Submitted by W.J. Elvin III as seen in the LA Times:

The Road to Area 51
by Annie Jacobsen
LA Times
April 5, 2009

After decades of denying the facility’s existence, five former insiders speak out

Area 51. It’s the most famous military institution in the world that doesn’t officially exist. If it did, it would be found about 100 miles outside Las Vegas in Nevada’s high desert, tucked between an Air Force base and an abandoned nuclear testing ground.

Then again, maybe not– the U.S. government refuses to say. You can’t drive anywhere close to it, and until recently, the airspace overhead was restricted–all the way to outer space. Any mention of Area 51 gets redacted from official documents, even those that have been declassified for decades.

It has become the holy grail for conspiracy theorists, with UFOlogists positing that the Pentagon reverse engineers flying saucers and keeps extraterrestrial beings stored in freezers. Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country. (more…)

Here’s the twenty ninth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #29: Kidnapped by Slavers! Abducted and Tortured by Wild Savages! Worse Yet, Branded a ‘Reckless Liar’!
By W.J. Elvin III
September 4, 2009

Let’s say you had to choose, which would it be:

Abducted off the streets as a child, cast into the dingy hold of a sailing ship and, when it got filled with other unfortunates like yourself, carried off to a foreign land to be sold into slavery … or … captured by merciless wild Indians, witness to the brutal slaughter of numerous of your own people – men, women and children, and cruelly tortured for the mocking amusement of your captors?

Well, if you happen to be as lucky as Peter Williamson of Aberdeen, Scotland, back in the mid-1700s, you could have all that, plus a few other horrors and terrors for good measure.

Williamson, known later in life as “Indian Peter,” made the best of it. He wrote a book that sold well in his own day and remains an oft-quoted classic among tales of Indian captivity.

It’s quite the yarn, as some of the chapter headings indicate: (more…)

From About.com: Urban Legends by David Emery:

Netlore Archive: The Bristol Zoo Parking Attendant

Email tale about a ‘very pleasant attendant’ who, for 25 years running, showed up every day at Bristol Zoo and collected parking fees from visitors, then one day simply disappeared with all the cash. Turns out no one had ever officially hired a car park attendant for the zoo. The man now lives in a villa in Spain.





Description: Email joke / Urban legend
Circulating since: April 2007
Status: False

Email example contributed by Kenneth D., July 6, 2009:

Fw: A well-planned retirement

From The London Times:

Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England, there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 coaches, or buses.

It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars 1 pound (about $1.40) and coaches 5 (about $7).

This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years. Then, one day, he just didn’t turn up for work. (more…)

Here’s the twenty second installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.

LiteratEye #22: Castaway Cuisine: How Do You Like Your Flamingo?
By W.J. Elvin III
July 17, 2009

Back in the days of the sailing ships there were many tales of the perilous lives of castaways, some marooned – kicked off their ship on an island in the middle of nowhere — and others survivors of catastrophes. Robinson Crusoe’s story is one of the best-known castaway tales.

Crusoe first appeared without the author’s name (Daniel Defoe) and without any indication that it was a novel. A great many books of that era were first published with pious testimony as to their truth. And Crusoe is indeed based on a true story. I was researching that true story when I began wondering about castaway cuisine.

How would it go, washed up on a remote island, a thousand miles from the nearest cheeseburger? You’d probably do a quick check for cannibals or komodo dragons. And then, more than likely, begin hunting your next meal. (more…)

From David Emery’s About.com Urban Legends, June 30, 2009:

Celebrity Death Hoaxes Abound

It was a bumpy weekend for the rich and famous, with the entertainment industry mourning the loss of three pop culture icons even as the Internet churned out one hoax after another declaring more celebrities dead.

The hoaxfest was triggered by mid-week announcements confirming that Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson had died. By Thursday afternoon the Internet was rife with false reports claiming that actors Jeff Goldblum and Harrison Ford had died as well. Death announcements for Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Louie Anderson, P. Diddy, Natalie Portman, George Clooney, and Rick Astley — all bogus — followed in quick succession.

Pranksters used a variety of tactics to promulgate the rumors, including generating fake news stories on the Web, vandalizing Wikipedia pages, and hacking celebrities’ Twitter accounts. Despite their rapid dissemination, all were debunked in fairly short order. (more…)

Mars will be NOT be huge this August
NewsTimes.com
May 29, 2009

Can an urban myth be galactic in its silliness?

Meet the story of giant Mars, coming this August to a night sky near you.

The myth appears in an e-mail that is circulating around the Internet like a comet. It promises that on Aug. 27, Mars will be so close to Earth it will look as big as the full moon. It will be the night of two moons — one white and one red.

“Share this with your children and grandchildren,” the e-mail message says. “NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.”

Astronomers, hearing this or reading this, can only sigh. They’re confronting the celestial version of the story of how Mikey of the Life cereal ads exploded after eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda. It’s an urban legend. (more…)

The Return of the Montauk Monster?
AOL News
May 14, 2009

Will the Montauk Monster mystery finally be solved?

The remains of a mysterious creature, said to have been photographed on New York’s Long Island last weekend, have renewed speculation about monstrous creatures — or monstrous tricksters — lurking near Montauk.

Photos of a similar carcass allegedly found in the area became a global Internet sensation last year. Those remains were said to have disintegrated before they could be examined, according to Montauk-Monster.com, which has documented the finds in detail. But the site says the newly found monster is on ice.

“The beast smelled like a mix of low-tide and rotten garbage,” blog author Nicky Papers wrote on the site. “It really smelled horrific. I couldn’t help but take numerous pictures of it and video clips.” Papers said that it doesn’t matter if the new beastie turns out to come from mundane origins, as long as this time, the world learns what it really is.

thanks Linda

From Comicvine.com:

Superman # 660 – The Art of the Prank is a comic book issue published by DC that was released on 3/2007, last edit – 06/06/2008

Plot Summary (May contain Spoilers)

The Prankster is visited by an up-and-coming new gangsta in Metropolis by the name of Nitro G. He has the power to produce nitroglycerin and make things explode. In order to make more of a name for himself and his crew, he needs Prankster to distract Superman so he can rob a bank. (more…)

From David Emery of About.com: Urban Legends

Freaky Fish Found on a Tampa Bay Beach

Summary: Emailed photos show the carcass of a very strange fish with monstrous teeth allegedly washed up on a beach in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Circulating since: July 2006
Status: Fake

Identified in some versions of the email as a “Devil Fish,” the gruesome specimen in the preceding photographs doesn’t really exist. It’s a fine example of what is called “gaff art” — the manufacture of sideshow artifacts or fake oddities out of the preserved body parts of real animals using taxidermy and prop-building techniques. It was first sighted in an eBay auction dated May 2006, where it was described as a “mummified sea monster corpse.” The winning bidder paid $637.

It was created by Florida artist Juan Cabana, who was also responsible for the creepy “merman or mermaid carcass” allegedly found washed up on beaches from South Africa to south Florida. (more…)

A Mighty Hoax From ACORN Grows
by Michael Winship
Truthout.org
October 18, 2008

ACORN and election fraud. Hang on. As soon as I can get the alligator that crawled out of my toilet back into the New York City sewers where it belongs, I can turn my attention to this very important topic.

You see, the ACORN “election fraud” story is one of those urban legends, like fake moon landings and alligators in the sewers, and it appears three or four weeks before every recent national election with the regularity of the swallows returning to Capistrano. First, the basics: ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is an activist group working with low- and moderate-income families to, among many other things, register voters. To do this, they hire people to go around signing up the unregistered, killing two birds with one stone – giving employment to people who need it (some with criminal records) and providing the opportunity to vote to members of minority communities whose voices all too often go unheard.

What happens is that some of those hired to do the registering, who are paid by the name, make people up. As a result, you’ll discover that among the registrants are such obvious fakes as Mickey Mouse and the starting line-up of the Dallas Cowboys, among others.

This is where the Republican meme kicks in. As they have in past elections (although now louder and more angrily than ever), the G.O.P. has made ACORN the red flag du jour as the party tries to mobilize its conservative base and, allegedly, attempts to suppress the vote and distract attention from accusations of election tampering made against them, too. (more…)

Fabled absinthe all a hoax, German scientists say
The Earth Times
May 6, 2008

Karlsruhe, Germany – Absinthe, the green liqueur flavoured with aniseed which reputedly used to drive artists mad, was a hoax, a team of scientists said Tuesday, adding that it was only the strong alcohol in the drink that was damaging to health.

Absinthe was banned in Europe for much of the 20th century because of fears it contained large amounts of thujon, which is toxic to the nerves. Not so, said scientists at the CVUA laboratory in Karlsruhe, Germany, who did the study with US and British colleagues.

They tested old bottles of the beverage nearly 100 years old.

“Its psycho-active effect is just a fairy tale,” said scientist Dirk Lachenmeier. The liqueur had contained only minimal thujon.

Users claimed the wormwood liqueur could trigger hallucinations or epileptic fits. The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh is supposed to have cut off his own ear under its influence. (more…)

From David Emery of About.com on Super Bowl Sunday urban legends, February 1, 2008:

In an LA Times article a few years back, renowned folklorist Alan Dundes ventured to explain why Super Bowl Sunday has become the focus of so many larger-than-life “urban beliefs” in the United States — beliefs such as:

Every year on Super Bowl Sunday the water systems of major cities are in danger of collapsing because of so many simultaneous toilet flushings at half-time (FALSE).

More women are physically abused by spouses and boyfriends on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year (DISPUTED).

Two-thirds of all the avocados sold yearly in the United States are purchased during the three weeks prior to the Super Bowl for making guacamole dip (EXAGGERATED).

There are more pizza deliveries made during Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day of the year (TRUE).

Disneyland becomes a veritable ghost town on the day of the Super Bowl because so many Americans are planted in front of their TV sets (FALSE).

The stock market predictably fluctuates up or down the Monday after the Super Bowl depending on which league wins (PARTLY TRUE).

Wrote Dundes: “Every culture’s legends express that culture’s values. Super Bowl legends usually involve numbers and a sense of enormity. The idea of big numbers, of being bigger than other people, is very American.”

Or maybe we’re just prone to exaggerate. Who isn’t? Read on here.

image: Sahara pizza

Empire State Building car zap mystery
by Richard Weir
Daily News
January 27, 2008

Several cars a day get bizarrely stranded in a five-block ‘Bermuda Triangle’ near the Empire State Building.

In the shadow of the Empire State Building lies an “automotive Bermuda Triangle” – a five-block radius where vehicles mysteriously die.

No one is sure what’s causing it, but all roads appear to lead to the looming giant in our midst – specifically, its Art Deco mast and 203-foot-long, antenna-laden spire.

“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery. “You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up.”

Motorists like Russell Valeev, 25, learn about it the hard way.

“The lights work, the horn works, everything. But it won’t start,” Valeev, a driver for Golden Touch Transportation said one recent evening as he sat in his 2005 Ford van with the hood propped open on E. 35th St., between Lexington and Park Aves. “It’s my job. No money.”

(more…)

A comprehensive, although theoretical, exhibition of the history of Alfred E. Newman, Alfred, We Hardly Knew Thee! continues through Feb. 7 in the Ford Gallery in Ford Hall at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Ford Hall is north of Cross Street at the intersection of Normal Street. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon. and Thursday.; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday. Information: 734-487-0465.

Mad for Alfred:
A new exhibit shows Mad magazine’s poster boy has a shadowy past
by Tahree Lane
The Toledo Blade
January 20, 2008

Mad magazine’s lovable poster boy is as emblematic of the last half of the 20th century as any cartoon character.

But the face we know as Alfred E. Neuman has a storied past that reaches back 200 years and has its roots in discrimination.

“The image is fluid and flexible and has been with us from George Washington to W. Bush,” says John E. Hett, publisher of the intermittent The Journal of Madness. (more…)

Both Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing and Alex Boese of the Museum of Hoaxes, following threads from the Heresy Corner blog (see links below), commented today on the probability that the twins separated at birth who found each other later in life, fell in love and got married, much to the horror of seemingly everyone, since, as the story goes, their marriage was immediately annuled, is undoubtedly an urban legend.

Links from Heresy Corner:

image: Twins Insurance