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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), 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.
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.Prankplace.com
FUNNY T-SHIRTSBrowse our top quality t-shirts, and you are guaranteed to find one perfect for you, or to give as a funny gift to a friend or family member. Our shirts come in your choice of sizes, most are available in Medium, Large, XL, 2XL and 3XL.
REMOTE CONTROL FART MACHINEThe Brand New Fart Machine has “BoomBox” Technology, which allows more vibrant, natural sounding farts. Simply hide the little speaker, then from up to 100 feet away, press the included remote, and the hidden speaker lets out one of 15 disgusting fart sounds. Place under your co-workers desk, and let the laughter begin.
Moving Rocks of Death Valley
Status: Real
On Flickr someone with the screenname "melastmohican" has uploaded a picture of a "moving rock" located in the Racetrack Playa region of Death Valley, California. The caption reads: Deep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world's most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley. These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals. These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long. They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move.
I should have known about the moving rocks of Death Valley (after all, I live only a few hours drive from there), but I have to admit that, before seeing the picture, I hadn't known about them, and so immediately I thought the picture was a hoaxIt reminded me of Dan De Quille's "Traveling Stones of Pahranagat Valley" hoax from 1867. De Quille, a newspaper columnist (and roommate of Mark Twain) invented a story about some stones which "when scattered about on the floor, on a table, or other level surface, within two or three feet of each other, they immediately began traveling toward a common center, and then huddled up in a bunch like a lot of eggs in a nest."
But unlike Pahranagat Valley's traveling stones, Death Valley's moving rocks are a real phenomenon. The mysterious force that moves the stones, scientists speculate, is most likely the wind. When the floor of the racetrack playa gets wet, the ground becomes extremely slippery, allowing strong winds to cause the stones to skid across the ground. Either that, or giants go bowling there.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 17
Category: Photos/Videos, Places
Category: Photos/Videos, Places
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
I am suprised you didnt know alex.This hasnt been news to me since I was a boy. Yes, there real, yes, the wind moves them. Though I liked he bowling idea. Maybe aliens move them around?
Posted by J in Death valley on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 01:18 AMThis was in the Fortean Times about a year ago.
Posted by Nona in London on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 05:02 AMThese stones are one of the classic 'mysteries', I'm surprised you haven't heard of them, Alex. They're in the same category with the monument stone in Marion, Ohio that turns on its pedestal.
They may have been on one of those Van Däniken shows or maybe "In Search Of...".
Posted by Charybdis in Hell on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 07:10 AMThey may have been on one of those Van Däniken shows or maybe "In Search Of...".
I haven't heard of the monument stone in Marion, Ohio either. Now I feel really stupid. 
Posted by Alex in San Diego on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 07:19 AMThe explanation I always heard was something about iron rich rocks and the earth's magnetic field! If the ground is all soppy and the wind strong enough to push rocks about, wouldn't the ground harden with some sort of wave pattern?
Posted by Paul in Peterborough, uk on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 09:29 AMDidn't you watch trash television during the 70's and 80's? Great Saturday afternoon fare. 
Posted by Charybdis in Hell on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 09:45 AMJeez! Don't you guys ever watch Star Trek??? The...rocks....are.....alive!
Posted by Craig on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 09:51 AMLink to Skeptoid, and the ice theory.
Posted by Charybdis in Hell on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 09:53 AMLooking at the larger picture, I doubt both the wind and the water aspect of hte explanation. If the ground had been wet when the rock moved, the debris would not look like it does. The plowed up dirt alongside the furrow looks like it was dry when piled up, if it had been wet there wouldn't be so many small chuncks. Same with the wind, the wind would have blown the smaller chunks away (especially if it was strong enough to move that rock) and the trail would have a more scattered appearance to it as the chuncks fell at various distances from the furrow.
Posted by Christopher Cole in Tucson, AZ on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 09:58 AMHas anyone tried to mark the rocks with some kind of illuminating paint and watch them with a time lapse camera.
Posted by Blackomne in Wyoming on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 12:35 PMMerchant Family Memorial (Ripley's Believe It or Not Ball)
In 1886 the Merchant family of Marion constructed what they thought would be a beautiful and fitting grave monument for their family burial plot in Marion Cemetery. Within two years after its construction, someone noticed that the 5,200 pound polished granite ball atop the pedestal had begun to rotate. The only unpolished spot on the ball was now visible, indicating the ball was on the move.The Merchant family, being concerned about this, brought the erection crew back to the site to re-set the ball. It was not long before the ball again began its now continuous movement. There have been many speculations, but there is no specific explanation for this.In 1929, the monument was featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” a famous newspaper cartoon, and the monument has since gained international recognition.
Outside the ”Ripley's Believe It or Not” Museum in Murtle Beach, South Carolina, there is a water fountain mysteriously created in the image of this now famous family memorial.
http://www.marionohiocemetery.com/images/merchantball.jpg
Posted by Blackomne in Wyoming on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 12:51 PMIn 1886 the Merchant family of Marion constructed what they thought would be a beautiful and fitting grave monument for their family burial plot in Marion Cemetery. Within two years after its construction, someone noticed that the 5,200 pound polished granite ball atop the pedestal had begun to rotate. The only unpolished spot on the ball was now visible, indicating the ball was on the move.The Merchant family, being concerned about this, brought the erection crew back to the site to re-set the ball. It was not long before the ball again began its now continuous movement. There have been many speculations, but there is no specific explanation for this.In 1929, the monument was featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” a famous newspaper cartoon, and the monument has since gained international recognition.
Outside the ”Ripley's Believe It or Not” Museum in Murtle Beach, South Carolina, there is a water fountain mysteriously created in the image of this now famous family memorial.
http://www.marionohiocemetery.com/images/merchantball.jpg
When I was a kid in the 70s there was a movie that seemed to be shown at least once every summer, Saturday afternoons, and all I remember is some folks in an RV and they came out in the morning to find all the rocks had moved during the night. They implied it was aliens. Freaked me out! I'm sure it would be totally lame now. But I didn't realize this was an actual phenomenon until just a few years ago.
Does that movie sound familiar to anyone? I'd love to see it again.
Posted by kristen55 in Seattle, WA on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 04:05 PMDoes that movie sound familiar to anyone? I'd love to see it again.
the rocks, like all of us, yearn to see beyond the far horizons of our limitations and foibles, ever reaching to that distant shore of our tomorrows. Like sand in an hourglass, these are the days of our lives, as the world turns like all my children amongst dark shadows... or some kid moved them. Brats
Posted by Hairy Houdini on Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 06:31 PMThat photo from the cemetery looks just like the design of countless fountians (as mentioned in the article). The one in my area is a huge stone (marble) sphere which must weigh tons, that is easily moved around because it is sitting on a water source in the base.
The mystery may only be a slick surface or something on the base that the sphere is just righting itself on, albeit slowly.
Posted by stopeatingmysesamecake on Thu Aug 16, 2007 at 11:40 AMThe mystery may only be a slick surface or something on the base that the sphere is just righting itself on, albeit slowly.
What about simple expansion and contraction of the lakebed as an explanation? Desert temperatures fluctuate significantly between day and night. The cracks in the lakebed offer the perfect condition to create a treading effect with the right atmospheric conditions. The odd movement (and absence of it) can be explained by varying densities of earth. Dirt doesn't pile up in front of the rocks, so they are not "dragging" as suggested by the wind theory. Wind doesn't even explain away the lack of piled up dirt because if THAT were happening then there would be wind evidence such as sand ripples (as someone previously posted). I live in Colorado where 60 mph winds are not uncommon. If wind were enough to drag 700lb boulders across mud I'd expect to dodge a hail of much smaller rocks during every heavy storm- especially when an endless arsenal of rocks sit at the top of our mountains where there are even faster winds.
Posted by Roger in Colorado on Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 09:21 AMI'm a geologist, and I remember there was a blurb about these things in my first year geology book. The genneral name for faceted desert stones like the one shown is 'ventifact.' The faceting is made by bombardment by wind-borne sand. As for the 'trail' behind them, it is probably not because the stones themselves move, or so said the blurb. Rather, each stone acts as a wind break, causing an area of 'dead air' on the lee side of each stone, where dust settles. In areas where the wind direction and intensity is very constant, the trails can get quite long. The phenominon is much more common in aquatic settings. The link below shows similar features in a stream bed. The current is more turbulent there, so the marks are a bit less linear and well defined, but the principle is the same.
http://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/~gel109/SedStructures/Lg/PebbleScours.JPg
Posted by Don on Sat Sep 15, 2007 at 09:55 PMhttp://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/~gel109/SedStructures/Lg/PebbleScours.JPg
The geologist's comments previous would make sense if the "paths" behind the rocks were in a straight line, but they are not. In fact, many of these phenomenon reveal long, curvy paths. Also, a "dead air" phenomenon would not create exceptionally long effect behind the rock but would be much shorter. In my opinion, these observations easily cancel out the "dead air" speculation. Maybe God is just playing in His sandbox? 
Posted by David Yeubanks in Pasco, WA on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 02:33 PMPage 1 of 1 pages