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Hoaxes & Pranks

Anome_ said:
Ern Malley is quite well known in Australia, because of the fuss caused when it was exposed.

For pre-web references, how about a copy of the book of his alleged poems? In the National Library of Australia's catalogue.
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/748589

Trust me, it is a real hoax, and it was the inspiration (along with a number of other literary hoaxes) for My Life as a Fake.
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Thanks for this. The pages devoted to him do seem suspiciously post-modern but I did find one or two of the references to copies of the poems in libraries and indeed on book-search sites. The Carey novel seems to have reminded people of the case, rather than being the source. I was imagining a conspiracy of surrealists planting evidence everywhere. Too much exposure to the Rennes-le-Chateau mythos. :oops:
 
I had friend oncewho wasnt really my friend but some poorly bastard who decided to piss his nans cup where she keept her false teeth,
 
cranionaut said:
I had friend oncewho wasnt really my friend but some poorly bastard who decided to piss his nans cup where she keept her false teeth,
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Blimey! :shock: I wouldn't do that to Thatcher. Well, maybe I would.
 
yeah, this guy was a scum bag though - after i started to get goodat the sport he introduced me to ( im talking almost world class standard ) he started spreading rumors i was gay.
 
Britain's reviled bankers and MPs pour their hearts out to spoof letter writer
Sir Fred Goodwin, the former banker, is among several unpopular public figures who replied to spoof letters sent under the name of Colin Nugent, a 62-year-old retired teacher from Pinner, Middlesex.
By Robert Mendick
Published: 7:05AM GMT 27 Dec 2009

The only problem for Sir Fred is that Colin Nugent doesn't actually exist. Neither for that matter does his wife, Beryl, his son, David, and daughter-in-law, Samantha, nor his beloved granddaughter, Sophie.

The Nugents were dreamed up by Geoff Atkinson, an acclaimed comedy producer and writer, who in his idle hours has spent the past year firing off spoof letters to Britain's beleaguered bankers, politicians and captains of industry. His missives and their often touching responses appear in a book published this week.

"I hope that this note finds you and Mrs Nugent well, and enjoying the summer. Your friendship and support mean a great deal to me, and I write to say again how much I appreciate them," wrote Sir Fred at the end of June, as he sat holed up at his home in Edinburgh.

He sent the Nugents flowers by way of thanks, and as recently as a fortnight ago a Christmas card. Mr Nugent had sent him flowers (twice), a model of Sir Fred's favourite car, and chocolate coins.

The first inkling Sir Fred et al will have that they have been duped – often in the nicest possible way – is when they read it in the Sunday Telegraph.

"I hope Sir Fred sees this book as healing rather than ridiculing," explained Atkinson, 54. "I hope he sits there and chuckles. He is in good company with other correspondents like Alan Greenspan and Mervyn King. On the other hand he did preside over this colossal banking crash. He is not completely innocent."

The first of 200 Nugent letters were sent out at the beginning of the year with varying success. In all, about half were ignored while another quarter never got past the gatekeepers to the great, the good and the ugly, receiving standard replies from secretaries and administrators.

But about 50 letters somehow touched a chord with their intended targets among them Lord Coe, Lord Rothschild, Marks & Spencer's Sir Stuart Rose, bankers Matt Ridley (Northern Rock) and Lord Stevenson (HBOS) and a string of MPs including David Miliband, Alan Johnson, Douglas Hogg and Anthony Steen. Perhaps feeling alone and unloved, often embattled recipients appeared not to have spotted Colin Usborne Nugent was a fiction despite the odd clue – such as the suggestion to Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England and an Aston Villa fan, that the footballer Gabriel Agbonlahor be appointed to the Bank's monetary policy committee.

Nugent advises in the autumn: "Stick Agbonlahor in the hole at the monthly inflation rates meeting and see what he comes up with. Fast, fiery, full of ideas, be sure to bring a footballer's brain to the impenetrable corners of monetary policy... Send out a message the common man can get his head around, you're the team that always turns in a performance, is rooted in the heart of England, and doesn't need Arab bail-outs to win the silverware."

Mr King appears to like the idea but stops short of implementing it. "I am quite taken with your suggestion that we invite Gabby Agbonlahor to join the Monetary Policy Committee. But I think he would be wise not to drive into the bank in his current motor car," replies Mr King in a letter dated October 13.

Bankers and businessmen were not Nugent's only targets.

As the MPs' expenses saga unfolded, Nugent, a kindlier version of that great spoof letter writer Henry Root from the 1980s, showed sympathy for them, too. Incidentally, Atkinson was a friend of Root's creator William Donaldson.

And so Nugent writes to the Tory MP Sir Peter Viggers of "duck house" fame. "Okay I gather the ducks didn't like the place but that's not the point," opines Nugent. "You've spent public money (a) supporting an artist in his work and (b) protecting wildlife... Our national obsession with finger pointing means you've been run through the mangle and become a lightning conductor for the great unwashed."

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... riter.html

:D

More here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/cult ... ugent.html
 
This comedy idea refuses to die! The legacy of Henry Root lives on...
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8436535.stm

Singer Van Morrison denies 'unfounded' baby story

Veteran singer Van Morrison has denied reports that he had become a father again, adding they were "completely and utterly without foundation".

The Belfast-born 64-year-old said he had been the victim of an internet hacking attack that had placed "falsehoods" on his official website.

BBC News was one of several outlets to report the hoax as fact.

"The comments which appeared on my website did not come from me," he said, in a statement issued to the media.

The singer said he had asked his management team to carry out an immediate investigation, adding it was the second time his website had been hacked in the last three months.

He went on to say, "for the avoidance of all doubt and in the interests of clarity", that he was "very happily married to Michelle Morrison, with whom I have two wonderful children".

'Alarm bells'

A statement posted on the singer's website on Tuesday said he had had a son named George Ivan Morrison III with a woman named Gigi Lee.

A friend of Morrison's has since told the BBC News website that the singer had never heard of Ms Lee.

"One of the things that triggered alarm bells was the language used in the 'statement'," said John Saunders.

"It was so unlike him to make an announcement like this."

Mr Saunders, founder of Dublin-based public relations company Fleishman-Hillard, said it was he who informed Morrison of the original reports.

"I hesitated before making contact, but my wife said you had better do something," he said.

Morrison, whose hits include Brown Eyed Girl and Moondance, celebrated his 40th year in the music industry in 2008.

He first found fame in the 1960s as a member of the band Them, before embarking on a solo career.
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I don't know if it's funny or frightening that this was all over the news a couple of days ago when a simple check could have nipped it in the bud and saved a lot of embarrassment. Not to mention a lot of satisfaction for the hacker.
 
rynner2 said:
Uldis Nulle
Girts Stinkulis :)
Dainis Ozols
Sigita Pildava
Inga Vetere
Asta Pellinen-Wannberg
Henning Haack
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Are you sure the didn't make these names up?
 
A friend of Morrison's has since told the BBC News website that the singer had never heard of Ms Lee.
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Who's hoaxing who?

Tour manager Gigi Lee claims to have Van Morrison's baby
The mystery of Van Morrison’s “fourth child” at the age of 64 has deepened further.
By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 7:52PM GMT 03 Jan 2010

The child’s mother, who the Belfast-born singer claimed never to have met, was said on Sunday to be his tour manager and the director of 14 of his companies.

Fans were surprised last week when a message appeared on the singer’s website, which said that he and a woman named Gigi Lee were “proud to announce” the birth of a new son, George Ivan Morrison III.

News of “Little Van”, said to be the “spitting image of his daddy”, also seemed to throw the media-shy artist himself into some confusion.

At first a spokesman confirmed that Miss Lee, an American, was Morrison’s manager and the executive producer of a recent live performance DVD.

But two days later, John Saunders, a family friend and public relations executive deputed to represent Van Morrison, said that the singer had never heard of Miss Lee.

In a statement, the singer added that the claims on his website were “completely and utterly without foundation” and that he was “very happily married to Michelle Morrison, with whom I have two wonderful children”.

Morrison, the singer of Brown Eyed Girl and Moondance, said that he had asked his “management team to carry out an immediate investigation” into the source of the website posting.

Such an investigation may not take long, as it was claimed in a Sunday newspaper that the management team included Miss Lee. 8)

It was reported that the 42-year-old Texan woman was listed at Companies House in London as the director of 14 of his production companies and was also his tour manager.

The Companies House listings were reportedly made last April, just weeks before she told friends that she was pregnant.

Lawyers for the singer told the newspaper that it had been “incorrectly” stated that Van Morrison did not know Miss Lee.

While she has yet to comment publicly on the paternity of her newborn son, Miss Lee told a close friend in an email last June that she was “having a little Van”.

Miss Lee told the newspaper that she had no comment to make on the controversy at the moment but added: “I will do.”

She reportedly met Van Morrison when Rosy Hall, a friend and the sister of Jerry Hall, then wife of Sir Mick Jagger, invited her to a London party thrown by Ronnie Wood.

Carla Higdon, a friend of Miss Lee, said she would regularly make trips to London or wherever Van Morrison was staying.

Miss Higdon also told the newspaper that her friend had claimed the singer had given her $500,000 (£300,000) to buy a new home shortly after she became pregnant.

Her two Mercedes cars and a pile of empty nappy boxes sat outside the three-bedroomed house in Dallas over the weekend.

Scott Foundas, a journalist for LA Weekly, said he had met Van Morrison with Miss Lee several times and that the singer’s PR man recently emailed him to say that she had had her baby.

Van Morrison met his second wife, Michelle Rocca, a former Miss Ireland and Dublin socialite, in 1992.

He also has a 39-year-old daughter, the singer Shana Morrison, from an earlier marriage to Janet “Planet” Rigsbee, an American.

Calls to the singer’s representatives were not returned on Sunday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -baby.html
 
Existential crisis as Lévy quotes fictional philosopher
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fro ... 14285.html

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris

Wed, Feb 10, 2010

THERE’S NOTHING unusual about a new book by French celebrity philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy causing a media stir or provoking anguished debate in left-bank intellectual circles. But never has his work given rise to an existential question quite like this one.

In his latest title, Lévy launches a scathing attack on the 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, calling him “raving mad” and a “fake”.

The book, De la guerre en philosophie (On War in Philosophy) , has been greeted with the customary rapture, and its ubiquitous author has been a fixture on television and in the press all week.

In framing his case, Lévy – BHL to the Parisian cognoscenti – drew on the writings of the little-known 20th century thinker Jean-Baptiste Botul – author of The Sex Life of Immanuel Kant , and a man Lévy has cited in lectures.

The problem? Botul never existed. He was invented by a journalist from the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné 10 years ago as an elaborate joke. And since the hoax was revealed, BHL has become a laughing stock.

“As it turns out, it was a hoax,” admitted the author in a blog post after the blunder was spotted by a journalist from Le Nouvel Observateur .

The man who wrote in Botul’s name, literary journalist Frédéric Pagès, has made little attempt to keep it a secret.

Botul’s Wikipedia entry describes him as “a fictitious writer” whose seminal work on the sex life of the 18th century German philosopher was followed by a pamphlet titled La Métaphysique du Mou ( The Metaphysics of the Flabby ).

Lévy, a philosopher with a penchant for elaborate hair, open-necked shirts and pronouncements on every conceivable subject, evidently missed the joke.

In his new book, he cites a series of lectures Botul supposedly gave to “the neo-Kantians of Paraguay” after the war, in which he said that “their hero was an abstract fake, a pure spirit of pure appearance”.

Speaking after the error came to light, Lévy said he had always admired The Sex Life of Immanuel Kant and that its arguments were sound.

He conceded that it was “a truly brilliant and very believable hoax” by a journalist “who remains a good philosopher all the same”.

Doubtless enjoying the moment, Pagès said: “It has never been firmly established that Botul didn’t exist and it cannot therefore be ruled out that one day history will prove Bernard-Henri Lévy right.”
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Little Billy's letters dupe the great and the good
When 10-year-old Billy Geerhart wanted to know the answers to life's pressing questions, he went straight to the top.
By Anita Singh
Published: 8:37AM GMT 12 Mar 2010

How to settle a tree-house dispute with his sister? He wrote to Henry Kissinger. The best items on the Mcdonald's menu? He sought the advice of a Supreme Court judge. Billy even wrote to Larry Flynt, the pornography publisher, asking if he produced a version for kids. Mr Flynt told him to read the Sears catalogue instead and "you'll be 18 before you know it".

His letters drew responses from some of America's greatest minds, who were touched by the innocent questions handwritten on school notepaper. But all was not as it seemed – because "Little Billy" was actually a middle-aged prankster who spent 15 years duping the rich and famous.

Mr Geerhart began his wheeze in the mid-1990s, when he was an unemployed writer in Los Angeles. He has collected the correspondence in a book, Little Billy's Letters, which is published this week.

Those who took the time to reply include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who answered the McDonald's question with praise for the Egg McMuffin but added: "I like almost everything there."

Henry Kissinger and James Baker, former US secretaries of state, gave their blessing to a handwritten, one-year "treaty" barring Little Billy's sister "Connie" from his tree-house, although Baker suggested it be extended to two years.

Robert Shapiro, OJ Simpson's defence lawyer, commiserated over Little Billy's wrongful conviction for damaging Connie's doll, and advised him to seek forensic evidence. Sarah Palin's father, Chuck Heath, responded on her behalf to a letter asking if the boy could hunt wolves with her by air. "No wolf hunting from helicopters here ... It is done in Russia, though."

Attorney General Janet Reno, writing to settle the issue of whether Batman or the Terminator is the better crime fighter, said: "I read Batman comics when I was your age so I know of his efforts to fight crime better than I know of the Terminator's work."

In a letter to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Little Billy asked: "My parents said I can gamble when I get older. What is the best game to play to get enough money for a speedboat?" The respondent gently recommended that he explore other ways of getting rich: "The best way to get a speedboat is to do well in school, so that when you are grown up you will be smart enough to earn money to buy your own boat."

A missive to drinks company Anheuser-Busch, asking if they made "a beer for kids", prompted worried executives to send a brochure to his parents on the dangers of under-age drinking.

Some of the letters were to darker characters. David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam killer who murdered six women in New York in the 1970s, told Billy not to "do self-destructive things" and spoke of his grief and guilt.

Susan Atkins, a convicted murderer and former member of the Manson family, wrote a lengthy reply when Little Billy praised her for being a "cool" person. "I'm in prison, Billy. That isn't what I call being very smart or very cool."

Little Billy also canvassed the opinions of various religious leaders, including the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney. "Dear Archbishop, My parents have allowed me to choose my own religion. Could you tell me what's cool about Catholics? My friend Eddie says you drink blood which sounds pretty cool." He received a kind reply on behalf of Cardinal Mahoney, explaining the concept of the Eucharist. 8)

After writing to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to verify "if you get to wear cool underwear and have extra wives", Geerhart received a visit from Mormon missionaries, who left disappointed after failing to meet their potential new recruit.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -good.html
 
A firend of mine sent me another link last night:

'Little Billy' punks VIPs in wide-eyed letters

WASHINGTON – "Little Billy" was in a jam: His parents blamed him for dismembering his sister's doll, but the dog did it. How could he clear his name?

He scribbled a note to Robert Shapiro, the high-priced O.J. Simpson attorney, who counseled him to gather forensic evidence, examine the doll's body for tooth marks or dog saliva, or find an alibi witness who would get him off the hook. No charge for the advice.

Advice from such a high place was not unusual for Billy. Over the years diplomats, politicians, celebrities — even notorious criminals — offered guidance in response to the grade-schooler's handwritten inquiries.

It was all a big setup. Little Billy was actually grown-up Bill Geerhart, punking the famous and infamous by writing letters to them asking questions out of the mouths of babes. Their correspondence back — humorous, head-scratching, poignant — is compiled in a book, "Little Billy's Letters," out this week.

Geerhart, latest in a line of hoax letter-writers to fool public figures over the years, collected the letters starting in the mid-1990s while he was killing time as an unemployed writer in Los Angeles.

Most of the letters in the book go back to a time before e-mails took over written communication. But some are recent. In 2008, Sarah Palin's dad, Chuck Heath — handling the deluge of mail for his daughter, the Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate — declined to take Billy hunting wolves by air. "No wolf hunting from helicopters here," scribbles Heath.

For career advice, Billy — who was leaning toward convenience store clerk because he would have access to video games on the job — polls those in other fields, including assisted-suicide figure Dr. Jack Kevorkian. From his prison cell, Kevorkian responds, "sometimes I wish I was a 7-Eleven clerk!"

As Billy mounts a campaign for third-grade class president, he gets good-luck wishes from former President Gerald Ford and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

Less civic-mindedly, Billy writes to brewer Anheuser-Busch asking "if there is a beer for kids" and asks Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt if there's a version of his publication for the pint-sized. No dice.

"Hang in there — you'll be 18 before you know it," Flynt writes. "Until then, you should read the Sears & Roebuck catalog." An Anheuser-Busch executive rats on him, sending his parents a brochure on how to talk to kids about drinking.

Shapiro, part of the legal "dream team" that won O.J. Simpson's acquittal in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, was full of ideas when Billy wrote about wrongly taking the rap for the destroyed doll.

"Is there any forensic evidence that will support your theory that the dog killed the doll?" Shapiro replied. "Were any scraps of doll clothing found near his dog house, perhaps? How about tooth marks on the doll's remains (assuming there were remains)? If so, a good forensic dentist should be able to match them to the dog." A witness could prove Billy's innocence or a DNA test could confirm the presence of dog saliva on the corpse, Shapiro wrote.

When Billy ponders whether to drop out of school, David Berkowitz — the Son of Sam slayer who killed six women in a late-1970s rampage in New York City — tells him "don't do self-destructive things" and opens up about his own grief and guilt. Murderous cult leader Charles Manson merely beefs that he's not getting his Los Angeles Times in prison.

Seeking the wise counsel of retired diplomats for how to stop incursions by his sister "Connie" into his treehouse, Billy gets former secretaries of state James Baker and Henry Kissinger to bless a handwritten, one-year "treaty" that would keep Connie out — though Baker thought the pact should last two years.

The ever-curious Billy also asks Supreme Court justices what food they like at McDonald's, learning that then-Justice Sandra Day O'Connor favors the Big Mac; colleague Clarence Thomas replies, "I like almost everything there." Then-Justice Harry Blackmun advises: "Almost anything they put out is acceptable. I like to go to Roy Rogers, too, for a beef sandwich. But I hope most of all that you eat something more than what these fast-food places put out."

Little Billy's exploits once caught up with Geerhart, who now is a Los Angeles record producer and curator of a Cold War pop culture Web site.

As Billy contemplated which religion to join, he asked officials at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to verify that "you get to wear cool underwear and have extra wives." The inquiry earned Geerhart a visit from a pair of Mormon missionaries wanting to meet the youngster. Geerhart concocted an excuse for Billy's absence and dutifully snapped a picture of the tie-clad missionaries in his disheveled apartment.

Naturally, he includes the photo in the book.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_little_billy_s_letters
 
This is funny -

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to consider raising the age of consent for male homosexuals to the age of 21 years.

Notable signatories so far include:

Dave Phillips
Nathaniel Pilchard
Lord Huffington of Feltchingham
Bertha Bumfluff of Twattown
Bumshagger McSpunklover
John Eoin Douglas
William Welling-Dowd
Lady Cumslurp- Bucketminge
Dick Upmy-CHhocolatestarfish
Jenny Taylor
Community Support Officer Bonnie McFlange
Master of BunHoles
Ben Dover
Master MohamE-stim Bukkaka
Bumface McGoaty
Phil McCrakkin
Ben Doone
Cara Pettmunscher
Johnny Twinkle
Fukem Yung
Slob Onyacock
Hugh Janus
Rectinton Turdburgler
Princess Diana's ghost
Irma Bottymarble
Bryan Wybrow
Englbert Blojob McSuckmunch
Mary R. Slicker
Baron Von AIDS Monkey
Viscount Spunkeye McSplitcraic
Guy Jantick-Penis
smelivn-my Bottemley
Scott Fugly Chuff Mathew
Muffy Diver
Willy Tastegood LLB (Hons)
Sir Spaffalot
Willy Ramsbottom
Bitchy McAids-Bucket
Stephen Kawking;s-Voicebox
Suckmy Fatone
Phil MCavity
todd bugglers
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:lol:
 
rynner said:
Chinese officials fake pictures of rare tiger
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 30/06/2008

China has sacked government officials over a set of fake photographs that local authorities claimed were proof that a highly-endangered tiger was alive and well.
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Follow-up: -

China farmer avoids jail in fake tiger photo trial

Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:15am GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A farmer in northern China found guilty of doctoring photos of an endangered tiger after collecting a cash reward from wildlife authorities, has been handed a lighter sentence on appeal, local media said on Tuesday.

Zhou Zhenglong, a 54-year-old farmer from a mountainous county in northern Shaanxi province, was awarded a 20,000 yuan bonus last year, after he produced pictures which authorities said were evidence of a South China tiger.

The pictures, which showed a tiger crouching in a forest setting, sparked an Internet furore led by experts who identified the photos as faked, and local media who accused officials of endorsing them as a means of promoting tourism in a poor region.

After months of dithering, authorities finally admitted the pictures were fake and sacked a swag of officials for their part in the scandal.

Zhou, who had been given a 2 year jail term for fraud and illegally possessing bullets in September, had the sentence suspended at his appeal, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Intermediate People's Court in Ankang, Shaanxi.

The court took note of the defendant's admission of guilt and "obvious regret" and gave Zhou a three-year reprieve, but a 2,000 yuan fine and an order to give back the cash reward were upheld, the Beijing News said in a separate report.

Authorities bore guilt for enabling the fraud through the "cursory release of the news by relevant departments," Xinhua quoted Zhou's lawyers as saying outside the court.

China has been rocked by a number of scandals involving official endorsement of faked photos.

In February, the chief editor of a Chinese newspaper quit after one of its photographers faked a prize-winning photo of endangered Tibetan antelopes appearing unfazed by a passing train on the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

uk.reuters.com
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Chemistry professor's office foiled
A chemistry professor was the victim of a college prank after students coated his entire office in kitchen foil when he was on holiday.
Published: 9:52PM BST 29 Jul 2010

Scott Bur, an Associate Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, in Minnesota, USA, found that everything, including individual pens, had been wrapped in the foil upon returning from vacation.

Prof Bur said that the prank is somewhat of a yearly tradition. Previously students have turned his office into a pirate ship while last year they draped his office in pink.

Admitting that the attention to detail was "overwhelming", he said: "Every book was individually wrapped. Not only was a box of Kleenex wrapped, but an individual tissue was wrapped and put back in the box for effect. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before." :D

One student admitted that it took 10, 200-foot rolls of foil to complete their task.

Prof Bur, who has not yet removed the foil as he has deadlines to meet, said the student had outdone themselves, but he added: "I pulled my share of pranks when I was younger."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... oiled.html
 
rynner2 said:
The perennial Mars hoax e-mail By Finlo Rohrer
BBC News Magazine

Every August e-mails circulate which suggest we are about to have a close encounter with Mars. The e-mails are a hoax, but they say something about our fascination with the Red Planet.

...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8184351.stm
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One of my neighbours believed this, and told me about it today, in all sincerity! :D

I explained it was a hoax, and gave him the Beeb URL about it.
"Oh dear!" he said, "I've been emailing everyone telling them about it!"

So I guess this urban legend won't die anytime soon! ;)
 
Baboon on the loose? Girl starts false frenzy

The Associated Press

Posted: 08/21/2010 01:40:00 PM PDT

FLORISSANT, Mo.—Police in the St. Louis suburb of Florissant spent a big part of the day looking for a baboon on the loose. A grade school went into lockdown. A woman scattered potato chips on the ground and made monkey sounds to try and lure the primate. But in the end, a 14-year-old girl admitted it was all a hoax after the picture she claimed to have snapped proved to be one she actually found on the Internet.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the girl set off the frenzy Thursday by claiming she took a picture of the primate in her backyard. It was hours later that she told police she actually found the picture on the Internet and took a photo of it with her cell phone.

Police Chief William Karabas said the girl was sorry but she did not offer any explanation for the stunt.

"She was remorseful," Karabas said. "But the total emotional aspect of all this and the why is: who knows?"

The case will be referred to St. Louis County Family Court for review.

The girl's mother went to city officials and news media with the photo, prompting the search. It was after an identical photo was found in an Internet search that the story began to unravel.

Before that, schools took precautions, including keeping children in during recess. Chaos led to rumors. One woman in the neighborhood being searched said she owned a monkey. She made baboon-like noises and scattered Lays potato chips and Cheetos to try and lure the animal. Yet another woman who claimed to own a monkey walked around with a net.

Karabas said at least six extra officers were called in to help with the search.

Despite the trouble, the chief seemed more relived that no one was hurt than annoyed.

"You don't judge the people that do stuff like this, you just deal with it and move on to the next thing," Karabas said.

Adding to the confusion of the day was a statement released late Thursday by the girl's family, maintaining that such an animal was, in fact, on the loose in Florissant, and that the girl's story was not a hoax.

"While that particular animal was not that one, there is in fact something out in the area," the statement read, in part.

©2010 Bay Area News Group
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Despite the trouble, the chief seemed more relived that no one was hurt than annoyed.
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He had flashbacks of being a baboon! HA! :lol:
 
Police warn against "doll in car seat" hoax
8:10am Thursday 21st October 2010

Warnings about dolls being left in car seats at the side of the road, as a trap by muggers, are incorrect and should be ignored, according to police.

A police spokesperson said the force had received a number of calls from people worried about text messages and Facebook messages they had received.

These had warned drivers to be on their guard, as dolls were allegedly being left on the side of rural roads, as a way of fooling drivers into stopping.

According to the message, if people stopped to investigate they would be attacked and robbed. One version said that a woman in Marazion had been raped as a result of stopping.

However, a police spokesperson said: “These claims have no basis in fact and should be ignored. Police would like to stress that no such incidents have occurred in Devon and Cornwall. This is a widely circulated internet scam, which serves only to spread unnecessary fear and alarm.

“If you receive this message please take a moment to inform the sender that it is a hoax and do not forward it to others.”

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fp ... eat__hoax/
 
Did you spot the hidden message?
The News of the World's hidden messages in its final crossword was only part of an inglorious tradition of editorial misbehaviour
Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 July 2011 20.00 BST

Hidden messages have a long and noble history in journalism.
Inevitably, the memorial issue of the News of the World was closely scrutinised by lovers of acrostics, whereby particular letters, usually the first of each line, spell out a word or a phrase.

Despite two senior executives from outside the Screws' newsroom scanning the paper for defiant missives before publication, journalists successfully hid their revenge on Rebekah Brooks in the crossword.
"Disaster", "tart", "menace", "stench" and "racket" were among the answers, while clues included "Woman stares wildly at calamity", "criminal enterprise", "repel odd change that's regretted" and "mix in prison", with "Brook" and "lamented", "stink" and "catastrophe" lobbed in for good measure.

Express leader writer Stephen Pollard is the master of the genre, famously concealing the rebuke "Fuck off Desmond" to his proprietor Richard Desmond in his final, apparently innocuous editorial about organic farming.
Naughty Pollard lost his new job on the Times because of his cunning prank but it didn't do his long-term employment prospects any harm: he has since been re-employed by Desmond as a columnist.

Most examples of newspaper acrostics are tied up with sackings, such as the departing night editor who concealed a message of sweary defiance on the Northern Echo's front page in the 1980s or James May, who was fired from Autocar for using its Road Test Yearbook to spell out in the large red letters that began each review: "So you think it's really good? Yeah, you should try making the bloody thing up. It's a real pain in the arse."

Each acrostic author is cocking a snook at overweening authority figures, rather like the Daily Mirror cartoon of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which included the scrawl "Fuck Maxwell" against its detested proprietor, Robert.

Some more powerful purveyors of the hidden message just look self-indulgent, however, particularly Arnold Schwarzenegger, who used the initial letters of a reply to a Democratic assemblyman who had heckled him to spell out "Fuck you," in the left-hand margin (although he later claimed it was a "wild coincidence"). ;)
Schwarzenegger's feat was less impressive because he had control over the document.

Acrostics in many publications have either been spotted and removed by vigilant editors or, more commonly, inadvertently ruined by subeditors cutting sentences.
Guardian writers are not known for their acrostic ability because it would undermine the high seriousness of this organisation. 8)

Every message that does sneak through, however, is more grist to the mill of conspiracy theorists who detect concealed messages in everything from Disney films and Queen songs to celebrity dresses and cigarette packets.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/ju ... en-message
 
I'd have thought the Guardian doesn't do that kind of thing because of their infamous sub-editing problem.
 
Jenson Button injury hoax story removed from his site

Hackers who posted a story on Jenson Button's official website claiming that he had been seriously injured in a car crash carried out a "distasteful hoax", his spokesman has said.
The story appeared on Saturday night, saying the F1 driver was in a "critical condition" in hospital following a "serious accident" in Hungary.

The website was taken down soon after the post emerged.
His spokesman said a hacker had breached the site's security.
"The story is completely untrue and is a very distasteful hoax," the McLaren driver's spokesman said.
"The website was immediately taken down and its security will now be reviewed. Jenson was asleep in bed when we were made aware that someone had hacked into his site and made the untrue claims. He is still totally oblivious.
"We can assure people that he is completely fit and healthy and will be taking part in today's race."

The hacker had posted the story on www.jensonbutton.com and his representatives were made aware just after 2330BST. They later posted an explanation of what had happened, adding to Button's fans: "We can only apologise for any alarm this may have caused."

Button, 31, and his team are in Hungary ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix where he will start third on the grid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14356455
 
I'm rather hoping that the current BBC/SKYsports F1 plan for next year is going to turn out to be a massive prank/hoax
 
Internet Explorer IQ story 'was a hoax'

The story reporting that Internet Explorer users have below-average IQ was a hoax, say reports.

4:15PM BST 03 Aug 2011


Research by a company called AptiQuant, a Canadian firm, which purported to show that IE users were of below average intelligence, was reported by several major news outlets, including the Telegraph. However, readers of the BBC's report suggested that the story was bogus.

It was soon discovered that AptiQuant's website had only been set up on 14 July this year, despite the company's claim it had been established in 2006, and that photos and descriptions of its staff on the site had been lifted from a French company.

The firm claimed that it had given free online IQ tests to 100,000 people, and then plotted the scores against the browser on which the tests were taken.

It found that Internet Explorer users scored lower than average, while Chrome, Firefox and Safari users were very slightly above average. Camino, Opera and Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame were scored "exceptionally" high.

After the initial release about IE and IQ, AptiQuant followed it up with another story, saying that their company had been "threatened with a lawsuit by loyal Internet Explorer users".

The AptiQuant Twitter account has been suspended since the original story broke. The Telegraph has emailed the press contact address listed on the AptiQuant site for comment, but as yet has had no response.

Graham Cluley, senior security consultant at Sophos, told the BBC: "It's obviously very easy to create a bogus site like this: as all phishers know, it's easy to rip-off someone else's webpages and pictures."
Click to expand...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/i ... -hoax.html
 
McMystery: McDonald's 'M' appears on roof of chapel on uninhabited island
By Richard Hartley-parkinson
Last updated at 9:36 AM on 17th August 2011

The golden arches that mark out McDonald's restaurants across the world have appeared on top of an historic chapel on an uninhabited island in North Wales.
Mystery surrounds the appearance of the logo on top of the building on the isolated island of St Tudwal's East, near Abersoch. It is owned by TV comedy writer and animal rights activist Carla Lane.

The sign was spotted by local boatmen who run trips there and upon closer inspection it appeared as though it had been nailed to the slate roof.
Roy Gregory, 66, photographed the giant 'M'. He said: 'We were running a trip towards the island,when I looked up and there was a McDonald's sign.
'Someone obviously thought it was a funny place to put a sign. But it's a mystery how they got it there - the sea has been quite rough over the last few days.'

Mr Gregory, who operates his 30-passenger vessel Shearwater out of Pwllheli marina, believes a day-tripper must have landed on the island and put the McDonald's sign up as a prank.
He said: 'I have seen people on the island but in the 10 years I've been doing trips to the area I have never seen anyone go into the building.
'Somebody has got that sign from somewhere. A lot of people come from Abersoch, moor their boats in Chapel Bay near this building and eat their food.
'One of those people could have done it but we just don't know.'

The nearest McDonalds is four miles away at Abersoch on the mainland and their sign was still in place yesterday.
The yellow 'M' has already attracted the interest of the local council who believe it may contravene planning laws. 8)

Carla Lane bought the tiny island in 1992 to turn it into an animal sanctuary 'where the wildlife could live and die as nature intended'.
A spokesman for the scriptwriter, who created the TV comedy show Bread, said: 'She and her family are aware of it. They are not intending to talk to the media about it at this stage.'

The neighbouring St Tudwal's West is owned by TV explorer Bear Grylls.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1VHQaFNZu

I've just realised I anchored overnight off that very island in June 1989!
 
rynner2 said:
Carla Lane bought the tiny island in 1992 to turn it into an animal sanctuary 'where the wildlife could live and die as nature intended'.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the work of a raging carnivore with a grudge. Ronald McDonald, basically.
 
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