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Museum of Hoaxes
Hello world! I am writing this from a world where burgers are constructed differently based on which hand is your dominant hand, pasta grows from trees and Microsoft bought the rights to the Catholic Church. This week let's dive into 3 hoaxes that shook people's beliefs or did it?
Spaghetti Tree
On April Fools 1957, the BBC broadcasted a 3 minute report on its current affiars show Panorama.
It detailed a family in Switzerland who was seen cultivating and harvesting spaghetti off 'spaghetti trees'.
Of course this was just a joke but it didn't stop people phoning in and asking how to grow 'spaghetti plants'.
The BBC played along and told them to put some pasta into a can of chopped tomatoes and hope for the best.
We Are Being Invaded
In 1938, the then 23 year old Orson Welles narrated a dramatisation of H. G Wells' War of the World's on CBS Radio.
He did it in the style of a news report and the radio broadcast was so convincing that many listeners thought that aliens were invading Earth.
After the broadcast, outrage from the public and media ensued with some trying to sue CBS.
They were unsuccessful of course but this little stunt catapulted Orson Welles to the successful dramatist he would come to be.
Left Handed Whoppers
Another brilliant April Fools prank by a corporation. Burger King released a whopper that was designed specifically for left-handed people.
The whopper was made using the same ingredients but was rotated 180 degrees so that they would slip more towards the left hand side.
Burger King released a statement the next day claiming this was a hoax.
Not to the dismay of the right handed people though who were campaigning for Burger King to release a right handed burger.
Which was your favourite ruse? Let me know, Happy April Fools
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