Gotcha! A Grab Bag of Famous Hoaxes

We’ve had a pretty heavy summer on TCC, haven’t we? Nazis and
Norwegian black metal murders, and those last two cases were
gnarly. So we thought maybe this week, you’d appreciate something a
little lighter—something just for fun. So we decided to talk about
hoaxes. Sometimes hoaxes are hilarious, like the time Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle pranked five of his friends by sending them all an
anonymous letter saying “We are discovered. Flee at once,” and then
watched in amazement as one of ‘em up and left town the next day.
Sometimes they’re kind of a public service, reminding us that we
can’t believe everything we see on TV or the internet. Sometimes
they’re sick burns—humiliating revenge against a stuck-up snob who
deserved it. But whatever the motive, and whether anybody ends up
in jail or not, pranking the crap out of our fellow humans is
almost always entertaining. Join us for a grab bag of hoaxes
through history--from Mary Toft and her miraculous "rabbit births"
to the infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast that terrified
America, to a Canadian woman who faked a pregnancy and abducted a
real baby, and more.

Sources:
Toronto Star:
https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/i-m-not-a-bad-person-says-gta-baby-snatcher-with-guilty-plea/article_928babfb-b457-5942-bbee-7daf500d3eb6.html

CBS's "The Dr. Phil Show," episode "I Abducted a Baby/I am a
Psychopath"
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-war-on-paper-operation-mincemeat

Time Magazine:
https://time.com/6174289/operation-mincemeat-netflix-true-story/

The Smithsonian Mag:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/

NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2014/03/14/290119435/society-for-indecency-to-naked-animals

The Ringer:
https://www.theringer.com/music/2017/11/8/16615842/grunge-new-york-times-slang

Paris Review:
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/07/05/an-extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbits/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/05/21/sneaky-teen-texting-codes-what-they-mean-when-worry/101844248/


Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an
extra episode a month, and a free sticker!):
https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram:
https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com/

Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.