With the help of fake reviews, mystique and nonsense, I was going to do it: turn my shed into London’s top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. And then serve customers Iceland ready meals on its opening night.
Carlsberg gifted Niels Bohr, the famous Danish physicist, a home complete with a pipeline that pumped fresh beer directly into his residence. It’s a great story and one that has been reported on by publications such as Forbes and The Guardian. The only problem with the story is that it isn’t entirely true.
Adam Joiner’s silver-screen dreams were finally coming true. He had a deal with Netflix, a superstar lead, a ‘Transformers’ superproducer and, amazingly, interest from Spielberg. He easily landed a major investment from Korean and Chinese money men. There was only one problem: His entire story was a lie.
For decades, Nevada’s Area 51 Air Force facility has represented the eye of a conspiratorial hurricane that swirls around “evidence” that aliens exist and are hiding behind its walls. Books, TV shows, and even massive online “raids” have tried to glimpse beyond its stark signs warning against trespassers.
Map-makers insert fake towns or trap-streets to catch out plagiarists. The most notable cartographic curiosity is Agloe, immortalized in John Green’s 2008 novel, Paper Towns. When its protagonist Margo disappears, she leaves oblique clues as to her whereabouts. The trail leads to somewhere and nowhere – Agloe.