By “strangest”, it’s not just the most bizarre, but perhaps one that had the largest number of views and people STILL didn’t pick up on it being fake? We all (well, most of us) know that The Onion and Babylon Bee are fake, but also out there, I’ve seen medicaladoptions.com, and more recently, True Crime Case Files and some allied channels have popped up on YouTube, and it boggles my mind how many people have fallen for this.
I knew the “medical adoptions” website was fake when it mentioned that people had adopted a Third World child in order to get their spleen; that organ isn’t transplanted.
I SWEAR I read a website (or something about sitcom fathers) devoted to the presumably nonexistent sitcom Roger That (Roger was an air traffic controller or something, and he had a daughter, Jenny That) but now I can’t find any trace of its existence.
Early days of my experience with the Web, and I was intrigued by the web site for “The Republic of Baker, Howland and Jarvis”, three islands in the Pacific. That had been developed as a guano and coconut resource after WWII, and grew to be an Amelia Earhart tourist destination, as well as eco-scuba center.
I had to check the Wiki pages of each of these islands to convince myself it wasn’t a thriving, idyllic island community.
I was so delighted at the sheer amount of detail, and the time that was spent on this! Tourist Information, Sightseeing, Travel Info page with which airlines service the island nation, a Banking & Investment page, and Fast Facts (1,170 permanent residents, with over 1,400 more people visiting the islands each month. Only the Vatican City, with a population of 840, has a smaller population).
I was so disappointed when the web site sank beneath the digital waves.
For four and a half seasons, from September of 1976 to November of 1980, ultra-cool undercover cop Nicholas David Kresky took us on a wild roller coaster ride through the hip discos, gritty back alleys and dark criminal dens of LA’s seamy underbelly – and we wouldn’t have missed a minute of it! For one hour every week, we cheered, gasped and held our breath while our hero walked that razor’s edge between life and death, love and loss, style and substance.
Whether he was chasing a street punk up a fire escape or romancing a lovely lady in his hot tub, Kresky was always the very epitome of character, class and cool.
Heart of a cop. Soul of a lover. Feet of a dancer. An icon for the 70’s and – in our estimation – a role model for the 21st century. We hope you enjoy this humble tribute to our candidate for top TV cop, the inimitable… Nick Kresky
Thank you for this! One of my hobbies is micronations. And, as it turns out, there’s even a term for that endeavor: micropatriology or micropatrology. (The link goes to Wikpedia.)
I don’t know if this counts, but I’ve seen some videos on YouTube that show “animal lovers” from rights groups cleaning barnacles off of sea turtles. Some time ago, at least a year, there were a lot of them and then they disappeared suddenly, with some saying they had been photoshopped. Now I’m seeing them again. I commented that it looked fake and was warned not to make comments like that or I would be banned from YouTube.
I remember a fairly extensive web site many years ago for Steve McQueen State University in Papillon ND. It was obviously a joke but was very well done. I’ve tried looking for it a few times many years later but all I come up with is a Facebook group, not the actual website.
You gotta give. https://getcalicocutpants.com/
I think if you didn’t know that was fake, it would be one of the stranger online stores you’d run across. Who wants pants with pee stains on them?
That is hilarious. Love the complete and utter lack of explanation (and hey! Flash Sale, Up to 60% off Pants & Belts for Summer!)
That reminded me of penisland.
Hey, it’s still there:
One of the FAQs is:
Q: Can I provide my own wood?
A: In most cases we can handle your wood. We do require all shipments to be clean, free of parasites and pass all standard customs inspections.
It’s not a great fake in that I don’t think anyone believed it was anything other than a parody of the dot.com boom 1.0, but just due to longevity I’ll give it credit.
Well, this website is real. As far as I can tell you can actually order the clothes. The fake part of it is that Lockheed Martin has absolutely nothing to do with them, and I have no idea why a Korean company would want to try to morph a company that supplies military equipment into a lifestyle brand.