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Hoaxes fooled the internet in 2013

IT WAS the year of the internet hoax. We got fooled. You got fooled. Everyone got fooled. These are the hoaxes that duped the world.

BY JENNI RYALL
4 min read
December 10, 2013 - 2:29PM
NewsComAu
Fooled.
Fooled.

SO THERE was this epic Thanksgiving fight on a plane, with one dude Elan Gale sending notes to the crazy lady in 7A. He was hashtagging, tweeting selfies, giving a blow-by-blow account of the most shareable fight of all time.

The internet loves notes, and fights, and planes. It was a viral formula made in heaven.

Turns out the whole thing was a hoax.

The world's media got fooled. We got fooled. You got fooled.

And it wasn't the first time. Here are the most ridiculous hoaxes of 2013.

The internet gobbled these golden nuggets up and spat them right out again.

At least it gave us some light entertainment. It never hurts to laugh at yourself.

The Elan Gale v Diane from 7A fight

It started with a simple tweet on a slow news day.

The lady in seat 7A told a flight attendant she wanted to get home to her family for Thanksgiving. Elan apparently got mad, because 'what about the flight attendant's feelings?', and sent this note across to make life right again.

News_Image_File: Note from hell.

This escalated into a full-on war between Elan Gale and Diane in 7A, playing out on Twitter.

The catch? The whole fight came from Elan Gale's account and there were no photos of Diane.

Then came the BIG REVEAL. Elan, a producer for ABC's The Bachelor just got a little bored on Thanksgiving and decided to manipulate the internet for laughs (and publicity).

He posted this to end the hoax:

The python that ate four people at once

Have you heard the story about the snake on a human rampage? Apparently it gobbled up four people at the same time, in different parts of the world - including a drunk guy having a little nap outside a bottle shop in India.

That's when the internet paid attention. Who wants to go out for a few drinks AND GET EATEN BY A PYTHON.

Thank god it was just a big fat lie and regular citizens felt safe to consume beer again.

Girl twerks, ends up on fire

Jimmy Kimmel pulled off one of the biggest pranks of this year. It was so simple, yet so effective. A girl does a Miley Cyrus-inspired dance against a door, while doing a handstand. Her friend enters the room, knocks her over. Terrible but hilarious chaos ensues.

News_Rich_Media: When twerking goes horribly, horribly wrong, this can happen.

Then Jimmy Kimmel laughed in our faces. A big hearty laugh. He tells the world Caitlin Heller is in fact a stunt woman named Daphne Avalon.

"We didn't send it to any TV stations, I didn't tweet it, we didn't put it on any news websites. We just put it on YouTube and let the magic happen, and the magic happened," he said.

News_Rich_Media: Jimmy Kimmel

Cutting for Bieber

This is one of the most distressing hoaxes to come out of this year. Not long after the release of photos on TMZ allegedly showing the Bieb-minster smoking some weed, a strange hashtag started trending. The tag #cuttingforbieber or #Cut4Bieber spread across Twitter with photos of teenagers self harming in protest.

There were reports it was encouraging teens to cut themselves to stop Bieber smoking.

News_Image_File: 4Chan posted this thread on the /b/ (random) board.

Eventually, it was revealed the call for cutting originated from trolling website, 4Chan and the hacktivist group Anonymous claimed responsibility.

The half cat captured on Google Streetview

Is it a bird? Is it a cat? No wait, it's a bizarre creature never before spotted on Earth.

And it was just going for a stroll down a street in Ottawa, Canada, like all two-legged monsters do on sunny days.News_Image_File: The half cat on Google.

The hoax quickly went viral as the world wide web speculated on its breed. It was labelled "the only mammal not to possess any forelimbs at all".

Internet person Sharon Horgan posted quite simply: "I'm scared".

We were too, Sharon, until well we realised it just wasn't real.

News_Image_File: Imgur showed the original, debunking all theories.

Way to ruin all the fun, Imgur.

Lesbian waitress gets left anti-gay note

Dayna Morales, 22, was just doing her job, working to make some cash in a bistro when she received a SHOCKING note on a receipt.

"I cannot tip because I don't believe in your lifestyle," it read.

News_Image_File: The note that stopped a nation.

It disturbed the masses. They took to Twitter to stand up for what was right. They sent her thousands of dollars. They cried for her.News_Image_File: Dayna got caught in her lies.

Then it turns out, the note on the receipt was a fake. The lovely, generous couple had actually given her an $18 tip, not a homophobic blast. DAYNA HAD LIED TO US ALL!

The eagle that stole a baby

Okay, so it happened late last year, but it made the list because it was still a water cooler convo in the new year.

News_Rich_Media: The stolen baby

Parents across the globe were terrified their baby could be snatched by a bird of prey. Then the holes started to appear.

It wasn't reported in Canadian press, where it happened.

There were flaws in the video's CGI when inspected closely. And Golden Eagles don't frequent the area.

Turns out, it was created by a bunch of Montreal uni students out to "hoax the internet".

Well done, we say, well done.

News_Module: Whoa

The moral of these stories? If it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. It's wild out there.

Share you favourite hoax this year via Twitter @jennijenni @newscomauHQ

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/hoaxes-fooled-the-internet-in-2013/news-story/a62749332ae624a6d73df775482376d7