April Fool's Day: Google, Spaghetti Trees and Sidd Finch

Time Traveler John Titor

From 1998 to 2001, a man claiming to be visiting our "world-line" on a mission from the year 2036 enthralled a corner of the nascent internet with his explanations of time travel, the world of the future, and the wars to come. While few of his "predictions" came true, his story remains haunting -- who was this enigmatic early forum poster? Why did he claim time ended in 2564? How did he know so much about early computers? And where, or when, did he go? SOURCES https://rileyraccoon.substack.com/p/time-travel-tales https://vimeo.com/11661023 https://web.archive.org/web/20170622161305/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11945420/Who-was-John-Titor-the-time-traveller-who-came-from-2036-to-warn-us-of-a-nuclear-war.html https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/john-titor-the-internets-most-mysterious-time-traveller/ https://web.archive.org/web/20260102173511/https://www.postbulletin.com/rochester-magazine/john-titor-who-was-the-time-traveler-that-visited-rochester https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/john-titor-time-traveler-predictions-story https://johntitorresearch.wordpress.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Fake Anastasias

Anastasia Romanov inspired a play, an Academy Award-winning movie, and a Dana-and-Lizzie-loving animated feature. But the legend of the missing princess is stranger and more involved than a movie with a talking bat might have led you to believe. SOURCES: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-6/anastasia-arrives-in-the-united-states https://phys.org/news/2018-07-fresh-dna-authenticate-bones-russia.html https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19600212&id=tuUlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EncDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7046,629353&hl=en https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/24/archives/anastasia-grand-duchess-or-grand-hoax-the-last-act-in-the-drama-of.html https://web.archive.org/web/20250331152750/http://www.readthehook.net/86004/cover-jack-amp-anna-remembering-czar-charlottesville-eccentricshttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68616 https://blog.newspapers.com/anna-anastasia-anderson/ https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/grondahl-anastasia-or-imposter-local-author-12950650.php See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

The Gulf Breeze UFOtos

In one of the most famous and widely-reported UFO sightings of all time, a Florida man witnessed, photographed and even interacted with alien beings from another planet several times over the course of many months, sparking a frenzy of speculation and excitement. Then again...a Florida man... SOURCES: War of the Words by Craig R Meyers https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/16/congress-uap-obama-aliens-real-podcast/88699039007/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-files-released-scientists-trump/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/10/ufo-hearing-video-hellfire-missile/86073340007/ Professor Andrew Fraknoi See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

The Bristol Princess

A girl showed up at a town near Bristol in 1817 wearing a turban, and everyone went nuts.  SOURCES: "The Caraboo Hoax," Margaret Russell John Matthew Gutch's narrative English Eccentrics, by Edith Sitwell "Devonshire Characters and Strange Events" "British Performances of Java," Matthew Isaac Cohen See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

April Fool's Day: Google, Spaghetti Trees and Sidd Finch

This episode of Hoax is no fun at all. April Fool's! For our (almost) April 1 episode, we explore the holiday's origins and some of the best pranks of the 20th and 21st centuries: Google's various exploits (Pokemon Go!), that time the BBC produced a piece on Spaghetti Trees, and the Curious Case of Sidd Finch, the Mets pitcher who could throw 168 MPH. SOURCES: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/how-did-april-fools-day-get-started https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/april-fools/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/01/king-kugel-an-april-fools-history-lesson/ https://frenchmoments.eu/april-fools-day-traditions-in-france-le-1er-avril/ https://bylines.scot/society/hunt-the-gowk-day/ https://www.scotsmagazine.com/articles/hunt-the-gowk-april-fools-scotland/ https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-celebrates-april-fools%E2%80%99-day/ https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cancels-april-fools-day-pranks-coronavirus-2021-3 https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finch https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/21/si-60-curious-case-sidd-finch-mark-mulvoy-myra-gelband https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/sports/legendary-sidd-finch-finally-makes-it-to-mets-home-game-40-years-later/ https://niemanstoryboard.org/2014/04/01/whys-this-so-good-no-90-george-plimpton-and-sidd-finch/ https://www.milb.com/news/legend-of-sidd-finch-lives-on-in-brooklyn-145695984 https://sports.yahoo.com/still-curious-catching-those-brought-150800240.html https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/sports/baseball/an-old-baseball-april-fools-hoax.html https://www.mlb.com/news/sidd-finch-hoax-recalled-at-sabr-convention/c-133074166 ESPN: Unhittable: Sidd Finch and the Tibetan Fastball BBC: Spaghetti-Harvest in Ticino  https://fox59.com/news/national-world/greatest-april-fools-prank-of-all-time-the-story-of-the-bbcs-spaghetti-trees/ https://retrospectjournal.com/2023/09/25/the-spaghetti-trees-of-ticino/ https://ericajurus.ca/2024/04/02/the-tradition-of-pranking-and-fooling/ http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/cucina/when-i-was-a-kid-i-learned-that-spaghetti-grew-on-trees See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.