15 Biggest Hoaxes That Fooled The World
4. Spaghetti Trees
Not often know as a prankster, the BBC managed to fool the nation one April in 1957. For April Fools Day, the BBC aired an episode of its flagship documentary show, Panorama, dedicated to the "Spaghetti Harvest". Spaghetti was relatively unknown in Britain at the time, and audiences were captivated by images of a Swiss family bringing in the harvest from their spaghetti tree. It was reported that farmers were experiencing a bumper harvest due to the mild weather and the "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil".
Many viewers actually contacted the BBC for advice on how to grow their own spaghetti tree, to which they responded that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best". It seems absurd now that millions of presumably intelligent people could be fooled by such ridiculous claims, but this was during a time when the most exotic thing most people had come into contact with was a lemon.
The mockumentary, shot on a budget of £100 and voiced by respected broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, has been described as "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled".