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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), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.

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

Thats pretty cool

There was an X-files episode about this. Some old pot "caught" Jesus saying a word that brought Lazarus back to life, while the pot was being formed. So the idea was that if you could play back Jesus you could ressurect anyone within the sound of the pot. Seems like it is kind of related to EVP.

such a shame. would be sooo cool.

It was on an episode of CSI too.. a mentally disturbed kid was making a pot while he was arguing with a nurse about some killing.

I like this theory very much.
It reminds me of the "you can hear radio programs on your tooth fillings" theory, and the "you can see the last image someone saw preserved on the dead person's retina" theory.

I remember hearing voices recorded on a pot in the balboa park science museum; I thought I remembered a true story about an ancient pot which recorded voices. I guess it's alleged that this could be done some day, but the pottery has to be destroyed in the process.

Hi, if you go to the "Vases sonores" site, and view the source of that page (right-click view source), you will see that the string "Poisson d'avril de journal televise" is hidden in the source a few times.
Personally I've never heard *this* "Belgian" version, but I remember the story being on our news several years ago. But hey, on April Fool's Day, any story can be on the news over here...

When I read the title I thought "I´ve heard this before", then I clicked on the last link and now I´m depressed... 1979.
Damn I´m getting old, but still a hell of a memory.

The idea of materials being able to hold thoughts also reminds me of "The Stone Tape", a classic old BBC television play by Nigel Kneale. Fifty years from now it will have to have a caption at the beginning to explain that magnetic tape was once used to store sounds.

Is it feasible to cut accurate, 200hz-ish waveforms in setting pottery? Is it feasible to cut an accurate spiral groove in pottery that can hold audio frequencies? With old-fashioned technology? At three o'clock in the morning? With my reputation? Bingo!

I am also reminded of the glass armonica, a musical instrument that consists of tuned bowls rotating around an axle that you play by putting your finger on the edge of them.

It would be possible with modern technology to make a bowl or piece of pottery that has an audio groove in it, perhaps playing a drum loop endlessly as it spins around; you could spin several on poles and mix between them. Such a thing would make a nice novelty gift.

The concept is very feasible. It fact the concept is the basis for vinyl records. You take a spinning medium and scratch a track of grooves into the surface. Place a needle into the tracke with an amplifing device on the end and it plays back the sounds recorded by the grooves. Very simple concept.

But has anyone played back sounds from pottery I don't think so. However, a new technique is being used to recover old vinyl recording using lasers to amplify the grooves left in the records.

The concept dates from at least the early 1960s. It was mentioned by Arthur C. Clarke in an essay that was included in his book "Profiles of the Future: An Inquirey into the Limits of the Possible," published in 1962. I recall Clarke mentioning that the sound heard most clearly was that of the potter's wheel, although I can't recall if he heard a recording himself or was told about by someone. I don't recall if he cited a reference, but that should be easy enough to check...

quote:

It reminds me of the "you can hear radio programs on your tooth fillings" theory

End quote:

Comment

This part is actually true for people with metal fillings in their mouth, who live near high power AM radio stations. By the magic of Amplitude Modulation, (AM Radio) the sounds brodcast can resonate in people's teeth. Check out this story involving Lucille Ball of all people

http://snopes.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.htm

and of course, somebody is working on making this into a commercial product:

http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2002/11/24/radio_teeth_mo.html

Such an intriguing concept. I was roped in until I realised-

The medium would be far too porous to produce such a noise to decibel level.

The mechanics to uniformly sweep a scribe across non-uniform geometry would be a bit complex just to smooth the surface of a pot! Especially if the maker wished to make anything other than the same darn pot shape over and over!

I also considered that the scribe, as illustrated in the images, doesn't provide a "resonator" of any sort. Some sort of material acting similar to the sound-boards of some acoustic musical instruments, operating in reverse, would be needed to amplify ambient audio into lateral motion at the tip of the scribe.

Hooray! I love geek stuff! I caught this one- It didn't catch me! hehehe...

Haha!..the last thing the guy says in the end is: (french)so while we're all waiting for the CD to come out, (/french)(latin)I believe in the absurd(/latin)"

The newscast was bull, no doubt. But not so much. Perhaps if the right compound of material was used, or if it was glazed. It could be that the ancients understood sound technology and could deliberately record audio. If the tool used in the groove making was rigged on a rigid type of "arm" that was set up correctly, they could get the perfect spiral they needed. The play back may have worked in similar ways. Like the record player...

Its a fake.
http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-586.html

They concluded it plausible on MythBusters.

I mean busted.

Yeah, you can see the "Poisson d'avril" in the source code; you can even Ctrl+F from your browser, and it will highlight the very top of the page on the black background (using Firefox, anyway). I wasn't sure about the whole thing from the beginning, but I guess I was kinda hoping it was true. Woulda' been neat.