Literary Hoaxes - The Art of the Prank

July 30, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #24: Home-Made Hocus Pocus Masquerades as Wisdom of an Ancient People

Here’s the twenty fourth 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. In this installment, Elvin continues his survey of literary fraud focused on Australia…

LiteratEye #24: Home-Made Hocus Pocus Masquerades as Wisdom of an Ancient People
By W.J. Elvin III
July 31, 2009

aborigines-425 “Jangga Meenya Bomunggur.”

In other words, “The smell of the white man is killing us.”

That’s from the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation’s mission statement, a very powerful statement and well worth checking out.

The Dumbartung group is an arts advocacy organization in Australia.

One thing the indigenous people find stinky about the white man, or in this case, woman, is exploitation through false claims of association and knowledge.

There have been several cases of authors making false claims of that sort. One in particular provoked Aborigine delegations to track down the perpetrator, Marlo Morgan.

They tried to confront Morgan, author of Mutant Message Down Under, in the United States and Japan.

Morgan made millions from Mutant. In it, she claimed she was kidnapped by a mysterious band of Aborigines, forced to go on desert walkabout, and ultimately initiated into realms of secret knowledge. Continue reading “LiteratEye #24: Home-Made Hocus Pocus Masquerades as Wisdom of an Ancient People”

July 24, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #23: Did Wikipedia Call You Names and Pull Your Pigtails? Too Bad.

Here’s the twenty third 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 #23: Did Wikipedia Call You Names and Pull Your Pigtails? Too Bad.
By W.J. Elvin III
July 24, 2009

wwlogo2-200 So, you’ve become famous and you’re ego-tripping along, checking out all the fascinating write-ups on various web sites regarding your marvelousness. You come to the Wikipedia biography. What the heck?

It says you were raised by rainforest monkeys, did a prison stretch for bilking your grandma out of her life savings, and your favorite pastime involves unspeakable activities in some exotic foreign sin-city. And, let’s say, there’s not much truth to that. What do you do?

Apparently, not much. Wikipedia’s policy appears to be that you are an unreliable source for information regarding yourself. So you can’t correct an entry about you.

Well, you could sue. But, sue who? The Wikipedia Foundation slips off the hook almost instantly by claiming malicious or mischievous entries are acts of “vandalism.”

Most often, it appears, the suits go against whoever posted the slanderous, libelous or otherwise objectionable entry. Quite recently a story broke about two Michigan State University students facing a $25,000 suit for defaming a local politician. Continue reading “LiteratEye #23: Did Wikipedia Call You Names and Pull Your Pigtails? Too Bad.”

July 17, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #22: Castaway Cuisine: How Do You Like Your Flamingo?

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

200px-CC_No_10_Robinson_Crusoe-200 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. Continue reading “LiteratEye #22: Castaway Cuisine: How Do You Like Your Flamingo?”

July 5, 2009December 15, 2023

Michael Jackson Signature Forgeries on the Rise

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III, as posted on International Autograph Collector’s Club and Dealer’s Alliance (IADA-CC):

Fake Michael Jackson autographs everywhere after death of the King of Pop, June 26, 2009

Beware of fake Michael Jackson signed items throughout the industry.

MJAutographing

Michael Jackson signed memorabilia and other artifacts have more then tripled in price and Forgeries are on the raise.The Internet is now bombarded with non authentic Michael Jackson signed items. Well they can only go up in value and in many cases by huge amounts. Beware as 70% of Michael Jackson autographs on eBay are forged or printed signatures. There will be loads of people out there trying to make some fast money off of Michael Jackson’s valued signature.

Actual Michael Jackson Signatures:
MJSignatures
Continue reading “Michael Jackson Signature Forgeries on the Rise”

July 3, 2009December 15, 2023

LiteratEye #20: Can a Spoof Morph Into the Real Deal?

Here’s the twentieth 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 #20: Can a Spoof Morph Into the Real Deal?
By W.J. Elvin III
July 3, 2009

Ern Malley Movie Poster The intemperate torch grazed
With fire the umbel of the dark.
The pond-lilies could not stifle
The green descant of frogs.

Is it possible for a hoax, a masterpiece of ridicule, to morph into a respected example of exactly what it was meant to spoof? That’s a serious question regarding the lines quoted above, a snippet of work of the poor lost legendary poet, Ern Malley.

An obscure, young Australian insurance salesman and part-time watch repairman in the days prior to World War II, Malley never lived to see his work become world famous. Well, for that matter, he never lived at all. Continue reading “LiteratEye #20: Can a Spoof Morph Into the Real Deal?”