Hi,

While standing in the supermarket checkout line this evening my attention drifted from the "Bat Boy" (or "World's Fattest Cat", or whatever that was...) on the latest tabloid over to this week's issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine (August 26-Sept. 2 2002). What a pleasant surprise!

The cover touts this "special double issue" as being about "The Art of the Hoax" Over half of the issue (50 out of 80 pages) is devoted to some great articles about hoaxes, past and present.

It details 20 "great schemes, scams, and shams" including: Urban legends, military use of misdirection on D-day, alleged occultism in Freemasonry, the search for captain Kidd's treasure, forgers, Hitler's bogus diary, crop circles, a Mike Caveney quote about exposing von Kempelen's chess-playing Turk automaton (he's against it), "Breatharianism" (living only on air and light!), the Philosopher's stone, moon landing doubters, and others.

All this followed by a two page profile of James Randi.

There is an awful lot of info in here about the psychology of disbelievers. It's not much of stretch to make connections to the psychology of magic.

Pick up a copy or check it out at your libraries. I thought you might find it interesting.

Cheers,
bob "cow circles and crop mutilations" mills

Sounds interesting! How much of the clip talked about magicians and hoaxs? And what sort of stuff did Mike Caveney say about the Turk automation?

Justin

Justin,

The whole issue is about hoaxes! There wasn't much specifically about magicians (which is why I posted in this forum and not "Food for Thought" or elsewhere). What is interesting to think about is how modern-day skepticism of magic _performance_ in our time is contrasted by vast amount of "real life" nonsense people believe. It's a head shaker.

The 1-page article on the Turk concludes with Caveney: "...Caveney laments that recent books on the Turk--and articles like this--spoil the classic illusion. 'The Turk,' he complains, 'isn't helped by the revealing.'"

Good stuff from an unlikely source (US News and World Report).

Have fun,
bob mills

Yeah, thank to this silly article and two recently published books on the Turk I've had to it out of my act as now everybody knows how it's done.
Because of this senseless exposure the magic auctions are going to fill up with old discarded chess playing automatons. Little children will no longer sit in awe as they watch these clockwork marvels best the most skilled chess player in their town. The whole mechanical chess machine industry will be wiped out because of this senseless exposure of their inner workings.
Why just tell me why US News and World Report would you do such a henious act as needlessly reveal the secret inner workings of a no longer in existence 200 year old clockwork conundrum?

Time to move into the 21st century. Maybe an XBox-playing automaton...?

A hoax-busting-James-Randi automaton...?


bob mills

Payne,

People ask me if my act has been adversely effected by the exposure shows, and I've found a way to construct my answer so as to gain the ultimate outrage from them.

Since I am a close-up performer, I pretty much skate by, but I tell the people "you know, that masked-man isn't hurting me, but I'll tell you who he is hurting: The little sixth grade kid who has practiced "metamorphasis" with his friend for the last six months, getting ready for his talent show--he's had his entire act torpedoed by these people. But me, I get by."

Overall, I have a tendency to believe that, in this country, if the exposure is done in print, that it is tantamount to never doing it at all.

--Ron

Bob,

To-date, a dozen people have re-ported yore strange Cow Circles here
in Canada. We don't know how to explain these mysterious shapes in
the fields of our lamb. Many a person speculate that the Golden Calf is
still within the Inner Temples of hour dayz.
Perhaps one will shed more light by
not HAARPing in on ye Crop Mutilations.
Too many exposed will not understand the wave.

Marduke, those are the dozen people who

lived to tell the tale.....



bob "aluminum foil hat" mills

In regards to the Turk, I don't think the whole mechanical chess industry is going to be wiped out, (if there is such a thing) just like Valentino didn't wipe out the whole magic industry and the other dire predictions that were made that never came to pass. The public's attention span is amazingly short... anybody remember that girl with that senator and what her name was or his? Exactly.

We're just experiencing a small Turk revival at the moment; besides nobody would really know how the Turk worked if John Gaughan wouldn't have spent so many precious years of his time to build a complete replica of the original. It could of been lost forever, the original certainly is. And in a way, the fascination with automata is kept alive and not kept secreted away like some arcane tomb.

I have not read the "Hoax's" article, but two pages on Mr. Randi, whose efforts I wholly respect, seems like some sort of elaborate self-promotion piece in its entirety; an ulterior motive within an article about hoaxes. Very Randiesque.

DA

ps. Rant, rant, blahblah, rant.

The tone of the Randi piece was kind of glum. With the fairly recent passing of fellow skeptics Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Sagan, and Issac Asimov, Randi is starting to feel like the vultures are circling on his uphill battle (I love mixing metaphors).

To highlight his point he makes reference to where his office is located: between a chiropractor and a shoe store that sells magnetic "healing" shoe inserts.

No "adjustments" for Mr. Randi or his feet.

bob mills

Have resurrected this wonderful thread third from the bottom of this section (number 50-something).

Been reading a book about D-Day recently and the British "funnies" and hoaxes (our USA friends disapproved at the time). The misdirections were almost beyond belief, but the Germans bought it all, hook, line and sinker! A bit like 5 year olds at a magic show!

But I think the main theme is here (one which intrigues me), hoaxes, and even some clever criminal acts, maybe are some form of (distasteful in some cases) magic? Or should magic be clearly fenced off from general non related deceit and classed separately as deceitful entertainment?

Also check out the quite eerie date and time of the posting before mine here . . . maybe this is why the thread was not expanded upon?

Another strange item to note is that if you double the numbers from the post previous to yours Ace, it totals the date found on your post! 11 + 11 = 22

I have been a seriously engaged professional behind the scenes and in front of the scenes hoaxer for many years.

I make the specimens that wind up on the Tabloids or start the rumors etc. It's fun...I consider them sp fx props...showmen show them or collect them and folks pay to see them. I have fooled many (as in MANY) PHDs and the general public with my 'zibits....

Now...consider this...the FeeGee Mermaid was OUTED big time in the 1800's...it continued to be exposed in print...Motion Pictures and Television up to this day...yet...and this is a BIG YET...folks believe the darn things when presented even in 2004.

Folks do not remember what is or is not a humbug...what's more they don't care...thay want to believe in faries and a gigantic imaginary friend or strange Mer People and Pygmies from The Amazon.

It's all in the presentation. Feegee Mermaid just outed on TV? So what...change the Name to an Aquatic Chupacabra Woman From Borneo...I guarantee I'll make money with it and convince the paying public that what they just saw was a wonder!.

Hard to swallow here in print...but I have watched the customers cross themselves when confronted with a mummified FeeGee Mermaid...the secret is to make it look real...the same secret as to doing your magic...to **** with the exposers...you make it magic.

There isn't an exposer on the planet who can affect the resulting amazement of the Pendragon's Sub Trunk...not that moron Masked Turd or anyone...the Pendragons make it UN-exposable because what they do is real magic.

Doug

Hoaxes are great. Look how many people fell for the WMD one a year ago.

Yours,

Paul

Thanks Paul ...but screw politics...there is no 'sence of wonder' in that filthy swamp no matter who is doing the pitch.

My first thought was that it would have been amusing if the “U.S. News and World Report” hadn’t contained the “hoax” article advertised on the cover.

My favorite hoax was unintentional. It’s the famous radio broadcast in 1938 of a play......ws story. The story was, “War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells. This broadcast, done by Orson Welles, caused a panic when many people believed that Martians were invading the Earth. Nobody was hurt, but many people were terrified.

My second favorite was also unintentional. It was when Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show joked that there was a toilet paper shortage. He was just making fun of a politician who’d made a statement that the federal government was behind in getting bids for toilet paper. Carson's quip caused a run on the stores that subsequenlty did caused a shortage of toilet paper that lasted for several days. (For our foreign readers, Johnny Carson was a famous comedian from years back who hosted a popular U.S. late night television show).

You just can’t make this stuff up!

It sounds like that article dealt with either intentional hoaxes or the perpetrators had delusions.

On a related subject, did anyone like Anneman’s 202nd force? That wasn’t a hoax though, it did work!

Bill, I hate to disagree with you because I deeply respect your vast knowledge and wit, but the "War of the Worlds" was entirely intentional by the producers of the project.

It was a test of social response for another project.

Doug, isn't it supposed to be Fiji instead of FeeGee? I know it's your mermaid, but I just wanted to know if your spelling was intentional?
~r2

R2: FeeGee was PT 's spelling (one of them) to get around the actual Fiji, the place link...but still hint that it was exotic to the masses who couldn't spell anyway.

It has been spelled FeeGee, Fee Gee, FiJi, FeeJee...you name it...doesn't really matter cause it's a made up thing anyway!

I NEVER use any of those terms when showing one or advising showmen/women who do show them. It's a term that has been outed too many times over too many years.

When I show them it is "THE STRANGE THING"...and let the public figure out what it is or is not.

As the exhibit card says...

"What is It? That's what we'd like to know! But you must admit it is a very Strange Thing!"

I never had a beef or a request for money back...ever.
In fact quite the opposite.

A lot of magicians have had me make them for them as a little side money as kind a peep show after their act. You'ld be surprised WHO has them!

SEE The Strange Thing!

Doug

Doug's meremaids are hoaxes, the real Feji Mermaid is in a bank office in Brookland. She had been held captive in upstate New York by a family of fireman for over a hundred years.
If you believe that you are a...what?

A mis-speller.


No matter how you spell it!