When Americans of a certain age think back to the many grocery store trips they took with their parents as children, few memories are more vivid. weekly world news. Even as other magazines became sleeker and simpler, this one always stood out in cash register impulse buy racks, in part because it stuck to its no-frills but cluttered black-and-white cover design. But what really caught our young, impressionable eyes had more to do with the contrast between the mundane and secular coverage of homes, families, and celebrities in the surrounding publications. WWN‘s usual list of screamingly bizarre headlines: “I Was Bigfoot’s Love Slave!” “Wild West Town on Venus!” “Batboy Leads Police on Tri-State Chase!”
For many of us, the temptation to buy (or at least flip through) an issue of this magazine is WWN It rivals the exploits of Batboy, the most famous of many fictional characters, and his extravagant, macabre yet strangely sober story has kept him coming back for more. Although only introduced in 1992, he has notable ancestry in his industry. For example, “Vespertilio Homo,” or “Man-Bat,” a race that was found to be based on the Moon in 1835.
At least that’s what readers of New York newspapers think. solar Told in a series of illustrated articles, later collected in book formthis discovery is credited to astronomer Sir John Herschel. Herschel was real, but solar As he admitted the following month, no Vespertilio homo was observed, and reportedly no unicorn goats, miniature zebras, or beavers walking on their hind legs were visible through his telescope.
”great moon hoax,” is currently known and you can learn more about it below. BBC video at the top of the postit wasn’t Hershel’s doing. A reporter named Richard Adams Locke admitted to fabricating the story, apparently motivated by a desire to increase circulation for his article. solarone of the many “penny paper” tabloids of the time, which lived and died by sensation and scandal, but also by making light of the extravagant astronomical claims that were in the air at the time. Like the authors of weekly world news — or later, onion —Rather than deceive readers, Locke wanted to entertain them by satirizing popular culture’s over-the-top beliefs. But what he pioneered was literally “fake news,” a label that now refers to media that is clearly created with the intent to deceive. The world has changed since the 1830s. And indeed, things have changed since the batboy’s heyday in the late 20th century. WWN He predicted that he would be elected President of the United States in 2028. Strange things have certainly happened.
via Boing Boing
Related content:
‘The moon wasn’t faked’: A short film explains why it was impossible to fake the moon landing
1957 “Spaghetti on a Tree” Hoax: One of TV’s first April Fool’s Day pranks
Birth of the Moon: How did we get to the Moon in the first place?
A field guide to fake news and other information disorders: Free manual to download, share and reuse
Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages and cultures. he is the author of the newsletter books about cities books as well Home page (I won’t summarize Korea) and korean newtro. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
