Letter: Who Has Never Fallen for a Hoax?

Published on: 4 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 4 Feb, 2026

From John Ferns

In response to: The End of the World Was Nigh – But What About Our Bournemouth Holiday?

David Reading’s memory of the 1960 “mercury bomb” scare is a classic case of media magic—that moment when a news story stops being just a story and starts rearranging reality.

It belongs in a hall of fame alongside other great “wait, is this real?” broadcasts: from the BBC Panorama April Fool spaghetti harvest prank in 1957, which was basically a straight-faced joke, to the Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast of HG Wells’ classic War of the Worlds, that convinced thousands of listeners Martians had really landed, right up to the more recent 1999 Y2K panic that had some of us stocking baked beans “just in case”.

It all comes down to tone of voice. Whether it’s the calmness of a BBC presenter, the breathless radio reporter, or the bold newspaper headline, that air of authority can make you believe almost anything. One day it’s pasta on trees, the next it’s the end of the world and your heart, or brain, can’t always tell the difference.

In the end, these stories aren’t really about the hoaxers. They’re about the rest of us – the ones who, for a second or a week, just believed.

And honestly, who hasn’t fallen for a good story at least once? I have to admit that the 1999 Y2K digital conversion issue did have me more than wondering.

Share This Post