Table of Contents
Preface 1
Section 1 It Came from the Airwaves -Radio
1 The London Riot Hoax 13
2 Radio Daze -The Martian Invasion Broadcast 16
3 The Martians Return 23
4 Infamous Disc Jockey Hoaxes 27
5 Playing with Fire: Nuclear Scares 30
Section 2 It Came from the Small Screen -Television
6 "This Just In..." NBC Frightens Viewers 37
7 "Look! Up in the Sky!" Asteroid Panic 40
8 Pokemon Panics and Creepy Crawley Scares 44
9 The "Documentary" That Fooled England 49
10 Hurricane Katrina Mythmaking 53
11 Chicken Little and the Bird Flu Panic 59
12 The Russians Are Coming! 64
13 The Video Nasties Scare Peter Hassall 67
Section 3 It Came from Ink-Newspapers
14 The Batmen on the Moon Hoax 79
15 The Central Park Zoo Panic 84
16 The Halley's Comet Scare of 1910 87
17 How the Press Created an Imaginary Terrorist 92
18 The Hook Hoax 98
19 The Ghost Slasher of Taiwan 101
20 The Phantom Clown Panic 105
Section 4 It Came from Cyberspace-The Internet
21 Chemtrails and Conspiracies 113
22 Morgellons: The First Internet Disease? 117
23 Katrina Evacuee Myths 120
24 The E-mail Virus Panic Bill Ellis 123
Section 5 It Came from a Friend of a Friend -Media-Spread Urban Legends
25 Urban Legends and the Media 131
26 The Curse ofthe Crying Boy David Clarke 134
27 Photos of the Gods David Clarke 146
Section 6 It Came from Everywhere
28 The Satanic Cult Scare 157
29 Halloween Panics 162
30 Stranger Danger and the Predator Next Door 170
31 The School Safety Panic 176
32 "Out of the "Water!" Media Shark Frenzy 179
33 The Great Puerto Rican Chupacabra Panic 182
34 YouTube, Popcorn and the Killer Cell Phones 187
35 Someone Stole My Kidney! Organ Theft Scares 192
36 Killer Vaccines Felicity Goodyear-Smitk Helen Petousis-Harris 197
Notes 213
Bibliography 229
Index 241
