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Hoaxes - what would you do?

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Anonymous

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Lets assume that you own some sort of business that is dependant on tourists (I don't, so you're not helping me commit a criminal fraud :D ) Business is bad and you decide to "stage" some sort of Fortean event so that the area will become (in)famous - Roswell stylee. My question is simple ... what would you do and how would you do it?
 
My initial advise would be select your target wisely. If you can hoax/fool/involve someone who is either locally or nationally famous then the story will fly quicker even if it is a dubious case.
 
Until recently (Ive been made redundant 3 times in the last 2 years, ho hum) I was working in City Centre Manchester, and 'we' (the people in the office) tried to come up with quick money making ideas - just for a laugh.

It being the Common Wealth Games happening at the time we disussed the possibility of producing a transparent umbrella with a 'London tube style underground map' of Manchester on it.

Hey, it's was Manchester - and the visitors needed maps.

If we sold each one for £3 we could have cleaned up!
 
I have 2000 clear plastic unbrellas for sale, they have a map of Manchester printed on 'em!

£1 each!


2 for 1!



Please?
 
1. Stock up on BVM statuettes.

2. Buy some red food colouring and a water pistol.

3. Fill water pistol with red food colouring.

4. Sneak into your nearest Catholic church and squirt face of BVM.

5. Sit back and rake in the dosh as the credulous flock to witness the "miracle".

(sometimes I can be SOOO cynical)
 
jones105 said:
My question is simple ... what would you do and how would you do it?
Click to expand...

Why? What have you heard?

Oh, me? The merest thought of the possibility of doing such a thing hasn't even contemplated tip-toeing through my mind. :D


Crop circles. Burned into the highway. Google up "Toynbee Idea in Movie 2001. Resurrect Dead on Planet Jupiter." " or just "Toynbee tiles"

And I'd involve the planet (sic) Sirius in it also.

[edit:]
I'll just stick this in here, since I don't want too high a profile in a thread like this! :D

Amature scientist Bill Beaty has a good list of applied science pranks/hoaxes on his site.
 
One trick would be to stay at least one step out of the circle. Set up the hoax so that someone else finds it, and don't put in your two cents about it publicly. All the great hoaxes seem to have some previously unmentioned person finally taking the credit.
It would be best if you could find an openminded patsy who doesn't know too much about the subject. They'd be that much more believable because they'd think they were telling the truth, and nobody could prove that person was behind it (because they're not).
You might have to make a few attempts before you find your patsy.
Resist all urges to keep the models you used, or to try cashing in too directly by writing a book or claiming to have special contact with the thing.
 
Who you calling a planet? Bah!

Mr Fuller, that's exactly what I was going say. Manipulation with the bare minimum of contact (maybe a cameo here or there for your memoirs).

Pleiosaur seems a popular one, just need a large body of water.
Now I would tell you my proper ideas, but where would be the fun in that? :D
 
Satan Rising

Well, I’ve taken The Yitthian, Si Fuller and Philo T’s points on board and here is my first effort …

Jones105’s “Satan Rising” Hoax (ahem!)

Location:
Small village somewhere in the UK but with Tarmac roads. This couldn’t be done in town as you need to be somewhere away from prying eyes and CCTV surveillance.

Time:
Midnight seems appropriate for such a venture but 3am is probably safer as its well after the local Dog and Duck kicks out.

Equipment:
2x Large blocks of Sulfur (or equiv in match heads?) What the hell is brimstone anyway?
1 set of stilts “bottomed” with copper cast cloven hooves.
2x Butane blowtorches – the self contained aerosol ones that you get from DIY places. Important: These are attached to the stilts with the flame heating the cloven hooves.
1x Lighter just to get the party started.

Premise:
The effect that we want to create is that Old Nick himself rose up from the depths of hell this cold, dark winters night to prowl this sleepy little village while contemplating some future devilish act of eternal sadism regarding the fate of these poor sinners.

How it works:
-Your route needs to be planned in advance. It should start and end outside of the village so that the sight (and sound?) of a block of sulfur burning won’t alert anyone. The reason that the route must only be on Tarmac is because of the low temperature required to make footprints in it. On some of the hotter days of the year Tarmac can go almost soft enough in the midday sun, so the blowtorches won’t have a problem heating it far enough.
-Place a block of sulfur onto the Tarmac and torch it.
-Light your blowtorches and wait for the “cloven hoofs” to heat up.
-When they are hot enough, place the hoofs into the middle of the burn mark left by the sulfur and mount up.
-Follow your pre arranged route through the village using your body weight and the heat from the blowtorches to leave convincing looking molten hoof prints in the Tarmac.
When you reach the end of your route, dismount and place the second lump of sulfur over the final footprint and light it.
-You should now have created the appearance that Beelzebub has sprung forth from the sulfurous fires of hell and toured the village before returning whence he came! For an interesting extra wrinkle you could leave claw marks on the front doors of extra sinful people. Of course you don’t have to go to the expense of hiring private detectives to find sinful people – just pick people at random and let their guilt do the rest!

I may need to work on the insulation between the hooves and the wooden stilts but apart from that I think we have a go-er.
:p
 
Simplest idea: find something that looks vaguely like jesus or the BVM. Charge for admission. Ca-ching :)
 
Was the name of the devil footprint event "Springheel Jack"? Anyway, at least twice people have found cloven hoofprints through the snow that seem to go straight through walls and other obstacles, and over low roofs. The strange thing is that there's only the prints of a single hoof. There were no human footprints nearby that would indicate hoaxers.
It was apparently done like this: Two men, a length of rope, and a "hoof". The hoof was suspended midway along the rope, and the men took one end of the rope each. They were some distance apart, and both a good distance from the hoof, so their footprints would remain unremarkable. Then they just walked around the town, lowering the rope to make hoofprints.

If you're actually burning the hoofprints into the road, you could do away with the rope and the accomplice. You'd also need only one hand-held copper hoof. Safer than firey stilts.
I'd also reccomend walking in the general direction of the local church, then having the hoofprints making a wide arc around the church before continuing in a straight line. As if the devil can't abide getting too close to the house of God. This would rope in a few religious nutters who'll spread the word far and wide.

(no offence intended toward religious non-nutters).
 
That stuff about SHJ from the 70's is a bit scary. Has anyone done any more followup research about it - I'd like to read more. I've read quite a bit of the victorian era stuff but nothing modern.

Si Fuller said:
The strange thing is that there's only the prints of a single hoof.
Click to expand...

The Devil only has one leg? Why did God do that? Is it because the final conflict is going to be an ar*e kicking contest :D
 
Piscez said:
Simplest idea: find something that looks vaguely like jesus or the BVM. Charge for admission. Ca-ching :)
Click to expand...

With me beard and shaggy locks, I am available to hire as the historically inacurate version of Jesus(White Hippie).....Why is it that the church is unable to show him as the mad arab guy he actually was.
(Yes I know he was Jewish actually, but mad arab sounds better!!):blah:
 
Seaweed:

Sorry, but "Mad Arab" brings to mind someone else to the initiated. :D [*]

That's a whole 'nother can of worms. And fertile ground for hoaxers.





------------------------
[*]
Actually, willfully confabulating fact & fiction is more of a Discordian trait than Fortean. Are those two worldviews mutally exclusive?
 
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