Page 24 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Jan-Feb 2018, Vol 27, No 1

24 10 Famous Paranormal Hoaxes

10 Famous Paranormal

Hoaxes

by Dave Roos

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson,
"Marge, it takes two to lie; one to lie and one to
listen."
Some of the greatest hoaxes in the
history of the world started out as one small lie.
If no one had believed the lie, then it would
have fizzled out. But great hoaxes require great
numbers of gullible people willing to suspend
disbelief in the face of the inexplicable.
If the following 10 hoaxes prove
anything, it is to never underestimate a human
being's capacity for self-deception. Particularly
in times of great struggle and darkness, we
desperately want to believe in something
beyond the rational. There must be something
out there that can make sense of the randomness
of existence, be it witches, aliens, ghosts or 9. The Amityville Horror Capitalizing on the popularity of its cult
dinosaur holdouts living in the depths of a hit "The X-Files," Fox bought 17 minutes of
Scottish lake. The truth of what really happened in the sleepy grainy footage from British TV producer Ray
Keep reading as we travel back through village of Amityville, New York, in the fall of Santilli claiming to record a secret U.S. military
the centuries to debunk some of the most 1974 is far more disturbing than the paranormal autopsy of an alien life-form recovered from a
outrageous, contagious and enduring hoaxes tall tales that made "The Amityville Horror" a UFO crash site near Roswell, New Mexico.
ever inflicted on our collective common sense. household name. The footage, reportedly bought from a
Twenty-three-year-old Ronald "Butch" retired military cameraman, shows the bloodied
10. The Fox Sisters DeFeo calmly and methodically shot his two corpse of a hairless, large-headed alien with
parents and four younger siblings in their beds. reptilian eyes being roughly dissected by a team
On the night of March 31, 1848 -- April Fool's He quickly confessed under police of doctors in protective surgical gear. The shaky
Eve -- 14-year-old Maggie Fox and her 11-year- interrogation, claiming that "voices in the camerawork and blurred close-ups lend a sense
old sister Kate reported a recurring mysterious house" told him to do it. He was sentenced to of realism to the footage while making it
phenomenon in their bedroom. Every night, as six consecutive life terms after his insanity plea exceptionally difficult to get a good look at the
the two went to sleep in their clapboard was thrown out [source: Bovsun]. creature or its gooey innards.
farmhouse, they would hear a strange knocking A year after the murders, the Lutz family Although most TV viewers immediately
sound coming from the walls. Even stranger, the -- George, Kathy and their three young children dismissed the footage as fake -- the light,
knocking seemed to respond to their questions. -- moved in to the infamous three-story Dutch rubbery "flesh" of the alien was hard to ignore -
"If you are an injured spirit, manifest it Colonial where "Butch" had butchered his loved - producer Santilli vouched for its authenticity.
by three raps," inquired the girls' mother ones. As a precaution, they hired a priest to At least until 2006, when Santilli began
[source: Abbott]. Knock, knock, knock. The veil perform an exorcism. The priest reported a promoting a second "Alien Autopsy" film, this
dividing the spirit world and the living had been voice in the house growling "Get out!" and then one a mockumentary about the filming of the
breached! his hands started to bleed. original.
News of the Fox sisters' wall-rapping Undeterred, the Lutz family spent a In press interviews, Santilli confessed
spirit spread like wildfire through the spiritually harrowing month in the Amityville house, the "truth," that the original footage was
flammable counties of upstate New York, also plagued by unexplained chills, gobs of slime on irreparably damaged during transport from the
the birthplace of Mormonism and Millerism the floor, and even Mrs. Lutz levitating over her U.S. to England, and that he hired a team of
(later Seventh Day Adventism) [source: bed [source: ABC News]. special effects artists and actors to "restore" the
Abbott]. Spiritualism promised a new kind of The Lutz family fled the house, lost footage for the special [source: Barton].
religious experience, in which believers could eventually moving to California where the Good one, Ray.
receive specific guidance about their lives from parents collaborated with a writer on the best-
those with secret knowledge from the great selling novel "The Amityville Horror," a (Continued on Page 25)
beyond. generously fictionalized account of the family's
Eventually, the Fox sisters brought their 28-day ordeal [source: Bovsun]. DID YOU KNOW...
hugely popular séances to New York City, The book's wild popularity spawned IT WOULD TAKE...
drawing huge crowds. Their routine evolved several Hollywood films and a dozen more ...every star in the Milky Way to fill an
from simple knocking and rapping to books. Olympic-size swimming pool (if each star
conversations with deceased relatives and secret DeFeo's own lawyer says he and the were the size of a grain of salt).
messages magically appearing on blank cards. Lutzes made up most of the story after
Despite their fame -- or more likely consuming several bottles of wine. Indeed, no ...the Milky Way about 200 million years to
because of it -- the sisters suffered from troubled one who has lived in the house since then (it's make one revolution.
relationships, psychological breakdowns and still privately owned in 2015) has reported any
alcoholism. In her 50s, Maggie delivered a paranormal activity [source: ABC News]. ...about 600 grapes to make a bottle of wine.
public confession of their long-drawn hoax,
which started as a harmless childhood prank. At 8. Alien Autopsy ...70 separate pieces of wood to make a
bedtime, they would tie an apple on a string and violin.
move it up and down, causing the apple to bump In 1995, the Fox television network aired a
on the floor. The sisters later developed the special called "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?" ...up to six gallons of peanut oil to deep-fry a
ability to manipulate their knuckles and toes to which became a surprise ratings bonanza and a turkey.
produce a popping sound [source: Abbott]. pop culture phenomenon, catapulting the topic
DID YOU KNOW by Rob McConnell is available
of UFOs back into the national conversation.
at www.rel-mar.com/didyouknow