I am making part of this up
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:39 am
April Fools Day seems a good day to reflect on the life and (to use the term loosely) art of Alan Abel, who has, over the past 40-odd years, made his name as a professional hoaxer.
Through judicious use of TV, newspapers and other media, and his unerring faith in the gullibility of the American public, Abel has perpetrated hoaxes such as these:
- With the help of his friend Buck Henry, created an organization called the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, with the stated goal of clothing all animals, under the slogan "A Nude Horse is a Rude Horse."
- Pretending to be a Chinese-American doctor, he wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine complaining of numbness, palpitations and weakness after eating at Chinese restaurants in the US. In the letter, he wondered if the MSG used at those restaurants might be to blame. As a result, nearly every Chinese restaurant in the US stopped using MSG, and to this day, many advertise that they do not use MSG.
- Abel faked his own death convincingly enough that the New York Times ran his obituary. After owning up to the hoax, he called the obituary editor at the Times, and asked if there was anything he could do to make amends. "Yeah, you could drop dead," was the response.
- During a taping of the Phil Donahue show in New York, several of Abel's confederates in the audience fainted as the microphone was passed to them. Fearing a gas leak, Donahue cleared the studio.
- Convinced several news outlets that he ran a company called Euthanasia Cruise Lines, which gives its passengers a chance to expire in luxury.
These are just some of the stunts he's pulled. And I have just pulled one.
One of the items listed above was not a hoax perpetrated by Alan Abel. It actually happened, more or less as described above.
Guess which one. No googling or other peeking.
April Fool.
Through judicious use of TV, newspapers and other media, and his unerring faith in the gullibility of the American public, Abel has perpetrated hoaxes such as these:
- With the help of his friend Buck Henry, created an organization called the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, with the stated goal of clothing all animals, under the slogan "A Nude Horse is a Rude Horse."
- Pretending to be a Chinese-American doctor, he wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine complaining of numbness, palpitations and weakness after eating at Chinese restaurants in the US. In the letter, he wondered if the MSG used at those restaurants might be to blame. As a result, nearly every Chinese restaurant in the US stopped using MSG, and to this day, many advertise that they do not use MSG.
- Abel faked his own death convincingly enough that the New York Times ran his obituary. After owning up to the hoax, he called the obituary editor at the Times, and asked if there was anything he could do to make amends. "Yeah, you could drop dead," was the response.
- During a taping of the Phil Donahue show in New York, several of Abel's confederates in the audience fainted as the microphone was passed to them. Fearing a gas leak, Donahue cleared the studio.
- Convinced several news outlets that he ran a company called Euthanasia Cruise Lines, which gives its passengers a chance to expire in luxury.
These are just some of the stunts he's pulled. And I have just pulled one.
One of the items listed above was not a hoax perpetrated by Alan Abel. It actually happened, more or less as described above.
Guess which one. No googling or other peeking.
April Fool.