April Fools Day - 1915
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: News reports from April Fool’s Day, 1915.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database Table of Contents Bombs Away The Boston Globe Price Cut Tony Maloney, aka Babe Webster Help Wanted Candy Surprise Do Not Kick April Fool’s Day…

April Fools Day - 1919
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Notable hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 1919.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents The Venetian Horse Mystery The Venetian Horse Mystery The citizens of Venice woke on the morning of April Fool’s Day to find…

April Fools Day - 1920
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: News reports from April Fool’s Day, 1920.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database Table of Contents Mr. Stiff, Please! Calling Dr. Lyon Prehistoric Skeletons April Fool Alibi Gasoline Alley Desperate Hubby April Fool Riot Call Ill-Timed Joke References…

April Fools Day - 1925
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: News reports from April Fool’s Day, 1925.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database Table of Contents No Mr. Fish Undertakers Pranked Dr. Stransky’s Dinner Party Sell! Mme. Pompadour’s Metric Measure Critics of Catholicism receive Catholic medal Moon Mullins…

April Fools Day - 1933
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Notable hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 1933.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Wisconsin State Capitol Collapses Wisconsin State Capitol Collapses The Madison Capital-Times ran a picture on its front page showing the dome of…

April Fools Day - 1934
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Notable hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 1934.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Man Flies By Own Lung Power Man Flies By Own Lung Power In 1934 many American newspapers, including The New York Times,…

April Fools Day - 1936
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Notable hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 1936.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Vikings in Hawaii Philadelphia Sea Monster Vikings in Hawaii The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a story about the discovery of a Viking ship…

April Fools Day - 1937
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Notable hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 1937.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database In the “Pictures to the Editors” section of its March 22, 1937 issue, Life magazine published four photographs sent in by a correspondent who…

April Fools Day - 1940
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: News reports from April Fool’s Day, 1940.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents World To End Tomorrow Association for the Prevention of April Fool Jokes April Fool Experiment Hutchins Quits St. Louis Zoo Changes its Number…

April Fools Day - 1949
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Notable hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 1949.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents The Great Wasp Swarm Hoax The Great Wasp Swarm Hoax Phil Shone, a New Zealand deejay for radio station 1ZB, announced to…

Case of the Midwife Toad
Type: Scientific Fraud. Summary: Scaly bumps that suddenly appeared on a species of toad were offered as proof of Lamarckian inheritance. But the bumps turned out to be injected inkspots. Paul KammererCan acquired characteristics be passed on to one’s offspring? For instance, if a person acquires a limp during their…

Death in the Air
Type: Photo Hoax. Summary: Photographs of World War One aerial dogfights were, decades later, discovered to have been faked. A book called Death in the Air: The War Diary and Photographs of a Flying Corps Pilot was published in 1933. It contained numerous pages of spectacular aerial photographs of World…

Fritz Kreisler
Type: Musical Hoax. Summary: The musician Fritz Kreisler claimed that works he had written himself were actually “lost classics” written by famous composers. Fritz Kreisler During the early twentieth century, Fritz Kreisler was considered to be one of the leading violinists of his time. Part of his popularity stemmed from…

Man Flies By Own Lung Power
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoax. Summary: A widely printed photograph showed a man flying by means of a device powered by the breath of his lungs. AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database In April 1934 numerous U.S. newspapers printed a photograph distributed by…

Marcel Duchamp
Type: Art Prankster. Summary: Throughout his career, French artist Marcel Duchamp was known for playing outrageous pranks on the art world. Posted by: Elliot Feldman Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) always held the snobbishness of art collectors and gallery owners in disdain. While he was a revolutionary artist with at least one…

New York Evening Graphic and Composographs
Type:  Inventing the News. Summary: The story of publisher Bernarr MacFadden and The New York Evening Graphic, America’s first tabloid. Posted by: Elliot Feldman Although publisher Bernarr MacFadden’s newspaper, The New York Evening Graphic, only lasted a few years, its impact on mass media is still felt today, for better…