Fool Me Once…Part 1

Happy April Fools’ Day!  I found an interesting article on the some of the best April Fools’ pranks ever pulled on the History Collection website. Enjoy!

From: historycollection.com:

Nobody is certain when the custom of setting aside the first day of April to pull pranks on the unsuspecting began. Records of pranks go back centuries. There are reports of people hoaxing their fellows as far back as the early 16^th century in France, at a time when the New Year was celebrated on March 25, one week earlier than April 1. Pranks were considered part of the New Year celebration. By the late 16^th century, the event was recorded in the Low Countries, and it appeared in the British Isles a century or so later. In England, public announcements of a ceremony to wash the lions – statues at the Tower of London – appeared in 1698, though no such event took place.

In any event, throughout the history of the western world, April 1 became the date when harmless pranks were pulled on friends and strangers – and some have been epic. News organizations, governments, and private individuals have generated hoaxes for their own amusement and for the entertainment of others, at the same time demonstrating both their power and the gullibility of sections of the public. Here are some of the best April Fools pranks of all time, which when perpetrated demonstrated the brilliance of the prankster, and the foolishness of those taken in.

1. The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, April 1, 1985

Just before Opening Day, 1985, Sports Illustrated ran an article in their April 1 edition describing a unique phenomenon in the New York Mets training camp. His name was Hayden Siddhartha Finch – known to his teammates as Sidd – and he was capable of throwing a baseball at the unheard of speed of 168 miles per hour, with astonishing accuracy. He was a master of yoga, a dropout from Harvard University, disliked wearing shoes, and preferred playing the French horn to baseball. The article was accompanied by photographs, and the Mets organization played along, assigning both a locker and a uniform number to the fictitious pitcher (21). The response from the public and other media was immediate.

Mets fans called the team’s offices for additional information about Sidd. Sportswriters flocked to the Mets spring training facilities for a glimpse. A press conference was held on April 2, attended by the three major networks at the time, during which Sidd’s retirement was announced. The story, which had been written by George Plimpton, was revealed to have been an April Fools’ joke on the fifteenth of that month, but by then an uncounted number of people had been taken in. The absurdity of the tale and the absence of Finch in camp aside, many believed the story, and the Mets continued to field questions about the pitcher who never was for weeks.

2. The spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, April 1, 1957

In 1957 the British Broadcasting Corporation ran a segment on their popular television program Panorama, presented by the widely respected newsman, called a presenter in the UK, Richard Dimbleby. The three minute segment depicted spaghetti being harvested from the trees on which it had been grown in Switzerland. The report described a bumper crop of Swiss spaghetti, in part because the Swiss government had successfully eradicated the spaghetti weevil. Footage of an annual spaghetti harvest festival was included in the segment. Dimbleby’s deadpan voice-over and his reputation as a newsman gave the segment the air of authenticity, and over eight million Britons watched the program.

How many of them were fooled is unknown, but the BBC received hundreds of telephone calls in the aftermath, many of them asking how they could successfully grow their own spaghetti. Spaghetti was a recently introduced food in the UK in the late 1950s, usually purchased already prepared in tomato sauce in cans, which the British refer to as tins. It was considered somewhat exotic, even in that less than delicious presentation. Callers were told to try to seed their spaghetti in tomato sauce. Decades later the spaghetti hoax was described by CNN as one of the greatest ever pulled by a professional news organization, no matter how unbelievable it seems today.

3. Make your own color television, April 1, 1962

In 1962 Sweden had but one television channel, SVT (Sveriges Television) and the vast majority of television sets in the country were black and white receivers. SVT broadcast its programming in black and white as well, there were no color programs available for airing. On April 1, 1962, its leading technical expert appeared during a news broadcast, with the important news of a technological breakthrough which would allow Swedes to view the channel’s programming in what became known to an American network as “living color”. All they had to do was place an ordinary woman’s nylon stocking across the face of their television screen.

The expert, whose name was Kjell Stensson, demonstrated the process on the air, and the public responded with alacrity. According to Stensson, it was the mesh of the nylon which generated the color in the pictures appearing on the screen, though remember they were being broadcast in black and white. Hundreds, if not thousands, reported successfully obtaining a color image. After the report was revealed to be an April Fools’ Day joke, the number of Swedes who admitted being taken in dropped dramatically. By the way, color television broadcasts did not appear in Sweden until 1970, also on April 1, when it was no longer necessary to have a pair of nylons to receive the transmission.

4. The day the world became lighter, April 1, 1976

Early in the morning of April 1, 1976, the BBC radio station 2 presented an interview with noted astronomer Patrick Moore. Moore announced to his interviewer, and thus to listeners, that later that same morning a rare planetary alignment would occur which would have an effect on the gravitational forces on earth. At precisely 9.47 AM in Great Britain the affect would be at its peak. According to Moore if people were to jump into the air at that time they would achieve heights which up to then had been reachable only by NBA players, and some may even be able to float in the air for an extended period.

The appointed time came and went, and the BBC began receiving calls from listeners who reported successfully accomplishing the feat predicted by Moore in the interview. Hundreds of callers reported being able to reach unforeseen heights, and remaining suspended in mid-air for incredible lengths of time. Others claimed that they had been lifted out of their chairs, with no effort on their part, and floated about the room. How many of the callers were simply playing along with the joke and how many were actually taken in is unknown, but BBC 2 and Moore never revealed the idea had been made up by pranksters in the studio, and the affable Moore went along with the joke.

5. A German joke became American news, April 1, 1934

On April Fools’ Day, 1934, a Berlin newspaper published a photograph which showed a man flying using an apparatus which was powered by his own breathing. The man exhaled into a box worn on his chest, his breath causing rotors to spin and create suction, which according to the accompanying article lifted him into the air. Skis attached to his feet were used to land, and a tail fin was strapped to his back, affording him the capability of steering while airborne. The entire article and photograph was clearly a joke, in accordance with the date of its publication in Germany. American wire services picked up the story, and it appeared in American newspapers, one of which was the New York Times, later in the week.

The American newspapers received the story days after it appeared in Germany, and the significance of the date of publication was lost on them. In the United States the story ran as being real news. It was distributed throughout the United States by Hearst International. Newspapers which subscribed to Hearst carried stories which described the invention as a miraculous new means of man achieving flight, and even speculated on the invention’s potential impact on transportation and daily commuting. Gradually the newspapers came to realize that the whole story had been a joke, and the reports of a breath powered aviator faded out.

6. The Norwegian wine bottle shortage, April 1, 1950

The most widely read newspaper in Norway published a story on its front page on April 1, 1950, which described a dilemma faced by the Vinmonopolet, the wine monopoly in Norway which was owned and operated by the government. According to the story, the monopoly faced an overstock of barreled wine, and at the same time a severe shortage of bottles to fill in order to present the wine for sale to the public. In order to alleviate the glut and distribute the wine, the monopoly would sell at a deep discount, and for just that day tax-free, the wine to individuals who arrived at markets with vessels with which to carry the beverage home. The article recommended buckets.

Dutiful Norwegians formed long lines, laden with the recommended buckets, though some brought with them pitchers, empty bottles, and other vessels to carry their share of the inexpensive wine they felt was their due. Gradually realizing that the lines were not moving, or moving very slowly as those at the head of the line realized they’d been had, the disappointed Norwegian wine drinkers went home, many of them leaving their buckets – the symbol that they had been duped – behind. Who placed the story in the newspaper – whether a government official or an impish editor – was never revealed.

7. The wasp swarm in Auckland, April 1, 1949

In late March every year New Zealand radio stations are warned against perpetrating April Fools’ Day hoaxes on the air, as being a violation of the standards expected of news organizations. The warning came about in the aftermath of an April Fools’ Day joke in 1949. That year a disk jockey by the name of Phil Shone broadcast a report of a swarm of wasps, more than one mile wide, approaching Auckland. Shone exclaimed on the damage the swarm could do to persons who were inundated by it, and told his listeners to take precautions to protect themselves from being stung. He advised them to place traps baited with honey outside their abodes, to keep the wasps from entering the home.

For those who had to go out, he recommended that all skin be covered, with masks and gloves. He also suggested that socks be pulled up over the cuffs of trousers for those forced to be outside. The image of New Zealanders clad as he recommended was no doubt amusing to him, but there were those who did not find the joke entertaining. The New Zealand Broadcast Service determined that the hoax was a violation of the standards all broadcasters were duty bound to meet, and the annual reminder appeared the following year, and every year hence.

8. The Hawaiian tax refund, April 1, 1954

It was another disk jockey, at Hawaii’s KHON radio, who created a frenzy through an April Fools’ Day joke in 1954. The radio station announced that the United States had granted statehood to the territory, and as a result, Hawaiians were to receive refunds on the income taxes paid for 1953. IRS offices in the islands and on the mainland were flooded with calls from citizens demanding additional information. So were radio stations, television stations, congressional offices, savings and loans, and banks. The entire territory of Hawaii, not then as populated as today, was placed in a frenzy before cooler heads prevailed.

The situation of residents of Hawaii, who paid federal income taxes but were not granted full rights as citizens of the United States, had been much in the news. Tax relief for the islanders had been discussed among members of Congress, including those lobbying for statehood for the islands. The joke did little other than roil the islands for a few days, before it was demonstrably proven false. Statehood was not granted to the islands until 1959, and Hawaiians were never refunded the income taxes they paid before statehood was achieved.

9. Americans land on the moon, April 1, 1967

To Americans, the drive to land on the moon by the end of the decade was in limbo in the spring of 1967. A disastrous and tragic fire which killed three astronauts in January of that year had shaken confidence in the space program. Congress was divided on whether to continue to pursue President Kennedy’s vision. But on April 1 of that year, listeners to Radio Zurich in Switzerland were informed that the Americans had landed on the moon. The news was broadcast in a breathless, rushed fashion, complete with winded reporters rushing to their mikes to deliver the latest information, barely able to control their breathing as the story unfolded.

The good citizens of Zurich were informed of the time the American spaceship would depart the moon to return to earth, and encouraged to head for rural areas where, once away from the light pollution of the city, they would be able to view the departure. Thousands did. Even American officials in Switzerland were taken in by the hoax, which was the brainchild of Radio Zurich’s Hans Menge, a respected news broadcaster. The April Fools’ Day hoax was even monitored by the Soviets, though their radar capabilities caused them to question what they were hearing from the Swiss. The Americans finally did land on the moon over two years later, in July 1969.

10. Converting soil into food, April 1, 1878

The New York Daily Graphic was a newspaper which relied on illustrations rather than writers to deliver the news of the day. It was filled with both original artwork and the reproductions of others. It was the first American newspaper to present a daily weather map, provided by an obliging government, which paid the paper to print it for the benefit of its readers. On April Fools’ Day, 1878, the Graphic presented its readers with an illustrated story which described Thomas Edison, then on the crest of fame for his invention of the phonograph, having created a machine which converted dirt into edible protein. His machine could also emulate the Wedding at Cana, converting water into wine.

According to the Graphic, Edison’s invention forever solved the problem of hunger in the world, since the minerals in the soil could be shaped into food without the pesky delay of growing wheat, or corn, or some other comestible. Competing newspapers reprinted the Graphic’s reporting, and Edison was fervently praised on editorial pages across the country. When editors for the Graphic learned of the story being repeated around the country they took the opportunity to needle their compatriots in the media, reprinting their reports, and gloating over the fact that their competitors had bought into their April Fools’ Day hoax. The writer of the hoax, William Croffut, gave birth to Edison’s moniker, “the Wizard of Menlo Park”.

SOURCE: HISTORYCOLLECTION.COM