Editor’s note: Watch how this hoax was perpetrated in a behind-the-scenes video at the end of this post…

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Hoax video of Michael Jackson creates online stir
by Kirsten Grieshaber
Yahoo! News / Associated Press
September 1, 2009

Berlin – A hoax video purportedly showing Michael Jackson emerging from a coroner’s van was an experiment aimed at showing how quickly misinformation and conspiracy theories can race across the Internet, German broadcaster RTL said Tuesday.

The video was posted by RTL on YouTube for a single day a week ago and received 880,000 hits. The broadcaster has since removed the video from YouTube, but it has been picked up by other Web sites around the world.

“We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the Internet with hoax videos,” spokeswoman Heike Schultz of Cologne-based RTL told The Associated Press. “Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead — and the response was breathtaking.”

Jackson died June 25 in Los Angeles.

The video — posted under an “anonymous source” — shows a coroner’s van entering what seems like a parking garage and the King of Pop getting out of the back with another person. The lighting is bad, the sound muffled and the footage appears amateurish.
“Unfortunately, many people believed it was true,” Schultz said. “Even though we tried to create the video in a way that every normal user can see right away that it is a fake.”
She said the video was shot near Cologne — “definitely not in the U.S.” The van in the video had the word “CORONER” printed in English, suggesting it had been recorded in America.
RTL admitted to the hoax in an Aug. 26 report on its daily news show Explosiv.

Hoaxes and rumors commonly spread like wildfire on the Internet. Videos of flying saucers and impossible stunts routinely are among the most-viewed on video-sharing sites, though purported evidence of the deceased being alive is less common than false rumors of someone’s death.

The rise of Twitter and its real-time microblogging has quickened the pace. American actor Patrick Swayze, who is battling pancreatic cancer, had to declare that he is still alive this year after thousands of Twitter users spread news that he was dead. Actor Jeff Goldblum had to do the same.

The RTL spokeswoman said some Jackson fans were upset by the German broadcaster’s actions.

“We didn’t want to dishonor Michael Jackson, but we needed a strong name to get this experiment going,” Schultz said. “Had we used Britney Spears, then the fans of Britney would have complained.”

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Watch this behind the scenes video that shows how the hoax was done [in German]:

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Rough English Translation:

(Woman)
We didn’t expect this much reaction. Conspiracy theorists has been questioning if Michael Jackson is really dead. But what happens if a hoax video show Michael Jackson alive after his death? You may think this is cruel but we only jumped onto the train full of rumors, already in route. Matthias Walter & Robert Keckeis.

(Man)
If you are Michael Jackson, you live forever at least on internet. Because some hours after his death a lot of conspiracy theories were born. Different videos show that Michael Jackson might be alive.

(Quotes from conspiracy believers):
“This was not Michael, this was an impostor”

“Jackson’s ghost in the house is one of the miraculous experiences all over the world”

“Michael Jackson’s death certificate is incomplete and questionable.”

(Man)
Thousands of conspiracy theorists believe to see that Michael Jackson’s dead body is moving in the helicopter. That story ends when the dead body is transported by the coroner’s van. But that’s not the end, because in the last 48 hours, this video causes big excitement. (RTL shows its hoax video )

2 days ago about 700.000 users watched this video. Polls say 21% think this video is authentic but it is NOT. The video is staged by us. How fast rumor travels on internet? And what happens when the conspiracy theorists see this video? This we want to find out with our experiment.

(Guiseppe Ruisi – Michael Jackson Impersonator)
This is a true recording, not a Hollywood production, it’s believable. The face of the man who jumps out of the coroner van isn’t clear. But everything seems to point to Michael Jackson.

(Alexander Gernandt – Bravo head editor)
We don’t know a life without Michael Jackson.
And suddenly he’s gone. And lots of people don’t want to accept this & believe in videos which show that Michael Jackson might not be dead.

(Man)
First, we created stickers for a van that looks similar to the coroner’s van. In 2 hours, the experts finished their work.

(Question to an expert)
“Are you pleased with the result?”

(Expert)
“I’m very pleased. I think the result speaks for itself”

(Man)
Then the van drives through the city to the filming spot near Duesseldorf (Germany). There, the van hits the wall.

(Driver)
“I am not sure, if we can drive through.”

(Man)
We use a borrowed yellow warning light & it looks authentic when we put it on the car roof. We didn’t have the warning lights for the back but some wood from a do-it-yourself-store helps.

(Man)
The actors in our short movie is a junior actor. Our Michael Jackson is only 14 years old. Our bodyguard is George, a real fan of the King of Pop

(George)
I can understand it when people think that he isn’t dead. They believe this because his music lives on.

(Man)
The rumors on Internet traveled fast. And our clip becomes a real news to many people. The conspiracy theorists comes up with their theories about the video.

(Quotes – conspiracy theorists):
“You can’t come up with something like that so easily. Is this all a part of a witness protection program?”

“The person wears the typical Jackson clothes: white shirt, black pants and you clearly see white socks.”

“He’s soooo alive, I don’t care what they say on TV”

There are some hints that our video is staged. But there are people who want to believe that this is an authentic video. Like the employees of this internet website.

(Quote)
Now it’s clear where the coroner’s van has driven into the LA coroner’s underground garage. There the driver opened the van door & Michael Jackson jumped out the van very healthy.

(Interviewer)
“What if I tell you, that RTL has something to do with this video?”

(Operator)
“What if then? Then i would congratulate you, because you have done a really great video (smiles)

(Interviewer)
“RTL staged this video!”

(Operator)
“Yes? (pause) Congratulations. (pause) That’s great. You did well. Then I congratulate you, you have done well.” (shakes hand)

(Interviewer)
“You have noticed nothing?”

(Operator)
“No, I didn’t noticed anything, like I said before. It was the same physique, the hair was identical (stutters) we wouldn’t have done this if we would have noticed that this is staged. (she means publishing the video on their website) If he were a blond fat man, we wouldn’t have done this.

Although we declared officially that the video is staged, people upload our video more than a couple of dozen & declare that the video is real and 100% true. Our Jackson video has shown how quick a video runs like wildfire worldwide. On the internet, every day there are more & more videos.

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Read some of the actual online conspiracy theory discussion at michaeljacksonhoaxdeath.com