Anatomy of a Hoaxer

Anatomy of a Hoaxer

Posted by: Craig Woolheater on December 24th, 2013

A lovely article by Craig Woolheater on the hoaxer, what they are and why they do it. Below is an excerpt, but I urge you to read the whole thing!

Why do some people try to pull the wool over other’s eyes? I think there are many reasons and to name a few, there is to push an agenda, to gain notoriety and to make a buck. Some of course are just for fun as well, so not all hoaxers come from the same mold, but those who deliberately misinform to gain a profit of some kind, we should try and peer inside their heads.

While I have been interested in Cryptozology ever since I was very young, the hoaxer is only a fairly recent phenomenon for me. I certainly was aware of their existence, but I mainly thought of it as innocent fun and a buyer beware sort of thing. I knew money could be made off of a good hoax and we have PT Barnum from Barnum and Bailey to thank for the famous quote “A sucker is born every minute” to know that if you make an outrageous claim, there will be many who will line up to buy what you are selling without so much as a second glance. In that respect you only have yourself to blame if you have fallen for such foolery.

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Giant, Multi-topic News Dump

Critter News

General News

Internet Bigfooting

Bigfoot Extravaganza

There’s been some Bigfoot news rolling down the pipes of late, so I thought I would put together something about the matter.

The Stories

Kitsu’s Thoughts

Cryptomundo reported the Umatilla howls on January 26th, and this was how I personally came into following the story. The Howls were originally reported by Oregon Live on the 20th. The howls started in November and range “from high-pitched screams to basso profundo roars” according to reporter Richard Cockie from Oregon Live. The sounds being attributed to bigfoot have also been corroborated according to stories by the discovery of a single track in the road (though as far as I can tell, no documentation of the track by way of photos or casting exists).

The recording has been made available online.

(AUDIO)

After giving the file a listen, I can’t help but feel like it is a screaming fox. Despite the statements by Sylvia Minthorn that “Foxes do sound creepy, but it’s not the same sound, not even close.” The screeching even started during fox breeding season.

Then we come to the ABC news coverage of the event…

Good Morning American should not have reported on it unless they could take it seriously. They didn’t even do their research, claiming shriek and roar recordings are a new thing, when they haven’t been new for some time. ABC shouldn’t have bothered.

So… Foxes in the mating season or Bigfoot? My money’s on Foxes.