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Hoaxes, Pranks, Scams, & Mischief
AUSTRALIAN:
 
1889   Clergyman Hoaxed
1898   The Lowood Bunyip
1924   Abduction Hoax
1934  Some Varsity Hoaxes
1944    Ern Malley Hoax
1944   The Charms of Doubletalk
1945   Message in a Bottle Hoax
1948   House To Let Hoax
1949    "Is it a Hoax?" Hoax
1950   The Gentle Art of Leg-Pulling
INTERNATIONAL:
 
1704   George Psalmanazar
1905   Sultan of Zanzibar Hoax
1909   Scientific Hoax
1934   Loch Ness Monster Photographed!
1954   Octuplet Hoax
 
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Gympie Pyramid Hoax
Marble Man
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Lake Cootharaba Ruins
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Great Moon Hoax
2014   A selection of hoaxes and pranks from around the world
 
Police: Alligator sighting a hoax
AFP probes prank Lily Allen arrest snap
Missing Park Slope tarantula was a hoax: ‘owner’
Mum's prank fails on too polite daughter
Man attacking stingray video revealed to be a hoax
Kentucky Fried Hoax: What Happens To The Cash?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Hoax
Hoaxer who lost control of her hoax
Roman Ruins in Downtown Miami Hoax Debunked
Man in gorilla suit mistakenly shot with tranquiliser dart at Spanish zoo
    Man shot with tranquilliser dart at Tenerife zoo 'was not wearing gorilla suit'
PRANKSTERS MAKE A CRASS LOGO CROP CIRCLE, OBLIVIOUS ‘ASTRONOMOLOGER’ ATTEMPTS TO INTERPRET IT
Abandoned Zombie Child Prank in Brazil Draws Criticisms
34-year-old passed herself off as 15 to attend East Texas high school, officials say
Author of fake Holocaust memoir ordered to return $22.5m to publisher
Psycho ‘killer’ clown prank shocks onlookers
China Miner ‘Found Alive After 17 Years Underground’ is Fake
'Swatting' hoax on Long Island terrifies mother: 'Call of Duty' game revenge?
“Jesus’s Wife” Hoax: The Plot Thickens
Smoking Bedbugs to Get High
'I'm NOT dead!' Wolf of Wall Street star Leo DiCaprio kills off latest rumour he's RIP
Facebook's “No Religion” Policy Hoax
Prosecutors Not Amused by Woman's Rape Ad 'Prank'
Is One of the Weirdest Books on the Planet Actually a Hoax?
Teacher duped in classroom prank
Teen's CSG prank could cost $765k or 10 years' jail
Corpse mistaken for April Fools' prank in St. Pete
For April Fools’ Day: A sampling of scientific hoaxes over the centuries
'Silly walk' sign enrages roads agency
The best kitchen prank is putting a human head in a jar inside a fridge
This 'Harry Potter' Dementor Prank Is An Education In Literary Terror
Creepy viral clown may be linked to film company
Monsters and Aliens Attack in Epic Bus Shelter Prank
Malaysian plane in Bermuda Triangle: Viral Facebook hoax
‘Miracle Machine’ wine maker was a hoax, but that was point
How the hoverboard prank fooled the internet
Bowen's Big Mango heist a hoax, revealed to be marketing stunt
Chupacabra Killed in Texas After Bigfoot Hunter Death Hoax
Did Discovery Channel fake the image in its giant shark documentary?
Pharrell Williams is not a vampire: ‘I'm willing to go on record as saying I don’t drink people’s blood’
Balloon boy's parents still insist it was not a hoax five years on as they promote their children's heavy metal band
The Psychic, The Novelist, and the $17 Million Scam
Teen girl dies when prank goes horribly wrong
Chinese con-woman duped victims out of thousands claiming she was 'superhuman' male police officer
Philip Seymour Hoffman “Death Hoax” Never Happened
Police deal with 10 reports involving a clown in Devon and Cornwall
Man charged over prank that killed best mate
The elaborate story of Titanic survivor Loraine Kelly
European Microchip Babies Hoax: What Is Really Going On?
‘Iran Archeologists Discover 5 Meters Tall Human Skeletons’ is a Hoax
Squirrel-AIDS Hoax Creates Ocean County Panic
Why did two German 'hobbyists' deface a cartouche of Khufu inside the Great Pyramid and what does it have to do with Atlantis?
Zombie prank terrifies shoppers
Why experts were fooled by the recent crop circle hoax
'It was a stupid prank gone wrong'
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Ern Malley Hoax
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F.A. Mitchell Hedges
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2013   A selection of hoaxes and pranks from around the world
 
2013 Year of Hoaxes in Review
That news story about the Canadian man who just left his Y2K bunker after over 13 years is totally fake
'Northampton Clown' unmasked
    UK's concerned clowns call for end to copycat crime wave
2,000-year-old German mummy is plastic dummy
Budiriro witch crash-landing 'a hoax'
Ohio woman accused of faking young son's cancer
US teen killed in prank gone wrong
Epic 'Twerk Fail' Video Turns Out to Be a Hoax Masterminded by Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
The latest Beast of Trowbridge photo is a Hoax
Sioux Falls Police: No Bigfoot sighting in Sioux Falls
Convicted fake Digger John Hines spins black ops fantasies in memoir, including following former Prime Minister Harold Holt
Shark Week Megalodon 'Documentary' Hoax Gets Discovery Channel Accused Of Trickery
Eyeball licking story is fake, indicative of poor journalism
Adults involved in Forest Lake parking lot hoax to face charges
Awesome Photo Prank at the Louvre
‘Large, hairy biped’: Bigfoot video hoax in Mission, B.C. captures global attention
Lives changed by prank gone too far
St John ambulance volunteer charged over crash hoax call
'Half Man' prank scares the life out of everyone
Museum's 'ancient relics' exposed as a very modern swindle
Giant Dragon Skull Found On British Beach
I've just seen Bigfoot! Manchester RSPCA plagued by time-wasting calls
In Iraq, the Bomb-Detecting Device That Didn't Work, Except to Make Money
Cruise-control hoax returns
Boyfriend creates terrifying wake-up prank
Camouflaged gunman at Antioch a hoax
Montana hitchhiker who shot himself in hoax sentenced on evidence tampering and other charges
The Great Hip Hop Hoax documentary to hit cinemas this weekend
With 150 hoax calls daily, BMC operators have work cut out
Unsuspecting man's bedroom transformed into fairy wonderland in hilarious prank
News That James Gandolfini's Death Is a Hoax Is a Hoax
Russell Crowe: 'Michael Jackson used to prank call me'
Hoax collar bomber Paul Douglas Peters wants severity of sentence reduced
Fake shark warning signs posted on beach
Vinland map, chart of Norse exploration of Americas, "proved" fake
Ghost Stories: Scams Targeting S.F.'s Cantonese Community Reveal the Terrible Power of Belief
How Modern Fortunetellers Pull Off Their Scams
Mermaid Hoax Documentary Brings Record Ratings For Animal Planet
Psy Impersonator Talks Cannes Film Festival Hoax: "I Did It to Entertain People"
Fake California UFO photo fools Ohio TV news
Stung by the Hornet's Nest: Hasse Sex-with-Insects Tale a Hoax
Teen made up attempted abduction story
Uni launches investigation into pranking academic
Distressed canoeists story exposed as hoax
Dead Fairy Hoax — Derbyshire, Mexico, Facts and Pictures
Brisbane man charged with making repeated prank 000 calls following a two-year investigation
Skegness Sea Monster revealed to be BBC hoax named ‘Susan’ for Top Gear presenter James May’s Man Lab series
Woman used mannequins and cow parts in burial scam
Stocks Plunge, Quickly Recover, on Fake Tweet
Meet 'swatting,' the dangerous prank that could get someone killed
UK businessman found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq
    Why People Believed Fake Bomb Detectors Worked
     Gary Bolton guilty of selling fake bomb detectors
Boston marathon explosions: hoax Twitter accounts criticised
     False Flags, Fake Blood, and Michelle Obama: A Guide to the Boston Marathon Conspiracies
Astronomy group: If you paid to name a planet, you got scammed
Welsh woman's yard filled with bubbles as part of prank war
Half Naked Belgian Soldiers’ ‘Harlem Shake’ Prank Goes Viral
The Professor, the Bikini Model and the Suitcase Full of Trouble
Teenagers facing charges after prank goes viral
Imaginary Friend Photo Prank
Cookie hoax: Girl Scouts scammed out of $24,000
Times 'duped' into printing hoax Qatar Dream Football League story
Eftpos prank unnoticed for weeks
British Batman delivers wanted man to police
    British Batman turned pal in for a joke
The fake cardinal and other cheeky impostors
The Making of the Ultimate Fake UFO Video (Where Absolutely Everything Is Fake)
Crystal Skulls Deemed Fake
How “Golden Eagle Snatches Kid” Ruled The Internet
The Deliberate Skeptical Hoax
Zombie apocalypse hoax exposes flaws in system
Parody Website Fools The Washington Post Into Thinking Sarah Palin Heading To Al Jazeera
Royal prank DJ returns to airwaves
     Jacintha Saldanha's tragic reaction to a prank call
    Royal prank' radio station moves to block probe
Auction returns cash lost in the case of the Fake Tahitian Prince
    Auction of 'fake prince' Joel Morehu-Barlow's goods reaps royal prices
The great Omaha manhole fireball photo mystery
Is 'Amish Mafia' real or fake? Lancaster County viewers weigh in
     New tour takes aim at 'Amish Mafia' claims
No Such Dame
    Manti Te'o denies he was part of girlfriend hoax
     Te'o was in love, says the man at the center of the hoax
MSNBC's Bashir Falls for Hoax, Reports Satanists to Rally for Rick Scott
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Alabama's Monster Pig Hoax, one year later Consequences of infamous youth pig kill still being played out

(2008)
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Playing the Ghost
2016  A smaller selection of hoaxes and pranks from around the world
 
30.11.2016 Fox hunt: Tasmania's multi-million-dollar program likely based on hoax, leaked report finds
29.11.2016 Kansas wildlife cameras capture photos of costumed pranksters
 07.05.2016 Playing the Ghost
Ozenkadnook Tiger
(coming soon)
29.03.2017 The Ozenkadnook Tiger Photo Revealed as a Hoax
24.03.2017 Jack the Insider: The prank that took 53 years to debunk
 
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Ghostwatch: The BBC spoof that duped a nation

It was billed as a drama, but many of Ghostwatch's 11 million viewers were taken in by the BBC's fake investigation, which in one tragic case led to a teenager taking his own life. On its 25th anniversary, his parents and the creator of the show talk about its impact...