Those lunatic gang initiates are at it again. They started out putting strychnine and LSD on phone booth buttons, but now they’ve moved on to slashing the ankles of unsuspecting women. They lay in wait underneath women’s cars at gas stations, and as they get out, they attack! Fortunately, just like the LSD scare, this … Read more
A new virus allegedly called “WTC Survivor” virus allegedly threatens to turn victims computers into a digital disaster by deleting dynamic link libraries. Fortunately it’s a hoax, albeit one in very bad taste. Here’s the original e-mail: Date Collected: 3/21/2002 “BIGGGG TROUBLE !!!! DO NOT OPEN “WTC Survivor” It is a virus that will erase … Read more
Bill Gates is a very, very rich man. Perhaps wealthier than many of us could imagine, but even with all of his money, not even Bill Gates could afford to give everyone on the net a share of his fortune. Yet that’s exactly what a hoax that’s been circulating the net for decades (well, in … Read more
Not to long ago, I updated a hoax about killer South American spiders that were allegeldy infesting airplanes as well as a certain restaurant in Chicago. That very same hoax has now mutated, and shows all the signs of becoming a truly enduring urban legend. You can read about the original hoax here; to learn about … Read more
Forget about faulty wings and bad engines — the “killer spiders on airplanes” hoax wants you to believe that scary South American arachnids are preying on our friends in Chicago. Here’s the original e-mail: WARNING An article by Dr. Beverly Clark, in the Journal of the United Medical Association (JUMA), the mystery behind recent deaths … Read more
Has the dead hand of a notorious atheist succeeded in getting the federal government to ban the word “God” from America’s airways, thus forcing CBS to cancel Touched by an Angel? In a word, no. This hoax has been circulating since 1975, and shows no signs of going away, despite the fact that its primary … Read more
The SlaveMaster e-mail has returned to stalk the Internet, this time donning the persona of “MonkeyMan935” in an attempt to scare uninformed men and women. Like its predecessor, the MonkeyMan935 e-mail is a hoax. To date, we’ve captured two versions of the new hoax: Date Captured: Nov. 6, 2002 The state Police are warning all … Read more
Why buy the world a Coke, when you can just forward an e-mail? That question’s at the heart of an e-mail hoax that promises free cola for fowarding a certain e-mail around the Net. Here’s the original e-mail: Date Captured: April 17, 2000 Subject: FREE COCA COLA FOR A MONTH Coca-Cola is offering four free … Read more
An e-mail claiming to be raising money to save a kid dying of brain cancer claims you don’t have a heart if you delete the message (no doubt it will have been stolen by a rampaging band of kidney thieves looking to branch out into new markets). A later version, captured in December, includes a … Read more
When I was a kid, I told an outrageous lie: that my grade school principal was going to pay me .25 cents for each piece of garbage I picked up at the school. My parents immediately saw it for the fiction that it was. Unfortunately, people on the net aren’t quite so observant when it … Read more