Greatest hoax of all time?

[Robert]

You see, Chris, you can't be writing poetry when you're batting. Boycott never wrote poetry when he was batting.

[Steadmund Brand]

Yes I'm a Scotsman who loves a bit of cricket....I think that makes me even more of a weirdo than being a Ripperologist!

Don't feel bad, I am an American who LOVES Aussie Rules Football....not only making me a weirdo, but possibly alone in my entire country haha

Steadmund Brand--- GO BRISBANE LIONS!!

[ChrisGeorge]

Then there was that hoax of ten years later -- the Maybrick Diary, the alleged Ripper "diary" of Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick.

Happy 25th Birthday, Maybrick Hoax!

Only in RipperWorld would a stake not have been driven long ago through the false and lying heart of this shoddy production!

Cheers

Chris

[Herlock Sholmes]

Although I boast no special prowess as a cricket player, I once played for the MCC. No, not that club... it was the Maryland Cricket Club. And when I went in to bat, I got bowled out on the first ball! To make it even worse, I was bowled out for a duck by an Irishman!

Yup, that’s not good Chris

[ChrisGeorge]

The hoax that made the most waves at the time was the Hitler Diaries in 1982. At least, this is a diary that was definitely disproven.

Then there was that hoax of ten years later -- the Maybrick Diary, the alleged Ripper "diary" of Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick.

Happy 25th Birthday, Maybrick Hoax!

[ChrisGeorge]

Yes I'm a Scotsman who loves a bit of cricket....I think that makes me even more of a weirdo than being a Ripperologist!

Although I boast no special prowess as a cricket player, I once played for the MCC. No, not that club... it was the Maryland Cricket Club. And when I went in to bat, I got bowled out on the first ball! To make it even worse, I was bowled out for a duck by an Irishman!

[DirectorDave]

Brilliant! Cheers for posting that Dave. We may be the only cricket fans on the thread

Yes I'm a Scotsman who loves a bit of cricket....I think that makes me even more of a weirdo than being a Ripperologist!

[Herlock Sholmes]

Brilliant! Cheers for posting that Dave. We may be the only cricket fans on the thread

[DirectorDave]

[Abby Normal]

To be honest I’ve just read an short account of Joseph Smith’s life to refresh my memory. I don’t know if Hubbard could have made this stuff up!

Lol. Or vice versus.

[Abby Normal]

Neither do I, but this is about "great hoaxes", not "greatest bull$hit hoaxes" specifcally. The Book of Mormon has had a huge impact, and has exerted its influence for a much longer time than Scientology, and has a wider reach worldwide. The Mormon Church is certainly bigger than the Church of Scientology so - yes - I'd say that the Book of Mormon has been a greater, more "successful" hoax than anything L Ron Hubbard cooked up.
Smith must have known that the book was a load of tripe, and all that guff about magic translation-stones, golden plates (etc) must surely have been deliberate, snake-oil-salesman nonsense. Besides, Smith wasn't exactly averse to commiting fraud and other breaches of the law, as his biography shows.

Got it. Thanks.

[Graham]

The Jewish God gets my vote, mainly because he was invented several centuries before the other two. I'm 100% atheist, by the way, but I acknowledge the relative antiquity of the three Abrahamic religions. Yahweh was there first, by a loooooooooooong way

How odd of God
To choose the Jews.

But not so odd
As those who choose
A Jewish God
Yet spurn the Jews.

Graham

[Sam Flynn]

Well I don’t put Mormons anywhere near the Scientology nonsense.

Neither do I, but this is about "great hoaxes", not "greatest bull$hit hoaxes" specifcally. The Book of Mormon has had a huge impact, and has exerted its influence for a much longer time than Scientology, and has a wider reach worldwide. The Mormon Church is certainly bigger than the Church of Scientology so - yes - I'd say that the Book of Mormon has been a greater, more "successful" hoax than anything L Ron Hubbard cooked up.

Was there something found showing smith knew he faked his experiences?

Smith must have known that the book was a load of tripe, and all that guff about magic translation-stones, golden plates (etc) must surely have been deliberate, snake-oil-salesman nonsense. Besides, Smith wasn't exactly averse to commiting fraud and other breaches of the law, as his biography shows.

[Herlock Sholmes]

To be honest I’ve just read an short account of Joseph Smith’s life to refresh my memory. I don’t know if Hubbard could have made this stuff up!

[Abby Normal]

In similar vein, Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon has to have been one of the most influential hoaxes in comparatively recent history.

Well I don’t put Mormons anywhere near the Scientology nonsense.

Or am I missing something? Was there something found showing smith knew he faked his experiences?