War of The Worlds and other hoaxes of the Golden Era

[Carlisle Blues]

The Golden Era was rife with hoaxes such as The Loch Ness Monster(1933), The BBC Radio Panic of January 16, 1926 ( where it was broadcast that an angry mob of unemployed workers were running amok in London, looting and destroying everything in sight. The broadcast caused widespread confusion and concern throughout Great Britian; with some attempting to leave the city.), Charles Ponzi and the Ponzi Scheme exposed in Summer 1920 (a Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme involves luring in investors with promises of high returns ).

These just a few hoaxes that tricked a large portion of the public into believing fantastic stories with negative and sometimes far reaching ramifications.

Did the events of the times or social movements, including: The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression and Prohibition supply the impetus for people to be susceptible to hoaxes. Were there other hoaxes of the Golden Era?

 

[TraditionalFrog]

Orson Welles War of the Worlds has been one of my favorite OTR broadcasts since I was a small child.

Can easily see how it could have fooled people, especially at the beginning!

However, I do know one person who wasn't fooled by it... my grandma! She regularly listeed to the Mercury Theatre programme and heard it from the beginning. She's a hard lady to fool to begin with though!

 

[Story]

I remember this coming up in a Management course back in Undergrad land, with regards to 'dirty marketing practices'.

In the Fall of 1934 a rumor swept through America alleging that a leper had been found working in the Chesterfield cigarette factory in Richmond. Sales of Chesterfield cigarettes plummeted as smokers, fearful of catching the dreaded disease, switched to other brands.

The Liggett and Meyers Tobacco Company, maker of Chesterfields, repeatedly denied the rumor, but to no avail. The company even arranged for the mayor of Richmond to issue a statement assuring the public that the Chesterfield factory had been investigated and no leper found working there. Still sales continued to decline.

The company suspected that the rumor was started by one of its competitors. However, it could never prove this. It offered a $25,000 reward to anyone who could help it locate the source of the rumor, but the source was not found.



http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_chesterfield_leper/

 

[vintage_jayhawk]

I remember this coming up in a Management course back in Undergrad land, with regards to 'dirty marketing practices'.

In the Fall of 1934 a rumor swept through America alleging that a leper had been found working in the Chesterfield cigarette factory in Richmond. Sales of Chesterfield cigarettes plummeted as smokers, fearful of catching the dreaded disease, switched to other brands.

The Liggett and Meyers Tobacco Company, maker of Chesterfields, repeatedly denied the rumor, but to no avail. The company even arranged for the mayor of Richmond to issue a statement assuring the public that the Chesterfield factory had been investigated and no leper found working there. Still sales continued to decline.

The company suspected that the rumor was started by one of its competitors. However, it could never prove this. It offered a $25,000 reward to anyone who could help it locate the source of the rumor, but the source was not found.



http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_chesterfield_leper/

Wow! That's some seriously dirty tactics!

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I find it fascinating that the average person whom I believe to be intelligent, savvy and reasonable prudent falls for the outlandish.

A simple untrue hoax can be detected with ease. However the more complex scenarios, sometimes speak to greed i.e. Ponzi, or a blind belief in because it is being broadcast on the media it must be true; then the more seemingly unbelievable a story is the more it is actually taken as the truth.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Then in another scenario an historical event has doubts cast upon it.

The image (top) of Marines raising an American flag on the peak of Iwo Jima's Mt. Suribachi was taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. It is one of the most reproduced images in history, having appeared on a postage stamp (which for years was the biggest selling stamp in U.S. post office history) and also served as the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. However, within days after Rosenthal took it, rumors began to spread that he had staged it. Although these rumors have been repeatedly discredited, they continue to be repeated to the present day.

The rumors can be traced back to the fact that he photographed the second flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi, not the first. The marines had raised a flag earlier in the day, under heavy fire. Marine Photographer Louis Lowery managed to get a shot of this event (bottom). But the commanders later decided this first flag should be replaced by a larger one.

 

[bobalooba]

Then in another scenario an historical event has doubts cast upon it.

The image (top) of Marines raising an American flag on the peak of Iwo Jima's Mt. Suribachi was taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. It is one of the most reproduced images in history, having appeared on a postage stamp (which for years was the biggest selling stamp in U.S. post office history) and also served as the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. However, within days after Rosenthal took it, rumors began to spread that he had staged it. Although these rumors have been repeatedly discredited, they continue to be repeated to the present day.

The rumors can be traced back to the fact that he photographed the second flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi, not the first. The marines had raised a flag earlier in the day, under heavy fire. Marine Photographer Louis Lowery managed to get a shot of this event (bottom). But the commanders later decided this first flag should be replaced by a larger one.

I have also heard that some of the marines raising the flag(the second, more famous, picture) were not the original marines who put the flag in the sand, is there any truth to this?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

People believing wild rumors and hoaxes has been with us for ages, if not from the start of time. It certainly wasn't caused by the Roaring 20s or Prohibition or anything of the sort.

Just look at all of the urban legends and hoaxes on Snopes.com. Everyone's forwarded emails like crazy and they're still sitting and waiting for their $10,000 check from Bill Gates.

Proctor & Gamble gets hit periodically with the one that part of their logo proves the company is satanic. People believe crop circles are caused by UFOs, when hoaxers have come forward and demonstrated how they did it. Chain letters stretch back into the early days of postal services, and yet today, when we're so enlightened, so much better educated, so thoroughly modern, email is still rife with electronic versions of them.

Harmonic convergence was the big thing in the 70s or 80s. Many believe the world will end on 12/21/2012. On April 1 in the 50s the BBC ran a show on the Italian spaghetti growers in the Ticino Valley and there are many who still believe spaghetti grows on trees...and of course, we all know, it's a root vegetable.

 

[Foofoogal]

http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

one of my favs. I remember my dad telling me someone put an ad of "send your dollar today, hurry." and people actually did. lol

I detest chain letters online or real life. I also cannot believe anyone falls for Nigerian (you will be Queen lotoflove if you send etc.
or stuffing envelopes.
http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/fraudschemes.htm

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I have also heard that some of the marines raising the flag(the second, more famous, picture) were not the original marines who put the flag in the sand, is there any truth to this?

Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) were killed during the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became celebrities upon their identification in the photo. The picture was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the USMC War Memorial, located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

and of course, we all know, it's a root vegetable.

I thought it was a extract of turtle shells?

 

[Geesie]

It was 1910, but since it featured Virginia Woolf I'm going to mention it...
The Dreadnought Hoax

On February 7, 1910 the Prince of Abyssinia and his entourage were received with full ceremonial pomp on the deck of the H.M.S. Dreadnought, the British Navy's most powerful battleship. Although the Commander-in-Chief of the Dreadnought had only received a last-minute warning of the Prince's arrival, he had the sailors standing at attention when the Prince arrived. The Abyssinian party acknowledged the greeting with bows as they shuffled onto the ship, dressed in their long, flowing robes, and for the next forty minutes the Commander gave them a guided tour of the vessel. The Abyssinians paused at each new marvel while murmuring the appreciative phrase "Bunga, Bunga!" in their native tongue. Finally the royal visitors departed as "God Save the King!" played in the background.

The next day the Navy was mortified to learn that the party they had escorted around the warship had not been Abyssinian dignitaries at all. Instead it had been a group of young, upper class pranksters who had blackened their faces, donned elaborate theatrical costumes, and then forged an official telegram in order to gain access to the ship. Their ringleader was a man named Horace de Vere Cole, but the entourage also included a young woman called Virginia Stephen who would later be better known as the writer Virginia Woolf.

:eusa_clap

 

[Shangas]

I've got the full, one hour recording of "The War of the World" by Orson Welles on my computer, in MP3 format. It's one of the most wonderful pieces of radio history.

The first time I listened to it completely, I really got the willies! It's not hard to see how people were totally taken for a ride with it. It really is a marvellous hoax / misunderstanding.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

People believing wild rumors and hoaxes has been with us for ages, if not from the start of time. It certainly wasn't caused by the Roaring 20s or Prohibition or anything of the sort.

I could not agree more. Due to the nature of the Fedora Lounge I was just concentrating on this era. My hypothesis is: The eras we discuss and enjoy had several pivotal moments; events that challenged the very belief system that society relied upon; for example: Black Tuesday certainly eradicated any thoughts that Wall street would ever work again in the United States without the need for government regulation.

That is just one example; my thought is that due to the societal norms changing people were more willing to believe in the various hoaxes, not because they were gullible, but because that trust as a sociological concept had been destroyed. Thereby making people more susceptible to those who wanted to defraud others.