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The Second Minnesota Runestone Continuing Terror-related Hoaxes Laws against hoaxes Howard High Mourns Lost Alumni Gunther the Dog Touristguy found? Body in the Freezer Software for Web Spoofing The Second Minnesota Runestone In 1898 a large flat rock covered with Scandinavian runic inscriptions was found on the farm of Olof Ohman in Kensington, Minnesota. Based on what the inscriptions said, it appeared that the rock had been left there in 1362 by a group of Viking explorers who had somehow made their way into the interior of North America. Most scholars agreed that the runestone was a hoax. For instance, it was suspicious that the runes were written in a modern runic dialect, even though they were dated to 1362. However, new evidence for the runestone's authenticity surfaced in May, 2001 when a second runestone was found. This new runestone had the date 1363 chiselled on it (a year later than the date of the first runestone). But hope that this was a major archaeological find evaporated in early November when two professors came forward to admit that they had created and planted the second rock in 1985 as part of an elaborate hoax. Their motive was to cast doubt on the original runestone's authenticity. They decided to reveal the second stone as a hoax in order to stop further money being wasted on its analysis. Continuing Terror-related Hoaxes In the wake of September 11, bomb and bio-terrorism hoaxes have been at an all-time high. The increase in hoaxes of this kind during periods of national stress has long been observed. For instance, during the decades before the Civil War in the American South, when white Southerners lived with the constant fear of slave uprisings, numerous hoax reports of uprisings occurred. These hoaxes were almost always the work of white southerners, but invariably resulted in the deaths of innocent slaves when fearful whites panicked in the belief that gangs of vengeful slaves were at loose in the countryside. The motivation behind such hoaxes is complex, but certainly involves a desire to exercise power over others by manipulating them through their fear. One of the stranger bioterrorism hoaxes that occurred in November 2001 involved an Indian man who approached a member of the National Guard outside Grand Central Terminal in New York to say that he had found two envelopes which he believed contained anthrax. The letters were addressed to NBC and the New York Post. It turned out that the man had intentionally created a fake anthrax scare in the hope of getting himself deported back to India, since he wanted to return home but couldn't afford the airfare. Lawmakers call for stiffer penalties for hoaxers Throughout November lawmakers proposed various forms of new legislation that would impose stiffer penalties on terror-related hoaxes. Sen. Leahy, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Biden, and Rep. Smith all introduced bills that would mandate longer mandatory sentences for hoax threats. The bills were applauded by pro-choice groups, which have been a frequent target of such threats. "We need to make hoax a four-letter word," commented Sen. Leahy. Howard High Mourns Lost Alumnus A notice, apparently written by Cheryl King Craig, appeared on the alumni website of Howard High School in Baltimore informing the school that her son Ryan, a Howard alumnus, had died in combat in Afghanistan on November 8. Word of the death quickly spread around the school, and on November 13 the principal decided to announce the death to the school over the PA system. But it turned out that Ryan King was not dead. Nor had his mother posted anything on the alumni website. The posting was the work of a malicious prankster. Fake death hoaxes of this kind have proliferated since September 11. Another recent example involved a member of an internet gaming community whose death in the World Trade Center on 9/11 was announced to the other players. In that case, the prankster behind the false announcement turned out to be the player himself. Gunther the Dog bids on Truffles The adventures of Gunther IV, the world's richest dog, continue. Gunther IV is said to possess a fortune of almost $100 million. He inherited the money from his father, Gunther III, who inherited his fortune in 1992 upon the death of his owner, the German countess Karlotta Liebenstein. Gunther IV now lives the life of a jet-setter, in the company of an obscure euro-pop rock band called The Burgundians (who have released only one single which is not available in stores). Gunther IV first came to the attention of the press when he made a bid to buy the house of Sylvester Stallone in 1999. That bid fell through. But in July 2000 Gunther ponied up $7.5 million to buy Madonna's Florida villa. Many members of the media suspect that Gunther is a hoax, perhaps created as some form of bizarre publicity stunt. However, if Gunther's opulent lifestyle is a hoax, then it's an incredibly expensive one. On November 11, 2001 Gunther appeared with two members of his staff at an auction in northern Italy where he successfuly bid three million lira for a truffle (his staff actually did the bidding for him). Is Gunther a hoax? Decide for yourself. More information can be found at guntherdog.com, bowlab.com, or madoman.com. Touristguy found? The photograph, seen now by half the world, shows a heavily clad tourist standing on the observation deck of the World Trade Center as a plane approaches from behind. The picture is fake, but one nagging question remains: who is 'touristguy'? During November two men stepped forward to claim his identity as their own. The first was a Brazilian businessman, who immediately began negotiating commercial endorsements on the basis of his new identity. The second was an anonymous Hungarian man. The balance of opinion appears to be weighing in favor of the Hungarian man, as he was able to supply what appear to be further pictures of himself posing on the WTC observation deck. But more developments could still occur. Touristguy.com maintains the latest breaking news about this ongoing mystery. Body in the Freezer An employee at Chick-fil-A, a Florida fast-food chicken restaurant, opened the freezer on Friday, November 23 and, much to their shock, found a body hanging inside it. The employee immediately notified the police who, upon arrival, discerned that the body was a fake. It turned out that a few of the other employees had created a makeshift dummy out of clothes stuffed with rags and placed their creation in the freezer the night before. The management of the Chick-fil-A chain, which prides itself on its christian values, denounced the prank as a 'sick game.' New Software for Web Spoofing The idea of creating a fake or parody version of a newspaper is centuries old. Typically a few outrageous headlines are slipped in to fool unwary readers. For instance, In the 1840s an edition of the Boston Atlas appeared declaring that calamity and chaos had swept over Europe: Mt. Vesuvius had erupted, there was a flood in Switzerland, another revolution in France! But in actuality the edition was just a joke, got up by the Boston Post, the Atlas's rival. Today spoof websites have updated this tradition. Carefully imitate CNN's homepage, but insert a few outrageous headlines (such as the fiery death of Britney Spears in a car crash) and you just might fool a few people. The Yes Men group announced their creation of a software program designed to simplify the creation of spoof websites. The Yes Men are a group of culture jammers dedicated to exposing the underlying cultural agenda of corporations and international organizations such as the WTO. Their spoofing software is called Reamweaver. |