April Fools Day - 2000
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 2000.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Freewheelz 15th Annual New York City April Fool’s Day Parade FatSox M3 Zebra Crossing OPEC Free Fuel Offer Freewheelz Esquire magazine introduced its…

April Fools Day - 2001
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 2001.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Interview With President Carter Sky Becoming Less Blue Royalty Fees for Impersonations Darcey Bussell To Be Next Bond Woman New Aspen Law School…

April Fools Day - 2002
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 2002.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Media Pranks Federally Funded Health Care for Pets Figment, The Safe Cigarette Dodo Returns from the Dead Harmony Cousins Pay-for-Programming Radio Service Martha…

April Fools Day - 2003
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 2003.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database Media Pranks Shellac, Sound of the Future National Public Radio’s All Things Considered ran a segment about the efforts by preservationists to transfer audio recordings…

April Fools Day - 2004
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 2004.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Media Pranks Portable Zip Codes Hawkeye Cameras Catch Speeders The Queen Visits the Bookie Medical ID Chips Day Lost to Stronger Trade Winds…

April Fools Day - 2005
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. Summary: Hoaxes perpetrated on April Fool’s Day, 2005.AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day DatabaseTable of Contents Media Pranks Migrant Mother Makeover Exploding Maple Trees Orchestra Steroid Scandal Steve Jobs Joins Ikea Bush Twins Enlist Scientists Concede Creationists Might Be…

Claire Chazal Experiment
Type: Literary Hoax. Summary: A French magazine mocked a celebrity author by submitting a disguised copy of her novel to her own publisher, which rejected it. Claire Chazal Claire Chazal was a well-known newswoman who presented the evening news on France’s TF1 network. Like many French celebrities, she had decided…

Emulex Stockmarket Hoax
A US Attorney announces the arrest of Mark Jakob at a press conference held on August 31, 2000. Behind him, a chart shows the downward spike that the hoax caused in the stock price of Emulex. On August 25 2000, shareholders of Emulex Corp. were greeted in the morning by…

Flemish Secession Hoax
Type: Television News Hoax. Summary: In 2006, on a Belgian TV station news broadcast, it was announced that Flanders, the Dutch-speaking half of the country, had seceded from the country. Thirty minutes into the news bulletin, only after the station’s phonelines were swamped, it was revealed to be a hoax.…

Freewheelz
Type: April Fool’s Day Hoax. Summary: An article described a company that gave away free cars. AdditionalApril Fool’s Day ContentTop 100 April Fool’s Day HoaxesThe April Fool’s Day Database The April 2000 issue of Esquire magazine included an article titled “There Are No Free Wheels” about a company called Freewheelz.…

Giant Bear
Type: Real photos, inaccurate captions. Summary: Photos circulated via email showed a hunter posing with an enormous bear. Theodore Winnen poses with the bear he shot.A photo showing a hunter posing with an incredibly large bear began to circulate via email in late 2001. The large size of the bear…

Jack Kelley
Type: Rogue Reporter. Summary: In 2004, it was uncovered that Jack Kelley, one of USA Today’s most respected reporters, a five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, had been fabricating major news stories at least since 1991. Posted by: Elliot Feldman In 2004 it was uncovered that Jack Kelley, one of USA Today’s…

Janet Cardiff - Walking Tours
Type: Art that blurs fiction and reality. Summary: Canadian installation artist Janet Cardiff has created a new art genre: alternative big city historical walking tours. Posted by: Elliot Feldman Janet Cardiff (born March 15, 1957) is a highly acclaimed Canadian multimedia artist. She is best known for creating a new…

Jane Austen Rejected
Could Jane Austen, one of the most celebrated and popular writers in the English language, get published today? To find out, David Lassman, director of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, typed up some opening chapters of her books, added a cover letter with plot synopses, and sent them off…

Jedi Knight Religion
Ewan McGregor as the Jedi Obi-wan Kenobi As the 2001 census geared up in Britain, an e-mail began to spread declaring that if 10,000 people listed their religious affiliation on the census form as Jedi Knight, then the government would be forced to acknowledge ‘Jediism’ as an officially recognized faith.…

Manbeef.com
Type: Hoax Website. Summary: A website offered to sell human flesh. Manbeef.com appeared online in early 2001 and immediately caused a sensation. The site claimed to sell human flesh for the “sophisticated human meat consumer.” Visitors to the site could read the ‘recipe of the day’ as they viewed pictures…

Rathergate
On Sept. 8 Dan Rather reported on 60 Minutes that CBS had obtained documents showing that President Bush had disobeyed orders while serving in the National Guard and had then used his family’s influence in order to cover up his poor service record. The documents allegedly came from the files…

Space Cadets
Type: Reality TV hoax. Summary: In 2005, the British television show “Space Cadets” pulled off the most expensive and elaborate hoax in English television history. Posted by: Elliot Feldman In 2005, all of Britain was talking about a new Channel 4 reality series, “Space Cadets.” The show’s alleged concept: twelve…