About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), and the Hoax Forum.

The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.



Web Hoax Museum

Prankplace.com
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#67: Life Discovered on Jupiter
In 1996 AOL subscribers who logged onto the service were greeted by a news flash announcing that a "Government source reveals signs of life on Jupiter." The claim was backed up by statements from a planetary biologist and an assertion by Ted Leonsis, AOL's president, that his company was in possession of documents proving that the government was hiding the existence of life on the massive planet. The story quickly generated over 1,300 messages on AOL. A spokesman for the company later explained that the hoax had been intended as a tribute to Orson Welles's 1938 Halloween broadcast of the War of the Worlds.

Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Smileys
This was also the theme of the Aurthur C Clarke story 'A Meeting With Medusa'
Posted by R J Wood  in  London  on  Mon Apr 04, 2005  at  06:54 AM
The spokesperson's explanation doesn't really work--it actually kinda ruins the joke since there is no "tribute" involved. Just a mindless prank.
Posted by EJ  on  Sat Apr 01, 2006  at  01:33 PM
I think the fact that Jupiter is a gas planet would've given it away.
Posted by Dominique  in  Somewhere over the Rainbow  on  Wed Apr 19, 2006  at  05:25 PM
Page 1 of 1 pages

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