Museum of Hoaxes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Museum of Hoaxes is a website created in 1997 in San Diego, California.[1] It is maintained by Alex Boese,[2] and has become an authoritative and timely source of information on many modern and antiquated hoaxes and urban legends.[3]

New hoaxes and possible hoaxes are regularly added[4] by the Museum website curator and are discussed by the Museum visitors and volunteers, who also discuss related issues in the Museum forum. The site also features lists such as "The Top Ten College Pranks of All Time."[5]

In 2004, PC Magazine included the site as one of the "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without,"[6][7] and Sci Fi Weekly named it "site of the week" for the week beginning 7 February 2007.[8]

Boese has released two authoritative books on hoaxes: Museum of Hoaxes (E.P. Dutton, 2002, ISBN 0-525-94678-0) and Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S. (Harvest Books, 2006, ISBN 0-15-603083-7). A third book by Boese, Elephants on Acid (Harvest Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-15-603135-6), which focuses on true but bizarre scientific experiments, has also been published.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Berman, A. S., "Museum-of-Hoaxes highlights online gullibility", USA Today, August 16, 2001 (URL last accessed November 1, 2006).
  2. ^ Terdiman, Daniel, "Wry Hoaxes Enliven the World of Web Diarists", The New York Times, July 29, 2004 (URL last accessed May 23, 2008).
  3. ^ Emery, David, "The Bunk Stops Here: An interview with Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes", San Francisco Chronicle, December 19, 2002 (URL last accessed November 1, 2006).
  4. ^ Roach, John, "April Fools' Special: History's Hoaxes", National Geographic, April 1, 2004 (URL last accessed November 1, 2006).
  5. ^ Wischnowsky, Dave, "The Joke's on U", Chicago Tribune, April 28, 2006 (URL last accessed November 1, 2006).
  6. ^ "Museum of Hoaxes" (advertiser profile), Federated Media Publishing, URL last accessed November 1, 2006.
  7. ^ "The Museum of Hoaxes", PC Magazine, April 20, 2004 (URL last accessed November 1, 2006).
  8. ^ Dellamonica, A. M., "Museum of Hoaxes", Sci Fi Weekly, February 7, 2007 (URL last accessed November 17, 2007).

[edit] External links


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