#10. Taco Bell buys the Liberty Bell (1996)
On April Fools Day 1996, Taco Bell announced that the company bought the Liberty Bell from the government in order to reduce national debt. There was an enormous response from worried civilians. The White House itself got in on the joke by telling the public that Ford bought the Lincoln memorial and the memorial would now be the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
#9. The Left Handed Whopper
Burger King announced that they planned to release a new sandwich called the Left Handed Whopper where the condiments would be rotated 180 degrees in order to benefit left handed customers. Thousands of people actually demanded the new sandwich in Burger King's across the country and came home empty handed. Burger King admitted to the hoax that evening.
#8. The Rickroll
In 1987, the musician Rick Astley released the single Never Gonna Give You Up. It became a #1 hit and was then relatively forgotten until 2008. Youtube on April Fools Day 2008, decided to link all the videos on their homepage to the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. Tens of millions of people were affected and the art of Rickrolling was born. If you want to learn more about this hoax, click
here( sorry there's a huge gap between the link and the rest of the paragraph. That was my fault on my part.)
#7. The Youtube Collection
In 2012, Youtube announced they would put every video ever uploaded on to DVDS and would be delivered to the general public. The problem is that over 100 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube every minute making the DVDs very long and tedious to watch. It was then announced as a hoax.
#6. Nixon for President (1992)
On April Fools Day in 1992, Richard Nixon announced he would run for President in 1992. Richard Nixon's campaign speech was broadcasted on the radio and was later revealed that it was a hoax. Nixon's voice was impersonated by the comedian Rich Little. Bill Clinton won that years election.
#5. The 26 Day marathon
The April 1st, 1981 issue of the Daily Mail had an article about a Japanese man who ran the London Marathon. The man thought he had to run for 26 days instead of 26 miles. This report was announced as a hoax.
#4. The Curious Case of Sidd Finch
Sidd Finch was a pitcher who apparently was able to throw a ball at speeds of up to 168 MPH with pinpoint accuracy. Before baseball, he went to Tibet to learn the teachings of the"great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa" and mastered the art of mind-body. He went to the New York Mets training camp and became a star. An article about him was released on April 1, 1985. It was then announced that it was a hoax. The article is still one of the most popular articles Sports Illustrated has ever published.
#3. Big Ben goes digital
On April Fools Day 1980, the BBC reported that Big Ben was going to receive a digital readout to keep up with the times. The clock hands would also be given away to the first 4 callers who would call the station. Unsurprisingly, it was a hoax.
#2. Internet spring cleaning
On April Fools day 1997, an email message said the Internet would be shut down worldwide for 24 hours for cleaning purposes. This was an updated version of the same hoax that said all phone systems would be cleaned on April Fools Day and dust would supposedly come out of the phone in an attempt to clean the phone lines.
#1 Spaghetti Trees
On April Fools Day 1957, the BBC had a report from Switzerland showing citizens harvesting spaghetti from trees. Millions of people believed the hoax and tried to make their own spaghetti trees. Sadly, it didn't work. This was revealed as a hoax.