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National Landmarks

"Boston—General George Washington is caught backwards on his charger in the Public Gardens." [Life, Mar 22, 1937.]

The San Antonio Light revealed that a plot to move the Alamo from San Antonio to Dallas had been foiled at the last minute:

The Madison Capital-Times ran a picture on its front page showing the dome of the Wisconsin State Capitol collapsing. A headline announced, "Dome Topples Off Statehouse," while the subhead read, "Officials Say Legislature Generated Too Much Hot Air."

The accompanying article reported that "Wisconsin's beautiful $8 million capitol was in ruins today, following a series of mysterious explosions which blasted the majestic dome from its base." The explosions were said to have begun at 7:30 AM, followed by smaller blasts that "sent showers of granite chips down upon the heads of pedestrians." Three large blasts finally finished off the dome, though luckily no one was seriously hurt. The article added, "Authorities were considering the possibility that large quantities of gas, generated through many weeks of verbose debate in the Senate and Assembly chambers, had in some way been ignited, causing the first blast." Hot air that had found its way into other rooms caused the following blasts.

Despite the fact that the story concluded with the words "April Fool," many readers were upset. One reader wrote to the editor, "I was filled with indignation over your April Fool joke on the front page of the Capital-Times of April 1. There is such a thing as carrying a joke too far and this one was not only tactless and void of humor, but also a hideous jest."

The photo and story were the work of photographer-reporter Cedric Parker. In 1985 The Science Digest named this one of the world's best hoaxes.