Lighten up?

From Joe King: Unfortunately the gravity shift is a hoax:


Jan. 4, 2014: “˜Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity” Allowing People to Float is an Old Hoax
by Jack Phillips
Epoch Times
December 30, 2013

hoax_screenshot-200A rumor from the News-Hound.net blog is claiming there”s a “zero-G day” at 9:47 a.m. on January 4, 2014, that will decrease gravity allowing people to float for five minutes due to an “extraordinary astronomical event.” But it”s not real as it was a hoax perpetrated by astronomer Sir Patrick Moore four decades ago.

“At exactly 9:47 am, the planet Pluto will pass directly behind Jupiter, in relation to the Earth. This rare alignment will mean that the combined gravitational force of the two planets would exert a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth”s own gravity and making people weigh less. Moore calls this the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect,” reads the blog that has hundreds of thousands of “likes” and shares on Facebook, saying that the “theory” was attributed to astronomer Sir Patrick Moore.

However, the whole thing was a hoax created several decades ago by Moore but websites and blogs kept passing it along every year, saying it will happen a few days after New Year”s Day.

Moore, who was the BBC Radio 2 astronomer, said the event would happen as part of an April Fools Day prank in 1976.

Continue reading “Lighten up?”

Sobering Up on the Python Story

From Joe King: Apparently the python-swallows-drunk tale has appeared in various permutations here there and everywhere


“˜Python Eats Drunk Man in India” Most Likely a Hoax; Media Outlets Fooled
by Jack Phillips
Epoch Times
November 28, 2013

An article titled “Python Eats Drunk Man in India” is a hoax, according to a report.

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David Emery with About.com wrote that the photo, which shows a python with a large object inside of it as people stand nearby, has been around for at least two years.

“Depending on which version of the story you read, the overstuffed python above swallowed a drunk guy in India, an unknown woman in South Africa, an unknown man in Qujing, China, a person of unknown gender in Indonesia, or a 4-year-old child in Malaysia,” he wrote. Continue reading “Sobering Up on the Python Story”

Bear With Fish Impersonates Wooly Mammoth, Fools Millions

Woolly Mammoth Video From Siberia Faces Credibility Issues
Huffington Post
February 9, 2012

A woolly mammoth has reportedly been seen and videotaped in Siberia, offering irrefutable proof that the giant hairy prehistoric elephants — believed to have gone extinct thousands of years ago — still exist.

That is, of course, if this new video shows an actual mammoth crossing a Siberian river. According to The Sun, a government engineer, conducting a survey for a potential new road last summer, saw the beast in question in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia.

He supposedly filmed the creature. And here is where so many questions come to mind: Continue reading “Bear With Fish Impersonates Wooly Mammoth, Fools Millions”

Area 51: The World That Doesn’t Exist

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

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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. Continue reading “Area 51: The World That Doesn’t Exist”

The Bristol Zoo Parking Attendant

From About.com: Urban Legends by David Emery:


Netlore Archive: The Bristol Zoo Parking Attendant

p_involved-200Email 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. Continue reading “The Bristol Zoo Parking Attendant”