Elven mummy

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An April Fool's joke by the English artist and illusionist Dan Baines, which caused quite a stir in 2007, is known as the Elven Mummy ( English Dead fairy hoax ) .

The April Fool's Day

As early as 2004, Dan Baines aroused the anger of elven believers when he offered the mummified corpse of a being on the auction platform eBay . After a storm of protest, he turned the site off. Three years later he made another attempt. Shortly before April 1, 2007, he posted pictures of a mummified elf on his website and sent out a press release. The local press reported the discovery of an elven mummy allegedly found in Derbyshire by a dog owner.

He described an 8-inch (about 20 centimeters) mummy with visible wings, skin, teeth, and red hair. The structure of the skeleton resembled that of a child. Like birds, the bones are hollow. In addition, a belly button can be seen, so that the elves are apparently also born. Only genital organs could not be found. Allegedly, the mummy was examined by anthropologists and forensic experts and the authenticity was confirmed. In the further course, his website received hits of 20,000 visitors daily and he had to take four hours a day to answer questions.

Dan Baine waited a week to clear up the joke on his website. He then posted the mummy on the eBay auction platform. Around 40 bidders took part in the auction, which was finally bought by a private art collector for 280 English pounds .

aftermath

Media from around the world reported on the incident. Even after Baines cleared up the joke on his website, some conspiracy theorists continued to believe in the authenticity of the mummy. In addition, pictures and reports of the mummy continued to spread on the Internet.

The elven mummy is still considered a successful April Fool's joke.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ralf Nowotny: Mystery - The Elven Mummy. In: mimikama. February 12, 2016, archived from the original on April 4, 2018 ; accessed on February 13, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c April fool fairy sold on internet. In: BBC.com . April 11, 2007, accessed April 3, 2018 .
  3. ^ Fairy fool sparks huge response. In: BBC.com. April 1, 2007, accessed April 3, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Dan Baines: Derbyshire Mummified Fairy. Retrieved April 3, 2018 (en-ZA).
  5. ↑ FACT CHECK: Dead Fairy Hoax . In: Snopes.com . ( snopes.com [accessed April 3, 2018]).
  6. ↑ The best April Fools on the Internet - picture gallery . In: CHIP Online . ( chip.de [accessed on April 3, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Blick in the evening: 10 fake pictures that went viral . ( blickamabend.ch [accessed on April 3, 2018]).