documentary

the best ever hoaxes

everyone loves a good hoax, as long as they aren’t the victim, and some people seem to take great pleasure from planning ‘em.

here’s a collection of some of the best.

the yes men - dow chemical hoax

‘On December 3, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the Bhopal chemical disaster, Andy Bichlbaum appeared on BBC World as “Jude Finisterra”, a Dow Chemical spokesman. (Dow is the owner of Union Carbide, the company responsible for the chemical disaster which killed thousands and left over 120,000 requiring lifelong care.)

On their fake Dow Chemical Website, the Yes Men first said as clearly and emphatically as possible that Dow Chemical Company had no intention whatsoever of repairing the damage. The real company received considerable backlash and both the real Dow and the phony Dow denied the statements, but Dow took no real action.

The Yes Men decided to pressure Dow further, so as “Finisterra” went on the news to claim that Dow planned to liquidate Union Carbide and use the resulting $12 billion to pay for medical care, clean up the site, and fund research into the hazards of other Dow products. After two hours of wide coverage, Dow issued a press release denying the statement, ensuring even greater coverage of the phony news of a cleanup.’

here’s the channel 4 news report following the actual interview which you can see below…

the hoax interview itself…

orson welles - war of the worlds

although technically not a hoax i’m including this as it’s generally known as one by millions of people.

‘A wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of listeners who were led to believe that an interplanetary conflict had started with invading Martians spreading wide death and destruction in New Jersey and New York. The broadcast disrupted households, interrupted religious services, created traffic jams, and clogged communications systems. Thousands of telephone calls reached CBS stations, city authorities, newspaper offices, and police headquarters in various cities testified to the mistaken belief. The broadcast became a rumor that spread throughout the country, with many people standing on street corners, hoping for a sight of the “battle” in the skies’.

you can listen to / download the original radio broadcast here or stream it through the shambolic monster we know and love as youtube…

flemish independence hoax

seems like a slightly dangerous way to ’spark debate’ to me but that’s exactly what happened late december 2006 when belgian tv station rtbf aired a fake news report claiming that the dutch-speaking half of belgium had declared independence.

‘The French-language TV channel interrupted regular programming with an apparent news report, announcing that Dutch-speaking Flanders had unilaterally declared independence and that Belgium as a nation had ceased to exist. It showed “live” pictures of cheering crowds holding the Flemish flag, huge traffic jams leading to Brussels airport, and trams stuck at the new “border”.

“It’s very bad Orson Welles, in very poor taste,” said a spokesman for Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

The broadcast came amid an apparent growth of separatist sentiment in Flanders.’

good timing chaps.

bbc panorama’s spaghetti tree hoax

back in 1957, the geniuses at the bbc broadcast one of the funniest hoaxes ever and duped thousands into believing that pasta could be grown on trees.

‘The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmers. There’s always the chance of a late frost which - while not entirely ruining the crop - generally impairs the flavour, and makes it difficult for him to obtain top prices in world markets. But now these dangers are over, and the spaghetti harvest goes forward’.

following the airing of the programme the bbc switchboard recieved hundreds of calls from viewers wishing to grow the mysterious trees, to which the bbc replied:

‘Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

here’s a slightly rough recording of the report….

alan abel

serial hoaxer alan abel has been labelled as the ‘best hoaxer on the plant’ by many and since the 1950’s has been fooling people on a huge scale. a recent documentary about him, made by his daughter, called ‘abel raises cain’ recently won the ‘best documentary’ award at the slamdance festival.

‘Alan Abel’s radio and television appearances include Today, Tonight, BBC, Good Morning America, 20/20, 48 Hours, National Public Radio and CNN Financial News.’

here are some clips from some of his hoaxes:

alan’s ‘ban breastfeedin’ hoax…

the ‘females for felons’ hoax…

his infamous ‘howard hughes’ hoax…

the big donor show

in may 2007 the creators of big brother, endemol, announced a new show called ‘the big donor show’ in which a terminally ill woman would select one of three patients to receive her kidneys live on tv. obviously the public thought this was a step too far and went fucking mental. it was quickly all over the worldwide news with members of every possible government condemning the programme.

however, the programme went ahead and in a twist at the end the host revealed the participants to be actors, the idea being to highlight the growing shortage of organ donors throughout the world.

job done.

joey skaggs

mr skaggs is another serial hoaxer who fittingly runs the sit pranks.com, an online resource for all things devious. he’s been duping the media for decades. in 2000 he proposed ‘a combined funeral company, virtual graveyard and theme park. It was meant to satirize showmanship in places like Forest Lawn cemeteries. Some investors were actually interested. Final Curtain’s website is still functioning.‘.

a couple of reports on skaggs…

hitler diaries

in 1983, konrad kujau created the ‘hitler diaries’ and later sold them as an authentic piece to ’stern magazine’ for 9.3 million deutschmarks. he was later jailed for 4 and a half years for forgery. the diaries were ‘peppered with personal comments such as “must get tickets for the olympic Games for eva” and “the little dr goebbels is up to his tricks again with women”, (but) the works still fooled many of those who came in contact with them.‘

fucking hilarious.

harvard - “we suck” hoax

‘On November 20 2004, at the annual Yale-Harvard football game, Yale students used a card stunt to trick more than 1,800 Harvard fans into holding up placards that spelled “WE SUCK.”

Michael Kai and David Aulicino, two Yale students from the Class of 2005, created and coordinated the plan. Disguised as the “Harvard Pep Squad,” they and twenty classmates handed white and crimson placards to fans in the central area of the Harvard side of the stadium, which comprised primarily Harvard alumni, as well as a few faculty, students, and other fans. The group told the crowd that by lifting the placards they would spell “GO HARVARD.” The placards were actually arranged to spell “WE SUCK.”‘

extras:

- bbc article on hoaxes

- top 100 april fools hoaxes at the briliant museum of hoaxes

- a gigantic list of hoaxes at wikipedia

- pc world’s top 25 web hoaxes and pranks

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