Midcentury New Yorkers who couldn't sleep found a friend in Jean Shepherd, the iconoclastic radio personality whose middle of the night monologues made him a cult comedy figure and leader of the underground Night People movement. When he proposed to prank the book world by demanding a novel that didn't exist, the title became so popular his followers more or less willed it into being.

SOURCES
https://web.archive.org/web/20020427051336/https:/flicklives.com/Articles/Wall_Street_Journel/8-1-56/8-1-56.jpg
https://www.theawl.com/2013/02/the-man-behind-the-brilliant-media-hoax-of-i-libertine/
Excelsior, You Fathead! By Eugene B Bergmann
I, Libertine by Theodore Sturgeon
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/25/handbook-for-mortals-by-lani-sarem-pulled-from-nyt-bestsellers-list
https://www.pajiba.com/book_reviews/did-this-book-buy-its-way-onto-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list.php
https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/handbook-for-mortals-lani-sarem-23-hour-new-york-times-bestseller.html
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/lani-sarem-blues-traveler-manager-novelist-bestseller-list-7957648/

Midcentury New Yorkers who couldn't sleep found a friend in Jean Shepherd, the iconoclastic radio personality whose middle of the night monologues made him a cult comedy figure and leader of the underground Night People movement. When he proposed to prank the book world by demanding a novel that didn't exist, the title became so popular his followers more or less willed it into being.
SOURCES https://web.archive.org/web/20020427051336/https:/flicklives.com/Articles/Wall_Street_Journel/8-1-56/8-1-56.jpg https://www.theawl.com/2013/02/the-man-behind-the-brilliant-media-hoax-of-i-libertine/ Excelsior, You Fathead! By Eugene B Bergmann I, Libertine by Theodore Sturgeon https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/25/handbook-for-mortals-by-lani-sarem-pulled-from-nyt-bestsellers-list https://www.pajiba.com/book_reviews/did-this-book-buy-its-way-onto-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list.php https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/handbook-for-mortals-lani-sarem-23-hour-new-york-times-bestseller.html https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/lani-sarem-blues-traveler-manager-novelist-bestseller-list-7957648/

Why do so many people believe things that aren’t true? In an era when claims of “fake news” come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to “Balloon boy” in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we’ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood’s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we’ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.

 

**New episodes every other week**

Why do so many people believe things that aren&rsquo;t true? In an era when claims of &ldquo;fake news&rdquo; come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to&nbsp;&ldquo;Balloon boy&rdquo; in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we&rsquo;ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood&rsquo;s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we&rsquo;ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.
&nbsp;
**New episodes every other week**

Hoax!

I, Libertine

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/21491171-ecbb-489f-915c-b3b50011a058/transcript

During the 18th century, as the industrial revolution picks up.... steam, people are dazzled by expertly constructed mechanical marvels: automatons. But Wolfgang von Kempelen brings something to the royal court in Vienna that people have never seen before: an automaton capable of playing chess.

SOURCES:
The Mechanical Turk by Tom Standage
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/debunking-mechanical-turk-helped-set-edgar-allan-poe-path-mystery-writing-180964059/
Maelzel’s Chess Player by Edgar Allan Poe 
Last of a Veteran Chess Player by Silas Weir Mitchell

During the 18th century, as the industrial revolution picks up.... steam, people are dazzled by expertly constructed mechanical marvels: automatons. But Wolfgang von Kempelen brings something to the royal court in Vienna that people have never seen before: an automaton capable of playing chess.
SOURCES: The Mechanical Turk by Tom Standage https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/debunking-mechanical-turk-helped-set-edgar-allan-poe-path-mystery-writing-180964059/ Maelzel&rsquo;s Chess Player by Edgar Allan Poe&nbsp; Last of a Veteran Chess Player by Silas Weir Mitchell

The Mechanical Turk

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/42be4c65-801f-4305-bfb2-b3b401422a2e/transcript

When YouTube was barely a year old, the the site's users were gripped by the slowly unfolding tale of Bree, the sheltered, beautiful 16 year old girl whose parents  kept her locked in her bedroom with no one but the internet and her only friend, Daniel, for company. As Bree's situation grew more dire, she became one of the first online obsessions, paving the way for hundreds of hoaxes to come.

SOURCES
https://www.youtube.com/@lonelygirl15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-m-JXcppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5S2Kdb8Io4&t=3s
https://medium.com/@vocativ/the-strange-saga-of-lonelygirl15-an-oral-history-dd94687e9976
https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-creators-of-lonelygirl15-turned-web-series-into-a-multi-million-dollar-company-2010-7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnjZzDeepE8
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-video-blog-youtube
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-lonelygirl15-story.html
https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-the-secret-identity-of-lonelygirl15-was-found/
https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/154b603/how_did_people_of_the_2000s_fall_for_lonelygirl15/

When YouTube was barely a year old, the the site's users were gripped by the slowly unfolding tale of Bree, the sheltered, beautiful 16 year old girl whose parents &nbsp;kept her locked in her bedroom with no one but the internet and her only friend, Daniel, for company. As Bree's situation grew more dire, she became one of the first online obsessions, paving the way for hundreds of hoaxes to come.
SOURCES https://www.youtube.com/@lonelygirl15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-m-JXcppo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5S2Kdb8Io4&amp;t=3s https://medium.com/@vocativ/the-strange-saga-of-lonelygirl15-an-oral-history-dd94687e9976 https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-creators-of-lonelygirl15-turned-web-series-into-a-multi-million-dollar-company-2010-7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnjZzDeepE8 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-video-blog-youtube https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-lonelygirl15-story.html https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-the-secret-identity-of-lonelygirl15-was-found/ https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/154b603/how_did_people_of_the_2000s_fall_for_lonelygirl15/

Lonelygirl15

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/a6e84946-ff7b-4dbe-a9cf-b3a901524bba/transcript

It's the Civil War, and the nation is in deep mourning. William Mumler of Boston has something to help: "spirit photographs" of you and a deceased loved one. Is it a scam, or is technology now capable of traversing the thin line between life and death? Eventually, it will be up to the court to decide. 

Sources:
Special thanks to u/Naturalog on Reddit and Stephen Berkman
'The Apparitionists' by Peter Manseau
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/meet-mr-mumler-man-who-captured-lincolns-ghost-camera-180965090/ 
https://www.vox.com/22918581/mumler-victorian-spirit-ghost-photography
https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=sat2698811#page/33/mode/1up 
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/when-cameras-took-pictures-of-ghosts/281010/ 

It's the Civil War, and the nation is in deep mourning. William Mumler of Boston has something to help: "spirit photographs" of you and a deceased loved one. Is it a scam, or is technology now capable of traversing the thin line between life and death? Eventually, it will be up to the court to decide.&nbsp;
Sources: Special thanks to u/Naturalog on Reddit and Stephen Berkman 'The Apparitionists' by Peter Manseau https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/meet-mr-mumler-man-who-captured-lincolns-ghost-camera-180965090/&nbsp; https://www.vox.com/22918581/mumler-victorian-spirit-ghost-photography https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=sat2698811#page/33/mode/1up&nbsp; https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/when-cameras-took-pictures-of-ghosts/281010/&nbsp;

Mumler Spirit Photography

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b4cd500f-3972-40d9-aa12-b3980151b377/transcript

I, Libertine

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