read more at urbanlegends.com.

Pay no attention to the shooting.

jonz — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:25:42 -0800

As a brief distraction from all the death and destruction, let's head over to the museum of hoaxes, where we'll find the top 100 April Fool's day pranks of all time. Good luck with your own respective hoaxing.

MiguelCardoso — Sat, 30 Mar 2002 21:15:15 -0800

Are You Ready For April Fool's Day? Better read the Museum of Hoaxes's March Newsletter to find out. Certain pranks are already in progress, while other recent hoaxes - of which at least one was seriously discussed here on MetaFilter - remain fresh in our minds. Real aficionados and sleuths, of course, will head straight for the hoax websites pages, where some seem too good - or too awful - not to be true. In Southern Europe, April Fool's Day is known as Liars' Day and everyone is entitled - nay, compelled! - to invent at least one big whopper. Any ideas?

Hildago — Wed, 14 Nov 2001 12:37:35 -0800

Fake or Foto? Try to guess which are photographs, and which have been cleverly computer-generated. Sure it's a game, and it's interesting on that level, but I was wondering if anyone was seeing any patterns in the kind of objects they were able to recognize as one or the other. I know I did.