Greatest Pranks in History

War of the Worlds Broadcast

Orson Welles' 1938 CBS radio dramatization of a Martian invasion, staged as fake news bulletins, allegedly sent panicked listeners fleeing into the streets. Whether the panic was as widespread as reported or itself partly newspaper hype, it remains the gold standard for a hoax th

Year: 1938Perpetrator: Orson Welles / Mercury TheatreImpact/Fame: 10/10Scale of Deception: Unknown thousands, nationwide panic reported

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The Great Moon Hoax

In 1835 the New York Sun ran a series of articles claiming astronomer John Herschel had discovered bat-winged 'man-bats' and unicorns on the Moon through a supertelescope. The story boosted the paper's circulation dramatically and was believed by much of the public and even some

Year: 1835Perpetrator: Richard Adams Locke, New York SunImpact/Fame: 9/10Scale of Deception: Tens of thousands of readers

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Piltdown Man

A forged 'missing link' skull unveiled in England in 1912, combining a human skull with an orangutan jaw, fooled the scientific establishment for over 40 years before being exposed as a fraud in 1953. It derailed serious paleoanthropology research and remains a cautionary tale ab

Year: 1912Perpetrator: Unknown (possibly Charles Dawson)Impact/Fame: 9/10Scale of Deception: Global scientific community for 40+ years

added by IJRin 2 rankingsPiltdown Man

The Spaghetti Tree Hoax

BBC's Panorama aired a solemn 1957 April Fools segment showing Swiss farmers harvesting spaghetti from trees, narrated with total sincerity by Richard Dickie. Hundreds of viewers phoned in asking how to grow their own spaghetti tree, a testament to Britain's then-limited familiar

Year: 1957Perpetrator: BBC PanoramaImpact/Fame: 9/10Scale of Deception: Hundreds of callers requesting cuttings

added by IJR

Cottingley Fairies

Two young English cousins in 1917 photographed themselves with paper cutout fairies, and the images convinced luminaries including Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle of real fairy sightings. The photos toured as proof of the supernatural for decades before the girls admit

Year: 1917Perpetrator: Elsie Wright and Frances GriffithsImpact/Fame: 8/10Scale of Deception: Public and notable literary figures for decades

added by IJRin 2 rankingsCottingley Fairies

The Surgeon's Photograph (Loch Ness Monster)

The iconic 1934 black-and-white photo showing a long-necked creature rising from Loch Ness, credited to a respected London gynecologist, became the defining image of the Nessie legend for 60 years. It was later revealed as a toy submarine fitted with a sculpted head. Few hoaxes h

Year: 1934Perpetrator: Marmaduke WetherellImpact/Fame: 8/10Scale of Deception: Millions worldwide for over 60 years

added by IJR

The Left-Handed Whopper

Burger King's 1998 full-page USA Today ad announced a new burger redesigned for left-handed customers, with condiments rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of customers reportedly requested the item, and even more asked specifically for the 'old' right-handed version, revealing how gul

Year: 1998Perpetrator: Burger KingImpact/Fame: 7/10Scale of Deception: Thousands of customer requests

added by IJR

Taco Liberty Bell

On April 1, 1996, Taco Bell placed ads in major newspapers announcing it had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it the 'Taco Liberty Bell' to help reduce the national debt. Outraged calls flooded the National Historic Park until Taco Bell revealed the joke hours later, even g

Year: 1996Perpetrator: Taco BellImpact/Fame: 7/10Scale of Deception: National media and outraged callers

added by IJRTaco Liberty Bell

Instant Color TV (Kjell Stensson Broadcast)

Swedish national broadcaster SVT's technical expert 'Kjell Stensson' announced in 1962 that viewers could convert their black-and-white TVs to color by placing a nylon stocking over the screen. Thousands of Swedes tried it, buoyed by the era's genuine excitement about impending c

Year: 1962Perpetrator: Sveriges Television (SVT)Impact/Fame: 7/10Scale of Deception: Thousands of Swedish households

added by IJR

The Sokal Affair

Physicist Alan Sokal submitted a deliberately nonsensical paper stuffed with postmodern jargon to the cultural studies journal Social Text in 1996, and it was accepted and published as legitimate scholarship. Sokal revealed the hoax simultaneously, igniting the 'Science Wars' deb

Year: 1996Perpetrator: Alan SokalImpact/Fame: 8/10Scale of Deception: One peer-reviewed academic journal

added by IJR

Alabama Changes the Value of Pi

A satirical 1998 email claimed the Alabama legislature had voted to redefine pi as exactly 3.0 for biblical consistency, and it spread rapidly as genuine news, embarrassing believers nationwide. Though written as fiction by a physics student, it tapped into real stereotypes and w

Year: 1998Perpetrator: Mark Boslough (satirical author)Impact/Fame: 6/10Scale of Deception: Widespread early internet chain-email audience

added by IJR

Balloon Boy Incident

In 2009, Colorado parents Richard and Mayumi Heene claimed their six-year-old son had floated away inside a homemade helium balloon, triggering a live televised, hours-long national chase involving the Air Force. The boy was found hiding at home, and the whole event was later rev

Year: 2009Perpetrator: Richard HeeneImpact/Fame: 7/10Scale of Deception: National live TV audience for hours

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Bonsai Kitten

A 2000 website claimed to sell live kittens grown inside jars to mold their bones into decorative shapes, complete with fake testimonials and order forms. It sparked outrage from animal rights groups and even FBI inquiries before being confirmed as satire by MIT students. It's on

Year: 2000Perpetrator: MIT students (anonymous)Impact/Fame: 6/10Scale of Deception: Global outrage, animal rights groups, FBI inquiry

added by IJRin 2 rankingsBonsai Kitten

Dihydrogen Monoxide Hoax

Circulated widely since the 1990s, this hoax describes the dangers of 'dihydrogen monoxide'—simply water—using real scientific-sounding language to trick people into supporting a ban. It has repeatedly fooled students, city councils, and even a New Zealand MP into taking action a

Year: 1990s (ongoing)Perpetrator: Multiple, popularized by Craig JacksonImpact/Fame: 6/10Scale of Deception: Students, officials, at least one city council vote

added by IJR

Kremvax

On April 1, 1984, a fake Usenet post claimed the Soviet Union had joined the global computer network via a node called 'kremvax,' astonishing early internet users at the height of Cold War tensions. The joke became real years later when an actual Soviet node adopted the name in t

Year: 1984Perpetrator: Piet BeertemaImpact/Fame: 5/10Scale of Deception: Global Usenet community

added by IJRKremvax

Google Nose

Google's 2013 April Fools' announcement claimed a new 'Google Nose' search feature could let users smell search results via an online 'olfactory database.' Complete with a polished product video and fake beta sign-up page, it fooled tech blogs into briefly reporting it as real in

Year: 2013Perpetrator: GoogleImpact/Fame: 5/10Scale of Deception: Tech media outlets, briefly reported as real

added by IJR